Skip to main content

City of Lynwood · Statewide General Election

Lynwood City Council

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person holds one of three at-large seats up this cycle on Lynwood's 5-member City Council: the city budget, zoning and land-use rules, and city ordinances. A 4-year term. The council doesn't elect its mayor directly -- members choose one of their own to preside each year, and day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager.

Six candidates are running for three of Lynwood's five at-large City Council seats on November 3, 2026: incumbents Gabriela Camacho, Luis Gerardo Cuellar, and Juan Muñoz-Guevara, each seeking a full term, against three challengers — Mishaun Watkins, Emiliano Arellano, and Alfonso Morales. It's a single-round, vote-for-three race with no primary and no runoff; the three highest vote-getters win outright.

Whoever wins serves a 4-year term on a 5-member council that sets Lynwood's budget, zoning and land-use rules, and city ordinances for a city of roughly 65,000 people in southeast LA County. The council doesn't elect its own mayor directly — members choose one of their own to preside for a year, and day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager, so the job is one vote among five, not an executive post.

With three seats on the ballot and no districts, this is a citywide referendum on the sitting council as a whole rather than a single seat-by-seat choice. One seat carries an added wrinkle: Cuellar has never won it in a citywide vote — he reached the dais by council appointment in late 2024, so this is voters' first chance to ratify or reject him directly for the seat he already holds. Weigh whether you want all three incumbents back, a mix, or a clean break to the three challengers.

Mishaun Watkins

Mishaun Watkins is a Lynwood-raised community development analyst for the City of Santa Ana, appointed to Lynwood's Planning Commission in 2024. She's challenging for one of three at-large council seats on public safety, small-business support, and affordable housing. Her campaign committee is jointly filed with incumbent Juan Muñoz-Guevara's, a running-mate pairing against the ballot's three incumbents.

Strengths

A decade of public-sector housing, homelessness, and grants work across two counties, plus a sitting Planning Commission seat — a documented land-use record before she's cast a single council vote.

Trade-offs

She has never held elected office, and her day job managing Santa Ana's grant funding is outside Lynwood, not inside it.

Keep in mind

Her campaign committee is jointly filed with incumbent Juan Muñoz-Guevara's (paid-for-by disclosures on their shared site name both), a running-mate alliance worth weighing against the two incumbents she is not aligned with.

Gabriela Camacho

Gabriela Camacho is a lifelong Lynwood resident, Assistant Principal at Hosler Middle School, and the councilmember her colleagues chose as Mayor for 2026. She's seeking a second council term after two terms as elected City Treasurer before that. She has taught in Lynwood schools for 21 years, most of it at Lynwood High School, where she also graduated.

Strengths

Two full terms as City Treasurer before council, plus an Assistant Principal's day job, give her the longest continuous record in Lynwood elected office of anyone in this race.

Trade-offs

21 years teaching and two elected offices are the case for continuity, not for a fresh approach on a council some challengers say needs one.

Keep in mind

She was chosen by her council colleagues as Mayor for 2026, a title Lynwood's council rotates among its own members rather than electing directly.

Luis Gerardo Cuellar

Luis Gerardo Cuellar is a Marine Corps veteran and managing partner of a cannabis-consulting firm who has sat on the council since a late-2024 appointment. He's seeking his first election to the seat he already holds, after two years as elected City Treasurer before that. He is the son of former Mayor Aide Castro, whose backing of his appointment drew public controversy at the time.

Strengths

A Marine Corps veteran with a USC business master's, he already has a year-plus on the dais and, before that, a term as elected City Treasurer.

Trade-offs

He has never won this council seat outright: he finished third for an open seat in 2022, then reached the dais by council appointment in late 2024, not a citywide vote.

Keep in mind

His mother, former Mayor Aide Castro, publicly backed his appointment, and the two jointly ran a cannabis-consulting firm — a family and business overlap news coverage flagged as favoritism at the time, which he disputes.

Emiliano Arellano

Emiliano Arellano is a Southwestern Law School student and Lynwood's Public Safety/Traffic & Parking Commissioner. He's challenging for one of three at-large council seats; the city's own candidate filing is the fullest public account of his campaign so far. He sits on the commission that advises the council on the police, fire, and traffic matters he'd now vote on directly.

Strengths

A law degree in progress from Southwestern Law School and a seat on Lynwood's Public Safety/Traffic & Parking Commission give him direct exposure to the council's safety agenda before running for it.

Trade-offs

He is a full-time law student with no prior elected office and, unlike two of his fellow challengers, no independent press coverage of his campaign to weigh against his own material.

Keep in mind

Public commentary and reporting on his candidacy is limited to the city's own qualified-candidate filing; judge him mainly on that commission seat and law-school credential until more surfaces.

Alfonso Morales

Alfonso Morales is an immigration attorney and the president of the Lynwood Unified School District's Board of Education, a seat he's held since 2005. He's challenging for one of three at-large council seats on extending his school-board focus on equity to city government. He graduated from Lynwood High School in 1997 and still practices law in the city.

Strengths

Twenty years on the Lynwood Unified school board, including as its president, is the longest elected tenure of any candidate in this race, plus a law practice based in the city he'd represent.

Trade-offs

All of that tenure is on a school board, not a city council — zoning, policing, and the municipal budget are outside the portfolio his record demonstrates.

Keep in mind

He would keep or give up his school-board seat depending on the outcome of a race he is not term-limited out of, a dual-office question this cycle's reporting has not addressed.

Juan Muñoz-Guevara

Juan Muñoz-Guevara is a UNITE HERE Local 11 labor organizer who became Lynwood's youngest-ever and first Gen Z councilmember when elected in 2022. He's seeking reelection on labor rights, environmental justice, and housing and homelessness policy. He pushed for a special election, not an appointment, when the seat Luis Cuellar now holds came open in 2024.

Strengths

A UCLA Regents' Scholar and UNITE HERE Local 11 organizer, he made history as Lynwood's youngest-ever and first Gen Z councilmember in 2022 and now chairs a Metro regional service council.

Trade-offs

His day job organizing hospitality workers is the same labor movement whose local members and unions fund and endorse his campaign, a standing overlap for him to disclose.

Keep in mind

He was the leading voice for a special election, not an appointment, to fill the seat Luis Cuellar now holds — a public disagreement with the mayor and a colleague he shares this ballot with.

Source review: Strong (83/100) · 13 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.

Review note: Juan Muñoz-Guevara for Lynwood City Council may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • lynwoodca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Lynwood — Qualified Candidate Filing List, November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election (three City Council seats; updated 8/14/2026, with each candidate's ballot designation and incumbency)
  • lynwoodca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Lynwood — Notice of Election, November 3, 2026 (three Council seats, full 4-year terms; nomination period July 13-Aug. 7, 2026)
  • lynwoodca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Lynwood — City Council (current 5-member roster: Mayor Gabriela Camacho, Mayor Pro-Tem Lorraine Avila Moore, Councilmembers Luis Gerardo Cuellar, Juan Muñoz-Guevara, and Rita Soto -- Avila Moore's and Soto's seats aren't up in 2026)
  • lynwoodca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Lynwood — Mayor Gabriela Camacho (official council-member bio: lifelong Lynwood resident, 21 years teaching at Lynwood High School, elected City Treasurer 2015 and 2020, elected to Council 2022)
  • lynwoodca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Lynwood — Councilmember Juan Muñoz-Guevara (official council-member bio: elected 2022 as the council's youngest-ever and first Gen Z member, UNITE HERE Local 11 organizer, UCLA Regents' Scholar)
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State — CAL-ACCESS campaign-finance committee search, checked by candidate name for all six qualified Lynwood City Council candidates on 2026-08-31: Watkins ('Watkins 4 City Council 2026,' Filer ID 1491378) and Muñoz-Guevara ('Munoz-Guevara for City Council 2026,' Filer ID 1485487) each have an active state committee with no Form 460/461/450 filed yet this cycle; Camacho, Cuellar, Arellano, and Morales have no state committee on file
  • mylusd.org (opens in a new tab)Lynwood Unified School District — Board of Education: Alfonso Morales, Esq., President (member since 2005, current term December 2022-December 2026; immigration attorney, practicing since 2008)
  • lapublicpress.org (opens in a new tab)LA Public Press — "Lynwood city council needs to choose: appoint a new member, or hold an election" (Nov. 22, 2024): the fight over filling the council seat vacated by Mayor José Luis Solache's election to the state Assembly, including on-record opposition to appointing Luis Gerardo Cuellar (who had finished third in the prior open council race) and Councilmember Juan Muñoz-Guevara's push for a special election instead
  • selareport.com (opens in a new tab)Southeast L.A. County Report — "Lynwood appoints former Mayor's son and business partner as City Treasurer" (Jan. 29, 2023): Luis Gerardo Cuellar's appointment as City Treasurer, his family relationship to and cannabis-consulting business partnership with former Mayor Aide Castro, and resident concerns raised at the time
  • theballotbook.com (opens in a new tab)The Ballot Book — City of Lynwood Candidates (unofficial, automated-monitoring aggregator; independently returns the same six-candidate field for the city's one open office)
  • ballotready.org (opens in a new tab)BallotReady — Lynwood City Council position page, independently confirming Gabriela Camacho and Juan Muñoz-Guevara as current officeholders with terms ending December 2026
  • ballotpedia.org (opens in a new tab)Ballotpedia — Alfonso Morales (Lynwood Unified School District school board At-large, California): attorney, Lynwood High School graduate, Claremont McKenna College, University of San Diego School of Law; current term ends 2026
  • juanforlynwood.com (opens in a new tab)Juan Muñoz-Guevara for Lynwood City Council — campaign site, 'About Mishaun Watkins' page (jointly filed with Watkins's campaign committee; her bio, occupation, and platform)

Last updated August 31, 2026.