Skip to main content

City of Malibu · Statewide General Election

Malibu 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 Malibu's five at-large City Council seats: the city budget, coastal and hillside development rules, and public-safety and rebuilding policy. A 4-year term. The council doesn't elect its mayor directly -- members choose one of their own to serve as mayor and mayor pro tem each year, presiding over meetings but casting only one vote like every other member.

Four candidates are running for Malibu's two open City Council seats on November 3: incumbents Marianne Riggins and Doug Stewart are both seeking another term, against challengers Danny Smith, a self-described survivor of the January 2025 Palisades Fire, and A. Sam Dibaei, a political newcomer whose public profile is limited.

Whoever wins holds the seat for a four-year term on Malibu's five-member City Council, whose members are all elected citywide rather than by district. The council sets the city budget, coastal and hillside development rules, and the pace of post-fire rebuilding after the January 2025 Palisades Fire, which destroyed homes across parts of the city. The council doesn't elect its mayor directly — members choose one of their own to serve as mayor and mayor pro tem each year — so this cycle's winners join a body that currently includes Mayor Bruce Silverstein, Mayor Pro Tem Steve Uhring, and Councilmember Haylynn Conrad, none of whom is up for election this cycle.

Both incumbents are campaigning on their records: Riggins says her time inside city government makes her more responsive to residents' day-to-day concerns, while Stewart points to fiscal management and what he casts as emergency-response leadership from his current term. The two challengers frame the race differently — Smith wants faster permitting and stronger disaster-resilience planning after losing his home in the fire, while Dibaei has offered little public account of his own candidacy. With four names on the ballot for two seats, this is a plurality race decided in a single round — weigh whether you want continuity from both incumbents, a change on one seat, or something else.

Marianne Riggins

Marianne Riggins is a Malibu native and city employee who has served on the City Council since 2022. She is running for a second term on government efficiency and being more responsive to residents' day-to-day concerns. The city's own Council page lists her current term as running through November 2026, the same expiration date as fellow incumbent Doug Stewart's.

Strengths

A full term of hands-on experience inside Malibu's city government, which she casts as sharpening her responsiveness to residents' day-to-day concerns.

Trade-offs

No 2026-cycle campaign-finance filing is on record for her as of this retrieval, so her fundraising activity this cycle isn't independently documented.

Keep in mind

State law only requires a new committee filing once a candidate crosses a raising-or-spending threshold, so the absence may reflect timing this early in the cycle rather than a lack of campaign activity.

Doug Stewart

Doug Stewart is a banking-industry professional who has served on the City Council since 2022. He is running for a second term on fiscal responsibility and what he casts as emergency-response leadership. LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, whose district includes Malibu, has endorsed his campaign, according to The Malibu Times' reporting on the race.

Strengths

A full term of council experience plus an endorsement from LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, whose district includes Malibu.

Trade-offs

His campaign is the only one of the four with a 2026-cycle disclosure on file, making his fundraising more visible than his opponents' — a difference in disclosure, not necessarily effort.

Keep in mind

Independent coverage of his platform is limited to the same local outlets covering the whole race; nothing adverse has surfaced in that coverage.

Danny Smith

Danny Smith is a homeowner and self-described survivor of the January 2025 Palisades Fire making his first run for City Council. He is campaigning on what he calls a "Fire First" platform of faster permitting and stronger disaster-resilience planning, and serves as a neighborhood zone captain for La Costa and Carbon Beach. He has no campaign-finance filing on record in the city's NetFile portal as of this retrieval.

Strengths

Direct, personal stake in the city's post-fire recovery as a self-described fire survivor and neighborhood zone captain, plus a specific "Fire First" policy platform.

Trade-offs

He has never held elected office and, unlike both incumbents, has no council voting record or citywide administrative experience.

Keep in mind

He has no campaign-finance filing on record in the city's NetFile portal as of this retrieval; state law only requires one once fundraising or spending crosses a threshold.

A. Sam Dibaei

A. Sam Dibaei is a Malibu resident making his first run for City Council; little independent information about his background is publicly available. The Malibu Times reported he lives near Malibu Middle School but could not confirm further biographical details, including his occupation or platform. He does not appear in the city's NetFile campaign-finance portal under that name as of this retrieval.

Strengths

None documented from official or independent sources as of this retrieval.

Trade-offs

He has no public platform, prior civic role, or independent coverage describing his candidacy that this research could locate.

Keep in mind

The Malibu Times reported it could not independently confirm his background; he also does not appear in the city's NetFile portal under that name, so no committee or contributions are on record for him there.

Source review: Strong (87/100) · 6 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • malibucity.org (opens in a new tab)City of Malibu — Election Information page (nomination period July 13-Aug. 7, 2026; two City Council seats; final candidate names A. Sam Dibaei, Danny Smith, Doug Stewart, Marianne Riggins; write-in filing period Sept. 7-Oct. 20, 2026)
  • malibucity.org (opens in a new tab)City of Malibu — City Council (current roster: Mayor Bruce Silverstein, Mayor Pro Tem Steve Uhring, and Councilmembers Haylynn Conrad, Marianne Riggins, and Doug Stewart, the last two with terms through November 2026)
  • malibutimes.com (opens in a new tab)The Malibu Times — "Five candidates pull papers to vie for two City Council positions" (as of July 20, 2026; profiles Riggins, Stewart, Smith, and Komarovsky, and reports Lee's signature shortfall and Komarovsky's later withdrawal to run for governor/president)
  • malibu.fm (opens in a new tab)Malibu.fm — "Four candidates qualify for Malibu City Council race" (Aug. 14, 2026; post-nomination-deadline final field of Riggins, Stewart, Smith, and Dibaei, and reports Lee's and Komarovsky's non-qualification)
  • theballotbook.com (opens in a new tab)The Ballot Book — City of Malibu Candidates (unofficial, automated-monitoring aggregator; independently returns the same 4-candidate field for the city's 1 open office)
  • ssl.netfile.com (opens in a new tab)City of Malibu — NetFile Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure (checked per candidate on 2026-08-31: Stewart's committee has a mid-year 2026 FPPC Form 460 on file; Riggins' most recent filing is from her 2022 campaign; Smith is a registered candidate with no filing activity; Dibaei does not appear under that name)

Last updated August 31, 2026.