# Malibu City Council Compare records and positions simply between A. Sam Dibaei, Danny Smith, Doug Stewart, or Marianne Riggins for Malibu City Council at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds one of Malibu's five at-large City Council seats. They vote on the city budget and coastal and hillside development rules. They also vote on public safety and rebuilding policy. The term is four years. The council does not elect its mayor directly. Members choose one of their own to serve as mayor each year. That person also serves as mayor pro tem. That person leads meetings but casts only one vote, like every other member. - Jurisdiction: City of Malibu - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Seats: 2 - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/malibu-council - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: August 31, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 87 out of 100 (Strong), across 6 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **A. Sam Dibaei** - **Danny Smith** - **Doug Stewart** — Incumbent - **Marianne Riggins** — Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. 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. They face challenger Danny Smith, a self-described survivor of the January 2025 Palisades Fire. The other challenger is 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 their time inside city government makes them more responsive to residents' day-to-day concerns, while Stewart points to fiscal management and what they cast as emergency-response leadership from their 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 their 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. They have served on the City Council since 2022. They are running for a second term on government efficiency. They also run on being more responsive to residents' day-to-day concerns. The city's own Council page lists their current term as running through November 2026. That is the same end date as fellow incumbent Doug Stewart's. **Strengths:** A full term of hands-on experience inside Malibu's city government. Riggins casts that as sharpening their responsiveness to residents' day-to-day concerns. **Trade-offs:** No 2026-cycle campaign-finance filing is on record for Riggins. So their fundraising this cycle is not independently documented. **Keep in mind:** State law only requires a new committee filing once a candidate crosses a raising-or-spending threshold. The gap may reflect timing this early in the cycle rather than a lack of campaign activity. ## Doug Stewart Doug Stewart is a banking-industry professional. They have served on the City Council since 2022. They are running for a second term on fiscal responsibility. They also run on what they cast as emergency-response leadership. LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath has endorsed their campaign. Her district includes Malibu. The Malibu Times reported the endorsement in its coverage of the race. **Strengths:** A full term of council experience. Stewart also has an endorsement from LA County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, whose district includes Malibu. **Trade-offs:** Their campaign is the only one of the four with a 2026-cycle disclosure on file, so their fundraising is more visible than their opponents'. That is a difference in disclosure, not necessarily effort. **Keep in mind:** Independent coverage of Stewart's 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. He is 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. He 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. **Strengths:** Direct, personal stake in the city's post-fire recovery as a self-described fire survivor and neighborhood zone captain. He also has a specific "Fire First" policy platform. **Trade-offs:** He has never held elected office. Unlike both incumbents, he 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. State law only requires one once fundraising or spending crosses a threshold. ## A. Sam Dibaei A. Sam Dibaei is a Malibu resident making their first run for City Council. Little independent information about their background is publicly available. The Malibu Times reported they live near Malibu Middle School. It could not confirm further biographical details, including their occupation or platform. They do not appear in the city's NetFile campaign-finance portal under that name. **Strengths:** None documented from official or independent sources. **Trade-offs:** Dibaei has no public platform, prior civic role, or independent coverage describing their candidacy. **Keep in mind:** The Malibu Times reported it could not independently confirm their background. Dibaei also does not appear in the city's NetFile portal under that name. So no committee or contributions are on record for them there. ## Sources 1. [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)](https://www.malibucity.org/Index.aspx?NID=190) 2. [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)](https://www.malibucity.org/207/City-Council) 3. [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)](https://malibutimes.com/five-candidates-pull-papers-to-vie-for-two-city-council-positions) 4. [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)](https://www.malibu.fm/story/four-candidates-qualify-for-malibu-city-council-race-20260814) 5. [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)](https://theballotbook.com/jurisdictions/781/candidates) 6. [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)](https://ssl.netfile.com/pub2/?aid=MBU) ## The rest of the ballot Malibu City Council is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "Malibu City Council — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/malibu-council (sources last retrieved August 31, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.