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City of Marina · Statewide General Election

Marina City Council, District 4

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 would represent one of Marina's four council districts on the city's five-member City Council -- the citywide budget, land use, and oversight of city staff for this Monterey County city of 22,359 residents (2020 Census), alongside a directly elected, at-large Mayor who is not part of this race. This seat serves a four-year term.

Three candidates are running for Marina City Council District 4: Planning Commissioner Michael Simmons (campaigning as Mike Simmons), community organizer Athena Burciaga, and Marina Coast Water District board member Brad Imamura. Vote for one -- no primary.

Marina's City Council has five members: a directly elected, at-large Mayor (not part of this race) and four district councilmembers, each serving a four-year term. District 4 elects one of those four. The Council sets the citywide budget, land use, and public-safety funding for this Monterey County city of 22,359 residents (2020 Census). This is an open seat: the sitting District 4 councilmember, Liesbeth Visscher, is running for Mayor instead of reelection here.

Housing and Measure Q -- a proposed utility users tax on the same ballot -- are the dominant issues in this race. Simmons supports Measure Q as necessary for facility upgrades and says he would ensure the money is spent only on infrastructure; Burciaga and Imamura both oppose it, on affordability and accountability grounds respectively.

Michael Simmons

Michael Simmons -- campaigning as Mike Simmons -- currently serves on Marina's Planning Commission. Monterey County Weekly reports a 30-year retail career managing budgets and teams and service on Contra Costa County's Civil Grand Jury. On housing, he says the city has handled affordable housing well, supports accessory dwelling units, and emphasizes workforce housing. On Measure Q, he supports passage, calling it necessary for facility upgrades, and says he is committed to ensuring the funds are used for infrastructure only. His own campaign site emphasizes experienced, transparent, and accountable leadership and responsible economic growth.

Strengths

A sitting Planning Commission seat gives him the most direct land-use governance experience of the three, and the only clear support for Measure Q.

Trade-offs

His own site offers general leadership language with fewer specifics than Monterey County Weekly's reporting on his actual positions.

Keep in mind

His Measure Q position -- support, contingent on infrastructure-only spending -- sets him apart from both opponents, who oppose it.

Athena Burciaga

Athena Burciaga is a community organizer and computer science major at CSU Monterey Bay, and co-chair of the Central Coast Democratic Socialists of America. She helped establish the Rainbow Raft Pride Center at CSUMB, working with community members, county supervisors, and state legislators. On housing, she advocates "missing middle" housing developed with CSUMB for young adults and working families, rent caps on city-owned developments, and protecting rent-stabilized housing in Preston and Abrams Park. She opposes Measure Q's proposed 7% utility tax, saying the city "can't balance the budget on the back of working class folks in Marina," and separately commits to protecting Marina's water resources from what she describes as privatization attempts by California American Water (CalAm).

Strengths

The most specific housing platform of the three -- naming particular developments and mechanisms like rent caps -- and a clear case against Measure Q.

Trade-offs

No prior elected or appointed public service was found for her; her organizing record (the Rainbow Raft Pride Center) is real but distinct from governing office.

Keep in mind

Her framing against Marina becoming "an expensive bedroom community for Silicon Valley workers" is the most explicitly ideological of the three campaigns.

Brad Imamura

Brad Imamura is a director on the Marina Coast Water District board, with a career in public service including positions with the City of San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Monterey County Weekly reports he reframes affordable housing as "subsidized" housing and favors high-density development to increase overall housing supply and general market-rate housing. He opposes Measure Q, citing a lack of guarantee that funds would be spent on infrastructure, and says he would prefer commercial development to grow the tax base instead. His own campaign site adds opposition to a CalAm slant-well water-intrusion project, funding citywide Wi-Fi access for children's education, and a program to repair deteriorated streets and address blight and graffiti.

Strengths

The most directly relevant governance experience of the three -- a sitting water-district board seat -- in a race where CalAm's slant well comes up often.

Trade-offs

His own site is comparatively thin on specifics; more of the detail on his housing framing here comes from independent reporting than his own materials.

Keep in mind

His "subsidized housing" reframing and preference for commercial development is a distinct approach from both opponents, worth weighing directly.

Source review: Mixed (78/100) · 8 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: Athena Burciaga's own 2026 Marina City Council District 4 campaign site (athena4marina.com): background (community organizer, Rainbow Raft Pride Center co-founder at CSUMB) and platform (affordable and rent-stabilized housing, opposing Measure Q, opposing CalAm water privatization)., Brad Imamura's own 2026 Marina City Council District 4 campaign site (brad4marina.com): platform (opposing the CalAm slant-well project, citywide Wi-Fi, sensible economic growth, street and blight repair)., and Michael "Mike" Simmons's own 2026 Marina City Council District 4 campaign site (simmons4marina.com): platform (experienced, transparent, accountable leadership; responsible economic growth; careful planning). may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • cityofmarina.org (opens in a new tab)City of Marina -- official "Candidate Watch" page for the November 3, 2026 General Election: the City Clerk's own definitive roster of every qualified candidate by seat, with a qualification date and each candidate's own campaign-site link -- Mayor (Mike Moeller, Liesbeth Visscher, Ana Luz Acevedo-Cabrera), City Council District 1 (Brian McCarthy alone), and City Council District 4 (Michael Simmons, Athena Burciaga, Brad Imamura)
  • cityofmarina.org (opens in a new tab)City of Marina -- official "City Council" page: names the sitting five-member Council and each member's current term -- Mayor Bruce Carlos Delgado (at-large, term Nov. 2022-2026), Mayor Pro Tem Liesbeth Visscher (District 4, term Nov. 2022-2026), Brian McCarthy (District 1, term Nov. 2022-2026), Kathy Y. Biala (District 2, term Nov. 2024-2028), and Jenny McAdams (District 3, term Nov. 2024-2028) -- confirming the Mayor, District 1, and District 4 seats are the only three up in November 2026
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Marina, California": used narrowly for the 2020 Census population (22,359) and to independently corroborate Bruce Delgado as the sitting Mayor; it does not describe the city's council-district structure and does not cover the 2026 election
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- direct filer searches for "Visscher," "Moeller," "Acevedo-Cabrera," "McCarthy," "Simmons," "Burciaga," and "Imamura" each returned a blank result page, no committee or candidate filer registered under any of the seven names. Cal-Access covers only state-level campaign finance and excludes local government filings in any case, so this documents an absence of a reachable disclosure source for all seven candidates, not a claim about any of their actual finances
  • montereycountynow.com (opens in a new tab)Monterey County Weekly (montereycountynow.com) -- "Marina candidates in the race for the District 4 seat talk housing and Measure Q" (Erik Chalhoub, Aug. 31, 2026): profiles all three District 4 candidates -- Athena Burciaga, Brad Imamura, Michael "Mike" Simmons -- on housing and Measure Q, and independently confirms both the Mayor's race field (Visscher, Moeller, Acevedo-Cabrera) and that Brian McCarthy is running unopposed for reelection in District 1
  • simmons4marina.com (opens in a new tab)Michael "Mike" Simmons's own 2026 Marina City Council District 4 campaign site (simmons4marina.com): platform (experienced, transparent, accountable leadership; responsible economic growth; careful planning)
  • athena4marina.com (opens in a new tab)Athena Burciaga's own 2026 Marina City Council District 4 campaign site (athena4marina.com): background (community organizer, Rainbow Raft Pride Center co-founder at CSUMB) and platform (affordable and rent-stabilized housing, opposing Measure Q, opposing CalAm water privatization)
  • brad4marina.com (opens in a new tab)Brad Imamura's own 2026 Marina City Council District 4 campaign site (brad4marina.com): platform (opposing the CalAm slant-well project, citywide Wi-Fi, sensible economic growth, street and blight repair)

Last updated September 1, 2026.