# Mission Viejo City Council, District 4 (Short Term) Compare records and positions simply between Laura Lacko or James Morrison for Mission Viejo City Council, District 4 (Short Term) at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Mission Viejo's five-member City Council. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. An appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations. Each year, the council picks a Mayor from its own members. It also picks a Mayor Pro Tem. This particular term is a short, two-year term. Normal terms are four years. This shorter term is part of the city's move to staggered council elections. - Jurisdiction: City of Mission Viejo - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/mission-viejo-council-4 - 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: 90 out of 100 (Very strong), across 6 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Laura Lacko** — Community Volunteer - **James Morrison** — Human Resources Professional A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Laura Lacko faces James Morrison for Mission Viejo City Council, District 4 -- an open seat, since incumbent Trish Kelley isn't running again. Whichever candidate gets the most votes on November 3 wins outright; there's no runoff. This particular term is a short, 2-year term through 2028 -- see note below. This person holds your district's seat on Mission Viejo's 5-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. Mission Viejo is a general-law city with a council-manager government -- an appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations, and the council elects a Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem from among its own members each year. This particular term is a short, 2-year term (see note below) rather than the usual 4 years, part of the city's transition to staggered council elections. This seat is open: Trish Kelley, on the council since November 2002 -- 24 years, including six separate terms as Mayor (2005, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2021, and 2024) -- did not file for re-election, ending the longest tenure on the outgoing council. Neither candidate has held elected office before, and no independent news coverage of either was found in this pass beyond their county-filed ballot occupations. ## Laura Lacko A first-time candidate whose ballot occupation is listed as "Community Volunteer." No independent news profile or campaign website was found for them in this pass -- a documented gap, not a claim about their background. (Note: the OC Register's Aug. 14, 2026 roundup spells their name "Lauren Lacko"; this dataset uses "Laura Lacko," matching their own signed county filing.) **Strengths:** A community-volunteer background suggests grassroots familiarity with the district, distinct from a professional-office background. **Trade-offs:** No public record of prior civic board or elected service was found in this pass, and no news coverage describes their specific platform. **Keep in mind:** CAL-ACCESS and the city's own campaign-disclosure portal were both unreachable in this pass -- see Financial info. ## James Morrison A first-time candidate whose ballot occupation is listed as "Human Resources Professional." No independent news profile or campaign website was found for them in this pass -- a documented gap, not a claim about their background. **Strengths:** An HR background suggests direct experience with personnel and organizational management, relevant to overseeing a city workforce alongside the appointed city manager. **Trade-offs:** No public record of prior civic board or elected service was found in this pass, and no news coverage describes their specific platform. **Keep in mind:** CAL-ACCESS and the city's own campaign-disclosure portal were both unreachable in this pass -- see Financial info. ## Sources 1. [Orange County Registrar of Voters — "Contest/Candidate Proof List," General Election 11/3/2026 (printed by the county 8/28/2026 3:47-3:48pm): Mission Viejo's five City Council district contests (pages 130-134 of 188), each candidate's filing date, ballot occupation, and incumbency, and the "Short Term" label on Districts 2 and 4](https://ocvote.gov/fileadmin/user_upload/data/candlog/GEN2026/candlog.pdf) 2. [City of Mission Viejo — Election Information page: the same nine-candidate, five-district roster as the county's Proof List, plus the city's own explanation that Districts 2 and 4 serve a short 2-year term (through 2028) while Districts 1, 3, and 5 serve the normal 4 years, to stagger future elections](https://www.missionviejo.gov/departments/city-clerk/election-information) 3. [City of Mission Viejo — City Council page: the sitting 5-member council, one per district (Ruesch D1, Goodell D2, Vasquez D3, Kelley D4, Bucknum D5/Mayor), council-manager government, and the annual council-selected Mayor/Mayor Pro Tem](https://www.missionviejo.gov/government/city-council) 4. [Orange County Register — "Candidate fields take shape for City Council elections in Orange County": independently corroborates all five Mission Viejo district pairings, the two-year "staggered rotation" terms for Districts 2 and 4, and that Steven Thornton is unopposed in District 5; read via its Wayback Machine snapshot after a live fetch was blocked](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/08/14/candidate-fields-take-shape-for-city-council-elections-in-orange-county/) 5. [City of Mission Viejo — Districting Plan A packet (Dec. 2021): the adopted five-district map and per-district population figures (total city population 93,760) that took effect for the city's first, November 2022 by-district council election](https://www.missionviejo.gov/sites/default/files/PLAN_A_packet_MV2022.pdf) 6. [City of Mission Viejo — official council-member biography for Trish Kelley (District 4, not seeking re-election in 2026): originally elected to the council in November 2002 (24 years' tenure) and elected Mayor by colleagues six times (2005, 2008, 2010, 2014, 2021, 2024)](https://www.missionviejo.gov/departments/city-manager/trish-kelley) ## The rest of the ballot Mission Viejo City Council, District 4 (Short Term) 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, "Mission Viejo City Council, District 4 (Short Term) — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/mission-viejo-council-4 (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.