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City of Montebello · Statewide General Election

Montebello City Council, District 1

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 your district's seat on Montebello's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, land use, and the budget.

Mayor Georgina Tamayo, elected to the District 1 seat in 2022, faces three challengers on the November 3 ballot: former Mayor Kimberly Cobos-Cawthorne, businesswoman Shazia Hoq, and Los Angeles County employee Rafael Santoya.

Whoever wins takes office in December for a four-year term on Montebello's five-member City Council, which sets city ordinances, decides land-use and development matters, and adopts the annual budget — work shared with the other four district representatives and the city staff who run day-to-day operations.

This four-way race pairs an incumbent against three challengers who each bring a different kind of prior experience: a past mayor and councilmember, a businesswoman active in a Los Angeles neighborhood council, and a therapist working in county government. Montebello's council elections are nonpartisan, so the choice turns on record and background, not party.

Georgina Tamayo

Georgina Tamayo is the sitting District 1 councilmember and Montebello's current Mayor, a title the council rotates among its members each year; she has spent two decades in housing and community development, including her current job as a City of Los Angeles Housing Department programs manager. She points to a new District 1 fire station, new retail tenants, and expanded police and fire staffing during her term, and says she'll keep investing in infrastructure and public safety. She is the only incumbent in this race.

Strengths

Two decades of housing and development experience and a specific record of investments during her term: a new fire station, new retail tenants, and expanded public-safety staffing.

Trade-offs

As the only incumbent facing three challengers, she owns the record voters are being asked to extend; each opponent is running explicitly as an alternative to her four years in the seat.

Keep in mind

Her ballot designation lists "Finance Director" alongside Mayor, but her own campaign material describes her day job as a City of Los Angeles Housing Department programs manager, not a finance role — worth asking about directly.

Kimberly Cobos-Cawthorne

Kimberly Cobos-Cawthorne is a community activist and businesswoman who served on the Montebello City Council and as Mayor in 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. She says she'll expand resources for first responders, support small businesses, and decline a council salary if elected. As mayor she backed 2020's Measure H sales-tax increase, which voters approved and which still funds city services.

Strengths

Prior experience as both councilmember and Mayor, including backing Measure H, a 2020 sales-tax increase voters approved that still funds city services — the deepest institutional record in this race.

Trade-offs

She left office before this term and asks voters to return her to a seat she hasn't held continuously; her platform names general priorities, without new specifics beyond declining a council salary.

Keep in mind

Her role backing Measure H is independently documented (Ballotpedia); her campaign statement does not say why she left office in 2022 or what she has done in city government since.

Shazia Hoq

Shazia Hoq is a businesswoman who has run a California retail company for 20 years and served two terms as an officer of a large Los Angeles neighborhood council. She says she'll push for transparency, accountability, and economic opportunity for District 1. She has not previously held elected office in Montebello.

Strengths

Twenty years running a retail business plus two terms as an officer of a large Los Angeles neighborhood council — experience inside a public body, though not an elected city office.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office in Montebello and no independently reported record on city issues beyond her own campaign statement to draw on.

Keep in mind

Her campaign statement lists transparency, public safety, and economic opportunity as priorities but does not name specific policies or votes she would pursue.

Rafael Santoya

Rafael Santoya is a licensed marriage and family therapist with a Ph.D. who works for Los Angeles County and has more than 15 years in quality assurance and public service. He says his priorities are public safety, strong schools, and resourcing the police and fire departments. He has not previously held elected office in Montebello.

Strengths

A licensed therapist with a doctorate and 15-plus years in quality-assurance and public-sector accountability work for LA County, plus deep family ties to the district.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office in Montebello and no independently reported record on city issues beyond his own campaign statement to draw on.

Keep in mind

His campaign statement lists public safety, schools, and city services as priorities but does not name specific policies or votes he would pursue.

Source review: Very strong (94/100) · 6 cited sources

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

Last updated August 31, 2026.