# Montebello City Council, District 1 Compare records and positions simply between Shazia Hoq, Kimberly Cobos-Cawthorne, and 2 more for Montebello City Council, District 1 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Montebello's 5-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, land use, and the budget. - Jurisdiction: City of Montebello - 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/montebello-council-1 - 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: 94 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 - **Shazia Hoq** — Business Woman - **Kimberly Cobos-Cawthorne** — Community Activist/Businesswoman - **Rafael Santoya** — Los Angeles County Employee - **Georgina Tamayo** — Mayor/Finance Director · Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. 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. Montebello's City Council has five members. The council sets city ordinances. It decides land use and development matters. It also adopts the annual budget. That work is shared with the other four district representatives. City staff run the day to day operations. This four-way race pairs an incumbent against three challengers. Each brings a different kind of prior experience. One is a past mayor and council member. One is a businesswoman active in a Los Angeles neighborhood council. One is a therapist who works 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; Tamayo has spent two decades in housing and community development, including their current job as a City of Los Angeles Housing Department programs manager. They point to a new District 1 fire station, new retail tenants, and expanded police and fire staffing during their term, and say they will keep investing in infrastructure and public safety. Tamayo is the only incumbent in this race. **Strengths:** Two decades of housing and development experience and a specific record of investments during their term: a new fire station, new retail tenants, and expanded public-safety staffing. **Trade-offs:** As the only incumbent facing three challengers, Tamayo owns the record voters are being asked to extend; each opponent is running explicitly as an alternative to Tamayo's four years in the seat. **Keep in mind:** Tamayo's ballot designation lists "Finance Director" alongside Mayor, but their own campaign material describes their 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. They say they will expand resources for first responders, support small businesses, and decline a council salary if elected. As mayor they 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:** They left office before this term and ask voters to return them to a seat they haven't held continuously; their platform is general, with no new specifics beyond declining a council salary. **Keep in mind:** Their role backing Measure H is independently documented (Ballotpedia); their campaign statement does not say why they left office in 2022 or what they have 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. They say they will push for transparency, accountability, and economic opportunity for District 1. They have 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 their own campaign statement to draw on. **Keep in mind:** Hoq's campaign statement lists transparency, public safety, and economic opportunity as priorities but does not name specific policies or votes they 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. They say their priorities are public safety, strong schools, and resourcing the police and fire departments. They have 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 their own campaign statement to draw on. **Keep in mind:** Santoya's campaign statement lists public safety, schools, and city services as priorities but does not name specific policies or votes they would pursue. ## Sources 1. [City of Montebello — Certified List of Qualified Candidates, November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election (certified 2026-08-13)](https://www.montebelloca.gov/UserFiles/Servers/Server_58672/File/Departments/Administration/City%20Clerk's%20Office/Elections/2026/November%203,%202026%20-%20Certified%20List%20of%20Qualified%20Candidates..pdf) 2. [City of Montebello — Candidate statements filed for the November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election](https://www.montebelloca.gov/departments/administration/city_clerks_office/elections_voting_information/2026_general_election) 3. [City of Montebello — Elected Officials (current councilmembers, districts, and terms) and Mayors of Montebello](https://www.montebelloca.gov/government/elected_officials) 4. [Wave Publications — Thirteen Southeast cities to conduct council elections (November 2022 candidate rosters, including Montebello)](https://wavepublication.com/thirteen-southeast-cities-to-conduct-council-elections/) 5. [Ballotpedia — Montebello, California, Measure H, Sales Tax (March 2020)](https://ballotpedia.org/Montebello,_California,_Measure_H,_Sales_Tax_(March_2020)) 6. [City of Montebello — Public campaign-finance disclosure portal (NetFile)](https://netfile.com/public/BELLO/campaign) ## The rest of the ballot Montebello City Council, District 1 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, "Montebello City Council, District 1 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/montebello-council-1 (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.