# Moreno Valley City Council, District 2 Compare records and positions simply between David Zeitz, Liza Arellano, or JoAnn Martinez-Stephan for Moreno Valley City Council, District 2 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Moreno Valley's four-member City Council. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. The term is four years. Only two of the four districts are up in any given November. Moreno Valley's Mayor is elected separately, citywide, to a two-year term. - Jurisdiction: City of Moreno Valley - 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/moreno-valley-council-2 - 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: October 7, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 90 out of 100 (Very strong), across 8 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **David Zeitz** — Planning Commissioner - **Liza Arellano** — Commissioner, City of Moreno Valley - **JoAnn Martinez-Stephan** — Planning Commissioner A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Three candidates -- JoAnn Martinez-Stephan, David Zeitz, and Liza Arellano -- are on the November 3, 2026 ballot for Moreno Valley's District 2 City Council seat, an open race: incumbent Ed A. Delgado is not seeking reelection. Whoever gets the most votes wins a four-year term; there is no primary or runoff. This person holds your district's seat on Moreno Valley's 4-member City Council. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. Terms are four years. They are staggered, so only two of the four districts are up in any November. Moreno Valley's Mayor is elected citywide to a separate 2-year term. Most nearby cities instead rotate the mayor's title among sitting councilmembers. Day to day work runs through an appointed city manager. All three candidates hold appointed city jobs, per their own ballot titles. Martinez-Stephan and Zeitz both list Planning Commissioner. Arellano lists Commissioner, City of Moreno Valley, without naming which board. No outside source could confirm more about any of the three. The city's certified candidate record and its nomination papers tracker are all that was found. ## JoAnn Martinez-Stephan JoAnn Martinez-Stephan is a challenger running on the ballot designation "Planning Commissioner." No independent biography, occupation detail, or platform statement was found for them beyond the city's own certified candidate record. **Strengths:** None could be independently confirmed beyond the ballot designation "Planning Commissioner." **Trade-offs:** No independent biography, professional background, or stated platform was found beyond that designation. **Keep in mind:** No public record of their priorities was found beyond the ballot designation, so a vote rests on that designation alone, not a documented record. ## David Zeitz David Zeitz is a challenger running on the ballot designation "Planning Commissioner." No independent biography, occupation detail, or platform statement was found for them beyond the city's own certified candidate record. In their Vote411 questionnaire they describe working as a general contractor and small-business owner, earlier service-manager work at a local GMC dealership, and service on the Planning Commission. They also list coaching youth baseball and softball, scout leadership, animal rescue volunteering and riding-club membership. Their priorities answer is one sentence naming public safety, responsible growth and fiscal responsibility. Elsewhere they say they support law enforcement and first responders, and development that creates good-paying career opportunities. **Strengths:** Sits on the Planning Commission and has contracting and small-business experience, by their own account, with public safety and growth as stated themes. **Trade-offs:** The priorities answer is one sentence of broad goals with no specific policies, so a voter gives up detail on what they would vote for. **Keep in mind:** The contracting, dealership and volunteer background is self-reported in a candidate questionnaire and was not independently confirmed. ## Liza Arellano Liza Arellano is a challenger running on the ballot designation "Commissioner, City of Moreno Valley." No independent biography, occupation detail, or platform statement was found for them beyond the city's own certified candidate record. In her Vote411 questionnaire she describes herself as a licensed clinical social worker with a doctorate, a Master of Social Work program director and associate professor, and a first-generation college graduate raised by a single mother. She says she has lived in Moreno Valley 26 years and has served nearly a year on the Parks, Community Services and Trails Commission, which she says saw a new bike park and two playgrounds open. Her three stated priorities are quality education, with investment in school facilities, staffing and workforce partnerships with local schools and colleges; community health and safety, with more mental-health resources and funding for nonviolent crisis response; and good jobs and affordable housing, by backing unions and streamlining affordable-housing development. **Strengths:** Clinical social work and university teaching, plus nearly a year on the Parks commission, by her own account, with three specific priorities. **Trade-offs:** Her platform leans on union backing and faster housing approvals, a cost if you want fewer labor requirements or more review of new housing. **Keep in mind:** Her résumé and the commission results she cites, a new bike park and two playgrounds, are her own account in a candidate questionnaire, not independently confirmed. ## Sources 1. [City of Moreno Valley -- "City Council" government page: "In 2014, voters approved the direct election of a City Mayor"; describes a directly elected, at-large Mayor plus a 4-member City Council elected by district, and lists the current roster (Mayor Ulises Cabrera; District 1, Elena Baca-Santa Cruz; District 2, Ed A. Delgado; District 3, Erlan Gonzalez, Mayor Pro Tem; District 4, Cheylynda Barnard). Fetched directly, with no bot-blocking.](https://www.moval.org/city_council/index.html) 2. [City of Moreno Valley -- City Clerk "General Election Info" page: the Mayor serves a 2-year term elected at large; Councilmembers serve staggered 4-year terms by district; general municipal elections are held in even-numbered years; for November 3, 2026 the offices up are the Mayor and the District 2 and District 4 Council seats.](https://www.moval.org/departments/city-clerk/general-election-info.html) 3. [City of Moreno Valley -- City Clerk "2026 Election" page: November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election overview naming all 6 Mayoral candidates (Jaime Hurtado, Ulises Cabrera, Rylee Joseph Peak, Christopher Baca, Patsy Brown, Vanessa Moore) and all 3 candidates each for District 2 (David Zeitz, Liza Arellano, JoAnn Martinez Stephan) and District 4 (Nikita Wilson, Cheylynda Barnard, Steven Granda Alvarado), with links to each candidate's FPPC campaign-finance disclosure forms.](https://www.moval.org/departments/city-clerk/2026-election.html) 4. [City of Moreno Valley -- City Clerk-certified "Candidate List, November 3 2026 General Election" (signed and dated August 27, 2026): the qualified-candidates-only roster for Mayor, City Council District 2 and City Council District 4, with each candidate's ballot designation and randomized ballot-order number.](https://www.moval.org/departments/city-clerk/pdfs/c-forms/2026-election/2026-qualified-candidate-packet.pdf) 5. [City of Moreno Valley -- City Clerk "2026 Candidate Information" tracker, "List of Nomination Papers Issued and Filed for Members of the City Council: Mayor, District 2 and District 4" (updated August 7, 2026): the same 12 candidates as the certified candidate list, with each one's nomination-paper pull, filing, and Registrar-of-Voters qualification dates.](https://www.moval.org/departments/city-clerk/pdfs/2026_Council_Candidate_Information_ElectionTracker.pdf) 6. [Riverside County Registrar of Voters — 2026 Annual Election Calendar (lists every November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election office by city, including "City of Cathedral City: City Council District 3 / District 4 / District 5 / City Treasurer")](https://voteinfo.net/sites/g/files/aldnop371/files/2026-02/Annual%20Election%20Calendar%202026.pdf) 7. [City of Moreno Valley NetFile — public campaign-disclosure search](https://netfile.com/public/CMV/campaign/search-entities) 8. [League of Women Voters -- Vote411 voter guide, 'City of Moreno Valley City Council Member, District 2' race (statewide All Races list): each candidate's self-submitted ballot designation and campaign contacts, plus answers to the League's questions -- If elected, what are your top 3 priorities?; What background, experience and/or education qualify you for this elected office? Answers on file from David Zeitz, Liza Arellano. Capture in data/nov-2026/sources/vote411/moreno-valley-council-2.json.](https://www.vote411.org/plan-your-vote) ## The rest of the ballot Moreno Valley City Council, District 2 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, "Moreno Valley City Council, District 2 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/moreno-valley-council-2 (sources last retrieved October 7, 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.