# Murrieta City Council, District 1 Jon Levell is running uncontested for Murrieta City Council, District 1. Full ballot at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Murrieta's City Council. The council has five members. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The term is four years. The council picks one of its own members to serve as Mayor. It picks another to serve as Mayor Pro Tem. These titles rotate rather than being separately elected. An appointed city manager runs day to day operations. - Jurisdiction: City of Murrieta - 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/murrieta-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: September 3, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 89 out of 100 (Strong), across 8 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Jon Levell** — Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Incumbent Jon Levell, Murrieta's sitting Mayor, is unopposed for the District 1 City Council seat -- the City Clerk's own qualified-candidates list states explicitly that no one else filed against them. The winner holds one of five district seats on Murrieta's City Council, a 4-year term. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The council selects one of its own members to serve as Mayor and another as Mayor Pro Tem -- the titles rotate rather than being separately elected -- and day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager. Levell has held the District 1 seat, and the Mayor title, since 2022; no opposing candidate qualified for this cycle. Because the seat is uncontested, this vote functions as a confirmation of their continued service rather than a choice between candidates. ## Jon Levell The incumbent District 1 councilmember and sitting Mayor, seeking another term unopposed. Per the city's own biography page, Levell is Director of Business Development at Loma Linda University Medical Center-Murrieta and, with their wife, has co-owned Southwest Riverside County's longest-running CrossFit gym for a decade. They hold an M.A. in Psychology/Counseling from La Sierra University and a B.S. in Psychology from John Brown University, and served as a city Planning Commissioner from 2018 to 2022 (Chairman, 2021-2022) before their council election. **Strengths:** Institutional continuity as sitting Mayor since 2022, prior Planning Commission chairmanship experience, and a healthcare/small-business background touching several of the city's stated priorities. **Trade-offs:** Running unopposed means voters have no comparison candidate to weigh Levell against this cycle -- this is a vote on their record, not a contest of platforms. **Keep in mind:** Levell's city biography lists public safety, development, small business, healthcare access, and "whole-person wellness" as priorities -- self-described goals on an official city page, not independently verified. ## Sources 1. [City of Murrieta City Clerk -- "Qualified Candidates Contact List for Member of the City Council Districts 1, 2, and 5": names every candidate who qualified for the Nov. 3, 2026 General Municipal Election by district (Jon Levell, District 1; Joshua Barton, Ron Holliday, and Keelan McCullough, District 2; Luiz Valdez Jr. and Cindy Warren, District 5), and states explicitly "No other qualified candidates for District 1."](https://www.murrietaca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/16847) 2. [City of Murrieta City Clerk -- "List of Nomination Papers Issued and Filed for Member of the City Council Districts 1, 2 and 5," updated Aug. 7, 2026 (the close of the nomination period): gives each candidate's full legal name (Joshua Morgan Barton, not just "Joshua Barton") and filing/qualification dates, corroborating the qualified-candidates list above with a second, later-dated city record.](https://www.murrietaca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/16689) 3. [City of Murrieta -- "Elections" / Election Central page: states the Nov. 3, 2026 General Municipal Election's nomination period (July 13 -- Aug. 7, 2026) and voter-registration deadline (Oct. 19, 2026), that Council members are "elected by-district," and cites Elections Code section 10227's district-residency requirement for candidates.](https://www.murrietaca.gov/378/Elections) 4. [City of Murrieta -- "City Council" government page: lists the current 5-member, by-district Council -- Jon Levell (Mayor, District 1), Ron Holliday (Mayor Pro Tempore, District 2), Lisa DeForest (District 3), Lori Stone (District 4), Cindy Warren (District 5) -- corroborating each 2026 incumbent's district and office, and showing the Mayor/Mayor Pro Tem titles attached to district seats rather than a separately elected office.](https://www.murrietaca.gov/377/City-Council) 5. [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) 6. [Wikipedia -- "Murrieta, California": lists the current Mayor (Cindy Warren per this dataset's retrieval -- see note below), Mayor Pro Tem, and City Council, independently corroborating that Jon Levell, Ron Holliday, and Cindy Warren are sitting councilmembers; describes the city as a "Council-manager" government but does not explain Mayor selection or give council term lengths. (Wikipedia's own snapshot listed Cindy Warren, not Jon Levell, as Mayor -- an apparent lag behind the city's own current page, which this dataset follows as the more authoritative, more frequently updated source; Wikipedia is cited here only for roster corroboration, not for the Mayor title.)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murrieta,_California) 7. [City of Murrieta -- Jon Levell council-member biography page: Director of Business Development at Loma Linda University Medical Center-Murrieta; co-owner, with his wife, of Southwest Riverside County's longest-running CrossFit gym; M.A. in Psychology/Counseling (La Sierra University) and B.S. in Psychology (John Brown University); Planning Commissioner 2018-2022 (Chairman 2021-2022) before his council election; stated priorities include public safety, responsible development, small business, and healthcare access.](https://www.murrietaca.gov/1307/Jon-Levell) 8. [City of Murrieta NetFile — public campaign-disclosure search](https://netfile.com/public/CMA/campaign/search-entities) ## The rest of the ballot Murrieta 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, "Murrieta City Council, District 1 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/murrieta-council-1 (sources last retrieved September 3, 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.