- ocvote.gov (opens in a new tab)OC Registrar of Voters -- Contest/Candidate Proof List, General Election 11/3/2026 -- City of Newport Beach section (pages 134-138 of 188): confirms City Council District 1 (2 qualified candidates), District 3 (3), District 4 (1, unopposed), and District 6 (2) as the city's four November 2026 races, each Vote for 1, with incumbent flags and every candidate's filed ballot designation -- and that no Mayor or other at-large Newport Beach contest appears anywhere in the document
- en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's Newport Beach, California article, government section: confirms Newport Beach is a council-manager charter city with a 7-member, district-elected City Council (4-year terms) and no directly-elected Mayor -- the council chooses a Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem annually from among its own members -- and independently names the sitting Mayor as Lauren Kleiman and Mayor Pro Tem as Noah Blom, plus the full current 7-member roster (Stapleton, Barto, Weigand, Grant, Blom, Kleiman, Weber), cross-checking all four of this cycle's incumbents against the county's Proof List
Last updated August 31, 2026.
City of Newport Beach
Newport Beach City Council, District 1
This person holds your district's seat on Newport Beach's 7-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside an appointed city manager who runs day-to-day operations. Newport Beach has no directly-elected Mayor -- the council selects a Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem annually from among its own members. Not all seven districts are elected the same year -- only Districts 1, 3, 4, and 6 have terms expiring in 2026. The term is four years.
Incumbent Joe Stapleton is running for re-election against challenger Tina Babajanians. Whoever gets the most votes on November 3 wins. There is no runoff.
This person holds District 1's seat on Newport Beach's 7-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside an appointed city manager who runs day-to-day operations. Newport Beach has no directly-elected Mayor -- the council selects a Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem annually from among its own members. Not all seven districts are elected the same year -- only Districts 1, 3, 4, and 6 have terms expiring in 2026. The term is four years.
Stapleton is the incumbent, confirmed both by the county's own Proof List (which lists them as the sitting officeholder) and independently by Wikipedia's current Newport Beach council roster. Beyond their filed ballot designation and that incumbency, no independent biography, news coverage, or campaign platform could be confirmed for either candidate in this pass despite a real search effort -- a documented gap, not a claim that no such material exists.
Joe Stapleton
Joe Stapleton's ballot title is "Newport Beach Councilmember/Businessman." This confirms their council seat and business background, but no more detail was found. No campaign site, city biography, or news coverage about their record was found.
Tina Babajanians
Tina Babajanians' ballot title is "Business Owner." No campaign site, news coverage, or other source about their background was found.
Your pick
A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.