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City of Ojai · Statewide General Election

Ojai 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 represents one of Ojai's four numbered City Council districts: city ordinances, the budget, and land-use decisions, alongside a citywide-elected Mayor and an appointed City Manager who runs day-to-day operations. Ojai moved from at-large to district-based Council elections in 2018 (Ordinance 889, under Elections Code Section 10010 and the California Voting Rights Act). A 4-year term.

Incumbent Leslie Rule seeks a second term representing District 1 against Jordan Garst, a first-time candidate who has publicly criticized the city's handling of a homeless-housing contract. Rule has held the seat since 2022.

This person represents District 1 on Ojai's five-member City Council -- one of four numbered districts created when the city moved from at-large to district-based Council elections in 2018 (Ordinance 889). A 4-year term. The Mayor, City Clerk, and City Treasurer remain elected citywide.

With two names on the ballot for one seat, this is decided by whichever candidate gets more votes -- no ranked-choice voting or runoff. Notably, whether Ojai should keep district elections at all is itself contested this cycle: Rule's own platform supports a ballot initiative letting voters decide whether to restore at-large elections, while Mayor Andy Gilman (not on this ballot, but publicly active in the debate) has been associated with favoring at-large elections outright.

Leslie C. Rule

The incumbent, on the Council since 2022. Raised in San Francisco, she performed in the city's 1980s music scene, later earned a teaching credential and spent three decades in education (including PBS digital-storytelling workshops), and has a long history of animal-rights activism. She sponsored Ojai's 2024 ordinance granting elephants 'bodily autonomy'/habeas corpus rights, which the city describes as the first of its kind in the country.

Strengths

Four years on the Council, a notable legislative first (the 2024 elephant ordinance), and a clear platform: land management, wildfire prep, education, and an at-large-elections initiative.

Trade-offs

This dataset found no independent reporting evaluating her votes on budget or land-use specifically -- her public profile leans on animal-rights advocacy and biography more than a policy record.

Keep in mind

Her platform explicitly frames district-vs-at-large elections as a question for voters to decide by initiative, rather than staking out a position on the outcome -- a notable stance for a district-elected incumbent.

Jordan Garst

A first-time candidate; his filed ballot designation is 'Research Finance Administrator.' In July 2026 he co-signed a public letter to Ojai Valley News, with five other residents, criticizing the city's sole-source selection of DignityMoves for its Cabin Village supportive-housing project following a Ventura County Civil Grand Jury report -- his clearest public statement of priorities, centered on government accountability and process.

Strengths

A specific, documented public stance on a live city controversy (the Cabin Village procurement) ahead of the election, putting a concrete accountability position on the record.

Trade-offs

This dataset found no independent biography, employer, or campaign materials for him beyond his ballot designation and one co-signed letter -- no dedicated campaign profile was found this session.

Keep in mind

As a first-time candidate, he has no council voting record to evaluate; his public position so far is a critique of a specific city decision rather than a fuller platform.

Source review: Strong (84/100) · 8 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Ventura County's own certified 'Contest/Candidate Proof List' (report CFMR001), the on-ballot roster dated and printed August 18, 2026, in 'alpha order applied' form -- names all four Ojai City contests (Mayor; Council Districts 1, 2, 3) as ON BALLOT with their exact qualified-candidate rosters, ballot designations, and incumbency flags
  • clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Ventura County's companion 'Contest/Candidate Proof List -- Off Ballot' document, dated August 17, 2026 -- Ojai's City Council contests do not appear anywhere in this document, corroborating by absence that none were cancelled or resolved by appointment under Elections Code Section 10229
  • ojai.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)The City of Ojai City Clerk's Office's own 'Election Information' page (updated August 7, 2026, the regular filing deadline): a candidate-by-candidate filing table (papers pulled/filed/qualified) independently confirming the county's certified roster exactly, including Clay Creasey's withdrawn Mayor filing
  • ojai.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)The City of Ojai's own City Council page: names the sitting five-member Council by district and term, and states Ordinance 889 (Dec. 11, 2018) moved Ojai from at-large to district-based Council elections under Elections Code Section 10010 and the California Voting Rights Act, with the Mayor, City Clerk, and City Treasurer remaining elected citywide
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)A negative-result campaign-finance source: the City of Ojai's NetFile public campaign-finance portal, the sole channel for 2026-cycle filings per the city's own FPPC Filing Requirements page -- a client-side JavaScript app gated behind a Cloudflare Turnstile challenge, returning no filer or report content to any automated fetch this session
  • ojaivalleynews.com (opens in a new tab)Ojai Valley News -- 'Councilmember Leslie Rule runs again for District 1' (Robert Shepyer, Aug. 20, 2026): a full profile of Rule's background and her stated 2026 platform in her own words
  • ojaivalleynews.com (opens in a new tab)Ojai Valley News -- 'Your letters -- July 3, 2026': includes a co-signed letter by District 1 candidate Jordan Garst criticizing the city's sole-source selection of DignityMoves for the Cabin Village project -- the only substantive public statement by him found this session
  • ojaivalleynews.com (opens in a new tab)Ojai Valley News -- 'Mayor Andy Gilman holds reelection campaign event at Ojai Valley Brewery' (Robert Shepyer, July 16, 2026): Gilman's July 13 campaign-launch event, his first-term record and second-term priorities in his own words, and his on-record responses to the at-large-elections and DignityMoves controversies

Last updated September 1, 2026.