# Ojai City Council, District 1

Compare records and positions simply between Leslie C. Rule or Jordan Garst for Ojai City Council, District 1 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person represents one of Ojai's four numbered City Council districts. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land-use decisions. A citywide-elected Mayor also sits on the council. An appointed City Manager runs day-to-day operations. Ojai moved from at-large to district elections in 2018, under Ordinance 889. This followed the California Voting Rights Act. The term is four years.

- Jurisdiction: City of Ojai
- 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/ojai-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 1, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 84 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

- **Leslie C. Rule** — Incumbent
- **Jordan Garst** — Research Finance Administrator

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

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. The city created four numbered districts in 2018 under Ordinance 889. Before that, Council members were elected at large. The term is four years. The Mayor, City Clerk, and City Treasurer are still elected citywide.

Two names are on the ballot for one seat. The winner is whoever gets more votes. There is no ranked-choice voting and no runoff. Whether Ojai should keep district elections at all is itself contested this cycle. Rule's platform backs a ballot initiative. It would let voters decide whether to restore at-large elections. Mayor Andy Gilman is not on this ballot but is active in the debate. He has been linked 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:** She has four years on the Council. She sponsored a legislative first, the 2024 elephant ordinance. Her platform covers land management, wildfire prep, education, and at-large elections.

**Trade-offs:** No independent reporting was found that weighs her votes on the budget or land use. Her public profile leans on animal rights work and biography more than a policy record.

**Keep in mind:** Her platform frames district versus at-large elections as a question for voters to settle by initiative. She does not stake out a position on the outcome. That is a notable stance for a district-elected incumbent.

## Jordan Garst

A first-time candidate; Garst's filed ballot designation is 'Research Finance Administrator.' In July 2026 Garst 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 -- their clearest public statement of priorities, centered on government accountability and process.

**Strengths:** Garst took a specific, documented public stand on a live city controversy before the election. The Cabin Village procurement put a concrete accountability position on the record.

**Trade-offs:** No independent biography, employer, or campaign materials were found for them. All that turned up was their ballot title and one co-signed letter. No dedicated campaign profile was found.

**Keep in mind:** Garst is a first-time candidate, so they have no council voting record to weigh. Their public position so far is a critique of one city decision, not a fuller platform.

## Sources

1. [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](https://clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/cfmcfmr001_contcanddataproof_08-18-2026-on-ballot-alpha-order-applied.pdf)
2. [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](https://clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/cfmcfmr001_contcanddataproof_08-17-2026-off-ballot.pdf)
3. [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](https://www.ojai.ca.gov/190/Election-Information)
4. [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](https://www.ojai.ca.gov/267/City-Council)
5. [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](https://netfile.com/public/OJAI/campaign)
6. [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](https://www.ojaivalleynews.com/news/elections/councilmember-leslie-rule-runs-again-for-district-1/article_8b4fdb7a-2a92-49c6-ad1e-de73a2a2c216.html)
7. [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](https://www.ojaivalleynews.com/opinion/letters_to_editor/your-letters-july-3-2026/article_d821128b-b3a8-4b98-a9f8-6b3f3f1c7d56.html)
8. [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](https://www.ojaivalleynews.com/news/elections/mayor-andy-gilman-holds-reelection-campaign-event-at-ojai-valley-brewery/article_f34a5100-94bc-4abe-892f-49d4b4c9c279.html)

## The rest of the ballot

Ojai 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, "Ojai City Council, District 1 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/ojai-council-1 (sources last retrieved September 1, 2026).

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