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City of Palmdale · Statewide General Election

Palmdale City Council, District 4

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 holds your district's seat on Palmdale's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. A 4-year term.

Four candidates are running for the District 4 seat on Palmdale's City Council: incumbent Eric Ohlsen against three challengers — Getro Elize, Mark A. Maldonado and Francisco Sanchez. Palmdale elects its council by district directly each November; there is no primary for these seats.

Council seats carry 4-year terms. The winner joins four other district representatives as one of five votes on city ordinances, the budget, and land use, with day-to-day operations run by an appointed city manager rather than any single elected official. The council separately assigns the ceremonial Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem titles from among its own five members each year; winning this seat does not by itself decide who holds those titles going forward.

Ohlsen currently holds both the District 4 seat and, by his colleagues' assignment, the council-wide Mayor title. The practical choice is whether one term plus that added role is enough to extend, or whether a challenger's specific platform is the clearer draw — Elize is the only challenger who has published a detailed platform.

Eric Ohlsen

The incumbent, first elected to the council in 2022 and currently serving as the council's Mayor, a title assigned by his fellow councilmembers rather than a separate elected office. He began his career in the U.S. Coast Guard and later founded the Community Coalition of the Antelope Valley; his official bio names community beautification and development as priorities, without a detailed platform document. He filed his nomination papers about 45 minutes before the Aug. 7 deadline, according to the Antelope Valley Press.

Strengths

A first term already spent partly as council-assigned Mayor, plus a Coast Guard background and a self-founded community group, CoCoAV.

Trade-offs

One term is a shorter record than a multi-term incumbent's, and the Mayor title reflects his colleagues' choice more than a District 4 mandate.

Keep in mind

His official bio names beautification and development as priorities without a detailed platform; he is the only District 4 candidate with an active campaign-finance filer record.

Getro Elize

An Army veteran and community-health worker, challenging the incumbent. He proposes addressing housing affordability, safer schools, a City Walk & Convention Center project, and public-safety infrastructure (per his campaign site), and cites volunteer work distributing laptops and backpacks and helping feed thousands of families through local nonprofits. He has the endorsement of SEIU-UHW, a healthcare-workers' union — the only outside endorsement listed by any Palmdale council candidate this cycle.

Strengths

A detailed multi-part platform, an SEIU-UHW endorsement, and an extensive record of hands-on nonprofit volunteer work.

Trade-offs

No elected or appointed government experience; his platform includes a large capital project (a City Walk & Convention Center) with no cost or funding detail given.

Keep in mind

His community-health and Army background is direct public-service experience, but not budget or land-use decision-making specifically.

Mark A. Maldonado

One of four candidates on the District 4 ballot, challenging the incumbent. No campaign platform or biography has surfaced in the city's records or in local press coverage as of Aug. 31, 2026. He filed his nomination papers Aug. 5, 2026, according to the Antelope Valley Press.

Strengths

None documented from official sources or local coverage as of this writing.

Trade-offs

No public record exists to weigh him against the incumbent or the other challengers.

Keep in mind

He filed his nomination papers Aug. 5, 2026, per the Antelope Valley Press; no other detail about his candidacy has surfaced.

Francisco Sanchez

One of four candidates on the District 4 ballot, challenging the incumbent. No campaign platform or biography has surfaced in the city's records or in local press coverage as of Aug. 31, 2026. He filed his nomination papers Aug. 4, 2026, the earliest of the three District 4 challengers, according to the Antelope Valley Press.

Strengths

None documented from official sources or local coverage as of this writing.

Trade-offs

No public record exists to weigh him against the incumbent or the other challengers.

Keep in mind

He filed his nomination papers Aug. 4, 2026 — the earliest of the three District 4 challengers — per the Antelope Valley Press; no other detail has surfaced.

Source review: Strong (87/100) · 7 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.

Review note: Getro Elize for Palmdale City Council District 4 may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

Last updated August 31, 2026.