# Palmdale City Council, District 4 Compare records and positions simply between Eric Ohlsen, Francisco Sanchez, Getro Elize, and 1 more for Palmdale City Council, District 4 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Palmdale's 5-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The term is four years. - Jurisdiction: City of Palmdale - 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/palmdale-council-4 - 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: August 31, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 87 out of 100 (Strong), across 7 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Eric Ohlsen** — Incumbent - **Francisco Sanchez** - **Getro Elize** - **Mark A. Maldonado** A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. 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. Sanchez filed their 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 Sanchez against the incumbent or the other challengers. **Keep in mind:** They filed their nomination papers Aug. 4, 2026 — the earliest of the three District 4 challengers — per the Antelope Valley Press; no other detail has surfaced. ## Review notes - 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. ## Sources 1. [City of Palmdale City Clerk — 2026 City Council Final Candidate List](https://cityofpalmdaleca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/21186/public_candidate_list_final_08_18_2026) 2. [Antelope Valley Press — "Alarcón won't run to keep council seat" (Aug. 8, 2026, updated Aug. 11, 2026)](https://www.avpress.com/news/alarc-n-won-t-run-to-keep-council-seat/article_5c56a4fe-7dfa-406d-a71d-cc051b18c540.html) 3. [City of Palmdale — Mayor/Councilmember Eric Ohlsen (official biography)](https://www.cityofpalmdaleca.gov/307/Councilmember-Eric-Ohlsen) 4. [Getro Elize for Palmdale City Council District 4 — campaign site](https://getroelize4citycouncil.com) 5. [City of Palmdale — Public Portal for Campaign Finance Disclosure (NetFile)](https://ssl.netfile.com/pub2/Default.aspx?aid=CPD) 6. [City of Palmdale — City Council (current officeholders and district assignments)](https://www.cityofpalmdaleca.gov/304/City-Council) 7. [City of Palmdale — City Elections (nomination timeline, District 5 incumbent non-filing notice)](https://www.cityofpalmdaleca.gov/322/City-Elections) ## The rest of the ballot Palmdale City Council, District 4 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, "Palmdale City Council, District 4 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/palmdale-council-4 (sources last retrieved August 31, 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.