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City of Paso Robles · Statewide General Election

Mayor of Paso Robles

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On the ballot

This person would serve a 4-year term as Paso Robles's directly, citywide-elected Mayor -- presiding officer of the 5-member City Council and the city's chief elected official. Paso Robles, a San Luis Obispo County city of about 31,490 residents (2020 Census), runs under a council-manager government, with an appointed City Manager handling day-to-day operations. The seat is open: incumbent Mayor John Hamon declined to seek reelection.

Three newcomers -- William Britton, Faith Frankel, and Chris Rogalla -- are competing for Paso Robles's open Mayor's seat. Incumbent Mayor John Hamon declined to seek reelection.

Paso Robles's Mayor is directly elected citywide to a 4-year term, presiding over the 5-member City Council -- the Mayor plus four district Council Members -- that sets the budget, land use, and city ordinances for this San Luis Obispo County city of 31,490 residents (2020 Census). Day-to-day operations are run by an appointed City Manager under the city's council-manager government.

Hamon was appointed Mayor by the City Council in 2023 to complete predecessor Steve Martin's term after Martin's death in office, then announced at an April 2026 Council meeting that he would not seek a full term of his own, citing a wish to spend more time with his family. His tenure included a contested downtown paid-parking initiative, a costly public-records dispute and settlement involving a former City Manager, and a 2024 state finding that he violated conflict-of-interest law over vacation-rental activity.

William Britton

William "Bill" Britton is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and former Cal Poly vice president who was the first to enter the race, launching his campaign in April 2026 with an endorsement from outgoing Mayor John Hamon. His background includes work establishing a Cyber Forensics Crime Lab and involvement in the Paso Robles Air & Space Port initiative; his campaign has emphasized fixing roads and infrastructure, public safety, and economic development, along with planned community listening tours. He has also been endorsed by Mayor Pro Tem Steve Gregory, San Luis Obispo County Sheriff Ian Parkinson, County Supervisor John Peschong, and former state Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham.

Strengths

A public-safety and infrastructure background, plus endorsements from the outgoing Mayor, the county sheriff, and a county supervisor.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office; the earliest-declared candidate, but the county Republican Party's own August endorsement went to Frankel rather than to him.

Keep in mind

Endorsed directly by the outgoing Mayor, which cuts both ways -- continuity with Hamon's priorities, but also proximity to a mayoralty that ended amid real controversy.

Faith Frankel

Dr. Faith Frankel, 44, is a family physician who practices alongside her father and has lived in Paso Robles since she was 7 years old. She earned her undergraduate degree at UC Santa Barbara, attended medical school in Tel Aviv, Israel for three years, and completed her studies at UCLA -- returning to Paso Robles, by her own account, because she "really loved the patients" there over the bigger-city alternative. She entered the race in July 2026 after encouragement from residents, including local rideshare drivers, and is running to become the city's first female mayor. Her stated priorities include road repair, supporting the Paso Robles Senior Center, maintaining a "small city atmosphere with big city amenities," and expanding public dialogue between the Council and residents beyond the current three-minute public-comment format. She was endorsed by the San Luis Obispo County Republican Party in August 2026.

Strengths

A medical career and family practice rooted in the community since childhood, a grassroots campaign launch, and the county Republican Party's endorsement.

Trade-offs

No prior elected or appointed city office; entered the race later than Britton (July vs. April 2026).

Keep in mind

Running explicitly on a first-female-mayor platform and on opening up the public-comment process -- a change in tone from the current format, not just personnel.

Chris Rogalla

Chris Rogalla is a Paso Robles resident running on a message of "Residents first. Fiscally responsible. Future strong." No campaign launch article, news profile, or city biography was found for him this pass -- the only material located is his name and that slogan, as reported in the San Luis Obispo Tribune's roundup of the race; a dedicated search of Paso Robles Daily News and Google News for his name turned up nothing further.

Strengths

Not established by available sourcing.

Trade-offs

By far the thinnest public record of the three candidates -- no campaign website, prior civic role, or news profile was found this pass, only a name and a slogan.

Keep in mind

This is a genuine gap in available coverage, not a judgment about his candidacy -- voters wanting more should look for his own campaign materials directly.

Source review: Strong (87/100) · 11 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • slocounty.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)San Luis Obispo County Elections Division -- "Certified Candidate List for the November 3, 2026 General Election" (report CFMR009): contains three Paso Robles Joint Unified School District rows but no city-office row of any kind for Paso Robles or any other San Luis Obispo County city; a companion county page states the list "does not include candidates running for city office" since city candidates file directly with their own city clerk.
  • web.archive.org (opens in a new tab)City of Paso Robles -- own "City Council" page (retrieved via web.archive.org, since prcity.com itself returns a Cloudflare bot challenge to every direct fetch; Oct. 25, 2025 snapshot): names Paso Robles a general-law, council-manager city with a 5-member Council -- a directly elected Mayor plus four district Council Members, moved from at-large to by-district elections after a California Voting Rights Act challenge (Ordinance 1071 N.S.) -- and lists every sitting officeholder's term-expiration date: Mayor John Hamon, District 1 Kris Beal, and District 2 Chris Bausch each "Term Expires 12/2026"; District 3 Steve Gregory and District 4 Fred Strong each "Term Expires 12/2028."
  • web.archive.org (opens in a new tab)City of Paso Robles -- own election-info page (retrieved via web.archive.org, since prcity.com itself 403s direct fetches; Feb. 3, 2026 snapshot, still titled and slugged for the 2024 cycle since no 2026-specific page has been crawled by the Wayback Machine): describes the city's by-district Council system, its nomination-paperwork process and roughly July 13-Aug. 7 filing window (extendable to Aug. 12 for a non-incumbent challenger to a seat an incumbent didn't refile for), and the 2024 cycle's own offices and qualified candidates -- District 1 (partial term, won by Kris Beal), District 3, District 4, and an at-large Treasurer (Ryan Cornell, unopposed, full 4-year term through 2028) -- used here only for office/process structure and to confirm no Treasurer race recurs in 2026, not as a 2026 candidate roster.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia, "Paso Robles, California": used narrowly for the fixed, dated 2020 Census population figure (31,490) -- the article's own claims about an all-at-large City Council and an elected City Clerk are stale relative to the city's own live/archived pages (which show by-district Council elections and no City Clerk race) and are not used.
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)A negative-result local campaign-finance check: no page reachable this session -- the city's own Wayback-archived pages, the Tribune/Paso Robles Daily News/New Times/Cal Coast News coverage, or several guessed NetFile agency codes tried directly against netfile.com's own public filing-log API -- named, linked, or resolved to any specific campaign-finance disclosure portal for Paso Robles candidates. Documents a failure to locate a portal this pass, not a claim that one doesn't exist or that any candidate's finances are unusual.
  • web.archive.org (opens in a new tab)City of Paso Robles -- Mayor John Hamon's own city-published biography page (retrieved via web.archive.org, since prcity.com itself 403s direct fetches; Jan. 9, 2026 snapshot): lists his "Mayor, Term: 2022-2026" and states, in the city's own words, that he "was appointed by Council in 2023 to fulfill the mayoral vacancy left by the death of Mayor Steve Martin," after first being elected to the Council (District 1) in 2006 and serving as Mayor Pro Tempore in 2022 and 2023; also gives his family, education, and business background.
  • calcoastnews.com (opens in a new tab)Cal Coast News -- "Paso Robles Mayor John Hamon stepping down in December": reports Hamon's own announcement, at the end of a City Council meeting, that he would not seek reelection ("I've decided I will not seek reelection"; "I look forward to spending more time with my family"), recaps controversies of his tenure (a downtown paid-parking initiative, a settlement with former City Manager Ty Lewis, and a 2024 FPPC conflict-of-interest violation over vacation-rental activity), and reports that Bill Britton had already filed to run for the open seat.
  • pasoroblesdailynews.com (opens in a new tab)Paso Robles Daily News -- "U.S. Air Force officer, former Cal Poly vice president announces mayoral candidacy": reports Bill Britton's campaign kickoff, his retired U.S. Air Force and former Cal Poly vice president background, his work on a Cyber Forensics Crime Lab and the Paso Robles Air & Space Port initiative, and endorsements from Mayor John Hamon, Mayor Pro Tem Steve Gregory, Sheriff Ian Parkinson, Supervisor John Peschong, and former Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham.
  • yahoo.com (opens in a new tab)San Luis Obispo Tribune (via Yahoo News syndication, since sanluisobispo.com itself could not be fetched by this session's tooling) -- "Paso Robles will get a new mayor, while 2 councilmembers face challengers": the fullest single roundup of the certified field -- Mayor: William Britton, Faith Frankel, Chris Rogalla (three newcomers for the open seat); District 1: incumbent Kris Beal vs. Linda George; District 2: incumbent Chris Bausch vs. Michael Massey vs. Robert Simoni -- with a summary of each candidate's platform and the $841,000-plus Bausch/Ty Lewis legal controversy.
  • yahoo.com (opens in a new tab)San Luis Obispo Tribune (via Yahoo News syndication) -- "Doctor hopes to be the first female mayor of Paso Robles. Here are her priorities": profiles Dr. Faith Frankel, 44 -- a family physician practicing alongside her father, a Paso Robles resident since age 7, UC Santa Barbara undergraduate, medical school in Tel Aviv and at UCLA -- her July 2026 campaign entry after community/rideshare-driver encouragement, and her platform (road repair, the Senior Center, small-city character alongside more amenities, and expanding public comment beyond three minutes); names "two other newcomer candidates, William Britton and Chris Rogalla," as her opponents.
  • pasoroblesdailynews.com (opens in a new tab)Paso Robles Daily News -- "SLO County Republican Party endorses 10 local candidates": reports the Republican Party of San Luis Obispo County's endorsements for Paso Robles races -- Faith Frankel for Mayor and Chris Bausch for City Council District 2 -- independently corroborating both as active, filed 2026 candidates after the extended Aug. 12 nomination deadline.

Last updated September 2, 2026.