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City of Pismo Beach · Statewide General Election

Mayor of Pismo Beach

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On the ballot

This person would serve a 2-year term as Pismo Beach's directly elected, at-large Mayor, presiding over the 5-member City Council that sets city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this San Luis Obispo County coastal city of about 8,072 residents (2020 Census). Pismo Beach is a general law city operating under a council-manager government, with an appointed City Manager handling day-to-day operations.

Sitting Councilman Scott Newton, first-time candidate Shelby Bowen, and Cynthia A. Replogle are competing for Pismo Beach's open Mayor's seat: incumbent Ed Waage is stepping down after 18 years in city government rather than seeking reelection.

Pismo Beach's Mayor is directly elected citywide to a 2-year term and presides over a 5-member City Council (the Mayor plus four at-large Council Members): city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this San Luis Obispo County coastal city of about 8,072 residents (2020 Census). Pismo Beach is a general law city operating under a council-manager government, with an appointed City Manager handling day-to-day operations.

Ed Waage, Mayor for the past decade after eight years on the Council before that, announced in April 2026 he would not seek another term, telling Cal Coast News "I have achieved my main objectives. I feel like the city is in great shape," and pointing to the city's new police and fire stations, a new pier and plaza, and back-to-back USA Today recognition as the "Best Coastal Small Town" as accomplishments of his tenure. The next day, sitting Councilman Scott Newton announced his own campaign to succeed him. Because Newton's council term runs through December 2028, winning the mayoral race would leave his current council seat vacant two years before its term was due to end.

Scott A. Newton

Newton, 56, has served on the Pismo Beach City Council since 2020 and describes himself, per Cal Coast News and his own campaign site, as coming from a farming family; he built and later sold a company combining local retail and e-commerce sales, and now works in real estate, construction, and managing family farms. He sits on the San Luis Obispo County Integrated Waste Management Authority and Air Pollution Control District boards. His platform emphasizes water security (citing the Central Coast Blue recycled-water project), streamlining construction permits, road maintenance, continued investment in public safety, and resisting what he characterizes as state and California Coastal Commission overreach into local building decisions. Cal Coast News reports his council voting record includes opposing the city's most recent water/sewer rate increase, trash rate increase, and municipal sales tax increase, and opposing a countywide sales tax measure on the ballot; the same reporting credits him with combining the city's police and fire station construction projects to save costs.

Strengths

Sitting council experience since 2020, a specific platform (Central Coast Blue, permit reform, local control), and independent news coverage.

Trade-offs

A win vacates his council seat two years early, raising a question -- who fills that vacancy -- this dataset found no 2026 source addressing.

Keep in mind

His platform's opposition to recent rate increases invites a natural follow-up -- how he'd fund the water, road, and public-safety investments he's also campaigning on -- that his own campaign site doesn't address directly.

Shelby Bowen

Bowen filed her FPPC Form 501 candidate intention statement in June 2026 and qualified for the ballot on July 22, 2026, per the city's own candidate page. No controlled campaign committee is on file for her as of the city's Aug. 12, 2026 update, and no campaign website, candidate statement, or independent news coverage was found for her this session -- a genuine information gap, not a reflection of her actual platform or background.

Strengths

A confirmed, ballot-qualified candidacy in a genuinely contested open-seat race.

Trade-offs

No news coverage, campaign website, or candidate statement was reachable this session, so her platform and background are undescribed here.

Keep in mind

The absence of a controlled campaign committee suggests a modest, self-funded campaign, but that is an inference from the official record, not a stated fact from Bowen herself.

Cynthia A. Replogle

Replogle filed her FPPC Form 501 candidate intention statement in May 2026 and qualified for the ballot on July 22, 2026, per the city's own candidate page; her controlled committee, "Cynthia Replogle for Pismo Beach Mayor 2026" (FPPC ID 1492116), is on file with the city. No campaign website, candidate statement, or independent news coverage specifically identifying her as the 2026 Pismo Beach mayoral candidate was found this session -- a genuine information gap, not a reflection of her actual platform or background.

Strengths

A confirmed, ballot-qualified candidacy with a registered campaign committee in a genuinely contested open-seat race.

Trade-offs

No news coverage, campaign website, or candidate statement was reachable this session, so her platform and background are undescribed here.

Keep in mind

Having an active, named committee (unlike Bowen) suggests active fundraising, though the underlying dollar filings were not reachable this session -- see the financial note below.

Source review: Strong (88/100) · 9 cited sources

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

  • pismobeach.org (opens in a new tab)City of Pismo Beach -- own "November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election" page: states the two offices up this cycle (one Mayor, 2-year term ending Nov. 2028; two City Council Members, 4-year terms ending Nov. 2030), the nomination-period timeline (opens July 13, 2026; standard deadline Aug. 7; extended to Aug. 12 since incumbent Mayor Ed Waage did not file), and links the city's Mayor & Council Candidates page, Measure E-26, and Recipient Committees pages.
  • pismobeach.org (opens in a new tab)City of Pismo Beach -- own "Mayor & Council Candidates" page (page itself dated "DATE OF LAST UPDATE: August 12, 2026," the close of the nomination period): lists, in ballot order, three qualified Mayor candidates (Scott A. Newton, Shelby Bowen, Cynthia A. Replogle, all "Incumbent? No") and four qualified City Council candidates for two seats (Manuel Olivas, Gianni Scangarello, Stacy Inman -- "Incumbent? Yes" -- and Clare A. Malone Prichard), each with their Form 501 filing date, nomination-paper filing/qualification dates, and controlled-committee name/FPPC ID where one exists. Separately lists Lance M. Okuno under its own "Candidates Not Qualified" heading -- "Date Obtained Nomination Papers: Did not obtain papers ... Date Qualified for the Ballot: N/A" -- confirming he is not on the ballot.
  • pismobeach.org (opens in a new tab)City of Pismo Beach -- own "City Clerk" page: names City Clerk Erica Kirkwood, the elections contact (elections@pismobeach.org), and the AccessPismo public-records portal (accesspismo.pismobeach.org) as the city's home for election notices and campaign filings; confirms the city partners with the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder's Office for voter registration and ballot materials while running its own candidate-filing and disclosure process.
  • pismobeach.org (opens in a new tab)City of Pismo Beach -- own "City Council" page: names the sitting five-member council -- Ed Waage (Mayor, term through Dec. 2026), Mary Ann Reiss (Mayor Pro Tem, through Dec. 2026), Marcia Guthrie and Scott Newton (Council Members, both through Dec. 2028), and Stacy Inman (Council Member, through Dec. 2026) -- and states, in the city's own words, that Pismo Beach is "a general law city, governed by a City Council / City Manager form of government," with all five members elected at large, the Mayor to a 2-year term and Council Members to 4-year terms.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia, "Pismo Beach, California": used narrowly for its 2020 Census population figure (8,072) and to independently cross-check the general-law, council-manager, at-large-election government structure already confirmed by the city's own City Council page.
  • accesspismo.pismobeach.org (opens in a new tab)Every campaign-finance and candidate-statement portal the City of Pismo Beach itself links to was unreachable this session: the city's own "View Filings" and "Candidate Statements" links on its candidate page both point to a Laserfiche cloud portal (portal.laserfiche.com/Portal/Browse.aspx, repo r-f36a9aa0) that returns only a client-rendered single-page-app shell with no static content to a direct fetch; the city's separate AccessPismo public-records WebLink portal (accesspismo.pismobeach.org) timed out on every direct connection attempt, from both this session's fetch tooling and a raw curl request; and the city's Form 700 e-filing system (PismoBeachCity.southtechhosting.com/eDisclosure) likewise timed out on every attempt. A negative-result access check affecting every 2026 candidate equally, not a claim about anyone's actual campaign finances.
  • calcoastnews.com (opens in a new tab)Cal Coast News -- Karen Velie, "Pismo Beach Mayor Ed Waage Won't Seek Reelection" (April 24, 2026): independent, bylined reporting that Waage will not pursue another term after 18 years in city government (8 as councilman, 10 as mayor), quoting him ("I have achieved my main objectives. I feel like the city is in great shape") and citing the city's new police and fire stations, new pier and plaza, and back-to-back USA Today "Best Coastal Small Town" recognition as accomplishments of his tenure.
  • calcoastnews.com (opens in a new tab)Cal Coast News -- Karen Velie, "Pismo Beach Councilman Scott Newton Announces Run for Mayor Seat" (April 25, 2026): independent, bylined reporting that sitting Councilman Scott Newton, 56, a small-business owner and father of four who has served on the council over five years, is running to succeed Ed Waage; reports his voting record (opposed the most recent water/sewer rate increase, trash rate increase, and municipal sales tax increase, and opposed placing a countywide sales tax measure on the ballot), his role combining the police and fire station construction projects to save costs, and his campaign site, newtonforpismo.com.
  • newtonforpismo.com (opens in a new tab)Scott Newton's own campaign site (newtonforpismo.com), fetched directly: states he comes from a farming family, built and sold a company combining local retail and e-commerce, and now works in real estate, construction, and family farm management; was elected to Council in 2020 and sits on the SLO County Integrated Waste Management Authority and Air Pollution Control District boards; lists water security (citing the Central Coast Blue recycled-water project), permit streamlining, road maintenance, public safety investment, and resisting state/Coastal Commission overreach on local building authority as platform planks; and states he has four children and restores vintage vehicles. No endorsements are listed on the site.

Last updated September 2, 2026.