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City of Poway · Statewide General Election

Mayor of Poway

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 presides over City Council meetings and represents Poway publicly, but votes as one of five members on the budget and city ordinances -- day-to-day city government runs through an appointed city manager. Poway's mayor is the only member of the council elected citywide rather than by district. A 4-year term.

Poway's three mayoral candidates are incumbent Steve Vaus and challengers Jenny Maeda and Dellena Olps. The mayoral race is at large, so all city voters can cast ballots in this race. Whichever candidate receives the most votes on November 3 wins outright; there is no runoff.

The mayor presides over City Council meetings and represents Poway publicly, but votes as one of five members on the budget and city ordinances -- day-to-day government runs through an appointed city manager. Poway's mayor is the only council member elected citywide; the other four represent numbered districts. Poway adopted district-based council elections in 2017, with Districts 1 and 3 first elected in 2018 and Districts 2 and 4 first elected in 2020. A 4-year term.

Vaus is seeking a fourth term after twelve years as mayor and two years on the council before that, campaigning on continuity -- public safety, low taxes, and steady leadership through crises including the 2019 attack on the Chabad of Poway and the pandemic's threat to local restaurants. Both challengers are running to change who leads the city more than what it does day to day: Maeda, a sitting District 4 councilmember of about two years, wants term limits and a return to what she calls the city's rural roots; Olps, a first-time candidate and longtime community volunteer, is running mainly on one concrete issue -- expanding public transit into her own underserved neighborhood.

Steve Vaus

Incumbent Steve Vaus, 74, has lived in District 2 for 33 years. He was elected to the City Council in 2012 and first elected mayor in 2014, and is seeking a fourth term. Outside politics, he's a Grammy- and Emmy-winning recording artist who has run a music-production company for decades and previously served as senior vice president of a national nonprofit; he currently sits on the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority board and previously chaired SANDAG. Vaus points to Poway's low crime, strong finances, and lowest-in-the-region sales tax as his record, and says he'll keep fighting state preemption of local control, protect open space and hillsides, ease congestion with adaptive traffic signals, and pursue a ban on stand-alone AI data centers.

Strengths

Twelve years as mayor plus two on the council -- the longest record on this ballot, spanning the 2019 Chabad of Poway attack and the pandemic's restaurant closures.

Trade-offs

A long incumbency means the fullest record to weigh; he survived a 2021-2022 recall bid, and a newer 2025 recall-support committee has reported no activity since.

Keep in mind

He has an ACTIVE Cal-Access committee for 2026 -- see Financial info.

Jenny Maeda

Challenger Jenny Maeda, 45, has lived in District 4 for 14 years and currently holds Poway's District 4 council seat, elected in November 2024. A homeschool co-op teacher (board secretary and field-trip coordinator), she says two years on the council convinced her that city goals need a different mayor. She wants to create term limits for both council members and the mayor, supports Poway's 1988 voter-approved Proposition FF (which requires a public vote before rezoning rural or open-space land to denser uses), and wants a new citizen advisory committee modeled on the city's existing Budget Review and Parks and Recreation committees.

Strengths

Two years of hands-on council experience, including firsthand knowledge of City Hall and comparison points from other cities' councils.

Trade-offs

Seeking mayor means leaving her District 4 seat; her platform leans on process changes -- term limits, a new committee -- more than a detailed new policy agenda.

Keep in mind

She has an ACTIVE Cal-Access committee for 2026 -- see Financial info.

Dellena Olps

Challenger Dellena Olps, 40, has lived in District 4 for 14 years. A volunteer at the Poway Historical Society and her children's elementary school, she previously worked for the state of California, first in the Department of Corrections and then the Employment Development Department's tax division. She's running mainly to expand public transit into underserved neighborhoods like her own Garden Road area, drawing on years of watching -- and occasionally speaking at -- City Council meetings and her own experience helping map the city's council districts when Poway moved away from at-large elections.

Strengths

A first-time candidate with years of firsthand familiarity with the council, including helping draw the district map she would now represent citywide.

Trade-offs

No prior elected or appointed experience; her platform centers on one issue, transit. Her husband ran unsuccessfully for council three times, 2014-2020.

Keep in mind

She has an ACTIVE Cal-Access committee for 2026 -- see Financial info.

Source review: Very strong (98/100) · 9 cited sources

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

  • sdvote.com (opens in a new tab)San Diego County Registrar of Voters -- Candidate List, November 3, 2026 General Election (current through the 8/24/2026 2:44pm snapshot): confirms Mayor, City Council Districts 1 and 3, City Clerk, and City Treasurer as Carlsbad's five November 2026 races, and Mayor plus City Council Districts 1 and 3 as Poway's three November 2026 races, each Vote for 1
  • poway.org (opens in a new tab)City of Poway -- Election Information page: confirms the Nov. 3, 2026 General Municipal Election fills an at-large Mayor seat plus one Councilmember each from Districts 1 and 3, each a 4-year term; council districts adopted 2017
  • poway.org (opens in a new tab)City of Poway -- Candidate Roster, November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election (PDF, dated Aug. 13, 2026): lists all six qualified candidates by office -- Dellena Olps, Steve Vaus, and Jenny Maeda for Mayor; Chris Pikus for District 1; Peter De Hoff and Bob Walder for District 3
  • sandiegouniontribune.com (opens in a new tab)San Diego Union-Tribune / Pomerado News (Julie Gallant) -- "Six campaigning for Poway City Council seats": detailed residency, age, occupation, platform, and biographical profiles of all six candidates across Mayor, District 1, and District 3
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)CAL-ACCESS filer search for "Vaus": an ACTIVE "Vaus for Mayor 2026" committee, alongside terminated committees from his 2010-2022 council and mayoral runs; also shows an ACTIVE "Powegians Supporting the Recall of Mayor Vaus" committee and a terminated 2026 Blain-filed recall committee, separate from his own reelection filing
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)CAL-ACCESS filer search for "Maeda": an ACTIVE "Maeda for Mayor 2026; Jenny" committee, alongside a terminated "Maeda for Poway Council 2024" committee from her current council seat
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)CAL-ACCESS filer search for "Olps": an ACTIVE "Olps for Mayor of Poway 2026; Dellena" committee, alongside three terminated "Olps for [City] Council" committees from 2014, 2016, and 2020 filed under the Olps household name
  • ballotpedia.org (opens in a new tab)Ballotpedia -- "Steve Vaus recall, Poway, California (2021-2022)": a recall effort against Mayor Vaus initiated Oct. 2021; organizers failed to submit enough signatures to force a recall election
  • poway.org (opens in a new tab)City of Poway -- Summary of Elections (official results record): Nov. 8, 2022 Mayor at-large results -- Steve Vaus 10,822 votes, Delta Esparza 6,183, Yuri Bohlen 1,611, Emeka Ibekwe 560

Last updated August 31, 2026.