# Mayor of Poway Compare records and positions simply between Dellena Olps, Steve Vaus, or Jenny Maeda for Mayor of Poway at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person presides over City Council meetings and represents Poway publicly. They vote as one of five members on the budget and city laws. An appointed city manager runs daily government. Poway's mayor is the only council member elected citywide. The other members are elected by district. The term is four years. - Jurisdiction: City of Poway - 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/poway-mayor - 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: September 7, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 98 out of 100 (Very strong), across 9 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Dellena Olps** - **Steve Vaus** — Incumbent - **Jenny Maeda** A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. 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. The term is four years. 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. He was first elected mayor in 2014. He is seeking a fourth term. Outside politics, he is a Grammy-winning and Emmy-winning recording artist. He has run a music-production company for decades. He previously served as senior vice president of a national nonprofit. He now sits on the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority board. He previously chaired SANDAG. Vaus points to Poway's low crime, strong finances, and lowest-in-the-region sales tax as his record. He says he will keep fighting state preemption of local control. He says he will protect open space and hillsides. He wants to ease congestion with adaptive traffic signals. He also wants a ban on stand-alone AI data centers. **Strengths:** Twelve years as mayor plus two on the council. That is the longest record on this ballot. It spans 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. 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. She now holds Poway's District 4 council seat. She was elected to it in November 2024. She is 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. She supports Poway's 1988 voter-approved Proposition FF. That measure requires a public vote before rezoning rural or open-space land to denser uses. She also wants a new citizen advisory committee. She would model it on the city's existing Budget Review and Parks and Recreation committees. **Strengths:** Two years of hands-on council experience. That includes 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 such as term limits and a new committee. It leans less on 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. She volunteers at the Poway Historical Society and her children's elementary school. She previously worked for the state of California. She was first in the Department of Corrections. She then moved to the Employment Development Department's tax division. She is running mainly to expand public transit into underserved neighborhoods like her own Garden Road area. She draws on years of watching City Council meetings. She has occasionally spoken at them. She also helped 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. She helped draw the district map she would now represent citywide. **Trade-offs:** She has 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. ## Sources 1. [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](https://www.sdvote.com/content/dam/rov/en/election/nov-3-2026-gubernatorial-general-election/candidate-list.pdf) 2. [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](https://poway.org/164/Elections) 3. [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](https://poway.org/2026-Official-Candidate-Status) 4. [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](https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/2026/08/18/six-campaigning-for-poway-city-council-seats/) 5. [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](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Misc/filerSearch.aspx?SEARCH=Vaus) 6. [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](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Misc/filerSearch.aspx?SEARCH=Maeda) 7. [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](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Misc/filerSearch.aspx?SEARCH=Olps) 8. [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](https://ballotpedia.org/Steve_Vaus_recall,_Poway,_California_(2021-2022)) 9. [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](https://poway.org/DocumentCenter/View/3451/Summary-of-Elections-) ## The rest of the ballot Mayor of Poway 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, "Mayor of Poway — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/poway-mayor (sources last retrieved September 7, 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.