City of Rancho Mirage · Statewide General Election

Rancho Mirage City Council

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

Steve Downs — Incumbent
Eve Fromberg Edelstein — Incumbent
Lynn Mallotto — Incumbent

This person would hold one of three at-large seats up this cycle on Rancho Mirage's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Coachella Valley city. A 4-year term. Rancho Mirage elects its whole council citywide -- there are no council districts. The city has no separately elected Mayor -- the council selects one of its own members Mayor each year on a rotating basis (this cycle, Lynn Mallotto, also a candidate for reelection, is the sitting Mayor); day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager.

Rancho Mirage elects three of its five City Council seats on November 3, 2026 -- and exactly three candidates qualified for the three open seats, so nobody's vote can change the outcome. All three are current councilmembers: Mayor Lynn Mallotto and Councilmembers Steve Downs and Eve Fromberg Edelstein are all seeking to keep their seats, unopposed.

Each winner serves a 4-year term on Rancho Mirage's 5-member City Council, which sets the city's budget, zoning and land-use rules, and municipal ordinances for this Coachella Valley city. The council doesn't elect its mayor directly -- members rotate the largely ceremonial title among themselves each year (Mallotto currently holds it), and day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager. Rancho Mirage elects its whole council citywide, with no districts.

With every seat effectively decided before Election Day, the practical decision left to voters is narrower than usual: whether to mark all three names, some of them, or none. All three candidates already sit on the council today, so this isn't a contest between continuity and change -- it's a chance to register support or withhold it from sitting officeholders who face no rival.

Steve Downs

Steve Downs was appointed to the council in December 2021 and elected to a full term in November 2022, after two years on the city's Planning Commission (its Vice-Chair at the time of his appointment). He and his wife Geri co-ran a Rancho Mirage residential real-estate agency for 20 years (2002-2022, now retired), after a 30-year career in commercial equipment leasing.

Strengths

A full council term plus prior Planning Commission service, and a 20-year residential real-estate practice specific to Rancho Mirage, give him direct, local land-use and housing-market experience.

Trade-offs

He's unopposed for a second full term, so voters get no rival platform to weigh his record against.

Keep in mind

This dataset could not retrieve any campaign-finance filings for him in this pass -- see the financial note below.

Eve Fromberg Edelstein

Eve Fromberg Edelstein's own city biography says she joined the council in November 2024, though the city's own candidate roster for this race lists her as an "Appointed Incumbent" rather than an elected one -- this dataset could not find a public record clarifying the specific vacancy or appointment vote behind that. She is a real-estate, business and corporate attorney who co-founded her law firm with her husband in 2011, and previously ran Smile Factory, a nonprofit providing free dental screenings to public-school children.

Strengths

A legal background in real estate, business and corporate law, plus nonprofit executive experience (Smile Factory) and current board leadership at DAP Health, a regional health nonprofit.

Trade-offs

Newest of the three to the council (joined Nov. 2024) and the only one whose path onto it (elected vs. appointed) this dataset couldn't fully pin down from public records.

Keep in mind

She's unopposed, like her two colleagues, and this dataset could not retrieve any campaign-finance filings for her in this pass.

Lynn Mallotto

Lynn Mallotto is the council's current, council-selected Mayor. Before joining the council, she spent 18 years as a City of Cathedral City employee -- crime-prevention work in the police department, then code enforcement in the fire department, then the city's Redevelopment Agency and, later, its Deputy City Clerk's office -- followed by three years as CEO of the Cathedral City Chamber of Commerce. She now works as a Rancho Mirage realtor.

Strengths

Her current Mayor title and an 18-year municipal-government career (including direct city-clerk-office experience) give her the deepest local-government background of the three.

Trade-offs

She's unopposed, so voters get no rival platform to weigh her mayoral term or council record against.

Keep in mind

This dataset could not retrieve any campaign-finance filings for her in this pass -- see the financial note below.

Source review: Very strong (92/100) · 3 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

voteinfo.net (opens in a new tab)Riverside County Registrar of Voters — 2026 Annual Election Calendar (lists every November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election office by city, including "City of Cathedral City: City Council District 3 / District 4 / District 5 / City Treasurer")
ranchomirageca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Rancho Mirage -- "Elections" page (our_city/election_information.php), fetched directly (no bot wall encountered): "OFFICES & TERMS TO BE FILLED: 3 Council Seats (4-year terms)"; its own "ROSTER OF CANDIDATES" table gives "the final roster of candidates appearing on the November 3, 2026, ballot for Rancho Mirage City Council," in ballot order per the Secretary of State's randomized alphabet: Steve Downs (Incumbent, qualified 07/20/2026), Eve Fromberg Edelstein (Appointed Incumbent, qualified 07/31/2026), Lynn Mallotto (Incumbent, qualified 07/28/2026); also confirms the council "is appointed every year on a rotational basis" rather than directly elected.
ranchomirageca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Rancho Mirage -- "City Council Members" page (our_city/city_government/city_council/mayor___council_members.php) and each sitting member's own linked biography page: names the full council -- Mayor Lynn Mallotto, Mayor Pro Tem Michael O'Keefe, Councilmembers Eve Fromberg Edelstein, Steve Downs, and Ted Weill. Downs's own bio: appointed to the council Dec. 16, 2021, elected Nov. 2022; prior Planning Commission Vice-Chair; a 50-year business career (30 years in commercial equipment leasing, then 20 years, 2002-2022, co-running a Rancho Mirage residential real-estate agency with his wife). Mallotto's own bio: an 18-year City of Cathedral City employee (Police Dept. crime prevention, then Fire Dept. code enforcement, then the Redevelopment Agency and, later, Deputy City Clerk) through 2012, then CEO of the Cathedral City Chamber of Commerce through 2015; now a Rancho Mirage realtor with Keller Williams. Fromberg Edelstein's own bio: "joined the Rancho Mirage City Council in November 2024"; a real estate, business and corporate attorney who co-founded the Law Offices of Mark W. Edelstein with her husband in 2011, and a former CEO (2008-c.2011) of Smile Factory, a nonprofit providing free dental screenings to public-school children.

Last updated August 31, 2026.