Review note: No cited source describes the candidates; add descriptive coverage to lift the cap.
- ocvote.gov (opens in a new tab)OC Registrar of Voters -- Contest/Candidate Proof List, General Election 11/3/2026 -- City of San Clemente section (pages 145-148 of 188, downloaded directly and parsed locally with pypdf since a plain fetch returns undecodable PDF stream data): confirms Mayor (3 qualified candidates), Member City Council District 1 (3), and Member City Council District 2 (2) as the city's three November 2026 races, each Vote for 1, with incumbent flags (blank for Mayor and District 2; "No Incumbent Appointed to Vacancy" for District 1) and every candidate's filed ballot designation
- sanclemente.gov (opens in a new tab)City of San Clemente -- City Council page: confirms the sitting 5-member body (Mayor Rick Loeffler; Steve Knoblock, Mayor Pro Tem; Victor Cabral; Mark Enmeier; Zhen Wu), that the city established four council districts in November 2024 on four-year terms, and that the Mayor is newly directly elected at-large for a two-year term beginning in 2026
Last updated August 31, 2026.
City of San Clemente
Mayor of San Clemente
This person is San Clemente's Mayor, elected directly by all voters. This is a new office as of 2026. Before that, the title rotated among sitting council members. The Mayor leads City Council meetings and represents the city. The Mayor is one of five members who vote on budget and city laws. Four district council members hold the other four seats. An appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations. The term is two years.
Victor Cabral, Kathy Ward, and Shane Hirschman are running for San Clemente's first elected Mayor. Whoever gets the most votes on November 3 wins. There is no runoff.
San Clemente's Mayor leads City Council meetings and speaks for the city in public. The Mayor votes as one of five members on the budget and city ordinances. The other four members are district councilmembers. An appointed city manager runs the city day to day. This is a brand new office for 2026. Before this year the Mayor's title rotated among sitting councilmembers. No one was elected to it on its own. The term is two years.
Cabral sits on the San Clemente City Council. They are running for the new Mayor's seat instead of reelection to their own seat. Their ballot title and the city's council roster both show this. Ward and Hirschman hold no other city office. Beyond each candidate's filed job, no profile, platform, or news story was found for any of the three. That is a gap in the record, not a guess about them.
Victor Cabral
Victor Cabral sits on the San Clemente City Council. Cabral's ballot title reads Councilmember, Attorney, and Businessman. No campaign site or news story about them was found.
Kathy Ward
Kathy Ward's ballot title reads Certified Shorthand Reporter. No campaign site or city profile for Ward was found. No news story about them was found either.
Shane Hirschman
Shane Hirschman's ballot title reads Art Director. No campaign site or city profile for Hirschman was found. No news story about them was found either.
Your pick
A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.