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City of San Gabriel · Statewide General Election

San Gabriel 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

This person holds one of three at-large seats up this cycle on San Gabriel's 5-member City Council, elected to staggered 4-year terms: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The council selects one of its own members to serve as Mayor and another as Vice Mayor each year -- neither title is separately elected -- and day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager.

San Gabriel elects three of its five City Council seats this cycle, all at-large: incumbents Denise Menchaca, Eric L. Chan, and John Wu are seeking new terms against two challengers, Jordan Guzman and Wendy Wang. There's no June primary for city offices — all five go straight to the November 3 ballot, and the three highest vote-getters win.

Each winner serves a 4-year term, one of five votes on the council that sets San Gabriel's budget, land use, and municipal ordinances. The council also picks one of its own members to serve as Mayor and another as Vice Mayor each year on a rotating basis — neither title is separately elected — while an appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations.

All three incumbents are seeking new terms in the same election, so a ballot that replaces any of them changes the council's majority. Weigh each sitting member's specific record — their votes, committee assignments, and any controversies — against what a challenger says they would do differently, rather than treating the incumbents as a single slate.

Jordan Guzman

Jordan Guzman is a professional musician and educator with no prior elected office, running for one of San Gabriel's three open council seats. He's campaigning on an annual jazz festival at the Mission Playhouse, evidence-based policing, and safety upgrades at high-incident intersections. He holds a music degree from Cal State Long Beach and is pursuing a teaching credential at Cal State LA.

Strengths

A specific, named proposal — an annual jazz festival at the Mission Playhouse — sets him apart from the broader thematic platforms most other candidates offer.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office or council experience, and no endorsements or independent news coverage of his candidacy were found beyond his own campaign site.

Keep in mind

His public-safety plank calls for 'evidence-based policing' without naming specific policies; his campaign describes his approach as neighbor-to-neighbor rather than policy-technical.

Denise Menchaca

Denise Menchaca is the incumbent Councilmember and current Mayor, first elected to the council in March 2017 and now in her second term as Mayor after her colleagues reappointed her in April 2025. She's running for a new council term citing historic-preservation rules, public safety, and infrastructure as her priorities. She was the first Latina elected to San Gabriel's City Council and the first to serve as its Mayor.

Strengths

Nearly a decade on the council, two terms as Mayor, and eight prior years on the school board give her the field's deepest record of San Gabriel governance.

Trade-offs

A long incumbency ties her record to the sitting council's decisions overall, including any a voter might want changed.

Keep in mind

No controversies or ethics complaints surfaced in coverage of her tenure; weigh her on her stated preservation, safety, and infrastructure priorities.

Wendy Wang

Wendy Wang is a longtime caregiver and small-business owner with no prior elected office, running for one of San Gabriel's three open council seats. She's campaigning on government transparency, public safety, and support for small businesses and working families. She's spent eight years in LA County's In-Home Supportive Services program caring for seniors and people with disabilities and is a member of SEIU Local 2015.

Strengths

Eight years of direct caregiving work through LA County's IHSS program and SEIU membership give her a labor and direct-service record neither incumbent nor Guzman shares.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office or council experience; her campaign names endorsements from state officials that this pass could not independently verify beyond her own site.

Keep in mind

No controversies or independent news coverage of her candidacy were found beyond her own campaign site; weigh her small-business and transparency platform on its own terms.

John Wu

John Wu is the incumbent Councilmember, elected in November 2022, and a licensed real-estate broker who trains other agents nationally. He's running for a second term pointing to street-repaving progress and the city's exit from the state's fiscal high-risk list during his time on the council. He also brokered sister-city partnerships with two Taiwanese jurisdictions during his term.

Strengths

A licensed real-estate broker who trains other agents nationally, he points to a repaved-street benchmark and the city's exit from the state's fiscal high-risk list during his term.

Trade-offs

Those fiscal-turnaround claims come from his own city biography, not independent reporting, and one term is shorter than two of his council colleagues' records.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in coverage of him; his sister-city and Taiwan-tourism initiatives reflect his own priorities, not a council-wide agenda.

Eric L. Chan

Eric L. Chan is the incumbent Councilmember, elected in November 2022 after nine years as an elected San Gabriel County Water District board member. He's an accountant and property manager running for a second council term focused on public safety and keeping San Gabriel business-friendly. He served a rotation as the council's Mayor earlier in his current term.

Strengths

Nine years as an elected water-district board member before his 2022 council win gives him a longer local-government record than either challenger, plus a completed year as Mayor.

Trade-offs

His stated priorities — public safety, business-friendliness, cultural balance — are broad themes rather than a specific platform with named proposals.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in coverage of him; as an accountant and property manager, weigh his professional background against the council's fiscal record if that matters to you.

Source review: Strong (87/100) · 10 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.

Review note: Jordan Guzman's own campaign website (goldenguzman.com) and Wendy Wang's own campaign website (wendywangsg.com) may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • sangabrielcity.com (opens in a new tab)City of San Gabriel — Notice of Offices and Nominations, Consolidated General Municipal Election, November 3, 2026 (Three Members of the City Council, City Clerk, and City Treasurer, each a full 4-year term; nomination papers furnished to all three council incumbents)
  • sangabrielcity.com (opens in a new tab)City of San Gabriel — November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election Candidate List, updated 8/11/26 (current through the Aug. 7, 2026 filing deadline; five Council Member filers — Guzman, Menchaca, Wang, Wu, Chan — all reached 'Qualified')
  • sangabrielcity.com (opens in a new tab)City of San Gabriel — Campaign Disclosure Filings (City Clerk page listing each 2026 candidate's filed FPPC forms; as of retrieval, all five Council candidates show only organizational-stage filings — Candidate Intention Statements and, for Guzman and Wang, a Statement of Organization/an early contribution report — no Form 460 with dollar totals yet)
  • sangabrielcity.com (opens in a new tab)City of San Gabriel — Councilmember Denise Menchaca (official biography: elected to Council March 2017, re-elected Nov. 2022; began a second term as Mayor April 1, 2025; first Latina elected to the Council and first Latina Mayor in city history; prior San Gabriel USD board member and LA County Commissioner)
  • sangabrielcity.com (opens in a new tab)City of San Gabriel — Councilmember John Wu (official biography: elected to Council Nov. 2022; licensed real estate broker and NAR-certified instructor; cites an 85 Pavement Condition Index by 2024, a budget surplus, and the city's removal from the State Auditor's High-Risk Cities list by the end of 2024 during his term)
  • sangabrielcity.com (opens in a new tab)City of San Gabriel — Councilmember Eric L. Chan (official biography: elected to Council Nov. 2022 after nine years as an elected San Gabriel County Water District board member; accountant and property manager; UCLA graduate)
  • sgvtribune.com (opens in a new tab)San Gabriel Valley Tribune (Southern California News Group), by Victoria Ivie — San Gabriel City Council disbands equity commission amid pleas to preserve it (council voted 3-2 on April 16, 2024 to dissolve the Human Equity, Access, and Relations Commission over public opposition)
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)CA Secretary of State — Cal-Access filer search, 'San Gabriel City Council 2026' (confirms four active, state-registered 2026 candidate committees: Guzman, Menchaca, Wang, and Wu; no equivalent 2026 committee is registered for Eric Chan, whose most recent active committee is titled 'CHAN FOR SAN GABRIEL CITY COUNCIL 2022')
  • goldenguzman.com (opens in a new tab)Jordan Guzman's own campaign website (goldenguzman.com) — background as a musician and educator and a stated platform: an annual jazz festival, public-safety programs, and intersection-safety improvements
  • wendywangsg.com (opens in a new tab)Wendy Wang's own campaign website (wendywangsg.com) — background as an IHSS caregiver and small-business owner, and a stated platform of transparent government, public safety, and support for small businesses and working families

Last updated August 31, 2026.