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City of San Marcos · Statewide General Election

San Marcos City Council, District 1

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 your district's seat on San Marcos's 5-member City Council, alongside the citywide-elected mayor: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. A 4-year term.

Incumbent Maria Nunez faces challenger Thomas Gabriele for San Marcos City Council, District 1. Whichever candidate receives the most votes on November 3 wins outright; there is no runoff.

This person holds District 1's seat on San Marcos's 5-member City Council, alongside the citywide-elected mayor: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. District 1 includes the Richmar area of San Marcos. A 4-year term.

This race was not on the radar as recently as May 2026 -- local news coverage at that point described Nunez as running unopposed for a third term. Gabriele filed his intention paperwork later, before the city's August 7 qualification deadline, making this a genuinely contested race between an incumbent attorney and a first-time candidate who teaches entrepreneurship and economics.

Maria Nunez

Maria Nunez has served on the San Marcos City Council since November 2018 and is seeking a third term. A San Marcos native, she attended Alvin Dunn Elementary (now La Mirada Academy), San Marcos Elementary, San Marcos Middle School, and San Marcos High School (class of 1991), then earned an associate's degree from Palomar College, a bachelor's degree from Cal State San Marcos, and a law degree from California Western School of Law. She is a member of the California Bar and owns Nunez Law Corporation, a firm focused on bankruptcy filings and litigation. She is the immediate past president of the San Diego La Raza Lawyers Association and its scholarship foundation, an advisor to Universidad Popular of San Diego County, and a former board member of MANA de San Diego North County. Her priorities include housing affordability, community safety, infrastructure, and economic opportunity, with a particular focus on working families in District 1 facing housing and food insecurity.

Strengths

Two full terms in office plus a law practice built around bankruptcy and disputes -- direct, ongoing contact with the kinds of financial pressures she says are her top priority.

Trade-offs

Eight years in the same seat means voters are largely weighing a continuation of her existing record rather than a new direction.

Keep in mind

This dataset did not confirm whether she has a 2026 campaign committee registered with the city -- see Financial info.

Thomas Gabriele

Thomas Gabriele is a first-time candidate for public office. He teaches entrepreneurship and economics at Saint Joseph Academy, a private school in San Marcos, and is described by the San Diego Union-Tribune as a technology entrepreneur; the county's candidate list gives his occupation as "Teacher/Business Owner." No campaign website or independent, in-depth news profile of his candidacy or platform was found in this pass.

Strengths

A classroom career teaching entrepreneurship and economics, plus his own business background, could bring a practically minded lens to city budget and small-business questions.

Trade-offs

No prior elected or appointed government experience, and this pass found no detailed public statements from him on specific city issues.

Keep in mind

This dataset did not confirm whether he has a 2026 campaign committee registered with the city -- see Financial info.

Source review: Very strong (94/100) · 6 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
  • sanmarcosca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of San Marcos -- City Council page: describes the city as "a Charter City governed by a five-member City Council consisting of an elected Mayor and four City Council Members"; carries the sitting officeholders' own official biographies, including Mayor Rebecca Jones's tenure and Council Member Maria Nunez's and Deputy Mayor Mike Sannella's district, first-elected date, and background
  • thecoastnews.com (opens in a new tab)The Coast News Group (Leo Place) -- "Election 2026: San Marcos City Council": detailed, quoted platform profiles of Sannella, Jenkins, Smith, Matsushita, and Nunez as of mid-May 2026 -- the descriptive backbone of this shard, though it predates Gabriele's District 1 filing and describes Nunez as running unopposed at that point
  • thecoastnews.com (opens in a new tab)The Coast News Group (staff) -- "Election 2026: A guide to North County races": for San Marcos, confirms the final three-race field, including Thomas Gabriele's later filing against Nunez in District 1 -- the correction to the May 2026 "unopposed" reporting; for Vista, corroborates Mayor Franklin's departure and his June 2026 County Supervisor District 5 primary loss, and the District 1/District 4 incumbents-vs-challengers framing, and names two additional mayoral filers, Gabriel Chance and Alexandra Garcia Guzman, not present on the county's own certified, post-deadline qualified candidate list -- treated as filed-but-not-qualified, not part of the November ballot
  • sandiegouniontribune.com (opens in a new tab)San Diego Union-Tribune (Paul Sisson) -- "Jones' supervisor run shakes up San Marcos city elections": confirms Mayor Jones is not seeking a third term because she is running for County Supervisor District 5, opening the mayor's race to Jenkins and Sannella; a search-result excerpt additionally identifies Thomas Gabriele as "an economics teacher at Saint Joseph Academy in San Marcos and technology entrepreneur" -- the article itself sits behind a paywall beyond its opening paragraphs
  • sjaclassical.org (opens in a new tab)Saint Joseph Academy (San Marcos) -- public faculty roster: lists Thomas Gabriele teaching "Entrepreneurship", independently corroborating the Union-Tribune's description of him as a technology entrepreneur and economics teacher

Last updated August 31, 2026.