# San Marcos City Council, District 2 Compare records and positions simply between Lindsey Smith or Justin Matsushita for San Marcos City Council, District 2 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on San Marcos's 5-member City Council, alongside the citywide-elected mayor. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The term is four years. - Jurisdiction: City of San Marcos - 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/san-marcos-council-2 - 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: 93 out of 100 (Very strong), across 6 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Lindsey Smith** - **Justin Matsushita** A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Justin Matsushita and Lindsey Smith are running for San Marcos City Council, District 2. It is an open seat, since incumbent Mike Sannella is instead running for mayor. Whichever candidate receives the most votes on November 3 wins outright. There is no runoff. This person holds District 2's seat on San Marcos's 5-member City Council, alongside the citywide-elected mayor. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The term is four years. Both candidates are first-time office-seekers already involved in city and community institutions. A third candidate, Alison Stanton, filed intention paperwork for this seat in 2025, but does not appear on the county's final qualified-candidate list and is not counted as a candidate here. Matsushita is endorsed by the San Diego County Democratic Party; Smith appears on the San Diego County Republican Party's voter guide for this seat. ## Justin Matsushita Justin Matsushita is the former Santee Fire Chief. They retired from that role in 2025. They now lead a new Public Safety Management bachelor's degree program at Miramar College. They are a third-generation San Marcos resident. They sit on the city's own Measure Q Oversight Committee. They previously served on the board of the San Marcos Promise, now known as Project Next. They have supported the Boys & Girls Club of San Marcos, which they attended as a child. Their stated priorities are updating the city's General Plan. They also want to make sure Measure Q sales-tax funds are spent wisely. They have said their fire-service background gives them "a little bit more poised" perspective. They say it gives them a clear sense of "where my lane will be" as a council member. They have seen firsthand the work of city staff. **Strengths:** A full career leading a fire department, now paired with teaching public-safety management at the college level, plus hands-on oversight of Measure Q spending through their committee seat. **Trade-offs:** No prior experience in elected office or on city land-use bodies specifically. Their public-safety background is deep but narrower than a generalist council role. **Keep in mind:** They have an active 2026 campaign committee registered with the city. See Financial info. ## Lindsey Smith Lindsey Smith is president of the San Elijo Hills Homeowners Association and the San Elijo Hills Fire Safe Council. They currently serve as a San Marcos Planning Commissioner. Their professional background is in facilities and construction management. They say their top priority is a strong public-safety presence. They also want to keep local control over development decisions rather than ceding it to the state. They describe themselves as "pro-smart growth." By that they mean housing and small-business growth that fits community needs, with adequate parking and amenities. They want to expand public transportation. That includes expanding the NCTD+ shuttle service to serve youth in District 2. **Strengths:** A sitting Planning Commissioner with a construction-management background and HOA leadership experience. That means current familiarity with the land-use questions the council votes on. **Trade-offs:** No prior experience in elected citywide or district office. Their fire-safe-council and HOA roles are relevant. They are also volunteer and neighborhood-level rather than citywide. **Keep in mind:** Whether they have a 2026 campaign committee registered with the city was not confirmed. 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 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](https://www.sanmarcosca.gov/City-Government/City-Council) 3. [The Coast News Group (Leo Place) -- "Sharon Jenkins running for San Marcos mayor": announces her mayoral run after 12 years on the City Council (District 3, termed out end of 2024) and 14 years on the San Marcos Unified School District board; also reports the field of District 2 filers at that point, including Alison Stanton](https://thecoastnews.com/sharon-jenkins-running-for-san-marcos-mayor/) 4. [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](https://thecoastnews.com/election-2026-san-marcos-city-council/) 5. [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](https://thecoastnews.com/election-2026-a-guide-to-north-county-races/) 6. [City of San Marcos -- NetFile public campaign-disclosure portal, committee list (first page of 28 entities, alphabetized): shows an active "Matsushita for City Council 2026" committee, a "Mike Sannella for San Marcos City Council 2022" committee from his prior council run, and an "Alison Stanton for San Marcos City Council 2026" committee for the District 2 filer who did not make the county's final candidate list; a second page covering filings under N-Z (which would carry any 2026-specific committees for Nunez, Gabriele, Smith, and a possible new Sannella mayoral committee) could not be reached before this browser session was interrupted](https://netfile.com/public/MRCS/campaign/committees) ## The rest of the ballot San Marcos City Council, District 2 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, "San Marcos City Council, District 2 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/san-marcos-council-2 (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.