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City of Santa Ana · Statewide General Election

Santa Ana City Council, Ward 4

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 ward's seat on Santa Ana's 6-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside the citywide-elected Mayor and an appointed city manager who runs day-to-day operations. Not all six wards are elected the same year -- only Wards 2, 4, and 6 have terms expiring in 2026. A 4-year term, limited to three terms.

Incumbent Phil Bacerra is running for re-election against Sandra De Anda. Whichever candidate gets the most votes on November 3 wins outright; there's no runoff.

This person holds Ward 4's seat on Santa Ana's 6-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside the citywide-elected Mayor and an appointed city manager who runs day-to-day operations. Not all six wards are elected the same year -- only Wards 2, 4, and 6 have terms expiring in 2026. A 4-year term, limited to three terms.

Bacerra, a Santa Ana native with more than five years on the Planning Commission before his council election, campaigns for re-election on homelessness, investment and jobs, streets and sidewalks, and public safety. De Anda's filed ballot designation is "Immigrant Rights Director"; beyond that, no campaign site, news coverage, or other independent source describing her background or platform could be found in this pass despite a real search effort.

Phil Bacerra

Bacerra is a Santa Ana native and homeowner, the son of a union grocery-store manager and a waitress; he worked as a busboy at his uncle's restaurant before earning a Bachelor of Science in Urban Planning from USC and bringing city-government experience from prior roles in Los Angeles and other agencies. He served more than five years on the Santa Ana Planning Commission before his council election, and currently represents Santa Ana on the Orange County Fire Authority Board, chairing it in 2025, and serves on the Southern California Association of Governments' Transportation Committee. He volunteers with the Santa Ana Elks and mentors students, and previously served on the General Plan Advisory Group and the Historic Resources Commission. He points to strengthened laws against public intoxication and a new police substation in South Santa Ana among his council accomplishments, along with funding for traffic signals, park improvements, and fire-station repairs. His re-election platform emphasizes continuing to address homelessness, attracting investment and job creation, improving sidewalks and streets, and supporting police and fire resources.

Strengths

An urban-planning degree and planning-commission service before taking office, plus a current regional role (OC Fire Authority Board chair) touching fire-service decisions affecting the city.

Trade-offs

A sitting incumbent's record is a known quantity, for better or worse, rather than a fresh start; his campaign material is self-reported rather than independently verified.

Keep in mind

No CAL-ACCESS record was checked for his campaign in this pass -- see Financial info.

Sandra De Anda

Filed her candidacy under the ballot designation "Immigrant Rights Director," indicating a professional background in immigrant-rights advocacy, though the specific organization is not stated in the county's filing record. No campaign site, news coverage, or other independent source describing her background or platform could be found in this pass despite a real search effort (direct guesses at her own campaign-site domain did not resolve, and Ballotpedia has no page for her).

Strengths

A stated career directing immigrant-rights work suggests direct experience with advocacy and community organizing relevant to a large share of Ward 4 residents.

Trade-offs

No campaign statement or platform was found in this pass, so voters have no confirmed sense of her priorities on budget, land use, or public safety beyond her listed occupation.

Keep in mind

No CAL-ACCESS record was checked for her campaign in this pass -- see Financial info.

Source review: Strong (81/100) · 3 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.

Review note: Phil Bacerra's own campaign site ("Phil Bacerra for Santa Ana City Council Ward 4"): his own framing of his re-election candidacy, background, record, and platform may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • ocvote.gov (opens in a new tab)OC Registrar of Voters -- Contest/Candidate Proof List, General Election 11/3/2026 -- City of Santa Ana section (PDF pages 150-154 of 188, recovered by locally inflating the document's FlateDecode page streams with Python's zlib, since a plain fetch returns undecodable PDF stream data): confirms Mayor (3 qualified candidates), City Council Ward 2 (2), Ward 4 (2), and Ward 6 (2) as the city's four November 2026 races, each Vote for 1, with incumbent flags and every candidate's filed ballot designation -- including that Ward 6's named incumbent, David Penaloza, does not appear among Ward 6's two qualified candidates
  • santa-ana.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Santa Ana -- City Council page: confirms the seven-member body (Mayor elected citywide plus six ward councilmembers), 4-year/three-term-limit councilmember terms vs. the Mayor's 2-year/four-term-limit terms, and the sitting roster (Mayor Valerie Amezcua; Mayor Pro Tem David Penaloza; Ward 1 Thai Viet Phan; Ward 2 Benjamin Vazquez; Ward 3 Jessie Lopez; Ward 4 Phil Bacerra; Ward 5 Johnathan Ryan Hernandez)
  • philbacerra.com (opens in a new tab)Phil Bacerra's own campaign site ("Phil Bacerra for Santa Ana City Council Ward 4"): his own framing of his re-election candidacy -- a Santa Ana native, USC-trained urban planner, 5+ years on the Planning Commission before his council election, and current OC Fire Authority Board chair -- and platform (homelessness, investment/jobs, streets and sidewalks, public safety)

Last updated August 31, 2026.