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City of Simi Valley · Statewide General Election

Simi Valley City Council, District 1 (Short Term)

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 would hold one of Simi Valley's four district seats on the City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside the directly elected Mayor and an appointed City Manager who runs day-to-day operations. Simi Valley moved from at-large to district-based Council elections in 2020. A 4-year term. This particular term is a short, 2-year term (see note below) rather than the usual 4 years, because it fills out a term left vacant by a midterm Council appointment.

Joseph D. Ayala, appointed to this seat by the City Council in February 2025, faces three challengers for a short 2-year term -- including two of the nine people who originally applied for the same appointment he won.

This person would hold one of Simi Valley's four district seats on the City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside a directly elected Mayor and an appointed City Manager who runs day-to-day operations. Simi Valley moved from at-large to district-based Council elections in 2020. Council terms normally run 4 years, but this particular term is a short, 2-year term -- see below.

This seat was Dee Dee Cavanaugh's before she was appointed Mayor in January 2025 (see the Mayor contest for that story). Her District 1 term, won in the 2024 election, doesn't expire until 2028; the Council filled the resulting vacancy by appointing Ayala on Feb. 24, 2025, by a 3-1 vote (Council Member Mike Judge, now a Mayoral candidate, cast the lone dissent) over eight other applicants, including two of Ayala's four opponents this cycle, Jill Abele and Anthony Thompson. Because Ayala is filling out Cavanaugh's term rather than starting a fresh one, the Nov. 2026 winner serves only 2 years -- through 2028 -- before the seat returns to Simi Valley's normal 4-year cycle.

Joseph D. Ayala

The appointed incumbent. Director of the Proposal Development Center at Teradata, and a lecturer at CSU Northridge since 2016 (Public Speaking, Corporate Communications, Group Communication). He holds a B.A. in Communication Studies from Loyola Marymount and an M.A. in the same field from CSUN.

Strengths

A professional background in communications and organizational strategy, plus a year-plus of Council experience since his appointment.

Trade-offs

Like Cavanaugh in the Mayor's race, he has not yet faced voters directly for this seat -- his tenure so far rests on a Council vote, not an election.

Keep in mind

He was chosen over eight other applicants, including two of his current opponents (Abele and Thompson) -- this contest partly re-runs a decision the Council already made once.

Jill A. Abele

Her ballot designation reads "Retired Businessperson." She was one of the nine applicants for the February 2025 Council appointment that Ayala won.

Strengths

Already went through the Council's own vetting process once, as an appointment applicant, and clearly has continued interest in the seat.

Trade-offs

No independent biography or stated platform beyond her ballot designation was found this session.

Keep in mind

Losing an appointment vote doesn't tell you why the Council chose someone else -- no minutes or statement explaining the Council's specific reasoning for preferring Ayala over Abele was reviewed this session.

Anthony Thompson

His ballot designation reads "Businessman/Coach/Executive." He was also one of the nine applicants for the February 2025 Council appointment that Ayala won.

Strengths

The same prior vetting-process experience as Abele, plus a designation suggesting a business and coaching/leadership background.

Trade-offs

No independent biography or stated platform beyond his ballot designation was found this session.

Keep in mind

As with Abele, no Council statement explaining why Thompson wasn't selected in February 2025 was reviewed this session -- don't read more into the appointment outcome than the record actually shows.

Todd Taylor

His ballot designation reads "Licensed Private Investigator." No independent biographical detail was found for him this session.

Strengths

Unable to assess beyond his stated occupation.

Trade-offs

No news coverage, campaign site, or other public profile was found this session beyond his name and ballot designation.

Keep in mind

An information gap here reflects what this dataset could find, not a claim about the candidate himself.

Source review: Very strong (90/100) · 11 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Ventura County Clerk-Recorder/Registrar of Voters -- "Contest/Candidate Proof List" (report CFMR001, dated Aug. 18, 2026, on-ballot contests only): shows exactly four City of Simi Valley contests this cycle -- Mayor (5 qualified candidates), City Council District 1 (Short Term, 4 qualified), District 2 (2 qualified), and District 4 (4 qualified) -- and no District 3 or District 5 contest
  • clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Ventura County Clerk-Recorder/Registrar of Voters -- Contest/Candidate Proof List, off-ballot companion document (single-filer and Elections Code Section 10229 contests): carries no City of Simi Valley entry at all -- confirming none of the city's four 2026 contests was cancelled or moved off-ballot
  • web.archive.org (opens in a new tab)City of Simi Valley -- "City Council" government page (archived via Wayback Machine, Aug. 13, 2026 snapshot; simivalley.org 403s direct automated fetches): a five-member City Council composed of the Mayor and four City Council Members; the Mayor is elected at large to a two-year term, Council Members are elected by district to staggered four-year terms
  • web.archive.org (opens in a new tab)City of Simi Valley -- "City Council History" page (archived via Wayback Machine, May 16, 2026 snapshot): the city incorporated Oct. 10, 1969; the Mayor rotated among the five elected Council Members from 1969 to 1982 and has been separately elected since; lists Fred D. Thomas's mayoral term as "November 2022 - January 2025" and Dee Dee Cavanaugh's as "January 2025 - Present"
  • web.archive.org (opens in a new tab)City of Simi Valley -- "City Council Campaign Disclosures" page (archived via Wayback Machine, Aug. 13, 2026 snapshot): the City Clerk's index of filed FPPC forms by councilmember. As of this snapshot it carries filings only for Mayor Dee Dee Cavanaugh and Council Members Joseph Ayala and Mike Judge -- none of the twelve 2026 challengers across all four contests has any filing indexed here yet
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Simi Valley, California": used in this shard for its 2020 Census population figure (126,356) and its confirmation that the city uses a council-manager form of government
  • simivalleyacorn.com (opens in a new tab)Simi Valley Acorn -- "Simi Valley decides: early returns" (Nov. 8, 2022): in a passing reference to a different race, describes Council Member Mike Judge as "elected at-large in 2010 before districts were formed in 2020" -- the source for Simi Valley's district-election start year
  • simivalleyacorn.com (opens in a new tab)Simi Valley Acorn -- "Simi Valley election field takes shape" (Michele Willer-Allred, Aug. 22, 2026): confirms the full candidate lineup for Mayor, District 1, District 2, and District 4, and quotes the city's own term-length breakdown -- "The mayor will serve a two-year term. District 2 and 4 council members will serve four-year terms, while the District 1 seat carries a two-year term because of a previous midterm appointment."
  • simivalleyacorn.com (opens in a new tab)Simi Valley Acorn -- "Council appoints one of their own as mayor" (Michele Willer-Allred, Feb. 1, 2025): the City Council appointed then-District 1 Council Member Dee Dee Cavanaugh to serve the remainder of Fred Thomas's mayoral term after his Jan. 21, 2025 death
  • simivalleyacorn.com (opens in a new tab)Simi Valley Acorn -- "Political newcomer appointed to council" (Michele Willer-Allred, March 1, 2025): the City Council appointed Joseph Ayala to the District 1 vacancy Cavanaugh left when she became Mayor, by a 3-1 vote (Council Member Mike Judge dissenting) over eight other applicants, including Jill Abele and Anthony Thompson
  • web.archive.org (opens in a new tab)City of Simi Valley -- Council Member Joseph D. Ayala's official bio page (District 1; archived via Wayback Machine, Feb. 17, 2026 snapshot): appointed to the Council in February 2025; Director, Proposal Development Center at Teradata; lecturer at CSU Northridge since 2016 (Public Speaking, Corporate Communications, Group Communication); B.A. Communication Studies (Loyola Marymount), M.A. Communication Studies (CSUN)

Last updated September 1, 2026.