# Mayor of Simi Valley

Compare records and positions simply between Dee Dee Cavanaugh, Robert Clarizio, Mike Judge, and 2 more for Mayor of Simi Valley at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. Simi Valley's Mayor is directly elected. The Mayor presides over City Council meetings. The Mayor casts one of five votes on the budget and city laws. An appointed City Manager runs day-to-day operations. The term is two years, and voters elect the Mayor citywide.

- Jurisdiction: City of Simi Valley
- 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/simi-valley-mayor
- 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 1, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 90 out of 100 (Very strong), across 17 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Dee Dee Cavanaugh** — Appointed Incumbent · Incumbent
- **Robert Clarizio** — Communications Consultant
- **Mike Judge** — City of Simi Valley Council Member
- **Kareem Jubran** — Engineer/School Trustee
- **Wayne Hampton Holland, III** — Broadway Producer/Financier

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

Dee Dee Cavanaugh was appointed Mayor in January 2025 after Fred Thomas's sudden death. She seeks a full term against four challengers. They include sitting District 2 Council Member Mike Judge and school-board trustee Kareem Jubran. Two repeat candidates, Robert Clarizio and Wayne Hampton Holland III, are also running.

Simi Valley's directly elected chief executive: presides over City Council meetings and casts one of five votes on the budget and city ordinances for this Ventura County city of about 126,356 residents. An appointed City Manager runs day-to-day operations under the city's council-manager government. The term is two years, and the office is elected citywide (at-large) rather than by district, unlike the four district Council seats.

Mayor Fred Thomas died unexpectedly in his sleep on Jan. 21, 2025, at age 67, just months after winning re-election. The City Council appointed Cavanaugh, then the District 1 Council Member, to serve the remainder of his term, effective Jan. 27, 2025. That appointment is why this seat reads as "Appointed Incumbent" rather than simply "Incumbent" on the ballot -- and why District 1, Cavanaugh's former seat, is also on this cycle's ballot as a short-term contest.

## Dee Dee Cavanaugh

The appointed incumbent. She is a Senior Vice President and Regional Administrator at Banc of California. She was first elected to the City Council in District 1 in 2016. She was re-elected in 2020 and 2024. She served as Mayor Pro Tem in 2019 and 2021, before her January 2025 appointment as Mayor.

**Strengths:** Nearly a decade of Council experience before becoming Mayor. She has been a Rotary Club of Simi Valley member since 1996. She was the club's first woman president, in 2000-01.

**Trade-offs:** Her mayoralty began by appointment, not election. This is her first time putting the office before voters. No independent evaluation of her specific votes was found.

**Keep in mind:** The city's own campaign-disclosure page indexes her filed FPPC forms going back to 2016. But no itemized statement with a dollar total was reviewed. See the financial note below.

## Mike Judge

The sitting District 2 Council Member, on the Council since November 2010. He has been Mayor Pro Tem five times, in 2013, 2017, 2020, 2023, and 2025. He is a retired Los Angeles Police Department officer with 31 years of service, retired in 2021. He is also a U.S. Army and California Army National Guard veteran, from 1981 to 1996. He is running for Mayor rather than seeking re-election to District 2. That leaves his District 2 seat open.

**Strengths:** The longest continuous Council tenure of any candidate in this race. He has also served five terms as Mayor Pro Tem, a formal Council leadership role.

**Trade-offs:** Running for Mayor means giving up his district seat. He is not defending his record there. Voters comparing him to Cavanaugh are comparing two different offices' worth of experience.

**Keep in mind:** In February 2025 the Council appointed Joseph Ayala to Cavanaugh's vacated District 1 seat. He cast the lone dissenting vote. That is a sourced data point on how he voted. No stated reason for the dissent was found.

## Kareem Jubran

A Simi Valley Unified School District trustee since 2018. He is currently Clerk of the Board, and was Board President in 2021. He is an engineer with a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from UCLA. He also holds an M.S. in Civil Engineering from USC. His ballot designation reads "Engineer/School Trustee."

**Strengths:** Elected experience on a different local governing body, the school board. He also has an engineering background relevant to infrastructure and land-use decisions.

**Trade-offs:** No Council or citywide elected experience. How his school-board record maps onto city government priorities cannot be independently assessed here.

**Keep in mind:** His school-board seat and this Mayoral race are two different offices. Winning would mean giving up the trustee seat. No direct statement from Jubran about that was found.

## Robert Clarizio

A communications technology consultant and Simi Valley native. He is a repeat mayoral candidate. He ran in 2022 and again in 2024. In 2024 he placed third with 3,098 votes, behind Thomas and runner-up Mike Shaw. His ballot designation reads "Communications Consultant."

**Strengths:** Two prior mayoral campaigns give him more electoral track record than most challengers here. That includes a specific, certified 2024 vote count.

**Trade-offs:** Two prior losses, most recently finishing well behind the winner. No independent evaluation of what, if anything, his platform emphasizes was found.

**Keep in mind:** The 2024 result of 3,098 votes is certified and specific. A partial, uncertified 2022 election-night count separately showed him with 936 votes. That was ahead of Holland's 586 in that same partial count. Treat the 2022 figure as directional only, not final.

## Wayne Hampton Holland, III

Their ballot designation reads "Broadway Producer/Financier." They are also a repeat mayoral candidate. They ran in 2022 and again in 2024. In 2024 they placed fourth with 3,062 certified votes.

**Strengths:** A specific, certified 2024 vote total of 3,062. They have also used a consistent, unusual ballot designation across multiple runs.

**Trade-offs:** No independent biography, campaign website, or stated platform was found beyond their ballot designation and electoral history. That is a genuine gap, not a claim that none exists.

**Keep in mind:** They finished behind Clarizio in both 2022's partial count and 2024's certified result. That does not tell you why voters preferred Clarizio. No comparative analysis of the two campaigns was found.

## Sources

1. [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](https://clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/cfmcfmr001_contcanddataproof_08-18-2026-on-ballot-alpha-order-applied.pdf)
2. [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](https://clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/cfmcfmr001_contcanddataproof_08-17-2026-off-ballot.pdf)
3. [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](https://web.archive.org/web/20260813160134/https://www.simivalley.org/government/city-council)
4. [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"](https://web.archive.org/web/20260516152010/https://www.simivalley.org/government/city-council/city-council-history)
5. [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](https://web.archive.org/web/20260813160134/https://www.simivalley.org/government/city-council/city-council-campaign-disclosures)
6. [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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simi_Valley,_California)
7. [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](https://www.simivalleyacorn.com/articles/simi-valley-decides-early-returns/)
8. [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."](https://www.simivalleyacorn.com/articles/simi-valley-election-field-takes-shape/)
9. [Simi Valley Acorn -- "City mourns death of newly re-elected mayor" (Michele Willer-Allred, Jan. 25, 2025): Mayor Fred Thomas died unexpectedly in his sleep Jan. 21, 2025, at age 67, months after winning re-election](https://www.simivalleyacorn.com/articles/city-mourns-death-of-newly-re-elected-mayor/)
10. [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](https://www.simivalleyacorn.com/articles/council-appoints-one-of-their-own-as-mayor/)
11. [City of Simi Valley -- Mayor Dee Dee Cavanaugh's official bio page (archived via Wayback Machine, June 3, 2026 snapshot): Senior VP/Regional Administrator at Banc of California; first elected to the City Council (District 1) in 2016 and re-elected in 2020 and 2024; Mayor Pro Tem in 2019 and 2021; appointed Mayor by the City Council Jan. 27, 2025; Rotary Club of Simi Valley member since 1996 (its first woman president, 2000-01); 1977 graduate of Royal High School](https://web.archive.org/web/20260603053837/https://www.simivalley.org/government/city-council/mayor-dee-dee-cavanaugh)
12. [City of Simi Valley -- Council Member Mike Judge's official bio page (District 2; archived via Wayback Machine, June 3, 2026 snapshot): elected to the City Council in Nov. 2010; Mayor Pro Tem in 2013, 2017, 2020, 2023, and 2025; retired Los Angeles Police Department officer (31 years, retired Aug. 2021); U.S. Army 1981-85 and California Army National Guard 1985-96](https://web.archive.org/web/20260603053909/https://www.simivalley.org/government/city-council/mayor-pro-tem-mike-judge)
13. [Simi Valley Unified School District -- Kareem Jubran's official trustee page: names him Clerk of the Board, states he was elected in 2018 and served as Board President in 2021, and gives his degrees (B.S. Mechanical Engineering, UCLA; M.S. Civil Engineering, USC)](https://www.simivalleyusd.org/board/trustees/jubran)
14. [Simi Valley Acorn -- "Thomas expected to take gavel" (Nov. 11, 2022): partial, uncertified 2022 mayoral election-night count (27,565 votes tallied) showing Robert Clarizio with 936 votes and Wayne Hampton Holland III with 586, behind winner Fred Thomas](https://www.simivalleyacorn.com/articles/thomas-expected-to-take-gavel/)
15. [Simi Valley Acorn -- "New beginning, same faces" (Dec. 20, 2024): certified final results of the 2024 mayoral race -- Fred Thomas 41,394, Mike Shaw 11,126, Robert Clarizio 3,098, Wayne Hampton Holland III 3,062 -- and notes Sam Cohen's appointment to the city's Community Development Block Grant advisory committee](https://www.simivalleyacorn.com/articles/new-beginning-same-faces/)
16. [Simi Valley Acorn -- "Contenders vie for top seat at Simi City Hall" (Michele Willer-Allred, Oct. 4, 2024): pre-election candidate profiles for the 2024 mayoral race, describing Robert Clarizio, 57, as a communications technology consultant and Simi Valley native who also ran for mayor in 2022](https://www.simivalleyacorn.com/articles/contenders-vie-for-top-seat-at-simi-city-hall/)
17. [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](https://www.simivalleyacorn.com/articles/political-newcomer-appointed-to-council/)

## The rest of the ballot

Mayor of Simi Valley 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, "Mayor of Simi Valley — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/simi-valley-mayor (sources last retrieved September 1, 2026).

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