- cityofsouthelmonte.org (opens in a new tab)City of South El Monte — Notice of Election, November 3, 2026 (City Clerk Adrian Garcia, MMC; dated June 29, 2026): for two (2) Members of the City Council, full term of four years; nomination period July 13 – Aug. 7, 2026, extendable to Aug. 12 for non-incumbent challenger candidates against an unfiled incumbent (not applicable here — both incumbents filed)
- cityofsouthelmonte.org (opens in a new tab)City of South El Monte — List of Candidates, November 3, 2026 General Election: names the three qualified City Council candidates — Rudy Bojorquez ("Councilmember"), Manuel "Manny" Acosta ("Professor/Incumbent Councilmember"), Kimberly Valencia ("Continuing Education Manager") — with ballot designation and papers-pulled/qualified dates for each (all pulled papers July 13, 2026; Bojorquez qualified July 16, Acosta and Valencia Aug. 6)
- cityofsouthelmonte.org (opens in a new tab)City of South El Monte — Resolution No. 26-038 (requesting the LA County Board of Supervisors consolidate the Nov. 3, 2026 general municipal election): its roll call, surfaced via a search engine's indexed excerpt of the city's own document, reads "Acosta, Rodriguez, Mayor Pro Tem Bojorquez and Mayor Olmos" — confirming Bojorquez's Mayor Pro Tem title and Bojorquez's and Acosta's current council seats. The PDF itself returned no extractable text layer on direct retrieval this pass — a reachability gap in the city's own file, not a selective omission here — so this rests on the search engine's cached excerpt, not a full read of the document
- localnewspasadena.com (opens in a new tab)Local News Pasadena — "A First-Time Candidate Takes Aim at South El Monte Council Seat" (Sheryl Turner, April 27, 2026): a joint interview with candidate Kimberly Valencia and Mayor Gloria Olmos covering the council's elimination of the city's public safety division, a proposed arts district, the 2020 cannabis ordinance's (Measure CM) buffer-zone reduction, Valencia's biography and endorsements, and her characterization of opponent Rudy Bojorquez as backed by "significant funding from cannabis investors"
- cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State — CAL-ACCESS campaign-finance filer search, checked by candidate name 2026-08-31: Rudy Bojorquez's committee (Filer 1448856, dating to a 2020 committee, renamed for 2022 and 2026) is ACTIVE with no Form 460/461/450 e-filed for the 2025-2026 cycle and no late/$5,000+ contributions on record; Manuel Acosta's committee (Filer 1480867, "Acosta for South El Monte Council 2026; Manny," dating to a 2017 committee) is ACTIVE with the same absence; Kimberly Valencia's committee (Filer 1484572, "Valencia for South El Monte Council 2026; Kimberly 'Kim'") is ACTIVE, newly registered this cycle, with the same absence
Last updated August 31, 2026.
City of South El Monte
South El Monte City Council
This person holds one of two seats on South El Monte's City Council. Members are elected at-large to four-year terms. They vote on the city budget, zoning rules, and other ordinances. Each year, the council picks one member as Mayor. It also picks another as Mayor Pro Tem.
South El Monte fills two City Council seats on November 3, 2026. Rudy Bojorquez and Manuel "Manny" Acosta hold both seats now. First-time candidate Kimberly Valencia is running against them.
Each winner serves a 4-year term on South El Monte's City Council. The council sets the budget, zoning and development rules, and city ordinances. South El Monte is one of the San Gabriel Valley's smallest cities, home to about 20,000 residents. Each year the council picks one member as Mayor and one as Mayor Pro Tem. Gloria Olmos and Rudy Bojorquez hold those roles now. Day-to-day work runs through an appointed city manager. The city has no police department of its own. It pays the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Temple City station for public safety.
Both incumbents already sit on the council. Valencia does not. In a published interview, Mayor Olmos called the sitting council split by a "three-vote majority." She said that majority leans toward development and business. She is backing Valencia and Acosta together to shift that balance. In the same interview, Valencia called Bojorquez the best funded of the three. Framed that way, the choice is not the two incumbents against each other. It is how much a voter wants to shift the council's direction. The issues are development pace and cannabis ordinance buffer zones. Valencia also says the council majority ended a public safety division.
Rudy Bojorquez
Rudy Bojorquez sits on the council and is now Mayor Pro Tem. He is running again and has had a campaign committee since 2020. No platform was found, and his 2026 committee has filed no finance report.
Manuel "Manny" Acosta
Manuel "Manny" Acosta sits on the council and is running again. They have had a campaign committee since 2017. Mayor Gloria Olmos backs them and Kimberly Valencia.
Kimberly Valencia
Kimberly Valencia is a first-time candidate who works at UCLA. She wants to restore public safety, slow new development, and tighten cannabis buffer zones. Mayor Gloria Olmos and two groups back her.
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A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.