Skip to main content

City of South Gate · Statewide General Election

South Gate City Council

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 one of two at-large seats up this cycle on South Gate's 5-member City Council, elected to staggered 4-year terms: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The council selects one of its own members to serve as Mayor for a 1-year term; day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager.

Five candidates are running for South Gate's two at-large City Council seats: incumbents Al Rios and Joshua Barron against three challengers — Alan Garcia, Edgar Pelayo and Jimmy Ozaeta. Vote for up to two — no primary.

Council seats carry 4-year terms. Winners join three other councilmembers as five votes on the budget, city ordinances and land use, with day-to-day operations run by an appointed city manager. The council also selects one of its own members to serve as Mayor for a 1-year term — that seat is not on this ballot.

South Gate faces a structural budget gap of about $9 million a year, and voters are separately deciding a utility tax meant to help close it. Both incumbents sit on the council that placed that measure on the ballot; two of the three challengers are campaigning explicitly against how the council got there. The practical choice in this field is less about differing platforms than about whether continuity or new council voices are the more trustworthy path through the deficit.

Alfonso (Al) Rios

Al Rios is the incumbent Vice Mayor, on the council since a 2017 special election and re-elected in 2022; he served as Mayor in 2021. His campaign has not published a 2026 platform beyond seeking another term. Outside the council he is Dean of Academic Affairs and a political-science professor at ELAC's South Gate campus, a role he has held for 17 years.

Strengths

The longest council tenure in this field, since 2017, plus regional board seats spanning transit, workforce development and a hospital board.

Trade-offs

No stated 2026 platform beyond continuing his current committee work, so his case rests on record rather than a specific new agenda.

Keep in mind

He is one of two incumbents whose council placed the utility-tax measure on this same ballot — part of what challengers are running against.

Joshua Barron

Joshua Barron is the incumbent Mayor — chosen by his council colleagues for a 1-year term in December 2025, after his council election in 2022 — running for another council term. His campaign has not published a 2026 platform; in office he names infrastructure, business growth and reinstating school arts programs among his priorities, per the city's official bio. He is a bank Vice President in financial-crimes investigation, with over 20 years in banking.

Strengths

A first council term that already includes the Mayor's chair, plus five years as a Parks and Recreation Commissioner before he was elected.

Trade-offs

No stated 2026 platform beyond continuing his current priorities, so his case rests on record rather than a specific new agenda.

Keep in mind

He is one of two incumbents whose council placed the utility-tax measure on this same ballot — part of what challengers are running against.

Alan Garcia

Alan Garcia is a challenger for one of the two council seats. Beyond confirming his candidacy on the city clerk's certified list, his campaign has published no platform or biography — his Instagram account states only that he is a candidate. No prior city office or public record was found for him.

Strengths

No public source documents any relevant background, experience, or endorsement for him beyond his confirmed candidacy.

Trade-offs

No published platform, prior city office, or public record to weigh against the other four candidates.

Keep in mind

Nearly nothing beyond his name is publicly confirmed; if his campaign publishes a platform, the weekly refresh will catch it.

Jimmy Ozaeta

Jimmy Ozaeta is a challenger and a South Gate Planning Commissioner since 2023, running jointly with Edgar Pelayo as "South Gate For Change." He says the city's roughly $9 million budget deficit and a lack of transparency call for new council leadership, and centers his campaign on fiscal responsibility and infrastructure. Born and raised in South Gate, he spent 15 years in YMCA nonprofit leadership, including turning around one YMCA association that was near bankruptcy.

Strengths

15 years of nonprofit executive leadership, including a turnaround of a YMCA association's finances, plus three years already inside city government as a Planning Commissioner.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office, and his campaign's account of the deficit is the incumbents' record recast as a case for change rather than an independent audit.

Keep in mind

He and Pelayo are running as a joint slate, not against each other; the choice in this field is whether either or both should replace an incumbent.

Edgar Pelayo

Edgar Pelayo is a challenger and a South Gate Parks and Recreation Commissioner since 2023, running jointly with Jimmy Ozaeta as "South Gate For Change." He says the same budget deficit and a lack of transparency call for new council leadership, and points to his real-estate brokerage's fiduciary duty as the model for the fiscal oversight he'd bring to City Hall. He holds an MBA from Pepperdine University.

Strengths

An MBA and a business-management, finance and real-estate career built on fiduciary duty, plus three years already inside city government as a Parks and Recreation Commissioner.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office, and his campaign's account of the deficit is the incumbents' record recast as a case for change rather than an independent audit.

Keep in mind

He and Ozaeta are running as a joint slate, not against each other; the choice in this field is whether either or both should replace an incumbent.

Source review: Strong (81/100) · 8 cited sources

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

Review note: Alan Garcia (@alang4sg) and South Gate For Change may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

Last updated August 31, 2026.