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City of Thousand Oaks · Statewide General Election

Thousand Oaks City Council, District 2

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On the ballot

This person would hold one of five district seats on the Thousand Oaks City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Ventura County city of about 126,966 residents (2020 Census). The Council appoints a City Manager (Andrew Powers as of this cycle) to run day-to-day operations. A 4-year term. Thousand Oaks has no separately, directly elected Mayor -- the Council selects one of its own members annually to serve as the largely ceremonial presiding officer; Mikey Taylor currently holds it, with Bob Engler as Mayor Pro Tem. The city completed its transition from at-large to by-district elections under Ordinance No. 1715-NS (adopted July 18, 2023): Districts 4 (Al Adam) and 5 (Tie Gutierrez) were first elected by district in November 2024 and aren't up again until 2028. Districts 1, 2, and 3 -- the city's first-ever district elections for those three seats -- are up this cycle.

An open seat: Mayor Pro Tem Bob Engler, first elected in 2018, is retiring rather than seeking another term, leaving travel agent and pickleball-club director Gus Gougas to compete against independent film and media producer Kyle Rohrbach -- who narrowly lost the city's last at-large council race to Mikey Taylor by just 292 votes.

This person would hold one of five district seats on the Thousand Oaks City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Ventura County city of about 126,966 residents. The Council appoints a City Manager (Andrew Powers) to run day-to-day operations. A 4-year term. Thousand Oaks has no separately, directly elected Mayor -- the Council selects one of its own members annually to serve as the largely ceremonial presiding officer; Mikey Taylor (this cycle's District 1 candidate) currently holds it, with Engler as Mayor Pro Tem.

District 2 covers the Rancho Conejo area, neighborhoods around Wildwood Regional Park, and California Lutheran University. This is literally the first time this seat has ever been elected by district: the city adopted by-district elections in 2023 (Ordinance No. 1715-NS), with Districts 4 and 5 first up in 2024 and Districts 1, 2, and 3 -- including this one -- up for the first time this cycle. Engler, who lives in the district, explained his decision not to run again: "it's probably time for me to step aside and let someone younger come in and move the city forward." An earlier filer for this seat, independent contractor Bradley Poteet, does not appear on the certified two-candidate roster.

Gus Gougas

Grew up in San Fernando and graduated from Cal State Northridge with a political science degree; spent more than 20 years in corporate sales management. He served as chair of the city's Community Funding Review Committee from 2015 to 2018 and is currently a travel agent and part-owner/director of the Pickleball Athletic Club, Thousand Oaks' first indoor pickleball club. His top priorities are public safety and the city's relationship with its police and fire departments, followed by the Downtown Project and fiscal responsibility.

Strengths

Prior city-committee service (Community Funding Review Committee chair) and two decades of sales-management experience relevant to constituent-facing work.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office; his committee service, while real, is appointed rather than elected experience.

Keep in mind

He supports the Downtown Project for the housing and tax revenue it would bring -- an unqualified endorsement, a contrast worth noting against Arreola's (District 1) more conditional support for the same project.

Kyle Rohrbach

Grew up in Thousand Oaks, then earned a BFA in film and television production from NYU's Tisch School of the Arts before returning to California in 2009 to work in independent film, television, and digital media. He serves on the board of directors for TOArts and on the city's Community Funding Review Committee. He is centering his campaign on housing affordability and cost of living, improving public transportation including Dial-A-Ride, and expanding arts and culture as both a community asset and economic driver.

Strengths

Current board service with TOArts and the city's Community Funding Review Committee, plus a near-miss in 2022 (292 votes short) that suggests real name recognition.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office; a platform centered on arts, culture, and transit is a different emphasis than Gougas's public-safety-first framing, a real choice for voters rather than a deficiency.

Keep in mind

He also supports the Downtown Project, so the two District 2 candidates don't actually disagree on the city's single highest-profile current land-use decision -- their contrast is more about priorities than about that project specifically.

Source review: Very strong (92/100) · 10 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; already cached locally from earlier in this session and re-checked here): confirms Thousand Oaks's three November 2026 city contests -- City Council District 1 (incumbent Mikey Taylor, "Councilmember/Business Owner"; challenger Karen Arreola, "Retired Biotech Executive"; a third filer shown but not qualified), District 2 (Kyle Rohrbach, "Executive Producer"; Gus Gougas, "Businessman/Business Owner"; a third filer shown but not qualified, no incumbent among the two qualified), and District 3 (incumbent David Newman, "City Councilmember"; challenger Victor Hayek, "Deputy Superintendent") -- and no District 4 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 District 1, 2, or 3 entry for the City of Thousand Oaks -- corroborating by absence that none of the three was cancelled or moved off-ballot; its one Thousand Oaks entry is a non-districted, zero-filer legacy contest code (6491) listing Bob Engler, David Newman, and Mikey Taylor as the city's current incumbents, consistent with the city's own roster but not itself a live 2026 contest
  • toaks.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Thousand Oaks -- "Elections" page (City Clerk): independently republishes the identical certified roster as the county's own document -- District 1 (One Seat): Karen Arreola, Mikey Taylor; District 2 (One Seat): Kyle Rohrbach, Gus Gougas; District 3 (One Seat): Victor Hayek, David Newman -- in ballot order per the Secretary of State's Aug. 13, 2026 randomized alphabetical drawing; states the nomination period is closed
  • toaks.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Thousand Oaks -- "City Council" page: the Council is five members elected by district serving 4-year staggered terms; the Council annually selects a Mayor (Mikey Taylor, term expires 12/15/2026) and Mayor Pro Tem (Bob Engler, term expires 12/15/2026) from among its own members; names the full roster including Councilmember, District 4 Al Adam and Councilmember, District 5 Tie Gutierrez (both terms expire 12/12/2028) and Councilmember David Newman (term expires 12/15/2026); gives each member's bio
  • toaks.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Thousand Oaks -- "District Elections" page: states the City Council adopted Ordinance No. 1715-NS on July 18, 2023, implementing a five-member by-district election system, with Districts 4 and 5 first up in 2024 and Districts 1, 2, and 3 up in 2026 -- confirming this is the city's first-ever district election for Districts 1-3
  • toaks.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Thousand Oaks -- "City Manager's Office" page: names Andrew Powers as the current City Manager
  • toacorn.com (opens in a new tab)Thousand Oaks Acorn -- "Council candidate roster set" (Michael Montalvo, Aug. 28, 2026): a full-length, six-candidate profile piece confirming the certified roster and giving each candidate's own biography, career background, and stated top priorities in their own words, including that District 2 (Rancho Conejo, Wildwood Regional Park, Cal Lutheran) is an open seat because Bob Engler -- who lives in the district -- isn't seeking re-election, and that all six candidates support the recently approved Downtown Project
  • toacorn.com (opens in a new tab)Thousand Oaks Acorn -- "Thousand Oaks City Council races begin as candidate filing opens" (Michael Montalvo, Jul. 17, 2026): reports Bob Engler's own quoted reason for retiring ("it's probably time for me to step aside and let someone younger come in and move the city forward"); names each district's neighborhoods (District 1 Newbury Park, District 2 Rancho Conejo, District 3 central/eastern Thousand Oaks including Oakbrook and Sunset Hills); and names an early District 2 filer, independent contractor Bradley Poteet, who does not appear on the later-certified two-candidate roster
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Thousand Oaks, California": used in this shard only for its 2020 Census population figure (126,966)
  • toacorn.com (opens in a new tab)Thousand Oaks Acorn -- "Engler, Newman, Taylor lead city race" (Victoria Talbot, Nov. 11, 2022): the prior, at-large council election -- Taylor led Rohrbach by just 292 votes for the third of three seats, the two now in different district races this cycle (Taylor District 1, Rohrbach District 2) rather than a rematch

Last updated September 1, 2026.