- ocvote.gov (opens in a new tab)OC Registrar of Voters -- Contest/Candidate Proof List, General Election 11/3/2026 -- City of Tustin section (pages 159-161 of 188, downloaded directly and parsed locally with pypdf since a plain fetch returns undecodable PDF stream data): confirms Mayor (2 qualified candidates) and Member, City Council District 3 (2) as the city's two November 2026 races, each Vote for 1, with incumbent flags and every candidate's filed ballot designation
- tustinca.org (opens in a new tab)City of Tustin -- City Council page: confirms the Council is "composed of a Mayor and four Council Members," lists the current five (Mayor Austin Lumbard, Mayor Pro Tem Ray Schnell, and Council Members Ryan Gallagher, Lee K. Fink, John Nielsen), and links each member's individual biography page
- tustinca.org (opens in a new tab)City of Tustin -- Mayor Pro Tem Ray Schnell official biography: BA English (University of Rochester), MBA (Chapman University, Beta Gamma Sigma); works in financial services (M&A transactional risk management); elected to Council November 2022; prior service on the Tustin Public Schools Foundation board; stated priorities: public/fire/school safety and government accountability, housing and cost-of-living affordability
Last updated August 31, 2026.
City of Tustin
Tustin City Council, District 3
This person holds the District 3 seat on Tustin's five-member City Council. The council has a Mayor plus four district Council Members. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. An appointed city manager runs day to day operations. Not all four districts are up the same year. The term is four years.
Incumbent Ray Schnell is Tustin's Mayor Pro Tem and is running for a second term. He faces challenger Thomas James "TJ" Reed, whose ballot title is Assistant Professor. Whoever gets the most votes on November 3 wins, with no runoff.
This person holds District 3's seat on Tustin's 5-member City Council -- a Mayor plus four district Council Members -- voting on city ordinances, the budget, and land use alongside an appointed city manager who runs day-to-day operations. Not all four districts are up the same year. The term is four years.
Beyond Schnell's substantive city-published biography and Reed's own filed occupation, no campaign site, news coverage, or other independent source could be found for Reed despite a real search effort across multiple engines. Documented below as a gap, not filled in with speculation.
Ray Schnell
Ray Schnell is Tustin's Mayor Pro Tem and works in financial services. His priorities are public safety, fire safety, school safety, and government accountability. He was elected to the city council in November 2022.
Thomas James "TJ" Reed
Thomas James "TJ" Reed's ballot title is Assistant Professor. No other information about their background or platform could be found.
Your pick
A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.