# Twentynine Palms City Council, District 3 Daniel L. Mintz Sr. is running uncontested for Twentynine Palms City Council, District 3. Full ballot at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds District 3's seat on Twentynine Palms's five-member, district-elected City Council. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. Twentynine Palms is a city next to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. It sits in the high desert. Terms are four years and staggered. Only some districts are up in any given November. Districts 3, 4, and 5 are up this cycle. Districts 1 and 2 next return in 2028. The Council picks one of its own members as a rotating Mayor. It also picks another as Mayor Pro Tem each term. Twentynine Palms does not separately elect a citywide Mayor. - Jurisdiction: City of Twentynine Palms - 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/twentynine-palms-council-district-3 - 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 7, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 91 out of 100 (Very strong), across 8 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Daniel L. Mintz Sr.** — Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Only one candidate qualified for City Council District 3: incumbent Daniel L. Mintz Sr., the city's rotating Mayor this term, appears unopposed on the November 3, 2026 ballot -- so this contest is settled and your vote here does not change the outcome. This person holds District 3's seat on Twentynine Palms's 5-member, district-elected City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this high-desert city next to the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center. Terms are four years, staggered so only some districts are up in any given November -- Districts 3, 4, and 5 are up this cycle; Districts 1 and 2 next return in 2028. The Council elects one of its own members to serve as the rotating Mayor and another as Mayor Pro Tem each term; Twentynine Palms does not separately elect a citywide Mayor. With no opponent, the useful question is not who to choose but what the officeholder has done and what to watch next. An unopposed return means accountability for this seat over the next four years runs through public meetings and constituent contact rather than through the ballot. ## Daniel L. Mintz Sr. Daniel L. Mintz Sr. is Twentynine Palms's incumbent District 3 councilmember and the city's rotating Mayor this term, filing under the ballot designation "Incumbent." He has served on the council since December 2010, previously as Mayor in 2014 and 2016 and as Mayor Pro Tem in 2013 and 2015, after six years as a Planning Commissioner. A 47-year city resident and Twentynine Palms High School graduate, he has co-owned the Bowladium Fun Center with his sister since 1985 and represents the city on the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District, the League of California Cities' Desert/Mountain Division, the Morongo Basin Transit Authority, and SANBAG. On July 28, 2026, he was one of two councilmembers who voted against directing city staff to pursue a state disaster-resilience grant for a local nonprofit's homeless-shelter proposal, citing concern about the short application timeline; the motion failed on a 2-2 vote with one councilmember abstaining. **Strengths:** Sixteen years on the council since 2010, two Mayor terms and two as Mayor Pro Tem -- more tenure than any other 2026 candidate; a lifelong business owner and six years as Planning Commissioner. **Trade-offs:** Running unopposed means his record faces no organized counter-argument this cycle; no independent news coverage of his tenure beyond the July 2026 council vote cited above was found in this pass. **Keep in mind:** Financial info could not be retrieved for him -- see below. ## Sources 1. [San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters -- "Offices Up for Election, November 3, 2026, General Election": lists County Board of Education Areas A, B, and D (under the School category) as the county's only expiring-term seats this cycle -- no Board of Supervisors, row office, or Superior Court seat appears anywhere in the 11-page document](https://uploads.rov.sbcounty.gov/ROV/Elections/2026/1103/Report_OfficesUpForElection.pdf) 2. [San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters -- statewide "Report_CandidateList.pdf" candidate-filing report linked from the county's own November 3, 2026 candidates page: within the San Bernardino County section, only Area B carries any candidates (Rita Fernandez-Loof, Miki R. Inbody, Kimberly L. Watson); Areas A and D, both confirmed expiring this cycle by the county's own Offices Up for Election document, have no candidates anywhere in the report and will not appear on the November ballot](https://uploads.rov.sbcounty.gov/ROV/Elections/2026/1103/Report_CandidateList.pdf) 3. [City of Twentynine Palms -- "Mayor & Council" page: names the sitting five-member council by district and term-expiration year -- Mayor Daniel L. Mintz Sr. (District 3, term expires 2026), Mayor Pro Tem Octavious Scott (District 4, term expires 2026), Steven Bilderain (District 1, term expires 2024), April Ramirez (District 2, term expires 2024), and McArthur Wright (District 5, term expires 2026) -- confirming which three districts are up this cycle](https://www.ci.twentynine-palms.ca.us/mayor-council) 4. [draw29palms.org -- the city's official 2022 redistricting site: confirms the city adopted its current five-district council map on March 8, 2022 via Resolution 22-04, and that "Districts 3, 4 and 5 are up for election in 2022, and Districts 1 and 2 are up for election in 2024" -- establishing the staggered 4-year term structure that puts Districts 3, 4, and 5 up again in 2026](https://draw29palms.org) 5. [Hi-Desert Star / Desert Trail (byline Jene Estrada) -- "Candidates run for City Council, MUSD board": names all three Twentynine Palms 2026 council contests and every candidate -- "Mayor Daniel Mintz ran unopposed for District 3"; in District 4, "Carlos Blandon and Karmolette O'Gilvie are challenging incumbent Octavious Scott, currently mayor pro tem"; in District 5, "Shanese Risper is running against incumbent McArthur Wright"](https://www.hidesertstar.com/deserttrail/candidates-run-for-city-council-musd-board/article_6f1de2fd-27ee-47d8-a64f-6bf47bbc5beb.html) 6. [Hi-Desert Star / Desert Trail -- "Council opts not to pursue shelter grant": reports on a July 28, 2026 council meeting where members voted 2-2 (with one abstention) against pursuing a state disaster-resilience grant for a homeless-shelter proposal -- "Mayor Dan Mintz and Mayor Pro Tem Octavious Scott opposed. With council member McArthur Wright abstaining because of his church connections, the motion failed" -- and identifies Shanese Risper by her own title, "Hope Center Community Outreach Director," quoting her advocacy for the proposal directly](https://www.hidesertstar.com/deserttrail/council-opts-not-to-pursue-shelter-grant/article_76f96ec8-a19b-4ac6-a1d2-ff8ab845d3f6.html) 7. [San Bernardino County -- NetFile public campaign-finance portal (aid=SBD), queried directly by name against the portal's own QuickNameSearch API for all six 2026 Twentynine Palms candidates (Mintz, Scott, Blandon, O'Gilvie, Wright, Risper): every query returned zero filers -- no candidate or committee record at all for any of the six](https://public.netfile.com/pub2/?aid=SBD) 8. [City of Twentynine Palms -- Mayor & Council's own bio page for Daniel L. Mintz Sr.: on the council since December 2010, Mayor in 2014 and 2016, Mayor Pro Tem in 2013 and 2015, six years as Planning Commissioner before that; a 47-year city resident who has co-owned the Bowladium Fun Center with his sister since 1985; represents the city on the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District, the League of California Cities' Desert/Mountain Division, the Morongo Basin Transit Authority, and SANBAG](https://www.ci.twentynine-palms.ca.us/index.asp?SEC=5F14F0BE-93CD-4F63-9086-0AA46D705393&DE=73E4057C-7E31-46AE-862B-F2BB38A6FDA7) ## The rest of the ballot Twentynine Palms City Council, District 3 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, "Twentynine Palms City Council, District 3 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/twentynine-palms-council-district-3 (sources last retrieved September 7, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.