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City of Vista · Statewide General Election

Mayor of Vista

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 presides over City Council meetings and represents Vista publicly, but votes as one of five members on the budget and city ordinances -- day-to-day city government runs through an appointed city manager. Vista's mayor is the only member of the council elected citywide rather than by district; the city's other four council seats have been elected by district since 2017. A 4-year term.

Vista's two mayoral candidates are Joe Green and Kenneth Zuniga, running for an open seat after Mayor John Franklin decided not to seek re-election. Whichever candidate receives the most votes on November 3 wins outright; there is no runoff.

The mayor presides over City Council meetings and represents Vista publicly, but votes as one of five members on the budget and city ordinances -- day-to-day government runs through an appointed city manager. Vista's mayor is the only council member elected citywide; the other four represent numbered districts, elected by district since 2017. Vista became a charter city in 2007. A 4-year term.

Franklin is finishing his first 4-year term as mayor after eight years on the council before that -- a dozen years at the dais total. A June 2026 primary bid to succeed termed-out county Supervisor Jim Desmond in San Diego County District 5 fell short, but Franklin told the Union-Tribune that loss isn't his real reason for stepping back: he says he believes in "self-imposed term limits" and it's time for new leadership. Both candidates on this ballot are familiar faces in city politics rather than newcomers -- Green served two terms on the council before leaving it voluntarily, and Zuniga currently sits on one of the city's advisory commissions.

Joe Green

Joe Green served eight years on the Vista City Council before declining to seek a third term in 2024. A real estate broker and loan officer, he owns Green Team Realty in Vista. He has the fundraising edge in this race: his most recent disclosure, covering the first half of 2026, lists $26,785 in available campaign funds, including nearly $11,000 in donations and personal loans raised in 2025. He has won endorsements from the local firefighters' and deputy sheriffs' associations and from LIUNA, the Laborers' International Union of North America.

Strengths

Eight years of prior council experience -- more City Hall exposure than any other candidate here -- plus the largest campaign fund and law-enforcement and labor endorsements.

Trade-offs

He left the council voluntarily in 2024 rather than seek a third term; his real-estate and lending business gives him a financial stake in the land-use calls a mayor makes.

Keep in mind

No Cal-Access filer-search confirmation was completed for him in this pass -- see Financial info.

Kenneth Zuniga

Kenneth Zuniga is a current member of Vista's Homelessness Commission and a San Diego State graduate. He works as a photographer for Fashionphile, a Carlsbad-based company that buys and resells used luxury goods. His candidate statement describes him as a small-business owner, though no business is listed on his economic-interest disclosure form; asked about the discrepancy, he told the Union-Tribune he takes on independent client work outside his regular employment, without specifying whether that work operates under a licensed business or as an independent contractor. He is endorsed by two Vista Unified School Board members, Cipriano Vargas and Martha Alvarado, and by several organizations including the San Diego County Democratic Party.

Strengths

Current, hands-on experience on the city's Homelessness Commission, one of Vista's most visible issues, plus school-board and county-party endorsements.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office; an unresolved gap between his "small business owner" label and a disclosure form listing no business. His funds trail Green's by a wide margin.

Keep in mind

No Cal-Access filer-search confirmation was completed for him in this pass -- see Financial info.

Source review: Very strong (93/100) · 4 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • sdvote.com (opens in a new tab)San Diego County Registrar of Voters -- Candidate List, November 3, 2026 General Election (current through the 8/24/2026 2:44pm snapshot): confirms Mayor, City Council Districts 1 and 3, City Clerk, and City Treasurer as Carlsbad's five November 2026 races, and Mayor plus City Council Districts 1 and 3 as Poway's three November 2026 races, each Vote for 1
  • sandiegouniontribune.com (opens in a new tab)San Diego Union-Tribune (Paul Sisson) -- "Vista Mayor Franklin's departure puts two challengers in the spotlight": independent, bylined reporting on all three Vista races -- occupations, endorsements, and each candidate's own mid-2026 campaign-finance disclosure (period ending June 30, 2026)
  • thecoastnews.com (opens in a new tab)The Coast News Group (staff) -- "Election 2026: A guide to North County races": for San Marcos, confirms the final three-race field, including Thomas Gabriele's later filing against Nunez in District 1 -- the correction to the May 2026 "unopposed" reporting; for Vista, corroborates Mayor Franklin's departure and his June 2026 County Supervisor District 5 primary loss, and the District 1/District 4 incumbents-vs-challengers framing, and names two additional mayoral filers, Gabriel Chance and Alexandra Garcia Guzman, not present on the county's own certified, post-deadline qualified candidate list -- treated as filed-but-not-qualified, not part of the November ballot
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- Vista, California: confirms Vista became a charter city June 13, 2007, that the mayor is elected at-large while the other four council seats have been elected by district since 2017, and names the current (pre-election) council -- cited only for general government-structure context, never a candidate-specific claim

Last updated August 31, 2026.