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City of West Hollywood · Statewide General Election

West Hollywood 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 three at-large seats up this cycle on West Hollywood's 5-member City Council, elected to staggered 4-year terms: the city budget, land use and zoning, and public-safety contracts with the LA County Sheriff, plus confirming the city manager and other top appointments. The council selects one of its own to serve as Mayor and another as Mayor Pro Tempore each year -- neither title is separately elected.

Fourteen candidates are running for three of West Hollywood's five at-large City Council seats on November 3 — the largest local field this project has authored. One incumbent, Chelsea Byers, is seeking a second term; the other two seats are open because Mayor John Heilman and Councilmember Lauren Meister are both term-limited. There's no primary: all 14 go straight to November, and the three highest vote-getters win.

Each winner serves a 4-year term as one of five votes on the council that sets West Hollywood's budget, land use and zoning, and its public-safety contract with the LA County Sheriff, and confirms the city manager and other top appointments. The council elects one of its own to serve as Mayor and another as Mayor Pro Tempore each year — neither is separately elected — and the two seats not up this cycle, held by Vice Mayor Danny Hang and Councilmember John Erickson, were both elected in 2024 and run through 2028.

This cycle turns on how much control the city keeps over state housing mandates — candidates split over SB 79's transit-oriented zoning versus a locally designed alternative called TODAP — over whether to keep or overhaul the city's Flock license-plate-camera program, and over the long-running fight to redesign Fountain Avenue with protected bike lanes. Because the seats are citywide at-large, every candidate is on every voter's ballot; weigh the full field rather than a single race.

Helen Krieger

Helen Krieger is a television writer who serves as vice chair of the city's Transportation and Mobility Commission and previously led a New Orleans neighborhood association after Hurricane Katrina. She argues West Hollywood has produced 70% less housing in the 40 years since incorporation and wants that reversed, framing the stakes around young queer residents being priced out. She opposes TODAP and supports the Fountain Avenue bike lanes, citing city outreach on the project dating to 2017.

Strengths

Direct Transportation and Mobility Commission experience, plus a specific, sourced argument — the 40-year housing shortfall — that most of the field cites only in general terms.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office; wasn't pressed at the August forum on how her housing goals square with opposing TODAP, the city's own state-compliance alternative.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research. She backs the Strip's billboard program, citing the roughly $8 million a year in social-service spending it funds — a position several rivals also hold.

Kody Christiansen

Kody Christiansen sits on West Hollywood's Business Task Force and Chamber of Commerce and is pursuing a master's in public administration at USC. He spent nearly two years across four shelters before getting sober 11 years ago, then worked at the Harvard Square Homeless Shelter, where he created "I Deserve ID," a program that mails people identification so they can apply for housing and benefits. At the August candidates forum he called the Strip's billboards "an eyesore" and said the city's sidewalk delivery robots "gotta go."

Strengths

Lived experience with homelessness and shelters translated into a concrete program, I Deserve ID, rather than a general platform position — a specificity few other candidates match.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office or city commission seat; his platform, per this pass's research, leans more on his personal story than detailed positions on SB 79 or TODAP.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research. He recently completed a ride-along with a West Hollywood sheriff's deputy and offered a rival, Marlon Gobel, some of his own forum time; Gobel declined.

Jonathan Cottrell

Jonathan Cottrell co-owns Gym Bar WeHo with his husband, Erik Braverman, and sits on the city's Public Facilities, Recreation and Infrastructure Commission and the Chamber of Commerce board. A software engineer by background, he's campaigning on affordability and what he calls "public safety done as care, not crackdown." He and Braverman announced during the campaign that they're expecting a child.

Strengths

A working small-business owner's view of the Rainbow District's commercial corridor, plus current service on the city commission overseeing public facilities and infrastructure.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office; he launched his campaign the same season he and his husband announced they're expecting a child, a real demand on time voters can weigh for themselves.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research. He supports a TODAP but wants development sited where infrastructure can support it, not a one-size-fits-all state formula.

Stephen Post

Stephen Post sits on West Hollywood's Public Safety Commission and manages a business improvement district. He wants to streamline development approvals and build more of what he calls "social housing," while directing more money to the city's Human Services Division to connect homeless residents to services. He opposes TODAP and defends the city's unarmed Safety Ambassador program, proposing a new community safety officer role to work between ambassadors and sheriff's deputies.

Strengths

Direct Public Safety Commission experience and day-to-day work managing a business improvement district, giving him a practical view of both policing and commercial-corridor issues.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office; his support for streamlined development approvals sits in tension with opposing TODAP, the faster state-compliance path several rivals favor.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research. He frames his campaign around working residents rather than "wealthy residents and corporate interests," a contrast several rivals also draw in their own way.

Joel Zaldivar

Joel Zaldivar is a first-time candidate whose occupation and prior civic involvement this pass could not confirm from reachable sources. He submitted his nomination papers by the August 7 deadline and describes his run on social media as "a new way to have fundamental activism" in the city. He did not appear on stage at the campaign's first candidates forum, one of four certified candidates left off the ten-person lineup.

Strengths

Qualified for the ballot alongside 13 other candidates in an unusually large field, a real threshold to clear regardless of name recognition.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office, city commission seat, or detailed platform beyond social-media posts was found in this pass's research; at least one local outlet reported it could not reach him for comment.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research. His is one of the thinner public records in the field — weigh that absence of information for what it is, not as a mark against him.

Kevin Ligon

Kevin Ligon is a retired federal civil servant who spent his career as a program manager at the VA Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System, helping more than 75,000 veterans access online services and training over 10,000 healthcare employees. He's lived in the same West Hollywood apartment building for 15 years and says tenant-landlord tension there inspired his run. His platform centers on filling empty storefronts and supporting local businesses.

Strengths

A federal program-management career serving tens of thousands of people, plus 15 years as a renter in the kind of building his tenant-focused platform addresses directly.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office or city commission seat; his own campaign statement stays general on Flock, SB 79 and TODAP rather than staking out a position on any of them.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research. He was not among the ten candidates on stage at the August 16 forum.

Tom Demille

Tom Demille has lived in West Hollywood since 1993 and is running his sixth council campaign in three decades. A working actor best known for playing a Klingon on "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," he sits on the city's Disability Advisory Board and says he's never taken a campaign donation across any of his five prior runs. He wants to tear up the city's Flock camera contract for a Motorola alternative and backs 5150 holds and enforcement for homeless residents who refuse services.

Strengths

Three decades of institutional memory and council-meeting attendance most of the field can't match, plus a self-funded record across five prior campaigns.

Trade-offs

Five previous council runs without winning a seat is a record voters can weigh directly against a sixth bid; he also wasn't included in the ten-candidate August 16 forum lineup.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research. He credits himself with West Hollywood's more than 100 flagpoles, installed after his push following Sept. 11, 2001, and the city's AIDS Monument tribute event.

John Duran

John Duran served on the City Council from 2001 to 2020, including four terms as mayor, before losing his 2020 reelection bid; an unsuccessful 2022 comeback attempt followed, and term limits mean a win this year would be his last. An attorney since 1987 and a former national chairman of NALEO, he built his council record on HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ advocacy, tenant protections, and nightlife-district support. He resigned as mayor in 2019, while keeping his council seat, amid sexual harassment allegations from three Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles members.

Strengths

The longest, most senior record in the field — four terms as mayor and two decades of institutional knowledge, plus decades of HIV/AIDS and LGBTQ+ advocacy credentials.

Trade-offs

He already lost his council seat in 2020 and a comeback bid in 2022; voters can weigh what, if anything, has changed in his case for a third attempt at return.

Keep in mind

In 2019 he resigned as mayor amid sexual harassment allegations; the city paid $500,000 to settle a related lawsuit from a former aide, per LA Times and Advocate.com reporting. He has disputed that the allegations drove the resignation.

Larry Block

Larry Block has owned Block Party WeHo for 17 years and finished third in the city's 2024 council race, when two seats were up. He's also a co-owner, through Boystown Media, of WEHOonline — an outlet covering this race — and says he's stepped away from its editorial operations while campaigning. He opposes a commercial vacancy tax and backed the state legislation that became AB 1620, letting elderly and disabled tenants move to ground-floor units without losing rent stabilization.

Strengths

Nearly two decades running a local business plus a near-miss in the 2024 council race, and a specific legislative credit, AB 1620, that a tenant or caseworker can point to directly.

Trade-offs

No elected office yet despite two runs; his ownership stake in WEHOonline, even with his stated recusal, is a relationship worth weighing when reading that outlet's coverage of this race.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research beyond the WEHOonline ownership disclosure above, self-reported by that outlet's own bio of him. At 67, he says the council could use "a few more gray heads."

Kyle Brazeal

Kyle Brazeal has a background in private-sector finance and operations and says he got involved in city politics through Fountain Avenue bike lane project meetings. He wants City Hall decisions built on data and results rather than what he calls "political theater," arguing West Hollywood's real problem is enforcing laws it already has — on sidewalk scooters and unlicensed vendors — rather than passing new ones. He supports a TODAP and opposes SB 79's one-size-fits-all approach to redevelopment.

Strengths

A finance and operations background distinct from the field's commissioners and small-business owners, plus firsthand engagement with the Fountain Avenue debate central to this race.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office or city commission seat; his "data-driven accountability" framing has not yet been tested against an actual council vote.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research. His campaign committee paid for a recent Fountain Avenue town hall event, according to its own campaign-disclosure filing.

Chelsea Byers

Chelsea Byers is the sitting councilmember seeking a second term, having served roughly four years on the council including one as mayor. She's campaigned on housing affordability, the Metro K Line Northern Extension, and environmental initiatives, and is the first City Council candidate ever endorsed by the California Working Families Party. In June 2026 the council postponed two housing votes pending an FPPC review of whether her job at a housing-advocacy nonprofit creates a conflict of interest on housing matters.

Strengths

Incumbency, a year of experience as mayor, and the broadest institutional endorsement list in the race, including the Working Families Party, Victory Fund and Women's March Action.

Trade-offs

The FPPC conflict-of-interest review over her outside employment was unresolved as of this pass's research — a live issue in her own campaign, not a settled one.

Keep in mind

She works as campaigns director at Welcoming Neighbors Network, a housing-advocacy nonprofit; critics say that's a conflict on housing votes, which she disputes. The council split 3-2 on delaying those votes pending FPPC review, per Beverly Press.

Alden "Marlon" Gobel

Alden "Marlon" Gobel is an international fashion designer and creative director, trained at Central Saint Martins, who has worked as director of operations for Thom Browne and as a liaison on a NASA next-generation spacesuit study; he launched his own label 12 years ago. He is the son of the late Joanna Harcourt-Smith, whose years with Timothy Leary in the 1970s were the subject of the 2020 documentary "My Psychedelic Love Story." He didn't meet the $5,000 campaign-finance threshold to join the August 16 forum stage but attended anyway, watching from the front row.

Strengths

A design and creative-industry career distinct from the rest of the field, plus a platform combining affordable housing, anti-surveillance protections, and public safety framed around compassion.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office or city commission seat; he didn't meet the forum's fundraising threshold, and his emailed policy answers ran broad and aspirational on specifics like SB 79 and TODAP.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research. He opposes West Hollywood's Flock camera program as currently implemented, citing data-retention and privacy concerns.

Chukwudubem "Chiedu" Egbuniwe

Chukwudubem "Chiedu" Egbuniwe has lived in West Hollywood for 22 years and chairs the city's LGBTQ+ Commission, appointed at-large through February 2027, after roughly three decades in the tech industry. At the August forum he pictured mixed-use development along the south side of Santa Monica Boulevard, housing built above businesses, and pressed for West Hollywood to drop its Flock camera vendor over data-control and retention questions. His campaign committee shows a recorded transaction as of late June, per the city's NetFile portal.

Strengths

Current chairmanship of the city's LGBTQ+ Commission and a specific, detailed policy idea — mixed-use housing along south Santa Monica Boulevard — rather than a general affordability pledge.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office; his three decades in tech were not detailed beyond that description in this pass's sources, and no employer or specific role was independently confirmed.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research. He closed the August forum by describing himself as a consensus builder who "asks questions and follows the data."

Tatyana "Tanya" Tsikanovsky

Tatyana "Tanya" Tsikanovsky is campaigning on public safety, government transparency, and business support. She opposes SB 79 and supports a TODAP, and at the August forum said of public safety, "When someone crazy is chasing after me, I am running towards the person with the gun and the badge." In her closing remarks she described experiencing antisemitism in West Hollywood and criticized a city-funded human-rights event for featuring an anti-Zionist speaker without a Zionist counter-voice.

Strengths

A clear, consistent public-safety and transparency message across the forum, plus a specific enforcement idea: asking why a storefront sits vacant before penalizing its owner with a vacancy tax.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office or city commission seat was found in this pass's research; her platform, as presented at the forum, leans more on positions than a governing record to evaluate.

Keep in mind

No controversies surfaced in this pass's research beyond her own account of the human-rights event, which she raised herself in her closing remarks and which this pass could not independently corroborate.

Source review: Strong (87/100) · 16 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • weho.org (opens in a new tab)City of West Hollywood — Election Information page (November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election: states "Seats Open: Three (3) City Council seats," lists all 14 qualified candidates by name with links to their candidate statements, and links the ballot- designation and candidate-contact documents)
  • weho.org (opens in a new tab)City of West Hollywood — City Council page: confirms Danny Hang was elected to the council on November 5, 2024 (Vice Mayor as of this retrieval), independent corroboration of the 2-then-3 staggered-cohort seat count
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)City of West Hollywood's own NetFile public campaign-finance portal, Elections section for the 11/03/2026 General Election: lists a City Council seat with dozens of registered candidate and committee filers
  • wehotimes.com (opens in a new tab)WEHO TIMES, News Desk — "West Hollywood Releases Final List of 14 Qualified City Council Candidates" (Aug. 14, 2026): the certified ballot-order list, plus the city's randomized-alphabet method for that order, 21 people pulled papers, and the seats up (Byers, plus Heilman's and Meister's term-limited seats)
  • wehotimes.com (opens in a new tab)WEHO TIMES, Paulo Murillo — "Former West Hollywood Mayor John Duran Confirms He is Running for City Council Seat" (June 15, 2026): his council tenure (2001-2022 per this outlet), four terms as mayor, career as an attorney since 1987, JD from Western State University College of Law, BS from CSU Long Beach, former NALEO national chairman, and the piece's own note that "Duran has also had his fair share of controversies"
  • wehotimes.com (opens in a new tab)WEHO TIMES, Paulo Murillo — "West Hollywood Council Member Chelsea Byers Officially Launches 2026 Re-Election Campaign" (June 17, 2026): her 2026 campaign kickoff, the California Working Families Party's first-ever West Hollywood council endorsement, and endorsements from Laura Friedman, Lindsey Horvath, Jeffrey Prang, Victory Fund, Women's March Action, Urban Environmentalists LA, and the Westside Young Democrats
  • wehotimes.com (opens in a new tab)WEHO TIMES, Mike Pingel — "Jonathan Cottrell Officially Launches Campaign for West Hollywood City Council" (June 5, 2026): his co-ownership of Gym Bar WeHo with husband Erik Braverman, his Public Facilities Commission service, and his announcement that the couple is expecting a child
  • beverlypress.com (opens in a new tab)Beverly Press & Park Labrea News — "Fourteen candidates qualify for WeHo City Council ballot" (Aug. 12, 2026): names all 14 certified candidates and the three seats up (Byers, term-limited Heilman, term-limited Meister), independently corroborating the city's own list
  • beverlypress.com (opens in a new tab)Beverly Press & Park Labrea News — "West Hollywood City Council election comes into focus" (July 15, 2026): early candidate-by-candidate roundup with occupations and platform notes for Byers, Block, Brazeal, Christiansen, Duran, Cottrell, Krieger, Post and Tsikanovsky
  • beverlypress.com (opens in a new tab)Beverly Press & Park Labrea News — "West Hollywood council candidate field grows" (Aug. 5, 2026): names additional prospective candidates as the field expanded toward its final 14, including Marlon Gobel, Kevin Ligon, Chiedu Egbuniwe, Helen Krieger, Stephen Post and Tatyana Tsikanovsky
  • beverlypress.com (opens in a new tab)Beverly Press & Park Labrea News — "Byers conflict of interest allegation splits council" (July 1, 2026): reports that Byers' job as campaigns director at Welcoming Neighbors Network, a housing-advocacy nonprofit, prompted the Council to postpone two housing votes on a 3-2 split (Heilman, Hang, Meister for delay; Erickson, Byers against) pending an FPPC review, which had 21 days to determine whether her employment is a disqualifying conflict
  • wehoonline.com (opens in a new tab)WEHOonline, Brian Holt — "WeHo Council Hopefuls Split Over Flock, Bike Lanes, Billboards and More at First Forum" (Aug. 17, 2026): a detailed recap of the Aug. 16 candidates forum at Beaches Tropicana, naming the 10 candidates on stage and their positions on Flock cameras, SB 79/TODAP, homelessness, Fountain Avenue bike lanes, billboards, and policing. One of this election's 14 candidates, Larry Block, is a co-owner of WEHOonline through Boystown Media; the outlet's own editor's note on this piece invites any candidate who believes their position was misrepresented to request a correction
  • wehoonline.com (opens in a new tab)WEHOonline, Brian Holt — "Meet Marlon Gobel, the WeHo Council Candidate Who's Also the Son of Two Counterculture Icons" (Aug. 20, 2026): his fashion-design career (Central Saint Martins, Thom Browne, a NASA spacesuit-study liaison role, his own 12-year-old label), his mother Joanna Harcourt-Smith's history with Timothy Leary, and his emailed policy answers after missing the forum's $5,000 fundraising threshold. Same Larry Block/Boystown Media ownership note as above
  • wehoonline.com (opens in a new tab)WEHOonline, Brian Holt — "West Hollywood's Tom Demille Wasn't on the Forum Stage. He Still Had Plenty to Say" (Aug. 21, 2026): his residency since 1993, sixth council campaign, acting career (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Broken Arrow, Get Shorty), Disability Advisory Board service, and his emailed policy answers. Same Larry Block/Boystown Media ownership note as above
  • advocate.com (opens in a new tab)The Advocate — "West Hollywood Council Members Demand John Duran Resign" (Feb. 12, 2019): reports West Hollywood paid $500,000 to settle a former aide's sexual-harassment lawsuit against Duran and the city
  • latimes.com (opens in a new tab)Los Angeles Times — "West Hollywood mayor cedes his title amid sexual harassment allegations" (March 4-5, 2019): reports Duran's resignation as mayor while retaining his council seat, amid allegations from three Gay Men's Chorus of Los Angeles members and a separate aide's harassment lawsuit against Duran and the city

Last updated August 31, 2026.