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City of Wildomar · Statewide General Election

Wildomar City Council, District 5

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 your district's seat on Wildomar's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. A 4-year term. Wildomar has no separately elected Mayor -- the council selects a Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem from among its own district-elected members each year.

Incumbent Ashlee DePhillippo faces challenger Pedro Magdaleno for Wildomar's District 5 City Council seat. It's the only Wildomar council race on this ballot: Districts 1 and 3 each drew just one candidate -- the sitting incumbent in both cases -- so neither goes before voters as a contested choice.

The winner holds one of five district seats on Wildomar's City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, over a four-year term. Wildomar has no separately elected Mayor or City Treasurer -- the council selects a Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem from among its own district-elected members each year, and an appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations.

Districts 1 and 3 each drew only a single qualified nominee -- incumbents Carlos Marquez and Joseph Morabito, respectively -- triggering a state law (Elections Code Section 10229) that lets a city seat an unopposed nominee without holding an election. The city's own notice said the council would decide by August 18, 2026 whether to appoint them outright or let a token, single-candidate election proceed; this research could not confirm which path the council took, but either way voters in those two districts face no real choice between candidates, so only District 5 appears on this ballot. DePhillippo's record here comes from her own filed Candidate Statement and an independent 2022 news report; Magdaleno filed no statement, and no independent profile of him was found in this research pass.

Ashlee DePhillippo

The incumbent, seeking re-election after being appointed to the District 5 seat by a unanimous council vote in March 2022 and then winning it outright that November, per an independent Valley News report and her own candidate statement. A small business owner and mother of four married to a police officer, per her statement, which cites a moratorium on new gas stations, car washes, and storage facilities in commercial corridors; a rollback of industrial cannabis uses; removal of 94 illegally stored trailers on Palomar Street; launching the city's first Old Town Specific Plan; and District 5 street resurfacing as her council record.

Strengths

An independently confirmed council record dating to 2022, including a term as the council-selected Mayor, and a detailed self-reported record of specific votes and initiatives.

Trade-offs

Beyond her own filed statement and one 2022 news report on her original appointment, no independent profile, biography, or news coverage of her 2026 campaign was found in this research pass.

Keep in mind

Every specific accomplishment above comes from her own campaign statement, not an independent account of the underlying council votes.

Pedro Magdaleno

A challenger who qualified for the ballot on August 7, 2026, the final day of the filing period, per the city's own candidate roster. He filed no Candidate Statement with the city, and this research found no independent biography, occupation, or platform for him.

Strengths

None documented from official sources -- he filed no candidate statement and no independent profile of him was found.

Trade-offs

No campaign-finance filing was found either, consistent with a candidate who has not crossed the modest fundraising threshold that would require registering a committee.

Keep in mind

This is an absence of documentation, not a documented absence of qualifications -- a genuine multi-source search (news search, campaign-finance databases, Ballotpedia) turned up nothing further about him.

Source review: Very strong (92/100) · 7 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • voteinfo.net (opens in a new tab)Riverside County Registrar of Voters — 2026 Annual Election Calendar (lists every November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election office by city, including "City of Cathedral City: City Council District 3 / District 4 / District 5 / City Treasurer")
  • wildomar.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Wildomar -- "November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election" page: originally three City Council seats (Districts 1, 3, 5), each a full 4-year term; lists nomination-qualification dates for all four qualified candidates (Carlos Marquez, D1; Joseph Morabito, D3; Ashlee DePhillippo and Pedro Magdaleno, D5) and links each notice/candidate-statement PDF. Fetched directly, with no bot-blocking.
  • wildomar.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Wildomar -- "Notice of Election," General Municipal Election, Nov. 3, 2026 (dated July 9, 2026, signed by City Clerk Janet Morales Garcia): the original three-seat ballot (Council Districts 1, 3, 5), nomination period July 13 - August 7, 2026, and the Elections Code Section 10229 mechanism for a district that draws no more than one nominee.
  • wildomar.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Wildomar -- "Notice That There Are Not More Candidates Than Offices To Be Elected" (Elections Code Section 10229): as of the close of nominations on August 7, 2026, only one person was nominated in each of District 1 (Carlos Marquez) and District 3 (Joseph Morabito); states the City Council would meet August 18, 2026 to either appoint the sole nominees outright or let the election proceed. No record of that meeting's outcome was found in this pass (see local-wildomar.json's editorial note) -- cited here only for the underlying fact that both districts drew a single nominee each, not for an appointment this dataset does not assert took place.
  • wildomar.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Wildomar -- "Elected Officials" directory page: names the sitting City Council as of this retrieval -- Carlos Marquez (District 1 / Mayor), Dustin Nigg (District 2 / Mayor Pro Tem), Joseph Morabito (District 3), Bridgette Moore (District 4), Ashlee DePhillippo (District 5) -- confirming Marquez and Morabito are each running for re-election unopposed, and that Wildomar's Mayor/Mayor Pro Tem titles are held by district-elected councilmembers rather than filled by a separate election.
  • wildomar.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Wildomar -- Ashlee DePhillippo's filed Candidate Statement, City Council District 5: cites a moratorium on new gas stations/car washes/storage facilities in commercial corridors, an industrial-cannabis-use rollback, removal of 94 illegally stored trailers on Palomar Street, launching the city's first Old Town Specific Plan, and District 5 street resurfacing as her council record; describes herself as a small business owner, a mother of four, and the wife of a police officer.
  • myvalleynews.com (opens in a new tab)Valley News (myvalleynews.com) -- "Ashlee Dephillippo appointed to Wildomar City Council for District 5 in wake of Marsha Swanson retiring" (published March 17, 2022): the City Council voted 5-0 in a Special Meeting to appoint DePhillippo over a second applicant, Gina Castanon, following Marsha Swanson's resignation; quotes DePhillippo directly on the city's growth and identity as it develops.

Last updated August 31, 2026.