Huntington Beach‘s November City Council election, where three incumbents are seeking re-election, won’t affect the dynamics of the council this year, but it will put into play scenarios that could further cement the conservative majority’s control or open up paths for the left-leaning councilmembers to flip power in the next few years.
The council is comprised of seven members who each serve four-year terms.
Since 2022, a four-seat conservative majority has controlled the council’s direction, garnering national media attention over several issues they’ve pressed for in the first 20 months since taking over, including pushing to implement voter ID requirements in city elections, getting into a legal quarrel with the state over refusing to allow more housing to be built and creating the yet-to-be-implemented library book review board.
None of those conservative councilmembers — Pat Burns, Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark, Casey McKeon and Tony Strickland — who ran as a unified slate in 2022 and solidly won, are up for re-election this year.
But the council’s three left-leaning members, Councilmembers Rhonda Bolton, Dan Kalmick and Natalie Moser, who vote in lockstep together, often to little avail, are.
Running as a slate to knock them off and make a fully conservative council are Don Kennedy, Butch Twining and Chad Williams. Kennedy and Twining are planning commissioners appointed by Burns and Van Der Mark, respectively.
With just those three seats up this election, the November contest won’t change the political direction of the council; the conservative majority will still be in control. But it does set up the 2026 election to be a determiner for control since then four seats will be on the ballot.
However, other instances could alter the council before 2026.
One such factor is Strickland, who could leave the dais if a state Senate seat opens up.
Sen. Janet Nguyen, a Republican who represents much of the city, is running for a spot on the Orange County Board of Supervisors this year. Strickland, who has already served a term in the Senate, is already planning a run at the potentially vacant spot.
If Strickland leaves, it’s up to the council to appoint his successor. If one of the three conservative candidates wins a spot this year, the conservative majority would hold sway over who gets appointed.
But should the three incumbents win, and councilmembers couldn’t agree on a choice for the open seat, a special election would be held for that spot.
A lot of ifs to get there.
“It’s hard to avoid thinking about that,” Bolton said. “First things first, we do have to win our races.”
“It’ll still be a 4-3 majority even if the three of us win,” Bolton said. “And the difference is having groupthink and no transparency versus having people who are at least able to call out when we see things happening with our government that aren’t right.”
Former Councilmember Connie Boardman said it’d be much harder to get a different council majority in the next few years if the three incumbents aren’t re-elected.
But Patricia Pappas, a volunteer working to get Kennedy, Twining and Williams elected, said people pushing for the conservative slate want to get to a full majority. Even now, if one of the majority members misses a meeting, votes can easily end in a tie.
“They really want it to be 7-0 so that we are spending more time on the great things that our city needs,” Pappas said. To her, those needs include public safety and maintaining the city’s suburban character.
Kennedy, who ran for the council in 2018 as well, said if he and his running partners win, it would be a sign that “the residents like what’s going on in regards to the leadership and direction of the city.”
“But if we don’t win all three seats, that doesn’t mean that they don’t like it,” Kennedy said. “It is hard to unseat incumbents. So maybe they pick up a seat, maybe they pick up two. I have no idea, but I wouldn’t necessarily say that the end result is a definitive statement on the direction that the residents feel the city’s going. I think the majority of residents are happy with the direction.”
For Twining: “If we win, they support the direction. If we lose, they don’t support the direction.”
The filing period for those wishing to run for City Council closes on Aug. 9. Ballots will be sent out in October for the Nov. 5 election.
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