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Surf City voters are about to decide the future direction of their city, which is expected to face a $7 million budget shortfall next year while grappling with a series of legal battles with the state of California.
It’s the first general election since a new council majority came onto the dais in 2022 and made sweeping changes at city hall, including changing how books are purchased at the library, suing the state over mandated zoning laws, changing who prays at public meetings and other issues.
No matter how the vote plays out, that conservative majority will stay in office after Election Day because none of them are up for reelection this year.
But the Nov. 5 election will determine if the minority members stay or go – along with differing opinions on some of the city’s most critical issues.
The Republican majority members are endorsing a slate of three candidates to join them on the dais – business owner Butch Twining, businessman Don Kennedy and pastor and retired Navy Seal Chad Williams.
The council’s Democratic minority, made up of Councilmembers Dan Kalmick, Natalie Moser and Rhonda Bolton, are endorsed by the local Democratic Party and are running to keep their seats after questioning the direction the city is moving over the past two years.
Marissa Jackson, a local mother, and Amory Hanson – who’s run every council election since 2016 – are also running for office, but have each received less than $5,000 from donors.
The election could end up influencing how a potential vacancy on the council gets filled – Councilman Tony Strickland has announced his intention to run for state senate if current Senator Janet Nguyen wins election to the OC Board of Supervisors.
[Read: Santana: The Political Ghost of Andrew Do Haunts 1st District Race]
If Nguyen gets elected and Strickland wins her senate seat while the city council can’t come to a consensus on who to replace him, a special election would decide who gets the seat.
The Incumbents
Kalmick, Bolton and Moser have spent most of the last two years opposing the council majority’s biggest proposals, repeatedly calling to work with the state on housing rather than fight it out in court and questioning the multi-million dollar payout to the Pacific Airshow.
[Read: How Did a Huntington Beach Air Show Become Embroiled in Controversy and Politics?]
All three candidates are backed by the county Democratic Party, and have pledged to fight the changes to the library and avoid “unnecessary litigation,” along with pledges to support the city’s police and fire departments.
Kalmick received the most direct donations with over $189,000, followed by Moser with $177,000 and Bolton with $120,000, with all three receiving $5,500 from the police officers’ union.
The Orange County Employees Association, which represents most of city hall’s employees, is also backing them, spending nearly $19,000 on advertising for each of them.
The Challengers
Twining, Williams and Kennedy have repeatedly shown up at city council meetings over the past two years endorsing votes made by the “Fab 4” majority’s opposition to high density housing projects and praising the shifts at the city’s library.
All three have pledged to fight high density housing development in the city and continue the city’s lawsuits against the state over mandated housing, along with calls to reform the library.
Williams, a former Navy Seal and young adult pastor at Calvary Chapel of the Harbour, has led the pack on fundraising, bringing in over $360,000 in direct, small dollar contributions from Huntington Beach residents alongside donors across the state and country.
Twining, who owns his own geotechnical engineering business, fundraised nearly $77,000 and has loaned his campaign $85,000 of his own money, while Kennedy has directly raised about $84,000 and loaned his campaign no money.
The Huntington Beach Firefighters Association spent over $10,000 advertising each of them, along with over $8,700 from the Huntington Beach People’s Action Committee, which is primarily funded by local businessmen Ed Laird and Brian Thienes.
[Read: Huntington Beach City Council Looks to Rename Street After Major Campaign Donor]
Twining and Williams each received $5,500 from the police officer’s union, but Kennedy did not.
Jackson’s campaign is largely focused on her Christian faith according to her website, and is largely self funded.
Hanson does not have a website and has not gathered more than 5% of the vote in every election since 2016.
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a GroundTruth initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org or on Twitter @NBiesiada.
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