2026 Ontario Municipal Election Democratic Voter Guide
Hello neighbor! My name is Andrea Galván and I am Vice President of the Greater Ontario Democratic Club.
Luis Suarez and I have been talking with Ontario residents and sharing information about the candidates and local races throughout this election. As part of that work, I also put together a voter guide to make it easier to research the races and issues on your ballot. I hope you find it helpful as you make your decisions this November.
Vote No on Measure H
Measure H is a ½ cent sales tax increase the City claims it needs to pay for essential services that they estimate will fill about a $30 million gap. We already voted on Measure Q in 2022 to raise our sales tax 1 cent. That funding was meant to go to parks and public safety. Council approved a $250million+ baseball stadium that funnels profits to an outside private equity firm. Last year the City had a budget of $1.6 billion, but reported in this year’s budget they overspent and spent a total of $2 billion. Their overspending error is more than the City of Rancho Cucamonga’s entire budget. If Measure H should pass Ontario would have the highest sales tax in San Bernardino County.
Our club’s stance: VOTE NO ON MEASURE H.
Endorsed Candidates
Michael Rios for Ontario City Council District 3
Michael is running to serve working families. Many of us at GODC have worked with him on transparency and accountability issues in Ontario and we offer this endorsement in full faith he’s the leader District 3 needs in this moment. Visit his website to learn more and to check out his budget tracker tool! https://rios4ontario.com/
Steve Garcia for Ontario Montclair School District Area 3
He is dedicated to strengthening family engagement and connecting schools with the communities they serve. Learn more about Steve on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/steve.garcia.7399
FBI Subpoena & How it Changed the Course of the Race
On the morning of July 28th rumors began swirling the FBI was raiding multiple sites across the Western IE. The FBI served subpoenas at Councilmember Alan Wapner’s residence, the Ontario City Clerk’s office, the Ontario International Airport, San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman’s residence and office in the Chino area. https://www.championnewspapers.com/community_news/article_0d5aa22b-dd58-4ebb-8050-15596b3a5cfc.html
In the following days Curt Hagman’s son who was running for City Council in District 3 dropped out. Alan Wapner who had been running for Mayor and already had sent out several mailers city wide —changed course and announced he would be running for District 3, and his proteges, Daisy Macias announced she would be running for Mayor and Stephanie Martinez would be running in District 2. Alan Wapner’s stranglehold on the city fell apart in a matter of days. https://www.dailybulletin.com/2026/08/20/alan-wapner-suffers-rare-setbacks-in-ontario-in-wake-of-fbi-action/
Alan Wapner’s massive war chest compiled from 32-years on the job approving warehouses and accepting checks from developers was now defeatable.
In recent days the Daily Bulletin has reported on Alan Wapner’s outsized pay on the airport board https://www.dailybulletin.com/2026/09/04/alan-wapner-paid-4-times-as-much-as-most-ontario-airport-board-peers/
Alan Wapner preemptively stepped down from his appointed positions representing the City before his colleagues could forcibly remove him https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/ontario-mayor-pro-tempore-alan-wapner-fbi-raid/
About Ontario- Political Background
There are ~98,000 registered voters in Ontario. About 46% os us are registered Democrats, and another 24% of residents are registered Republicans. Almost the same number are no party preference which is the group with a low voter turnout so it is hard to attribute voter patterns to the group. Then we have a tiny sliver of third party voters like American Independents, Libertarians, and the Peace and Freedom Party. We are a very Democratic city. https://elections.sbcounty.gov/voterregistration/dashboard/?
Our partisan seats at the State and Federal level view us as a non competitive area because we vote for Democrats overwhelmingly and so the real battles here happen during the primaries where policy debates are hashed out.
Which brings us to our non-partisan races. Our municipal elected leaders are all conservatives. Some are registered as Independents, Republicans, or even Democrats, but their social media posting, voting records, and private views all point to conservative policy beliefs.
In 2024 our City went to districts for the first time which made our city more competitive and responsive to local needs in each District, but only after City Council fought the lawsuit and lost that our civil rights were being violated by the set up they preferred. The problem is we have no campaign contribution limits or term limits. In the one district without an incumbent the Mayor’s former personal assistant, Daisy Macias, ran and won with the help of a $40,000 check from Alan Wapner.
Mayoral Race - No Good Options?
Our club declined to endorse any candidate in the Ontario Mayor’s race, but that does not mean this race is not still important. When looking at this race first consider is this candidate viable? Which means can they raise the money to reach out to enough voters through a combination of mail, text, and door knocking. Next do they share your values? If you are reading this guide chances are none of these candidates meet both of those factors:
Paul Leon- Our incumbent Mayor who claims to now be in favor of term limits and campaign contribution limits. If he passes them before the election some members of our club have stated they plan to reward his attempt to clean up the mess he helped make because a Macias win is a non-starter for many in our club. Macias and Leon are the most capable of fundraising the amounts needed to win a race at this level right now.
Kevin Kizzee- A conservative small business owner who is frustrated by the lack of responsiveness from Council but may have been a better candidate in District 3 where he lives as many of his issues are hyper location specific. And due to the challenges of running a city-wide race as a first time candidate.
Daisy Macias- Half way through her first term, and following Wapner’s drop out Daisy announced she would be running for mayor. The biggest concern about Daisy is she appears to be running at Alan Wapner’s request, has never rescinded her endorsement of him, and appears to be his attempt to maintain control in the City. We don’t need Wapner’s hand-picked choice acting in his stead as Mayor.
Nicolo Lalama - a progressive and eager to serve UCR student and Chaffey graduate who has good ideas, but our club declined to endorse out of concerns related to his lack of experience and desire to jump into a major race before getting involved at other levels first.
Our recommendation? Don’t vote for Daisy. Some of us will be voting for Nicolo knowing he is unlikely win, and some of us will be stunned to realize we are voting for Paul Leon as a lesser of two evils candidates.
District 2 -
Stephanie Martinez - Alan Wapner’s candidate for District 2 appears to be a recent transplant to the City despite touting a 30-year residency in Ontario. She is a regular attendee of City Council meetings and has told many throughout the years, myself included, she is not a resident of Ontario, but is active in Ontario because she grew up here. In recent months we can confirm she has moved into a home in Ontario. Scroll through our Instagram post highlighting the remarkable similarities of her and Alan Wapner’s almost identical campaigns.
Ruben Valencia- The independent, previously campaigned with progressive champion Sen. Connie Leyva, but has all the trappings of a MAGA republican, so many have trouble placing his politics. He votes very similarly to the rest of council, but seems to anger them. His term ended as our City was in process of going to districts, and he quietly waited for his seat to come back up this year and is back to reclaim his spot on council as antagonist to his fellow council members. Until unexpectedly, to everyone’s surprise, perhaps even to Paul Leon and Debora Porada, they offered their endorsements.
Our recommendation? Don’t vote for the candidate supported by Wapner.
District 3- 3 Conservatives vs. The Democrat
Alan “Warehouse” Wapner-DO NOT VOTE FOR THIS GUY. He has alot of money and will tell you he is anti-warehouse now that he is fighting for his seat. Make sure to also reject the candidates he is supporting to maintain his grip on power.
VOTE MICHAEL RIOS- We endorsed Michael because he is the only person amongst this group who shares our values, has shown up for the community consistently to fight for those values, and we trust will lead Ontario for the benefit of Ontario’s working families. He is also the only Democrat in this race. We have a champion, let’s do our part and get him elected.
D’Andre Lampkin- A current city planning commissioner that touts he wants to serve all residents, but has a track record on the planning commission of supporting developers. Endorsed by Paul Leon.
Larry Trinidad - A nurse on the Parks commission who appears to be well liked, but is not running on doing things differently. He is endorsed by Debbie Porada.
Stay Connected
If you are interested in getting more involved with our club you can become a member where your annual dues will help pay for stuff like this website and to support candidates that want to serve working families. We also host monthly community cleanups where we visit different parts of our community and identify problems we can raise to City Council on behalf of our neighbors. We are an active club that believes in service to the community.
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This guide was created by Andrea Galván if you have any questions or comments you can contact her on Instagram or Facebook @andrea4ontario Conflicts of interest Disclosure: Andrea Galván is considering running to represent District 4 where she lives again, so a Daisy win for Mayor would benefit her by opening that seat up.
