Simi Valley election field takes shape

The field is set for Simi Valley's Nov. 3 election, and it's a big one. Voters will choose among more than a dozen candidates across contests for mayor, three City Council seats, two school board areas and one contested Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District race, according to the Simi Valley Acorn.

The candidate filing period closed Aug. 12, locking in the names that will appear on the November ballot. Two park district incumbents will keep their seats without a fight after drawing no challengers — but nearly every other local race on the ballot will be contested.

Five-way race for mayor

The mayor's race is the headline event. Incumbent Dee Dee Cavanaugh, a bank executive who served on the City Council from 2016 until January of last year — when she was appointed mayor following the death of sitting Mayor Fred Thomas — is seeking a full term against four challengers.

They include Councilmember Mike Judge, a retired police officer who has served on the council since 2010. Rather than seeking another term representing Council District 2, Judge is running for the city's top office, which guarantees at least one seat turnover on the council this fall.

The other mayoral hopefuls are communications consultant Robert Clarizio; engineer and school board trustee Kareem Jubran; and Broadway producer and financier Wayne Hampton Holland III.

The winner will serve a two-year mayoral term.

Contested council races in Districts 1, 2 and 4

District 1, which generally covers the northernmost portion of the city, features incumbent Joseph Ayala — a business executive and college lecturer appointed in February to the seat Cavanaugh vacated when she became mayor. He faces retired businessperson Jill Abele, businessperson and coach/executive Anthony Thompson, and licensed private investigator Todd Taylor. Because the seat was filled by midterm appointment, the District 1 winner will serve only a two-year term.

District 2, covering the southeastern portion of the city, has two candidates: engineer Sam Cohen and business owner Richard Perini. With Judge vacating the seat to run for mayor, the district will get a new representative regardless of the outcome. The winner earns a four-year term.

District 4, the southwestern area of the city, is also on the ballot, though the Acorn's candidate list for that race was incomplete in the published version of the story. What is clear is that incumbent Rhodes, who represents the district, is not seeking reelection, guaranteeing another open-seat contest. District 3 is not on the ballot this year.

Voters unsure of which council district they live in can use the city's district lookup tool by entering their street address.

School board and park district contests

Two seats on the Simi Valley Unified School District Board of Education are up for election — the board is elected by "area" rather than "district."

In Trustee Area D, incumbent Stephen Pietrolungo, a retired educator and school principal, faces James Greenfield, a sanitation operations manager.

Trustee Area E will have a new representative no matter what: incumbent Dawn Smollen is termed out after eight years on the school board. Senior operations manager Jodi Lewis and Ryan Rosuck, an educator and mother, are competing for the open seat. Smollen, meanwhile, is pivoting to another local body — she's running for the Rancho Simi Recreation and Park District's Division 2 seat.

That Division 2 race is the only one of three RSRPD seats on the November ballot that will be contested. Mary Northrup and Smollen are vying for the seat held by Ed Abele, who is not seeking reelection.

The other two park district incumbents sail through uncontested. Brian Dennert, the board chair and a Royal High School teacher, filed for another four-year term in Division 1, and Brooke Grayson, a realtor appointed last year to complete the term of Josh Gray after he moved out of the district, filed for a full term in Division 3.

What voters need to know

There's an administrative wrinkle worth noting: the school board and park district elections are run by the Ventura County Elections Division, not the Simi Valley City Clerk's Office. Candidates for those boards must meet residency requirements within the areas they seek to represent.

On timing: voters must be registered at least 15 days before the election to receive a regular ballot. Those who miss that deadline can still participate through California's conditional voter registration process, which allows eligible residents to register and vote conditionally. Residents can check their registration status — and register, update or cancel — through the Ventura County Elections Division. Californians who are 16 or 17 can also pre-register so they're automatically registered when they turn 18.

For Simi Valley residents, this election carries outsized weight. With the mayor's office, at least two guaranteed council vacancies, two school board seats and a park district seat in play, the winners will shape decisions on city services, development and public safety spending, classroom policy for the local school district, and the parks and recreation programming that anchors family life across the 805. Expect candidate forums, endorsements and campaign finance filings to surface in the weeks ahead as the Nov. 3 election approaches.