By Jorge Casuso
August 27, 2026 – Unlike the 2024 race for Santa Monica City Council, which saw record spending and unified slates, this year's Council race is generating little funding and splintered backing from major political groups.
Two years ago, six groups endorsed challengers Dan Hall, Ellis Raskin, Barry Snell and Natalya Zernitskaya in the race for four Council seats, and all four sailed to easy victories, giving the city's political establishment a 6 to 1 super-majority on the Council.
In the November 3 race for three open seats, however, none of the six groups are backing the same three candidates, with one group making no endorsements at all.
The latest group to weigh in, the Community for Excellent Public Schools (CEPS), this week endorsed two rival candidates -- Mayor Caroline Torosis and Councilmember Lana Negrete, who are heading opposing slates.
By not endorsing a candidate to replace Councilmember Jesse Zwick, who is not running for a second term, CEPS became the norm this year rather than the exception.
Last month, the highly influential Santa Monica Democratic Club made no endorsements after dozens of newly enrolled members backed the slate headed by Negrete -- which includes environmentalist Ashley Oelson and businessman Doug Trussler -- splitting the group's vote ("Dem Club Makes No Council Endorsements," July 16, 2026).
And earlier this month, the members of Santa Monicans for Reners' Rights (SMRR) endorsed two candidates -- Torosis and Rent Board Commissioner Danny Ivanov -- at the powerful group's annual convention ("SMRR Endorses Torosis, Ivanov for Council," August 10, 2026).
Three days later, SMRR's ten-member Steering Committee added Brett Morrow, who like Torosis is an LA County official, to the slate.
Because he was not endorsed by the membership, Morrow cannot identify himself as having been endorsed by SMRR on personal campaign literature.
Santa Monica Forward, a pro-housing group that also endorsed the four winners last year, is backing Torosis, Morrow and Eli Gill, a business operations manager and renter who, like Ivanov, is endorsed by none of the other groups.
Meanwhile, the hotel workers union, UNITE HERE Local 11, -- which spent $275,000 backing the four winners last year and provided an army of campaign workers -- endorsed only Torosis.
Abundant Santa Monica, another pro-housing group that made its debut in the 2024 Council race with $62,500 raised, has made no endorsements this year, while its larger neighboring chapter, Abundant, LA only endorsed candidates in the Council races in Culver City, West Hollywood and Long Beach.
Of the 11 candidates that made the ballot, four are not aligned with a slate -- Phil Brock, who is seeking to regain the seat he lost in 2024; Rent Board member Ericka Lesley; street performer Wade Kelley and Derrick Townsend, an occupational therapist at Kaiser-Permanente.
The influential Santa Monica Police and Firefighters unions have not made their endorsements.
Unlike the 2024 race that saw Santa Monica's political establishment regain control after a historic loss in 2020, the November 3 election won't flip the Council majority.