Special City Council Election Race Takes Shape

It’s official.

Four candidates will face each other in the Special Municipal Election for La Mirada City Council-District 2 on November 5th.

The nomination period ended on August 9^th with four candidates successfully filing their papers, Michelle Velasquez Bean, Chris Pflanzer, John Sarega and Dan Siwak.

A fifth candidate, Jorge R. Alvarez, pulled papers, but they were not returned.

This is somewhat of a rare occurrence in La Mirada as it will be the second City Council election in the same calendar year.

The regular council election took place this past March 5 for District’s 3, 4, & 5 with Ed Eng beating John Accornero in District 3, capturing 87% of the vote along the way.

In Districts 4 & 5, nobody filed papers to challenge Steve DeRuse or Anthony Ortero when the nomination period concluded.

Therefore, at a special meeting, the City Council appointed DeRuse as a member of the City Council representing District 4 for a four-year term and appointed Otero as a member of the City Council representing District 5 for a four-year term.

This special election is necessitated because District 2 councilman Andrew Sarega abrubtly resigned earlier this year on May 8-just two years into his term and just 23 days into his first stint as Mayor.

According to city bylaws, only two appointees are allowed to be on council at the same time.

So, since DeRuse and Otero are technically appointees, a special election is required for Sarega’s seat to fill the unexpired term through June 2026.

Velasquez-Bean is a newcomer to the La Mirada political scene. She sits on the Historical Advisory Council for the city and teaches at Rio Hondo College.

Pflanzer is a former member of Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District Board of Trustees, a business owner and serves as a Volunteer on Patrol for the Norwalk Sheriff Station. He lost to Sarega by three votes in June 2022.

John Sarega is the father of Andrew. He is a business owner and ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 2015. He also ran for the 38^th District Congress seat this past March, losing to Linda Sanchez.

Siwak graduated from La Mirada High School, is a veteran and serves as Senior Vice Commander at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 9148 in La Mirada.

Only residents living in District 2 can participate in this election.

The first by-district election for La Mirada was in 2017.

First Area Election for School Board

The Norwalk-La Mirada Unified School District (NLMUSD) has also transitioned from an at-large voting system to a by-trustee area voting system beginning with this November’s board elections.

There are seven designated areas, with two located in La Mirada-Trustee Areas 6 & 7.

David Constantine will face Becky Langenwalter in the Trustee Area 7 race on November 5^th.

Constantine is a business professional and a member of La Mirada Kiwanis. He finished third, 44 votes behind Pflanzer in the previously mentioned La Mirada City Council contest in 2022.

Langenwalter is a licensed therapist, a business owner and served at Biola University for 23 years as a financial counselor. She ran unsuccessfully for a spot on the board in November 2022.

Only residents living in Trustee Area 7 can participate in this election.

The election for the Trustee Area 6 NLMUSD representative will be in 2026.