As of 1:36 a.m. Wednesday, election results for the Costa Mesa Mayoral race showed Mike Buley in the lead with 55% of the vote, with Loren Gameros trailing behind with 45% of the vote.
In the city council’s third district, Daniel Morgan pulled into the lead with 50.9% of the vote, leaving opponent Cara Stewart to trail behind with 49.1% of the vote.
In District 4, Angely Andrade Vallarta was in the lead of opponent Fisher Derderian with 67.3% of the vote, leaving Derderian to trail behind with 32.7%.
In District 5, Dr. Kelly Brown was in the lead with 55.3% of the vote, leaving opponent Steve Smith with 44.7% of the vote.
The election comes as four out of seven seats on the council are up for election — bringing in a large number of new faces to the city’s dais. Only the mayoral race has current council members Loren Gameros and Mike Buley running for the spot.
The votes are also being counted as the city is struggling to meet their state-mandated housing goal of 11,760 new units built before the 2029 deadline – having only permitted less than 5% of their goal.
The National Association of Realtors are the biggest campaign spenders in Costa Mesa in the November 2026 election — having spent almost $40,000 on mailing and digital ads for candidate Daniel Morgan, over $41,500 on ads for candidate Steve Smith and over $59,000 on videos for mayoral candidate Mike Buley.
Meanwhile, Morgan and Smith also received a total of over $112,550 from the Orange County Jobs Coalition, funded largely by the Apartment Association of Orange County Political Action Committee and various other committees – with Morgan receiving over $66,000.
The Manufactured Housing Educational Trust PAC, funded heavily by mobile home parks, has spent $7,000 funding Buley and city council candidates Fisher Derderian, Smith and Morgan.
Sara Leon is a Voice of OC reporting fellow. You can reach her at admin@voiceofoc.org
