LOS ANGELES, CA – The West Hollywood West Residents Association is hosting a candidates forum and town hall on Sunday for the three open West Hollywood City Council seats that will be decided in the Nov. 3 general municipal election.
The event runs from noon to 2 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 11, in the Doheny Room on the second floor of the West Hollywood Aquatic and Recreation Center, 8750 El Tovar Place. Six candidates were invited: Larry Block, Kyle Brazeal, Councilmember Chelsea Byers, Jonathan Cottrell, John Duran and Helen Krieger.
Residents can submit questions for individual candidates through the association’s online RSVP form, according to initial reports. The forum takes place 23 days before election day and less than a week after ballots began going out to voters.
The association is a private neighborhood group, and the forum is separate from the candidate events the City of West Hollywood has announced itself.
Six candidates invited to the Doheny Room
The invitation list is made up of Block, Brazeal, Byers, Cottrell, Duran and Krieger. Byers is the one sitting council member among them and is seeking reelection.
The other eight candidates on the city’s ballot list are Kody Christiansen, Stephen J. Post, Joel Zaldivar, Kevin L. Ligon, Tom Demille, Alden “Marlon” Gobel, Chukwudubem “Chiedu” Egbuniwe and Tatyana “Tanya” Tsikanovsky. They are not among the six invited to the association’s event.
The Doheny Room is on the second floor of the Aquatic and Recreation Center. Residents who want to put a question to a specific candidate are asked to use the RSVP form rather than wait for the event itself.
Three of five council seats are on the ballot
The City Clerk’s election information page says the general municipal election is Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, with three City Council seats open. Voters may choose up to three candidates, and the top three finishers serve four-year terms.
The seats are held now by Byers, Mayor John Heilman and Councilmember Lauren Meister. Heilman and Meister are barred from running again by term limits, according to initial reports, while Byers is on the ballot as an incumbent.
The West Hollywood City Council has five members. The two seats not on this year’s ballot are not part of the November contest.
Fourteen candidates qualify for the ballot
The city lists 14 candidates in ballot order: Helen Krieger, Kody Christiansen, Jonathan Cottrell, Stephen J. Post, Joel Zaldivar, Kevin L. Ligon, Tom Demille, John Duran, Larry Block, Kyle Brazeal, Chelsea Byers, Alden “Marlon” Gobel, Chukwudubem “Chiedu” Egbuniwe and Tatyana “Tanya” Tsikanovsky.
The city announced the nomination period for City Council candidates for the November election. The filing period ran from July 13 to Aug. 7, and nomination papers needed signatures from at least 20 registered West Hollywood voters, according to the information available.
With 14 names competing for three seats, forums have become one of the main places where voters can compare positions side by side.
Earlier forums covered billboards, deputies and transportation
Sunday’s event follows other candidate events. A Sept. 15 online transportation debate included seven candidates: Byers, Block, Brazeal, Cottrell, Krieger, Post and Tsikanovsky. Duran was absent because of a scheduling conflict.
In that debate, Byers, Cottrell, Krieger and Post supported the Fountain Avenue Streetscape project, while Block, Brazeal and Tsikanovsky opposed it.
A Sept. 27 forum drew more than 200 residents. The six candidates who have raised the most money had extended discussion time, and the other eight candidates each had 90 seconds at the opening.
At that forum, the six top fundraisers all supported large billboards on Sunset Boulevard and opposed billboards on Santa Monica Boulevard. They also agreed to hire more sheriff’s deputies once hiring moratoriums end.
Council vacancy question tied to Erickson’s Senate run
Councilmember John Erickson is running for California State Senate District 24, according to initial reports. If he wins, the council would decide whether to fill his seat by appointment or by special election.
The Sept. 27 forum put that question to the six leading fundraisers. Byers and Krieger favored appointing a replacement. Block, Brazeal, Cottrell and Duran favored a special election.
Erickson’s seat is not one of the three on the November ballot, so the question would arise only if he leaves the council.
City hosts its own moderated town hall
The City of West Hollywood announced its own candidate events this fall. One was an ice cream social on Thursday, Sept. 24, at 6 p.m. on the Aquatic and Recreation Center rooftop deck.
The second is a moderated candidates’ forum town hall on Sunday, Oct. 11, at noon in the Doheny Room, with RSVP required. The city said attendees at its town hall could vote on which candidates they wanted to see at the forum.
The city’s event and the association’s forum are listed for the same day, at the same time and in the same room.
Mail ballots and drop boxes are open
The city said in a reminder to residents to make a plan to vote that mail-in and ballot drop-off voting began Monday, Oct. 5. The California Secretary of State’s general election page says county elections officials begin mailing ballots by Oct. 5.
Drop boxes in West Hollywood are at City Hall, 8300 Santa Monica Blvd., behind the building off North Sweetzer Avenue. Others are at the West Hollywood Library, 625 N. San Vicente Blvd., and at Plummer Park, 7377 Santa Monica Blvd., in front of the Community Center.
The Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk says on its Find My Election Information page that more than 400 official ballot drop boxes are available throughout the county. The last day to request a replacement ballot is Tuesday, Oct. 27, according to the same page.
In-person vote centers open Oct. 24
The county’s page says in-person voting will be available beginning Saturday, Oct. 24. Vote centers are open from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. from Oct. 24 through Nov. 2, and from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Nov. 3.
Registration is the other deadline voters face. The Secretary of State says the last day to register to vote online for the Nov. 3 general election is Oct. 19.
Polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. on election day, according to the Secretary of State.
Election day is Nov. 3
Sunday’s forum is one of the last scheduled candidate events before voters make their choices. The three candidates with the most votes on Nov. 3 will join the City Council for four-year terms.
The association’s forum is set for noon to 2 p.m. in the Doheny Room, and residents who want to ask a candidate a question are asked to submit it through the association’s RSVP form.
