As election season heats up in Encinitas, voters are being treated to a curious political spectacle. On paper, the slate challenging our current leadership — Brad Lefkowits, Rimga Viskanta and Arielle Golden — promises fresh vision and distinct priorities.
However, a closer look at their platforms reveals an undeniable truth: they are essentially running on the current City Council’s record, wrapped in slicker rhetoric, minor twists and intentional key misrepresentations.
Take the central battleground of local control. Every candidate across the spectrum claims to be a staunch champion of keeping decision-making authority right here in Encinitas. But pay close attention to the fine print from the challenger slate. Their definition of “local control” is almost always couched with caveats like “as long as it fits into state law.” That’s not local control; that’s regulatory compliance. True local control means standing up for community autonomy and pushing back when Sacramento’s top-down mandates threaten the safety, character and infrastructure of our coastal town. Diluting the argument with legal hedge phrases renders their local control claims of support disingenuous.
Then there is homelessness. The slate of Lefkowits, Viskanta and Golden repeatedly calls for increasing services to unhoused residents, framing the topic as if the city has been idling. In doing so, they completely ignore the tangible success achieved under the current council.
Incumbent Mayor Bruce Ehlers, sitting Councilmember Marco San Antonio and longtime resident Ed Sprague. Under the current council’s watch, Encinitas has housed more individuals than in years past, driving actual homeless numbers down across the city. By ignoring these measurable results, the challengers are attempting to solve a problem the incumbent leadership is already actively and successfully resolving.
Traffic safety follows the identical pattern of revisionist history. All three challengers cite traffic improvements and safe routes to schools as urgent top priorities, attempting to create the impression that the city has sat on its hands.
Yet they conveniently overlook the reality: Over the past two years alone, the city has invested approximately $50 million in major traffic infrastructure, street safety and safe routes to school initiatives—with clear plans to maintain that momentum in the 2026-27 budget.
Furthermore, the current leadership supported adding extra traffic enforcement officers on our roads this past year and is actively committed to funding two additional traffic officers next year if possible (and additional crossing guards for schools). Claiming a priority while ignoring tens of millions of dollars already dedicated to that exact cause isn’t offering leadership — it’s ignoring the facts on the ground.
When candidates copy the incumbents’ actual policy positions, their own platforms begin to fall apart. After all, if you essentially agree with the current council on housing, services, traffic and governance, how do you convince voters to replace them?
The answer, unfortunately, is identity politics.
Lacking sharp policy distinctions, the challenger campaign has resorted to nationalized mudslinging, labeling the primarily no party preference (NPP) affiliated current leadership’s policy decisions as “right wing” or “MAGA” to trigger partisan knee-jerk reactions rather than foster meaningful local debate on pragmatic city issues.
Yet this transparent smear backfires under basic logic: If the challengers’ platform mirrors the current council’s policies and priorities, does that make their platform “MAGA” too? If that sounds ridiculous, it’s because applying partisan discussions to a nonpartisan political race is ridiculous.
Encinitas deserves better than copycat platforms and nationalized name-calling. Mayor Bruce Ehlers, Councilmember Marco San Antonio and District 3 candidate Ed Sprague have built a track record focused on genuine local defense and practical results.
Voters should look past the partisan labels, examine the fine print and ask themselves why candidates who agree with the current council on almost everything are trying so hard to pretend otherwise.
Deputy Mayor Jim O’Hara represents District 2 on the Encinitas City Council.
