Here’s what’s on the ballot for the City of Bell Gardens

SELA Voting Guide | CALÓ News Midterm Coverage

California voters will join the rest of the country on Nov. 3 to elect both state and nationwide leadership. 

The City of Bell Gardens has approximately 29,000 eligible voters who can participate not only in electing state leadership, but also in electing the leaders who run their city. This year, three of the five Bell Gardens City Council seats are up for grabs. Voters will also decide whether to pass or reject a new city measure.

Four candidates are running for three open seats on the Bell Gardens City Council.

Miguel De La Rosa, incumbent

Mayor Miguel De La Rosa is running for re-election to the council. At 27, he is one of the youngest people ever elected mayor in the state.

De La Rosa was elected to the council in 2024 following a failed run in 2022. 

Before his election De La Rosa served as the chair of the Bell Gardens Planning Commission from January 2021 through December 2024. 

Following his election to the city council, De La Rosa was elected Mayor Pro Tem in December 2024. He served in that role for a year before his fellow council members appointed him mayor.

Samuel Perez

Samuel Perez, also a Bell Gardens native, is the current vice chair of the city’s traffic and safety commission and is running for the council. Perez first ran for office in 2024 and came in third. He was appointed to the commission in February 2025.

Perez graduated from California State University, Los Angeles this year with a degree in Business Administration and a concentration in accounting. According to his LinkedIn profile, Perez currently works as an administrative assistant at the L.A. County Office of Education. 

He previously interned for the City of Pico Rivera.

In a social media post announcing his campaign, Perez said his priorities include public safety, economic development and ensuring every decision made contributes “to the city’s success.”

Francis De Leon Sanchez, incumbent

Francis De Leon Sanchez is running for re-election. She is the only woman running for one of the open Bell Gardens seats.

De Leon Sanchez was born and raised in Bell Gardens and currently works as an assistant principal in the Hacienda La Puente Unified School District. She served as the Bell Gardens education commissioner from January 2021 through November 2022 before being elected to the city council.

De Leon Sanchez has a doctorate in educational leadership from Cal Poly Pomona. 

She wrote in her reelection campaign announcement that public safety, investing in neighborhoods and infrastructure are among her top priorities.

 “I will continue to lead with transparency, accessibility, compassion and hard work because our community deserves nothing less,” De Leon Sanchez wrote on social media.

De Leon Sanchez was serving as mayor in 2023 when she, council member Marco Bárcena (currently running for re-election) and former council members Gabriela Gomez and Maria Pulido were served with intent to recall papers claiming they had “placed personal interest above the interest of the community and having enriched yourself, and your acquaintances, through the approval of various projects,” according to a Los Cerritos Community News article at the time.

The effort surrounded an ordinance the council passed to allow cannabis dispensaries in the city. The City Clerk found the notices of intent to be insufficient and a corrected notice was not filed, causing the recall effort to fail.

Marco Bárcena

When he was 10 years old, Marco Bárcena and his family immigrated to California from Mexico and settled in Bell Gardens. Bárcena, a graduate from UC Berkeley, was first elected to the council in 2018. He has served as mayor twice.

“Thank you for giving me the opportunity to make a difference in Bell Gardens,” Bárcena’s council profile reads. “As a life-long public servant I remain committed to uplifting our communities, together.”  

On his profile, Bárcena highlights his work forming and chairing the city’s Rent Control committee, which he says passed the first Rent Stabilization Ordinance in Southeast L.A.

In addition to the 2023 recall effort, Bárcena was involved in a recall effort just three years earlier. The 2020 effort also involved real estate development issues, including cannabis businesses, according to Ballotpedia. 

Like the 2023 recall attempt, the city clerk rejected the 2020 recall because the notices were incomplete.

Jorge O. Verdin

Jorge O. Verdin appears on the Bell Gardens official candidate filing list, which states he has qualified to appear on the Nov. 3 ballot, though CALÓ News could not independently verify if his campaign is still active. Verdin did not respond to a request for comment at the time of publication.

Bell Gardens ballot measure

The Bell Gardens ballot will present voters with Measure W, a proposal to sell the city’s municipal water system to the Golden State Water Company for $41 million.

Residents’ current water rates would remain in place until at least Jan. 1, 2028, but may change after that date.

The sale would “relieve the City and its taxpayers of substantial financial obligations associated with the ownership, operation and maintenance of the Water System,” according to the official Measure W page.

Golden State Water Company already serves over 80 communities throughout California, including dozens in L.A. County.

The City says the sale would enhance reliability in the water system and benefit residents since the cost of future improvements to the water system would be spread across Golden State Water Company’s regional customer base instead of just Bell Gardens.

Measure W needs a simple majority of votes to pass.