Here’s what’s on the ballot for the City of Lynwood

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.

In addition to a slew of statewide races and propositions, Lynwood voters will elect three council members and decide the fate of one proposed city measure.

There are six individuals running for three open seats – and the candidates have seemingly teamed up into two teams.

Gabriela Camacho, incumbent

Lynwood Mayor Gabriela Camacho is running for reelection. She has been co-campaigning with current council member Luis Gerardo Cuellar and immigration attorney Alfonso Morales.

Camacho was elected as City Treasurer in 2015 and reelected in 2020. In 2022, she was elected to the Lynwood City Council.

Camacho is a lifelong Lynwood resident — after attending college on the East Coast, she returned to Lynwood to begin her teaching career. She taught at Lynwood High School for 21 years and currently serves as the assistant principal at Holster Middle School.

“I am running for reelection because I believe in Lynwood’s future,” Camacho wrote in a social media post announcing her campaign. “I want to continue building a safer, stronger and more vibrant city for our families, seniors, small businesses and future generations.”

Camacho is endorsed by the Lynwood Teachers Association and former Lynwood Mayor and current Assemblymember Jose Luis Solache. 

Luis Gerardo Cuellar, incumbent

Luis Gerardo Cuellar was elected city treasurer following Camacho. He served in the role for one year before being appointed to the city council in 2024, filling Solache’s seat after he was elected to the state Assembly. He is seeking re-election.

Cuellar’s mother, Aide Castro, is a former Lynwood council member and served as mayor in 2010 and 2020.

The decision to appoint Cuellar, who came in third place in the city’s 2024 general election, or hold a special election, was a point of contention for the community, LA Public Press reported at the time.

Cuellar is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and currently works as the vice president of legislative affairs at Bulletin Displays, a billboard company based in Long Beach.

Cuellar was featured in a viral June 2025 Instagram video for liking various posts from President Donald Trump.

In response to a comment questioning his stance on federal immigration policy, Cuellar wrote that he supports “controlling the flow of immigrants at our borders. I support the deportation of criminals, what I don't support is the lack of due process…”

Alfonso Morales

Raised in Lynwood, Alfonso Morales opened an immigration law office in the city in 2008.

Morales was elected to the Lynwood Unified School District Board of Education in 2005 and was re-elected multiple times. He has served as board president many times, including during his current term, which expires next December. 

“The message is clear, I’m ready to fight for you the same way I’ve been fighting for our families in court,” Morales wrote on social media announcing his campaign.

Mishaun Watkins

Mishaun Watkins, currently a member of the Lynwood Planning Commission, is running for one of the three open Lynwood seats. Watkins was appointed to the commission by the city council in 2024 and reappointed in 2025. 

She also serves as a community development analyst for the City of Santa Ana, managing programs that connect unhoused individuals with housing and support services, among other responsibilities.

“[Watkins] is running for City Council to restore trust in City Hall and ensure every taxpayer dollar is spent wisely,” her campaign webpage reads.

Watkins was born and raised in Lynwood and earned a degree in political science from California State University, Dominguez Hills. Her endorsements include the Lynwood Teachers Association and the Working Families Party.

Watkins is co-campaigning with current city council member Juan Muñoz-Guevara and Public Safety Commissioner Emiliano Arellano.

Juan Muñoz-Guevara, incumbent

Juan Muñoz-Guevara is running for re-election after first being elected in 2022.  Muñoz-Guevara was the first-ever Gen Z member of the Lynwood City Council.

Before serving on the city council, Muñoz-Guevara served on Lynwood’s Public Safety, Traffic and Parking Commission from 2018 to 2020. He currently works as a researcher and political coordinator for UNITE HERE Local 11, a hospitality workers’ union serving members across Southern California and Arizona.

Muñoz-Guevara’s campaign website highlights a career mission of “ensuring that workers earn fair wages and are treated with dignity.”

His endorsements include the Working Families Party and Sen. Lena Gonzalez (D - Long Beach), chair of the Legislative Latino Caucus.

Emiliano Arellano

Emiliano Arellano is a Lynwood native and current chair of the city’s Public Safety, Traffic and Parking Commission.

He graduated from Southwestern Law School in L.A. this year and devoted his time to “helping people government too often overlooks,” his campaign webpage says.

Arellano said on social media he is running to make City Hall “transparent, accessible, responsive and accountable,” to the public.

Lynwood ballot measure

Lynwood voters will see one proposition on their ballot. The city is asking residents to vote on Measure L, a proposed transient occupancy tax.

The pitch? Every nearby city, except for Lynwood, has a lodging tax. The taxes range from 5% in Huntington Park to 12% in the City of Bell.

The city is proposing a 12% tax on hotel and motel guests staying up to 30 days. The tax will be imposed on visitors, collected by the “lodging operator” and invested in the city’s General Fund to support local services.

Those services can range anywhere from emergency response to pothole repairs.

Anyone staying in a hotel or motel would be subject to the tax, though there is an exemption for residents who are “temporarily displaced” due to fire, flood or other emergency keeping them from their homes.

Lynwood estimates imposing a 12% tax on hotel and motel guests would raise around $750,000 a year for the General Fund. Measure L needs a simple majority in November to pass.