Newport Beach City Council races heat up with new fundraising totals released
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In a few weeks, Newport Beach voters will decide who serves them on City Council as eight candidates vie for four council seats in as many districts.
The council races are set to appear on a separate, statewide ballot on Nov. 3 as city officials scramble to put together a court-ordered special election on three ballot measures that same day.
For the record:
10:42 a.m. Oct. 2, 2026A previous version reported that Mayor Kleiman received a contribution from the OC GOP. Her campaign made a contribution to the party.
As Election Day nears, recent campaign disclosure forms released on Sept. 24 give a detailed view into how competitive council races are shaping up through individual contributions and electing spending.
Eight individuals have qualified to run for four open Newport City Council seats. The field includes four incumbents seeking reelection as the city faces key debates about its future.
Districts 1, 3, 4 and 6 are up for grabs. Council district seats are elected citywide in Newport Beach’s hybrid system. All four races include an incumbent seeking another term.
Some candidates’ coffers boast six-figure sums heading into the final weeks of campaigning while other candidates have less than $10,000 on hand to spend.
District 1
Nowhere is the fundraising gulf more drastic than in District 1, which includes the Balboa Peninsula and West Newport. Councilmember Joe Stapleton currently represents the district. Stapleton’s campaign announced in June that he amassed a “record-breaking” fundraising total topping $380,000, an individual contribution sum befitting a mayoral race in a major Orange County city like Anaheim.
Much of that tally was raised in 2025.
According to campaign disclosure forms, Stapleton still has about $190,000 left to support his campaign. Records show he raised just under $80,000 this year with $9,600 of that tally coming from July 1 through Sept. 19. Stapleton counts former Republican assemblymember and ex-Republican Party of Orange County chair Scott Baugh among his individual supporters.
Businesswoman Tina Babajanians filed to run against Stapleton but she hasn’t reported any contributions received yet.
District 3
It is fittingly a three-way race in Newport Beach’s District 3, where voters in areas like Santa Ana Heights, Dover Shores and Castaways will decide if incumbent Councilmember Erik Weigand returns to the dais or if there will be a change in leadership.
Challenger Walter Stahr, an author and historian, has outraised Weigand, so far.
Stahr, a Republican, has collected more than $215,000 in contributions this year and has spent nearly $60,000 already in his bid to win election. He has loaned himself $65,000 while raising more than $100,000 since July. Records show a broad number of individual contributors, mostly Newport Beach residents, including those vocally opposed to building a new police headquarters atop Civic Center Park.
Weigand, also a Republican, has almost $65,000 on hand from the roughly $78,000 he raised through Sept. 19. His campaign coffers got a small shot in the arm in the form of $8,000 in transferred money from his wife’s 2024 school board campaign and his own water board bid.
Tim Stoaks, the third Republican in the race, is trailing behind his two opponents in terms of a campaign war chest. Stoaks has loaned himself $2,000 while collecting $2,600 from three contributors.
District 4
For the second straight election cycle, Councilmember Robyn Grant is running unopposed to represent Eastbluff residents. Under Newport Beach’s hybrid districts, the race will not be canceled, so Grant will still appear on the ballot.
According to her campaign disclosure forms, she has raised about $68,000 this year, a sum that gives her roughly $160,000 left to spend before Election Day. Recently, Grant has received contributions from District 6 candidate Dr. Andy Gerken, the Lincoln Club of Orange County and short-term rental lobbyist Jeff Flint.
Between July 1 and Sept. 19, Grant spent $6,000 in print ads spreading the word on her campaign.
District 6
The only race where more than one candidate boasts a six-figure sum in their respective campaign coffers is in District 6. Mayor Lauren Kleiman and Dr. Andy Gerken’s well-funded campaigns square off for the right to represent Corona del Mar residents in the district.
Gerken, the sole Democrat running for council in Newport Beach, has outraised Kleiman so far, according to campaign disclosure forms. He has collected about $132,000 from individual contributors this year, but has spent most of it heading into the final weeks of campaigning. Gerken loaned himself $21,000 and has about $45,000 on hand, a sum recently bolstered by contributions from several retirees.
Kleiman, a Republican, has raised over $100,000 this year, which gives her about $157,000 on hand before Election Day. The incumbent has recently loaned herself $2,800 for the campaign. Between July 1 and Sept. 19, she raised about $4,000.
