Published November 2, 2026
NEWPORT BEACH | CITY HALL WATCH | NOVEMBER 2, 2026
NEWPORT BEACH | The next City Council will make decisions about Peninsula flooding, housing, public land and expensive new public-safety facilities. Locals should know who is spending money to help decide who sits at that table.
Newport’s council races are officially nonpartisan. The campaign mailers, apparently, missed that memo.
Former Newport Mayor Will O’Neill chairs the Republican Party of Orange County. The party endorsed incumbents Joe Stapleton, Erik Weigand, Robyn Grant and Mayor Lauren Kleiman. O’Neill recommends the same four.
That’s four of the city’s seven council seats. Four votes could make a majority if those councilmembers agree. The important word is ‘if.’
The party has real spending power. As of October 23, campaign-finance reporting showed roughly $130,500 in county GOP spending against challengers Walter Stahr and Andy Gerken and against Measure H. Those are reported independent expenditures, not personal checks written to the four incumbents.
Stahr is also a Republican. So the split isn’t simply Republican versus Democrat. Newport has Republicans on both sides of a local council fight.
Who’s financing the county party? Reported contributors to its state account include property-company owner John Saunders, who gave $25,000 in 2025, and New Majority PAC. Those are countywide party contributions. Records do not establish that the dollars were earmarked for any particular Newport race.
Another public connection: Newport business owner Mario Marovic and O’Neill signed an October 8 Daily Pilot letter together supporting all four incumbents. That’s a verified endorsement, not evidence of an undisclosed donation or a private agreement.
The police and firefighters association PACs have also spent heavily for Stapleton, Weigand and Kleiman. As of October 23, the firefighters PAC’s spending totaled about $154,000; the police association PAC spent more than $67,000.
Those are separate organizations. They aren’t the county Republican Party, and Grant wasn’t among the three candidates those PAC spending totals supported.
These endorsements overlap while the city studies where to build a new police headquarters and whether to move Fire Station No. 3. In July, the council approved approximately $1.5 million in police-headquarters study, design and outreach contracts. Grant opposed all three; Stapleton opposed the outreach contract.
There’s the reality check: political allies do not automatically cast identical votes. City Hall has enough committees already without pretending everybody shares a remote control.
Measures P, Q and R offer another example. Stapleton, Weigand and Kleiman backed postponing the citizen-backed measures until 2028. Grant opposed the delay. The city later announced that the court-ordered November 3 special election would not proceed, citing ballot-production and voter-information obstacles. The record does not establish that O’Neill or the county party directed that decision.
Nine former Newport mayors, meanwhile, have backed challengers Stahr and Gerken. Longtime local Republicans aren’t all on the same side, either.
An endorsement shows support. A contribution shows money. Neither, by itself, shows control over a vote.
The public should still be able to track the party’s contributions and spending, match them to council decisions, and see clear explanations for the millions being considered at City Hall.
Newport’s politics may come with a lot of supporting organizations. The final responsibility still belongs to the seven elected councilmembers.
Related coverage: Newport’s Builders Are Backing Council Candidates. Here’s the Paper Trail.
Sources
- Republican Party of Orange County: Will O’Neill’s leadership role
- 2026 OC GOP endorsements for Newport Beach council
- Will O’Neill’s published Newport voter guide
- Daily Pilot: Oct. 23 independent spending report
- Party state-account contribution summary
- John Saunders’ 2025 state party contributions
- Oct. 8 Daily Pilot letter signed by Mario Marovic and Will O’Neill
- Daily Pilot: July police headquarters contract decisions
- Daily Pilot: August council decision regarding Measures P, Q and R
- City’s October special-election announcement
- Nine former mayors’ published endorsements of challengers
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