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Insufficient record — roster only
The race
Apache Junction elects its council at large: a mayor and six councilmembers. Three council seats are up on November 3, 2026 — and exactly three candidates filed, so this slate is uncontested: every candidate on the ballot wins a seat unless write-in votes somehow outnumber them. We cover it anyway because two of the three are incumbents with real voting records, and voters ratifying an uncontested slate deserve to know what they are ratifying.
One related roster fact: the mayor's race is separate. Councilmember Robert Schroeder ran unopposed for mayor (Mayor Chip Wilson is not running for a fourth term), per azcentral — so the mayor's race is uncontested and stays in our roster listings, and Mykland below fills the council seat Schroeder leaves.
The verified roster is: Darryl Cross, Sandra Mykland, and Bryan Soller. The roster rests on an aggregator of city filings (GoodParty.org) in our files, cross-checked against azcentral's council reporting, which matches all three names and roles.
The candidates
Darryl Cross (incumbent) was first elected to the council in 2022 and is running for a second term, per azcentral. He moved to Apache Junction in 2004 with the goal of owning horses, is chairman of the Superstition Horsemen's Association, and previously served on the city's planning and zoning commission. His stated goals are to maintain a rural lifestyle and protect equestrian community rights. His voting record includes a January 2026 vote for the Meridian Drive annexation ordinance (passed 7-0), and, in the downtown Roers apartment fight reported by the Pinal Post, he seconded the motion to deny that project.
Bryan Soller (incumbent) was elected to the council in 2022 and is running for a second term, per azcentral. He is a current lieutenant with the Mesa Police Department and ran in 2022 after being approached by a local union. His council focus has been working with the Apache Junction Police Department and ensuring it has updated technology, plus bringing more economic development, including downtown. His record includes a concrete civil-liberties vote: on September 15, 2026, the council voted 7-0 on Soller's motion to have the city attorney draft a surveillance ordinance making personal misuse of the city's Flock license-plate cameras — and, on his addition, all city surveillance technology, including drones — a firing offense and a Class 1 misdemeanor, per the Pinal Post. In the Roers apartment denial he sided with the neighbors on traffic: "I cannot put 610 units in there because that's not people, that's just units… we're gonna have bad accidents and fatalities."
Sandra Mykland is the newcomer, taking the seat Schroeder vacates. Her sourced record is in appointed civic service, not elected office: Pinal Post reporting places her on the city's Planning and Zoning Commission, where she voted no on the Bella Norte apartment project on traffic grounds, and city minutes place her on the Health and Human Services Commission in January 2025. Beyond that, we found no sourced platform, occupation, or campaign statements in this pass.
Pros / Cons
- Cross — Pro: An incumbent whose stated mission — maintain the rural lifestyle, protect equestrian rights — is a property-rights and way-of-life record voters can check against his development votes, including denying the Roers density. Con: Uncontested reelection means his record was never stress-tested by an opponent this cycle.
- Soller — Pro: A working police lieutenant who used his council seat to put criminal penalties on government misuse of surveillance technology — public safety and privacy limits in a single motion, passed unanimously. Con: His economic-development push and his density skepticism will collide in a city about to be reshaped by a massive master-planned community; which one wins in his votes is the open question of his second term.
- Mykland — Pro: Planning and zoning service is the right apprenticeship for this council, and her Bella Norte no vote was explained on the record (traffic). Con: One commission vote and a commission seat are the whole sourced record — no platform, no stated positions on taxes, water, or growth in what we could verify.
OUR CALL
Per-seat calls, as this is a three-seat, vote-for-up-to-three ballot:
- Seat — Darryl Cross: endorse. Basis: an incumbent record of defending the city's rural character and equestrian property rights, with development votes (the Roers denial) matching the stated mission.
- Seat — Bryan Soller: endorse. Basis: a police lieutenant's public-safety record in office, capped by authoring the motion that makes government misuse of surveillance cameras and drones a crime — limited government enforced against the government itself.
- Seat — Sandra Mykland: insufficient record — no endorsement. One explained commission vote is a start. What would earn an endorsement is a stated platform — on growth, taxes, and water — that voters in an uncontested race are otherwise asked to ratify blind.
An honest note on an uncontested slate: endorsing two of three candidates who will all be seated anyway is not about the outcome. It is about putting the record — and its gaps — in front of the people signing off on it.
For the complete Election 2026 breakdown — every race, claim by claim — see the full coverage on our website.
Vote early. Research your candidates. Choose the best moderates, whatever their party — no extremism from either side. And encourage your friends and family to do the same.
Sources
- azcentral, "Who serves on the Apache Junction City Council in 2026?" (May 14, 2026) — Cross and Soller incumbency and backgrounds; Schroeder running unopposed for mayor; Wilson not seeking a fourth term — https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/pinal/2026/05/14/apache-junction-city-council-2026/89457824007/
- azcentral, "Goforth heads to runoff in key Mesa council election" (Jul. 21, 2026) — primary-night confirmation of the council slate and Schroeder's unopposed mayoral run — https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/mesa/2026/07/21/mesa-arizona-primary-election-results/90905711007/
- Pinal Post, "Apache Junction Surveillance Ordinance Heads to Oct. 6 Vote" (2026) — Soller's Flock-misuse motion and the 7-0 vote — https://pinalpost.com/apache-junction-surveillance-ordinance-would-make-employee-misuse-a-crime/
- Pinal Post, "Downtown Roers Apartments Denied" (2026) — Cross seconding the denial motion; Soller's traffic statement — https://pinalpost.com/downtown-roers-apartments-denied-apache-junction-mayor-suggests-general-plan-review/
- Pinal Post, "Bella Norte Apache Junction Downtown Apartment Vote Ties" (2026) — Commissioner Mykland's no vote — https://pinalpost.com/downtown-apache-junctions-bella-norte-apartments-tie-vote-planning-and-zoning/
- GoodParty.org, Apache Junction city legislature listing — the three-candidate, three-seat roster (aggregator of city filings) — https://goodparty.org/elections/az/pinal-county/apache-junction/position/city-legislature
Result pending. No verified call (Associated Press or official) as of November 4, 2026. This page will be updated when the race is called or certified. The original article above is unchanged.
AI-assisted article — but the sources are human, and the facts are very real.