With less than a year to go before Richmond holds its first primary election on June 2, mayoral and city council candidates are starting their campaigns.
Last year voters approved Measure J, also known as the Richmond Election Reform Act, establishing a primary voting system for city offices. This means that a candidate for mayor or city council who gets 50% or more of the votes cast in their race will win the seat. If no candidate meets that threshold, there will be a run-off election in November where the top vote-getter will win.
The city council districts with open seats in 2026 are: District 2, consisting of the Point Richmond, Santa Fe, Shields-Reid, Parchester Village and Hilltop District neighborhoods; District 3, consisting of Atchison Village, the southern portion of the Iron Triangle, and the Coronado, Richmore Village/Metro Square, Pullman and Park Plaza neighborhoods; and District 4, consisting of Hilltop Village, Hilltop Green, Fairmede Hilltop, Quail Hill, Greenridge Heights, May Valley, El Sobrante Hills, Greenbriar, Castro Heights and the Carriage Hills North and South neighborhoods.
So far, five people have confirmed with Richmondside that they intend to file to run: Ahmad Anderson, Soheila Bana, Brandon Evans, Demnlus Johnson and Jamin Pursell.
In the race for Richmond City Council: Pursell plans to challenge Bana for her District 4 council seat; Brandon Evans plans to run for Doria Robinson’s District 3 seat; and Cesar Zepeda says it’s likely he will seek to keep his District 2 seat. In the mayoral contest, Anderson and Johnson plan to run.
Key 2026 election dates
Richmond primary election: June 2
Candidate filing period: Feb. 9-March 6 (will be extended if incumbent doesn’t file)
Deadline to register to vote in the primary: May 18
General election: In races not decided in the primary, the top vote-getters move on to compete in the Nov. 3 election.
For more info.: Visit the Contra Costa County Registrar of Voters elections website.
Not sure which voting district you live in? Enter your address into the city’s voting district map.
Voters will recognize some familiar faces on the ballot
Richmond’s races are shaping up to include a number of familiar candidates. Johnson served on the Richmond City Council from 2019 to 2023. Anderson, who last year lost his District 5 council bid to winner Sue Wilson, is poised to make his first run for mayor.
Evans, who was said to be instrumental as the campaign manager for District 1 council member Jamelia Brown’s winning campaign, announced he intends to run for the District 3 city council seat currently held by Robinson. He is a district representative for Contra Costa County Supervisor Shanelle Scales-Preston. Robinson told Richmondside via text on Tuesday that she has not decided whether she will seek reelection but said that she will decide “soon.”
Pursell told Richmondside in January that he plans to run to represent District 4 after losing to Bana in 2022. Bana said at the time she intends to run for reelection.
No one has yet announced they’re challenging Zepeda, who told Richmondside on Sunday that he will “most likely be running.”
So far, Bana, Evans, Anderson and Johnson have filed Form 410, a statement of organization, with the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC). This form is required by candidates who have raised more than $2,000. Bana is the only candidate so far who has filed FPPC Form 460, known as a recipient committee campaign statement, to report specific campaign spending. The first semi-annual FPPC deadline for candidates appearing on the June 2026 ballot is Dec. 31.
Martinez did not respond to Richmondside’s inquiry about his election plans as of publication time.
Measure J was backed by police and trade unions
Measure J was backed by the Richmond Police Officers Association and local trade unions, who gathered more than 15,000 signatures to put the measure on the ballot, according to county elections officials.
Big money was spent on the campaign by an independent committee called Richmond Votes Matters. The group raised half a million dollars, more than twice the amount raised by all Richmond City Council candidates in the 2024 election combined.
The city elections will now be held on the same schedule as Contra Costa County elections, according to county election officials. The state determines whether the primary is held in March or June, depending on whether or not there is a gubernatorial race in that particular year.
The new primary replaces the city’s plurality election system where general election candidates only needed to get more votes than their competitors to win. In the new system, if no candidate gets the required 50% of the votes, the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes in their respective contests will appear on the general municipal election ballot on Nov. 3, 2026.
Candidates who wish to run must file during the city’s nomination period between Feb. 9, 2026 and March 6, 2026 by 5 p.m. The filing deadline will be extended to March 11, 2026 at 5 p.m. if the incumbent in that particular race does not file, according to the city.
There are new filing fees as of last January. A filing fee of $1,674 must be paid to run for mayor, and a $605.88 filing fee will be required to run for city council. According to the city, the fee is set at “2% of the annual salary of the office to which nomination is sought” and must be paid to the city clerk at the time a candidate files.
