The filing deadline to run for a seat on the Richmond City Council in the June primary election has closed, and it’s now official that two Richmond Progressive Alliance affiliated candidates are running for mayor.
Eduardo Martinez, the incumbent mayor, is now officially running against Claudia Jimenez, a fellow RPA member who received the group’s endorsement in late February. Martinez’s official candidacy comes after weeks of speculation on whether he would run despite not receiving RPA support or step aside to let Jimenez consolidate the progressive vote.
Screenshots of Martinez knocking on doors to collect signatures around the city for his candidacy were floating around social media earlier this week with many commenters questioning whether the mayor would collect enough signatures to qualify for the race.
Key 2026 election dates
Richmond primary election: June 2
Mail in voting begins: May 4
Deadline to register to vote in the primary: May 18
For more info.: Visit Richmondside’s 2026 primary election voters guide.
Richmondside will be holding candidates forums in Districts 3 and 4 and one for the mayoral race. Check back soon for an announcement of dates and locations. Visit our primary election page for more information and feel free to tell us what issues are most important to you in this upcoming election. Email hello@richmondside.org or post a question or comment here.
If Jimenez were to win, the city council has 60 days to appoint a person to fill her District 6 seat, which she was reelected to in 2024, or it will need a special election, according to the new primary rules.
Additionally, the non-RPA mayoral candidates include Ahmad Anderson, son of former mayors the Rev. Booker T. and Irma Anderson, who has been unsuccessful in previous attempts to win a council seat, as well as former at-large council member Demnlus Johnson, who left the council in 2022 to run for a congressional seat, and perennial candidate Mark Wassberg, who admits that he doesn’t run expecting to win.
As of 5 p.m. on Friday, according to the Richmond city clerk’s website, the mayor’s race plus three of the city’s council districts (Districts 2, 3 and 4) now have an official list of candidates, with only D2 incumbent Cesar Zepeda unopposed.
Richmond is entering its first primary election season after the 2024 passage of Measure J. The new format means candidates who do not win more than a 50% majority of votes in the June 2 primary advance to a Nov. 3 runoff election with the top two vote-getters in each race appearing on the general election ballot.
Seen as a tactic to stifle the Richmond Progressive Alliance’s (RPA) dominance of the city’s previous plurality election system, the Richmond Police Officers Association (RPOA) and the local trades unions heavily financed Measure J, which was opposed via a dueling ranked-choice voting measure.
In District 2, which includes the Point Richmond, Parchester Village, Santa Fe and Hilltop District neighborhoods, unopposed Zepeda will win his first reelection.
Previously, in the aftermath of Zepeda’s attempt to censure Martinez, Rob Lipton — one of the founders of the anti-zionist Jewish Voice for Peace — said he would be attempting to unseat Zepeda in District 2, though only a week later he told Richmondside he decided not to run for health reasons. He filed a Form 501 candidate intention statement but failed to pull nomination papers.
Another potential District 2 candidate, Rocky Chau, pulled nomination papers but failed to qualify by the deadline.
It initially appeared that two challengers would run against incumbent Doria Robinson in District 3, an area which consists of portions of the city’s south side, including the southern part of the Iron Triangle, Atchison Village, Pullman, Coronado, Richmore Village/Metro Square and the Park Plaza neighborhoods.
League of Women Voters candidates forum
What: Meet the candidates for Richmond mayor and three city council seats at an upcoming League of Women Voters election forum.
When: Mon., March 16, 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., at the Richmond City Council chambers, 440 Civic Center Plaza, or via Zoom (i.d. 894 2523 5268) and KCRT.
More info: Candidates will make statements and answer questions in a moderated-hosted forum. Fill out this form to share a question in advance.
But as of Friday only Brandon Evans, a former economic development commissioner, had qualified to run. Matthew Singh, a Contra Costa College student, who had filed a Form 501 candidate intention statement in late 2025, did not qualify for the race and, according to the clerk’s website, may file as a “write-in” candidate.
The District 4 race to represent the neighborhoods 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 will be the only district race with more than two candidates as incumbent Soheila Bana faces challengers Jamin Pursell and Keycha Gallon.
Pursell, a former RPA member who has in the last year separated publicly from the organization, is attempting his second run to represent the area while Gallon enters her first city council race.
The next steps are for candidates to meet campaign finance deadlines in the coming months, the first of which is April 23, when all candidates on the primary ballot must file their first pre-election campaign statement, the California Fair Political Practices Commission (FPPC) Form 460, which will cover the period from Jan. 1 through April 18 of this year.
A second pre-election filing is due on May 21, covering April 19 through May 16 and a third is due on May 29,covering May 19 through May 28.
Last week began the period where candidates must also file FPPC Form 497 within 24 hours of receiving any single contribution of $1,000 or more. That 24-hour reporting requirement runs through the June 2 election.
The last day to register to vote for the June primary election is May 18.
Correction: A previous version of this story stated that a council vacancy would need a special election to fill the seat. This has been changed to reflect that the new primary rules state that the city council has 60 days to appoint someone to fill a vacancy or have to hold a special election.
What Richmond City Council district do I live in?
Voting map: Enter your address into the city’s voting district map to find your district. The mayoral race is citywide.
Thank you for writing about Richmond’s important primary election. There is a small mistake in the article: if Claudia Jimenez is elected mayor, her seat on Council will be filled by the Council, assuming they can do so within 30 days of the vacancy. If they have not made an appointment within 30 days, only then does it go to a special election—which under Measure J would have to include a primary.
Martha,
Thanks for flagging. I will correct it. The vacancy also has a 60-day appointment window for the council to fill there is a need for a special election.
Joel