# Antioch City Council, District 1

Compare records and positions simply between Joyann Motts or Tamisha Torres-Walker for Antioch City Council, District 1 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of four district seats on Antioch's City Council. The council has four district members plus a separately, directly elected Mayor. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. Antioch is a Contra Costa County city of about 115,000 people. An appointed City Manager runs day-to-day operations. The term is four years. Antioch's four council seats elect on a staggered schedule. Districts 1 and 4 are up this cycle. Districts 2 and 3 are not, and neither is the Mayor's seat.

- Jurisdiction: City of Antioch
- Election: November 3, 2026 California general election
- Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements.
- Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/antioch-council-1
- Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/
- Sources last retrieved: September 7, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 92 out of 100 (Very strong), across 10 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Joyann Motts**
- **Tamisha Torres-Walker** — Councilwoman/Nonprofit Executive · Incumbent

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

A third consecutive matchup: incumbent Tamisha Torres-Walker faces former Councilwoman Joy Motts, the same two candidates who ran against each other in 2020 and 2022.

This person would hold one of four district seats on Antioch's City Council. The council has four district members. Voters elect the Mayor directly and separately. Members vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. Antioch sits in Contra Costa County and has about 115,000 people. The city runs under a council-manager government with an appointed City Manager. The term is four years. Antioch switched from at-large to district elections in 2020. A threatened voting-rights lawsuit prompted the switch. Districts 1 and 4 are up this cycle. Districts 2 and 3 are not.

This is the closest kind of rematch there is. Torres-Walker beat Motts by 212 votes in 2020. She then won by just 3 votes in 2022, 1,467 to 1,464. That certified result followed a hand recount. A third candidate pulled nomination papers this cycle but never filed. She is former school board trustee Diane Gibson-Gray. That leaves a direct two-candidate contest with no one else splitting the vote. Whichever candidate gets more votes wins outright. There is no runoff.

## Tamisha Torres-Walker

The incumbent, first elected in 2020 and seeking a third term; her filed ballot designation is "Councilwoman/Nonprofit Executive." She is Executive Director and Co-Founder of the Safe Return Project, a Richmond-based nonprofit focused on securing the freedom and reintegration of formerly incarcerated people. Her 2026 campaign centers on renter protections, affordable homeownership, community violence prevention, homelessness response, police accountability, and government transparency.

**Strengths:** Two terms already in the seat. Her 2022 win was close enough to require a hand recount. She also has a nonprofit career in reentry and community safety work.

**Trade-offs:** No independent reporting evaluates her council record. The only coverage found is the Herald's own campaign announcement.

**Keep in mind:** No campaign finance filing was found for her 2026 campaign. Antioch's NetFile portal returned no data for any candidate in this race. So there is no fundraising picture to weigh.

## Joyann Motts

A former Antioch City Council member (2016-2020) and Antioch school board trustee (2010-2014), publicly known as Joy Motts. She has long served as president of the Celebrate Antioch Foundation, which organizes community events citywide, and has led efforts on the RiverTown Square event-center project proposed for the former Antioch Lumber Company lot downtown. This is her third run against Torres-Walker, after losing in 2020 and by 3 votes in 2022; her 2026 slogan is "A Fierce Advocate for Antioch."

**Strengths:** A full term on the Council plus four years on the school board. She stayed active between campaigns through the Celebrate Antioch Foundation and the RiverTown Square project.

**Trade-offs:** She has lost this same seat to the same opponent twice. The most recent loss was by the narrowest of margins. Voters already have a recent basis for comparison.

**Keep in mind:** No campaign finance filing was found for her 2026 campaign either. Antioch's NetFile portal returned no data for any candidate in this race.

## Sources

1. [Contra Costa County Elections Division -- "Positions Up for Election, November 3, 2026, General Election" (the same PDF used for the county's Board of Education contests above): under "Cities Offices," Antioch lists exactly three offices -- City Clerk (2-year term), District 1 - 1 Councilmember, District 4 - 1 Councilmember -- matching the local-authoring queue's estimate of 3 exactly](https://www.contracostavote.gov/wp-content/uploads/26Nov03_PositionsUpForElection.pdf)
2. [City of Antioch -- official "City of Antioch Elections" page (antiochca.gov/240/City-of-Antioch-Elections, read directly): confirms the same three offices up Nov. 3, 2026 (City Council District 1, City Council District 4, City Clerk -- Partial-Term, 2 years) and adds that "The Mayor, City Clerk, and City Treasurer positions are at-large seats" and a City Clerk "is elected to a 4-year term," confirming the 2-year figure is a partial/unexpired term rather than Antioch's normal Clerk term; links to the city's Notice of Nomination and FINAL Status documents cited separately below](https://www.antiochca.gov/240/City-of-Antioch-Elections)
3. [City of Antioch -- "FINAL Status of Antioch City Council Candidates - November 3, 2026" (DocumentCenter/View/4845, updated 8/10/2026, read directly as a PDF): the certified qualified-candidate roster with each candidate's documents-issued, documents-filed, and date-qualified dates. District 1: Joyann Motts (qualified 8/3/2026) and *Tamisha Torres-Walker (qualified 8/7/2026) both qualified; Diane Gibson-Gray (documents issued 7/17/2026) has no filed/qualified date and is not on the ballot. District 4: Metty Mathews Alappat, Sandra White, Monica Wilson, and Andrew Becker all qualified (8/4-8/7/2026). City Clerk: only Michael Mandy qualified (8/3/2026)](https://www.antiochca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4845/FINAL-Status-of-Antioch-City-Council-Candidates)
4. [City of Antioch -- "Notice Regarding Nomination Papers" (DocumentCenter/View/4821, read directly as a PDF), signed by City Clerk Michael J. Mandy: confirms the same three offices (Member of the City Council, District 1; Member of the City Council, District 4; City Clerk) shall be filled at the Nov. 3, 2026 election, that nomination papers were issued to incumbents for all offices as of Aug. 4, 2026, and that "Redistricting has not affected the eligibility of the current incumbents to run"](https://www.antiochca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/4821/Notice-of-Nomination-and-Offices)
5. [City of Antioch -- official "City Council" roster page (antiochca.gov/738/City-Council, read directly): names Mayor Ron Bernal (at-large), Mayor Pro Tem Donald P. Freitas (District 3), Louie Rocha (District 2), Tamisha Torres-Walker (District 1), and Monica Wilson (District 4) -- independently confirming Districts 1 and 4 (this cycle's two council contests) are held by the current District 1 and District 4 incumbents, and that the Mayor's seat and Districts 2/3 are not up this cycle](https://www.antiochca.gov/738/City-Council)
6. [Wikipedia's Antioch, California article -- "Government" section: council-manager government, a Mayor elected at-large and four Council Members elected by district; "Antioch historically elected its Councilmembers in at-large elections, but in response to threats of a lawsuit alleging violations of state law and underrepresentation of people of color, the Antioch City Council voted to switch to district elections in 2018, holding the first such elections in 2020"; names the same five sitting officeholders as the city's own roster page; gives the city's 2020-census population (115,291)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antioch,_California)
7. [Antioch Herald -- "Antioch City Council, Clerk races set for November election" (Aug. 7, 2026): the fullest single roundup of all three Antioch races -- names Torres-Walker vs. Motts for District 1 (their third matchup, Torres-Walker having won in 2020 and 2022, the latter by just four votes after a recount); Wilson vs. White, Becker, and Alappat for District 4 (Wilson seeking a fifth term); and Mandy running unopposed for City Clerk's remaining two years, following Melissa Rhodes' unexplained August 2025 resignation](https://antiochherald.com/2026/08/07/antioch-city-council-clerk-races-set-for-november-election/)
8. [Antioch Herald -- "Torres-Walker announces campaign for re-election to Antioch City Council" (Aug. 25, 2026): her own background as Executive Director/Co-Founder of the Safe Return Project (a Richmond nonprofit for formerly incarcerated people), her filed ballot designation ("Councilwoman/Nonprofit Executive"), her 2026 platform priorities, and confirmation this is a direct Torres-Walker-vs.-Motts contest with no other candidate splitting the vote](https://antiochherald.com/2026/08/25/torres-walker-announces-campaign-for-re-election-to-antioch-city-council/)
9. [Antioch Herald -- "Former Antioch councilwoman, school board trustee Joy Motts announces another run for council" (July 29, 2026): her prior City Council service (2016-2020) and school board service (2010-2014), her presidency of the Celebrate Antioch Foundation and the RiverTown Square downtown event-center project, her 2020 and 2022 losses to Torres-Walker, her 2026 slogan ("A Fierce Advocate for Antioch"), and that she then faced competition from Diane Gibson-Gray, who did not ultimately file (see antioch-clerk-final-status-2026)](https://antiochherald.com/2026/07/29/former-antioch-councilwoman-school-board-trustee-joy-motts-announces-another-run-for-council/)
10. [Antioch Herald -- "Following hand ballot count Torres-Walker beats Motts by 3 votes in Antioch Council race" (Dec. 2, 2022): the certified final 2022 District 1 tally, Torres-Walker 1,467 (34.36%) to Motts 1,464 (34.29%), a three-way field that year -- used here for the exact, contemporaneous certified margin rather than a later piece's rounder "four votes"](https://antiochherald.com/2022/12/02/following-hand-ballot-count-torres-walker-beats-motts-by-3-votes-in-antioch-council-race/)

## The rest of the ballot

Antioch City Council, District 1 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/

## How to cite this page

Vote or Else, "Antioch City Council, District 1 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/antioch-council-1 (sources last retrieved September 7, 2026).

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