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City of Banning · Statewide General Election

Banning City Council, District 4

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person holds your district's seat on Banning's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this San Gorgonio Pass city between Beaumont and Cabazon. A 4-year term, staggered across the 5 districts. Banning has no separately elected Mayor -- the council appoints one of its own members Mayor each year (and another Mayor Pro Tem), rotating the titles among sitting councilmembers from different districts; day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager under Banning's council-manager form of government. The City Clerk and City Treasurer are separately elected citywide offices, not on this cycle's ballot.

Incumbent Richard Royce, the city's current Mayor, faces two challengers -- Nathaniel Rodriguez and Marco Santana -- for Banning's District 4 City Council seat on the November 3, 2026 ballot. Whoever gets the most votes wins outright -- there is no primary or runoff.

This person holds your district's seat on Banning's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this San Gorgonio Pass city between Beaumont and Cabazon. A 4-year term, staggered across the 5 districts. Banning has no separately elected Mayor -- the council appoints one of its own members Mayor each year (and another Mayor Pro Tem), rotating the titles among sitting councilmembers from different districts; day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager. The City Clerk and City Treasurer are separately elected citywide offices, not on this cycle's ballot.

Royce, the city's current Mayor, first won this seat in November 2024 -- to a short term that ends November 2026, not the district's standard four years -- defeating a councilmember who had reached the seat by council appointment rather than election. Whoever wins in 2026 begins a full 4-year term. No independent news coverage was found for either of his two challengers despite a genuine search; their entries below rely on the city's own certified filing records alone.

Nathaniel Rodriguez

Nathaniel Rodriguez is a challenger for Banning's District 4 seat. No ballot designation, independent biography, occupation detail, or platform statement was found for him beyond the city's own certified candidate record and his own state campaign filings.

Strengths

None could be independently confirmed in this research pass beyond the city's own certified candidate record.

Trade-offs

No independent biography, professional background, or stated platform was found beyond that filing record.

Keep in mind

With no public record of his priorities beyond qualifying to run, this is a vote based on the ballot itself, not a documented record.

Richard Royce

Richard Royce is the incumbent, seeking a full term after winning a short term in November 2024. He currently serves as the council-selected Mayor. Per his own city biography, he is a 30-year law enforcement officer and a 4th-generation member of the Caddo Nation who has lived in Banning for 26 years.

Strengths

A 30-year law enforcement career, including co-authoring a Body Worn Video policy later adopted as a national standard, and current experience as the council-selected Mayor.

Trade-offs

His current term was a short 2-year term rather than the standard 4 -- less of a track record in this seat than a typical incumbent's; no independent reporting on his time in office was found.

Keep in mind

Beyond his own city-published biography and campaign filings, no independent profile of his record in this seat was found in this research pass.

Marco Santana

Marco Santana is a challenger for Banning's District 4 seat. No ballot designation, independent biography, occupation detail, or platform statement was found for him beyond the city's own certified candidate record and his own state campaign filings.

Strengths

None could be independently confirmed in this research pass beyond the city's own certified candidate record.

Trade-offs

No independent biography, professional background, or stated platform was found beyond that filing record.

Keep in mind

With no public record of his priorities beyond qualifying to run, this is a vote based on the ballot itself, not a documented record.

Source review: Strong (87/100) · 13 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • banningca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Banning -- "Government" page: "The City of Banning was incorporated in 1913 as a general law city with a Council-Manager form of government. The City has 5 elected council members, one of which is appointed mayor by the Council every year" -- states plainly that Banning has no separately elected Mayor, and lists an elected City Clerk and elected City Treasurer as further citywide offices distinct from the 5 district council seats.
  • banningca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Banning -- "Past Mayors of Banning" roster (1913 to present): shows the council-selected Mayor title passing to a different sitting councilmember almost every year in the recent record -- Colleen Wallace (2020-2021), Kyle Pingree (2021-2022), Alberto Sanchez (2022-2024), Sheri Flynn (2024-2025) -- independently corroborating, with actual named officeholders over time, the annual rotation the city's own Government page describes in the abstract.
  • banningca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Banning -- "Current City Council Districts" page: the city's 5 single-member council districts were last redrawn by Ordinance 1581 following the 2020 Census (process 2021-2022); links to detailed boundary maps and an address-lookup tool.
  • banningca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Banning -- City Clerk's Office "2026 General Election" page: "There are two Council Member seats on the November 3, 2026 ballot, representing City Council Districts 4 and 5," with the nomination period (July 13 - Aug. 7, 2026) stated directly.
  • banningca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Banning -- City Clerk's Office "2026 General Election Candidates & Campaign Filings" page: names all six qualified candidates by district -- District 4: Nathaniel Rodriguez, Richard Royce (Incumbent), Marco Santana; District 5: Chris Castorena, Christian Villagran, Colleen Wallace (Incumbent) -- with a table linking each candidate's filed Code of Fair Campaign Practices, FPPC Form 700, Form 501, Form 460 and Form 410 as applicable.
  • banningca.gov (opens in a new tab)Nathaniel Rodriguez's own filed FPPC Form 501 (Candidate Intention Statement) with the Banning City Clerk's Office: non-partisan City Council, District 4, City of Banning, 2026, executed 3/25/2026.
  • banningca.gov (opens in a new tab)Richard R. Royce's own filed FPPC Form 501 (Candidate Intention Statement) with the Banning City Clerk's Office: non-partisan City Council, District 4, City of Banning, 2026, executed 03/10/2026, accepting the voluntary expenditure ceiling.
  • banningca.gov (opens in a new tab)Marco A. Santana's own filed FPPC Form 501 (Candidate Intention Statement) with the Banning City Clerk's Office (received June 16, 2026): 1277 Mahogany Street, Banning; non-partisan City Council, District 4, City of Banning, 2026, executed 06/16/2026.
  • banningca.gov (opens in a new tab)Nathaniel Rodriguez's own filed FPPC Form 700 (Statement of Economic Interests), candidate cover page filed 08/06/2026: position "City/Town Council Member," City of Banning, election 11/03/2026; checks "None - No reportable interests on any schedule" and attaches no schedules.
  • banningca.gov (opens in a new tab)Richard Royce's own filed FPPC Form 700 (Statement of Economic Interests), candidate cover page filed 08/02/2026: position "City/Town Council Member," City of Banning, election 11/03/2026; checks "None - No reportable interests on any schedule" and attaches no schedules.
  • banningca.gov (opens in a new tab)Marco Santana's own filed FPPC Form 700 (Statement of Economic Interests), candidate cover page filed 07/31/2026: position "City/Town Council Member," City of Banning, election 11/03/2026; checks "None - No reportable interests on any schedule" and attaches no schedules.
  • banningca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Banning -- "Mayor - Richard Royce" government biography page: "Elected to City Council December 2024. Term ends November 2026. District 4" -- confirms his current term is a short (roughly 2-year) term rather than the city's standard 4-year council term, explaining why District 4 is back on the ballot only 2 years after his 2024 election. Also gives biographical detail in the city's own words: a Native Californian and 4th-generation member of the Caddo Nation; a Law Enforcement Officer for 30 years, first in his department to use a patrol video camera, and (as police union president) a co-author of a Body Worn Video policy later adopted as an international standard; a 26-year Banning resident; a lifetime member and docent of the Rialto Historical Society; and Chair of TASMA, an FCC frequency-coordinating body.
  • banningca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Banning City Clerk -- signed, certified "Final List of Qualified Candidates for City Council Districts 1, 2, 3, 4 as well as City Clerk and City Treasurer" for the November 5, 2024 General Municipal Election (Caroline Patton, Administrative City Clerk, Aug. 15, 2024): shows Richard Royce (ballot designation "Law Enforcement") defeating David Happe ("Appointed Incumbent") for the District 4 seat -- Royce's first election to the seat he now holds, won against a councilmember who had reached the seat by appointment rather than election. District 5 does not appear on this list at all, corroborating (via its absence) that Colleen Wallace's District 5 term, from her November 2022 election, was not up for renewal in 2024. Also independently establishes that Banning's City Clerk and City Treasurer are separately elected offices distinct from the council seats.

Last updated August 31, 2026.