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City of Berkeley · Statewide General Election

Berkeley City Auditor

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 independently audits how the City of Berkeley spends its money and runs its programs, and reports findings to the City Council and the public. A 4-year term, elected the same cycle as the Governor and decided by ranked-choice voting.

City Auditor Jenny Wong, first elected in 2018, is unopposed for a third term.

This person independently audits how the City of Berkeley spends its money and runs its programs, and reports findings to the City Council and the public. A 4-year term, elected the same cycle as the Governor.

Auditor is one of the offices Berkeley decides by ranked-choice voting -- rank up to five candidates, majority wins after last-place elimination -- though with only one candidate qualified this cycle, that mechanism won't come into play.

Jenny Wong

Jenny Wong has served as Berkeley's independently elected City Auditor since 2018 and is running unopposed for a third term. Her office's completed audits include street paving, fleet maintenance and electrification, the police call center and its response times and overtime, and -- during the pandemic -- an early report flagging the city's potential fiscal exposure to COVID-19. Wong says her office's work has twice in the last four years been recognized by the Association of Local Government Auditors as the best in the country for an office its size, and that she has used her position to speak on issues including anti-Asian hate and immigrant rights.

Strengths

Two full terms of audit output across city departments, plus repeat national recognition from a professional auditing group -- an independent marker of the office's work, not a self-assessment.

Trade-offs

Running unopposed means no rival platform to weigh hers against, and no contested campaign scrutinizing her record this cycle.

Keep in mind

Wong's own account of her office's accomplishments, given directly to Berkeleyside in a 2022 candidate Q&A, is her office's self-description of its impact -- real completed audits, but her own framing of their significance.

Source review: Very strong (91/100) · 9 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • berkeleyca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Berkeley -- City Clerk Mark Numainville's signed "Nominees for Public Office" notice for the Nov. 3, 2026 General Municipal Election (dated Aug. 19, 2026): lists all 23 candidates across all seven Berkeley races in ballot order with their exact ballot designations -- Auditor, Council Districts 1/4/7/8, Rent Stabilization Board Commissioner, and School Board Director.
  • alamedacountyca.gov (opens in a new tab)Alameda County Registrar of Voters -- own JSON API behind its "Candidate List" web app (electionId 260 = General Election - 11/03/2026, Official): the candidatelist/260 endpoint returns every race category countywide with no County category at all (zero Board of Supervisors/row-office/judicial seats on the Nov. 2026 general), and the racelist/260/600 endpoint names all 46 City-category races countywide, including the exact seven Berkeley races (four Council districts, Auditor, Rent Stabilization Board, School Directors) with their raceIds and vote-for-N seat counts -- confirming Alameda County publishes a unified countywide candidate document, unlike Santa Clara County.
  • alamedacountyca.gov (opens in a new tab)Alameda County Registrar of Voters -- the same candidatelist app's per-race candidate-detail view (POST to /rov_app/candidatelist/ with electionId=260 and each Berkeley raceId), queried directly for all seven Berkeley races: returns each candidate's exact ballot designation, filing agency, and on-ballot status -- the same roster as the City Clerk's own Notice of Candidates, independently confirming all 23 names and designations.
  • berkeleyca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Berkeley -- "Candidate Information" elections page: states which offices are elected on the presidential cycle (Mayor; Council Districts 2, 3, 5, 6) versus the gubernatorial cycle (Auditor; Council Districts 1, 4, 7, 8) -- both alongside Rent Board and School Board, which are elected every cycle -- and states the vote-threshold rule: Mayor/Auditor/Council require ranked-choice majority; Rent Board/School Board are decided by plurality.
  • berkeleyca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Berkeley -- "Voting Information" elections page: states in full how Berkeley's ranked-choice voting works for Mayor, City Council, and Auditor (voters may rank up to five choices; last-place elimination repeats until one candidate has a majority) and that Rent Stabilization Board and School Board are decided by plurality vote instead, "typically multiple candidates elected at each election."
  • berkeleyside.org (opens in a new tab)Berkeleyside -- "Election 2026: Who's running for Berkeley City Council, school board and more" (originally published Aug. 14, 2026, updated Aug. 19, 2026 to report Fred Feller's withdrawal from the District 8 race), read in full: profiles every 2026 candidate across all seven Berkeley races by name, occupation, and background; reports incumbent Rashi Kesarwani (D1), Cecilia Lunaparra (D7), and Lori Droste's since-2022 successor context are not seeking reelection; and reports Rent Board incumbent Vanessa Marrero's disqualification from the ballot over a signature shortfall and her stated plan to challenge it.
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)City of Berkeley's own NetFile-hosted public campaign-finance portal (aid=BRK), queried directly via its own QuickNameSearch and filings/byCandidate JSON API for all 23 2026 candidates, with each candidate's most recent 2026 FPPC Form 460 (the Jan. 1-June 30, 2026 semi-annual statement) downloaded directly via the portal's own CampaignDocuments/download endpoint and read for its actual reported totals. Real H1 2026 totals (monetary contributions raised / total expenditures / public-financing matching funds received, where applicable): Jenny Wong (Auditor) $6,916 / $1,109; Laura Babitt (D1) no 2026 committee Form 460 on file yet, only a Form 410/501 -- her filings show active participation in the city's public-financing matching-funds program; Ross Bernet (D1) $4,449 / $209; Moni Gangopadhyay (D1) $3,307 (incl. $500 nonmonetary) / $2,163; Steve Kromer (D1) no committee located; Daria Wrubel (D1) $120 / $0; Igor Tregub (D4) $10,287 / $3,405, plus $20,670 in public matching funds; Majdi "Gaith" Abuhamdieh (D4) no Form 460 on file, only a Form 410/501; Aidan Hill (D7) $1,102 / $257 on his current District 7 committee (a separate, older "Aidan Hill for Berkeley City Council 2022" committee also remains on file from a prior run, not further researched here); Syrak Micael (D7) $5,698 / $4,444, plus $12,600 in public matching funds; Mark Humbert (D8) $1,630 / $56; Michael Wallman and Fred Feller (D8) no Form 460 on file, only a Form 410/501 each; Mari Mendonca (D8) an active committee reporting $0 contributions and $0 expenditures this period; Carole Marasovic (Rent Board) an active committee reporting $0 contributions and $0 expenditures this period; Avery Arbaugh (Rent Board) no 2026 Form 460 on file, only records from an unsuccessful 2024 Rent Board run; Ida Martinac (Rent Board) no 2026 Form 460 on file yet, only a Form 410/501; Nathan Mizell (Rent Board) an interim Jan. 1-May 10, 2026 report showing $0 contributions and $0 expenditures; Vylma Ortiz and Derek Rodriguez (Rent Board) no Form 460 on file, only a Form 410/501 each; Sandy Park (School Board) $1,860 / $138; Jennifer Shanoski (School Board) $5,410 / $662, plus $19,140 in public matching funds; Ka'Dijah Brown (School Board) filed her new 2026 committee's organizing paperwork July 23, 2026, after the H1 reporting window closed, so no H1 2026 Form 460 exists for it yet.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's Berkeley, California article -- 2020 census population (124,321), the 4th-largest city in Alameda County.
  • berkeleyside.org (opens in a new tab)Berkeleyside -- "Election 2022: Jenny Wong, Berkeley auditor" (Oct. 3, 2022), a structured Q&A hosted and published by Berkeleyside, read in full: Wong's own words (self-description, attributed in text) on her office's completed audits (street paving, fleet electrification, police call-center response times, a COVID-era fiscal-impact report), and her office's back-to-back national recognition from the Association of Local Government Auditors.

Last updated September 1, 2026.