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City of Berkeley · Statewide General Election

Berkeley 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 would hold one of eight district seats on the Berkeley City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use in this Alameda County city of about 124,000, for a 4-year term. Half the Council's district seats (2, 3, 5, 6) are elected on the presidential cycle; this one is elected, along with the Auditor, on the same cycle as the Governor. Decided by ranked-choice voting.

Incumbent Igor Tregub, who won a 2024 special election after Councilmember Kate Harrison's resignation, is running for his first full term against one challenger, coffee-shop owner Majdi "Gaith" Abuhamdieh.

This person would hold one of eight district seats on the Berkeley City Council -- Central Berkeley, in District 4's case: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, for a 4-year term. Decided by ranked-choice voting.

District 4 changed hands twice in quick succession: Kate Harrison resigned in January 2024, and Igor Tregub won the resulting special election that June by just 48 ranked-choice votes over his nearest opponent. This is his first bid for a full four-year term.

Igor A. Tregub

Igor Tregub has lived in Berkeley for more than two decades and served two prior stints on the Berkeley Rent Board (2008-2020) before winning the District 4 special election in June 2024. He chairs the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee and has been active on housing, zoning, and environmental-policy committees. A Ukrainian-Jewish immigrant, he has fundraised and advocated for Ukraine during the Russia-Ukraine war. He moved into District 4 in February 2024, shortly before running -- he had previously run unsuccessfully against Rashi Kesarwani for a different council seat in 2018. He has described his approach as working to "heal the divisions" that formed on a Council rattled by two same-year resignations.

Strengths

16 years of prior Rent Board service plus two years on Council, plus a county Democratic Party role connecting him to local officials -- several appear as itemized $60 donors on his Form 460.

Trade-offs

He moved into District 4 shortly before running for its seat, and this is his first bid for a full term rather than a reelection with a multi-year council record to run on.

Keep in mind

His narrow 48-vote 2024 special-election win is a real, certified result -- not evidence about how a differently-timed, higher-turnout general election like this one will go.

Majdi "Gaith" Abuhamdieh

Majdi "Gaith" Abuhamdieh co-owns Jaffa Coffee Roasters, a University Avenue cafe he opened with his brothers Sami and Noor in June 2024 to celebrate their family's Palestinian heritage, after roasting beans in the family's Napa County garage. His ballot designation is Entrepreneur/Technologist/Parent. The cafe's storefront "Free Palestine" sign was repeatedly vandalized in the summer of 2024, an incident Berkeley police investigated as a hate crime.

Strengths

A real small-business record as a first-time candidate, building and running a Berkeley storefront from the ground up.

Trade-offs

No 2026 Form 460 was on file for his campaign at retrieval -- only initial paperwork -- so there's no fundraising signal yet, and no council or commission experience to point to.

Keep in mind

The vandalism at his cafe is real, independently reported news, but it is a fact about his business, not a policy record -- it says nothing about his positions as a council candidate.

Source review: Very strong (92/100) · 10 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 -- "Igor Tregub, a consensus builder, will soon sit on Berkeley City Council" (by Alex Mabanta, June 11, 2024), read in full: Tregub's 20+ years as a Berkeley resident, his two stints on the Berkeley Rent Board (2008-2020), his chairmanship of the Alameda County Democratic Central Committee, his prior unsuccessful 2018 run against Rashi Kesarwani, his fundraising and advocacy for Ukraine as a Ukrainian-Jewish immigrant, and his own quoted framing of his 2024 win as an effort to "heal the divisions" on a Council rattled by two same-year resignations.
  • berkeleyside.org (opens in a new tab)Berkeleyside -- "They opened a coffee shop celebrating their Palestinian heritage in Berkeley. Someone keeps vandalizing it." (Aug. 28, 2024), read in full: Majdi Gaith and his brothers Sami and Noor opened Jaffa Coffee Roasters on University Avenue in June 2024, named for a historic Palestinian port city, after roasting beans in the family's Napa County garage; the family's roots in the West Bank go back generations, and the shop's front window sign was repeatedly vandalized that summer, an incident Berkeley police investigated as a hate crime.

Last updated September 1, 2026.