City of Carmel By The Sea · Statewide General Election

Carmel-by-the-Sea City Council

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

On the ballot

Stefan Karapetkov — Planning Commissioner
Alissandra Dramov — City Council Member · Incumbent
Bobby Richards — Driving Instructor

This person would hold one of two Carmel-by-the-Sea City Council seats up this cycle, elected at-large (not by district) to a 4-year term: the city budget, land use, and municipal ordinances for this Monterey County village of 3,220 residents (2020 Census), alongside a directly elected Mayor who is not part of this race and a City Administrator who runs day-to-day operations.

Three candidates are running for Carmel-by-the-Sea's two open City Council seats: incumbent Alissandra Dramov, former councilmember Bobby Richards, and Planning Commissioner Stefan Karapetkov. The seat held by outgoing Councilmember Jeff Baron, who chose not to seek a third term, is also on this ballot.

The top two vote-getters win the two seats. Dramov is the only sitting councilmember in the race -- Baron, who held the other seat up this cycle, announced in July he would not seek a third term after eight years on the council, citing the accumulated "mental load" of recent close votes. Richards previously served two terms on the council, from 2016 to 2024, before stepping away; Karapetkov has not previously held elected office but currently sits on the city's Planning Commission.

Alissandra Dramov

Alissandra Dramov is Carmel's incumbent Councilmember, first elected in 2022 after rising to local prominence leading a resident campaign against a Verizon wireless antenna near the Golden Bough Playhouse -- a dispute that prompted a still-pending Verizon lawsuit against the city, per Monterey County Weekly's 2022 election coverage. Her occupation is listed as "Council Member and local history author": she has written four books on Carmel's past and historic architecture, previously worked as a television news broadcast journalist, and holds a government degree (history minor) from the University of San Francisco. Her stated priorities are addressing deferred maintenance of streets, sidewalks, and infrastructure; caring for the beach and forest; fiscal responsibility and transparency; and protecting public safety and village character.

Strengths

A full first term as sitting Councilmember to run on, plus the specific pre-council record (the Verizon antenna fight) that Monterey County Weekly independently reported established her local profile.

Trade-offs

Her filed statement's priorities are broad categories (deferred maintenance, transparency, village character) rather than specific votes or proposals from her current term.

Keep in mind

As the only incumbent in the race, a vote for Dramov is closest to a referendum on continuity, while a vote for either Richards or Karapetkov shifts the council toward a different voice in the seat Baron is vacating.

Bobby Richards

Bobby Richards, 62, previously served two terms on the Carmel City Council, from 2016 to 2024, before stepping away, which he attributes in his candidate statement to "a brief health challenge" from which he says he has "fully recovered." His ballot designation is "Driving Instructor"; his own statement additionally lists him as a property manager. He also cites prior service on the Carmel Chamber of Commerce board, an appointment to the city's activity and cultural commission, and current service on the Board of the Carmel Residents Association. His statement frames his candidacy around returning "experience, perspective, and a collaborative spirit" to the council rather than naming specific new policy proposals.

Strengths

Two prior terms (eight years, 2016-2024) of council experience -- more than either opponent -- plus prior Chamber of Commerce and Carmel Residents Association board service.

Trade-offs

His statement emphasizes experience and temperament over specific new policy positions; voters wanting concrete platform commitments will find less here than in Karapetkov's four numbered priorities.

Keep in mind

He describes stepping away from the council in 2024 for a health reason and says he has since fully recovered -- his own characterization, not independently verified here.

Stefan Karapetkov

Stefan Karapetkov currently serves on Carmel's Planning Commission and is, by profession, an Enterprise Architect with more than 30 years of experience, including an electrical engineering background. He has not previously held elected office. His candidate statement names four numbered priorities: strengthening wildfire resilience while advancing the city's Design Traditions 1.5 standards, drawing on his Planning Commission experience; improving infrastructure by applying his engineering background to underground utilities and emergency communications; practical parking solutions for local businesses; and sustained action on Carmel Beach erosion.

Strengths

Current Planning Commission service directly relevant to land-use and Design Traditions questions the council handles, plus the most itemized, numbered platform of the three candidates.

Trade-offs

No prior elected experience -- unlike both Dramov and Richards -- so there is no council voting record to evaluate.

Keep in mind

His four priorities read as engineering- and infrastructure-forward (utilities, communications, erosion); voters weighing housing or fiscal policy will find less direct treatment of those topics here than in Dramov's statement.

Source review: Very strong (91/100) · 10 cited sources

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

ci.carmel.ca.us (opens in a new tab)City of Carmel-by-the-Sea -- official City Clerk "Elections" page: states plainly that the Nov. 3, 2026 General Municipal Election will elect "One Mayor, for a term of 2 years" and "Two Councilmembers, for a term of 4 years," both elected at-large; lists the five final "Candidates on the Ballot" by office with each candidate's ballot designation and a link to their city-clerk-stamped Candidate Statement of Qualifications; and confirms the nomination period was extended from Aug. 7 to Aug. 12, 2026 and has now closed, and that Council Members and the Mayor "are elected at-large and serve staggering terms." Also names the city's public campaign-disclosure portal at netfile.com/public/cml/campaign/elections.
web.archive.org (opens in a new tab)Monterey County Elections -- official "Candidate List" page for the November 3, 2026 General Election, via an Internet Archive Wayback Machine snapshot from Aug. 23, 2026 (the live site's own DOM renders office titles only, never per-seat candidate names, elsewhere in this dataset, but this archived snapshot rendered the full accordion content): shows "CITY OF CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA Mayor," "Vote for One" -- David Boland (Banking Executive) and Hans Buder (Carmel City Councilmember) -- and "CITY OF CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA Member, City Council," "Vote for no more than 2" -- Alissandra Dramov (City Council Member), Bobby Richards (Driving Instructor), and Stefan Karapetkov (Planning Commissioner) -- independently matching the city's own elections page roster.
montereycountynow.com (opens in a new tab)Monterey County Weekly (montereycountynow.com) -- "Carmel Councilmember Jeff Baron announces he won't run for reelection after eight years in office" (Pam Marino, July 21, 2026): reports Baron -- not Dramov -- is giving up the other council seat up this cycle; confirms "For the election on Nov. 3, the two-year mayor's seat and two four-year councilmember seats will be decided on by the voters," that Buder is so far the only mayoral candidate to take out nomination papers, that Dramov turned in verified nomination papers for a second term on July 20, that Karapetkov turned in verified nomination papers the same day, and that the nomination period ends 5pm Friday, Aug. 7 (later extended to Aug. 12 per the city's own elections page).
en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Carmel-by-the-Sea, California": 2020 Census population (3,220); used narrowly for this figure, not for any 2026 election detail.
ci.carmel.ca.us (opens in a new tab)City of Carmel-by-the-Sea -- Alissandra Dramov's official, city-clerk-stamped Candidate Statement of Qualifications (filed July 20, 2026): occupation listed as "Council Member and local history author"; describes her first term on the Council (elected 2022), authorship of four books on Carmel's past and historic architecture, prior work as a television news broadcast journalist, a Stevenson School and University of San Francisco (government, history minor) education, and her role in the grassroots group that fought residential cell towers in Carmel.
ci.carmel.ca.us (opens in a new tab)City of Carmel-by-the-Sea -- Bobby Richards's official, city-clerk-stamped Candidate Statement of Qualifications (filed July 27, 2026): lists his age (62) and occupation as "Driving Instructor/Property Manager"; states he served on the Carmel City Council "from 2016 to 2024," previously served on the Carmel Chamber of Commerce board, was appointed to the city's activity and cultural commission, and has served on the Board of the Carmel Residents Association; says he stepped away from public service for a brief health challenge and is now fully recovered.
ci.carmel.ca.us (opens in a new tab)City of Carmel-by-the-Sea -- Stefan Karapetkov's official, city-clerk-stamped Candidate Statement of Qualifications (filed July 20, 2026): describes him as a sitting Planning Commissioner and an Enterprise Architect with more than 30 years of experience and an electrical engineering background; states four priorities -- wildfire resilience and Design Traditions, underground utilities/emergency communications, parking, and Carmel Beach erosion.
montereycountynow.com (opens in a new tab)Monterey County Weekly (montereycountynow.com) -- "Carmel Councilmember Jeff Baron secures another term; Alissandra Dramov is a likely winner" (Pam Marino, Nov. 9, 2022): election-night report naming Dramov a "political newcomer" who rose to local prominence leading a resident campaign against a Verizon wireless antenna near the Golden Bough Playhouse, a fight that prompted a still-pending Verizon lawsuit against the city; used narrowly for this background, not as a 2026 election source.
cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- a Monterey County candidate-filer-list query (session 2025-2026, county code 27) intended to check all five Carmel candidates: returned an Incapsula bot-detection challenge page rather than real content via direct fetch; no live-browser fallback was available this session either, the same automated-access block already documented elsewhere in this dataset.
netfile.com (opens in a new tab)NetFile -- the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea's own official public campaign-finance disclosure portal, named on the city's elections page, for all five candidates' Form 460 filings: the portal is a client-rendered single-page application with no static HTML content and no discoverable public API endpoint reachable via direct fetch this pass (its bundled JavaScript names internal route paths -- /campaign/elections, /campaign/persons -- but no working data endpoint could be found); no live-browser fallback was available this session. A documented access gap, not a claim about any candidate's actual filings.

Last updated September 1, 2026.