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City of Citrus Heights · Statewide General Election

Citrus Heights 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 three Citrus Heights City Council seats up this cycle: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, under a council-manager government with an appointed City Manager, for a 4-year term. The five-member council selects one of its own to serve as Mayor for a one-year term -- this is a district council seat, not a separately elected mayor's office.

Two candidates are running for this Citrus Heights City Council seat: incumbent Dr. Jayna Karpinski-Costa, seeking another term, against first-time challenger Susan Powers, a small-business owner. A third filer, Montana Lincoln McKinsey, did not qualify for the ballot.

Citrus Heights' City Council has five members, each elected from one of five districts, under a council-manager government with an appointed City Manager. Councilmembers set city ordinances, the budget, and land-use decisions. A 4-year term. The council itself selects one member to serve a rotating, one-year term as Mayor.

Whoever gets more votes wins outright -- there is no primary and no runoff. This election fills three of Citrus Heights' five council seats (Districts 2, 4, and 5); Districts 1 and 3, elected in Nov. 2024, are not up again until 2028.

Jayna Karpinski-Costa

The incumbent, most recently elected to this District 4 seat in Nov. 2022; her filed ballot designation is "City of Citrus Heights Councilmember." She holds a B.S. in Microbiology (Colorado State University, 1974), a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (Colorado State, 1980), and a Juris Doctorate (Santa Clara University School of Law, 1986) earned while practicing veterinary medicine in San Jose; in 2005 she founded the acupuncture practice Acupuncture Plus+. Her council service spans three non-consecutive periods: first elected in 2004, re-elected in 2008, then returned via the 2022 election after a gap, and she has served as the council's rotating Mayor twice (2011 and 2024/2025). She was President of the Sylvan Old Auburn Road (SOAR) Neighborhood Association from 1998 to 2021 and is now its Treasurer.

Strengths

Three elected council periods, two terms as rotating Mayor, and a deep professional and civic background (veterinary medicine, law, and 23 years leading a neighborhood group).

Trade-offs

This dataset found no independent (non-official, non-campaign-finance) reporting evaluating her current term's record.

Keep in mind

A gap between council periods (2008-2022) means her most recent uninterrupted service dates only to 2022, despite her longer overall history with the city.

Susan Powers

A first-time candidate; her filed ballot designation is "Small Business Owner," with no business named. This dataset searched the city's own site, the Citrus Heights Sentinel's archive, Wikipedia, Ballotpedia, and general web search and found no campaign website, news coverage, or further biographical detail beyond that self-declared occupation.

Strengths

not established in the sourcing found for this race.

Trade-offs

as a first-time candidate with no located public record beyond her filed paperwork, voters have little beyond her name, her stated occupation, and the fact that she qualified for the ballot.

Keep in mind

this is a documented sourcing gap, not evidence against her -- a real, multi-method search turned up nothing further to report.

Source review: Strong (83/100) · 4 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • elections.saccounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Sacramento County Voter Registration & Elections — Roster of Candidates, November 3, 2026 General Election
  • citrusheightssentinel.com (opens in a new tab)Citrus Heights Sentinel — "Interested in serving on Citrus Heights' City Council? Candidate filing begins July 13" (2026-07-07): names the three seats up this cycle (Districts 2, 4, 5) and each sitting holder, the July 13–Aug. 7 filing window, and candidate eligibility rules.
  • citrusheightssentinel.com (opens in a new tab)Citrus Heights Sentinel — "Five candidates to run for Citrus Heights City Council" (2026-08-07): names all five qualified candidates across the three districted races, distinguishing the three incumbents from the two first-time challengers.
  • citrusheights.net (opens in a new tab)City of Citrus Heights — official biography page for Council Member Dr. Jayna Karpinski-Costa (District 4): education, veterinary and law career, three non-consecutive periods on the council since 2004, and neighborhood-association service.

Last updated September 1, 2026.