# Citrus Heights City Council, District 4 Compare records and positions simply between Jayna Karpinski-Costa or Susan Powers for Citrus Heights City Council, District 4 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of three Citrus Heights City Council seats this cycle. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. An appointed City Manager runs daily operations. The term is four years. The five-member council picks one member to serve as Mayor for a year. This is a district council seat, not a separate mayor's office. - Jurisdiction: City of Citrus Heights - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/citrus-heights-council-4 - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: September 1, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 83 out of 100 (Strong), across 4 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Jayna Karpinski-Costa** — City of Citrus Heights Councilmember · Incumbent - **Susan Powers** — Small Business Owner A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. 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. The term is four years. 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; their filed ballot designation is "City of Citrus Heights Councilmember." They hold 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 they founded the acupuncture practice Acupuncture Plus+. Their 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 they have served as the council's rotating Mayor twice (2011 and 2024/2025). They were President of the Sylvan Old Auburn Road (SOAR) Neighborhood Association from 1998 to 2021 and are 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 their current term's record. **Keep in mind:** A gap between council periods (2008-2022) means their most recent uninterrupted service dates only to 2022, despite their longer overall history with the city. ## Susan Powers A first-time candidate; their 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 their filed paperwork, voters have little beyond their name, their stated occupation, and the fact that they qualified for the ballot. **Keep in mind:** this is a documented sourcing gap, not evidence against them -- a real, multi-method search turned up nothing further to report. ## Sources 1. [Sacramento County Voter Registration & Elections — Roster of Candidates, November 3, 2026 General Election](https://elections.saccounty.gov/content/vre/us/en/campaign-services/candidate-report.html) 2. [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.](https://citrusheightssentinel.com/2026/07/07/interested-in-serving-on-citrus-heights-city-council-candidate-filing-begins-july-13/) 3. [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.](https://citrusheightssentinel.com/2026/08/07/six-candidates-to-run-for-citrus-heights-city-council/) 4. [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.](https://www.citrusheights.net/Directory.aspx?EID=7) ## The rest of the ballot Citrus Heights City Council, District 4 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "Citrus Heights City Council, District 4 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/citrus-heights-council-4 (sources last retrieved September 1, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.