# Claremont City Council, District 3 Compare records and positions simply between Jennifer Stark or Sonja Stump for Claremont City Council, District 3 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Claremont's 5-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. - Jurisdiction: City of Claremont - 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/claremont-council-3 - 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 3, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 91 out of 100 (Very strong), across 9 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Jennifer Stark** — Incumbent - **Sonja Stump** A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Incumbent Jennifer Stark is Claremont's current mayor. She is seeking re-election to her District 3 seat. Her challenger is Sonja Stump, a local photographer and event coordinator. Claremont's council elections run directly in November with no primary. The winner holds one of five district seats on the Claremont City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The term is four years. Stark is a two-term incumbent whose colleagues elected her mayor for the current term; her council career has centered on emergency preparedness and regional environmental committees. Stump has no prior elected or appointed city record — their public role has been organizing Claremont's farmers market and downtown art walk. The choice is between continuity from an incumbent with a committee record and a first-time challenger without one. ## Jennifer Stark She is the incumbent District 3 councilmember and Claremont's current mayor. She was first elected in 2018 and re-elected in 2022. She chaired the city's Emergency Preparedness ad hoc committee. Fellow councilmember Ed Reece was vice chair, per the Courier's November 2025 report. She represents Claremont on a San Gabriel Valley regional governing body, per SCAG's 2026 committee directory. In her first term she chaired the council's energy and environment committee. She also sat as SGVCOG's alternate governing-board delegate, per the Courier's 2022 profile of her. **Strengths:** Two terms in the seat, plus the mayor's chair. Her regional and emergency-preparedness committee assignments span both terms. **Trade-offs:** Eight years in, her record is the incumbent's own to defend. A voter weighing continuity is trusting the same committee relationships to keep producing results. **Keep in mind:** She is judged on a body of work, not a platform. Ask what her environment and emergency-preparedness committees have delivered. Do not just ask which ones she has chaired. ## Sonja Stump Stump is a Claremont photographer. They coordinate the city's weekly Farmers and Artisans Market for the local tourism board. They also coordinate its monthly First Saturday Art Walk, per Discover Claremont's organizer listing. They have no prior elected or appointed city government service. Their campaign launched with a kickoff fundraiser in September 2026. **Strengths:** Direct, hands-on experience running recurring public events in downtown Claremont. That gives them a ground-level view of the district they would represent. **Trade-offs:** They have no record in city government of any kind. There is no committee vote or budget decision to weigh them against. **Keep in mind:** A first-time challenger is an unwritten record. What they say they would do is all there is to weigh. That holds until they have a vote to point to. ## Sources 1. [City of Claremont — "November 3, 2026 General Election" (City Clerk's own page: offices to be filled, nomination-period dates, and the ballot-order candidate roster for Districts 2, 3, and 4, retrieved via a live browser session after automated fetches were blocked)](https://www.claremontca.gov/Government/Elections/November-3-2026-General-Election) 2. [City of Claremont — "Candidate Filing Status Final (in order of appearance on ballot)" (City Clerk's certified roster for Districts 2, 3, and 4 with each candidate's incumbent flag and nomination-paper dates)](https://www.claremontca.gov/files/assets/public/v/1/city-clerk/documents/elections/candidate-filing-status-final-in-order-of-appearance-on-ballot.pdf) 3. [Claremont Courier — "Candidates' corner" (Aug. 20 and Aug. 27, 2026 editions): Jennifer Stark's re-election campaign, Sonja Stump's District 3 candidacy and kickoff fundraiser, and District 4 candidate Anna Jacobsen's campaign kickoff and meet-and-greet events](https://claremontcourier.com/latest-news/candidates-corner-4-89862/) 4. [Southern California Association of Governments — regional-committee member directory, City of Claremont delegates (Jennifer Stark, San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments EEC)](https://scag.ca.gov/profile/hon-jennifer-stark) 5. [Claremont Courier — "City Council, CUSD Board convene for special meeting" (Nov. 20, 2025): names the Emergency Preparedness ad hoc committee's chair and vice chair](https://claremont-courier.com/latest-news/council-cusd-board-get-together-for-special-meeting-85877/) 6. [Claremont Courier — "2022 Claremont City Council candidate profiles: Jennifer Stark" (Sept. 22, 2022)](https://claremontcourier.com/latest-news/2022-claremont-city-council-race-candidate-profiles-jennifer-stark-69835/) 7. [Discover Claremont (city tourism BID) — organizer bio, Sonja Stump, Coordinator](https://discoverclaremont.com/organizer/sonja-stump-coordinator/) 8. [City of Claremont — Conflict of Interest and Ethics page (covers Form 700 economic-interest statements; no campaign-finance/Form 460 portal referenced)](https://www.claremontca.gov/Government/Public-Records/Conflict-of-Interest-and-Ethics) 9. [CA Secretary of State — Cal-Access committee filer records for Jennifer Stark ("Stark for Claremont City Council 2026," filer #1486490) and Sonja Stump ("Stump 4 City Council 2026," filer #1485222): both committees active but neither has electronically filed a Form 460/461/450 for the 2026 cycle as of retrieval](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Misc/filerSearch.aspx?SEARCH=Jennifer%20Stark) ## The rest of the ballot Claremont City Council, District 3 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, "Claremont City Council, District 3 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/claremont-council-3 (sources last retrieved September 3, 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.