Skip to main content

City of Colton · Statewide General Election

Colton 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 your district's seat on Colton's 4-member, district-elected City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. A 4-year term, staggered so only some districts are up in any given November -- Colton's Mayor is separately, directly elected citywide to a 4-year term of its own (also on this November's ballot); day-to-day operations run through an appointed City Manager.

Three candidates -- Joseph Paulino, Adrianna Escarcega, and Lawrence "Larry" Rivas -- are running for Colton's open City Council District 4 seat on the November 3, 2026 ballot. It's open because sitting District 4 councilmember John R. Echevarria is running for Mayor instead of reelection to this seat. Whoever gets the most votes wins outright.

This person would hold District 4's seat on Colton's 4-member, district-elected City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. A 4-year term, staggered so only some districts are up in any given November -- Colton's Mayor is separately, directly elected citywide (also on this November's ballot).

Escarcega, a sitting Colton Planning Commissioner and workforce manager, and Rivas, a sitting Utilities Commission At-Large member, are both already city appointees moving toward elected office; Paulino, whose filed designation is "Retired Police Chief," has no city-committee record found in this pass beyond that self-reported title.

Joseph Paulino

Joseph Paulino is a candidate for Colton's open District 4 council seat. His filed ballot designation is "Retired Police Chief." No department, city, or independent record corroborating that designation was found in this pass -- it comes from his own filing, not from independent confirmation.

Strengths

A law-enforcement leadership background, if his filed designation is accurate, distinct from either opponent's civic-commission experience.

Trade-offs

This dataset could not independently confirm which department he led or when; no platform statement or news coverage was found; financial info was likewise unavailable.

Keep in mind

An unconfirmed but specific self-reported credential is a real gap to ask him about directly, not evidence one way or the other about his background.

Adrianna Escarcega

Adrianna Escarcega is a candidate for Colton's open District 4 council seat. Her filed ballot designation, "Commissioner / Workforce Manager," is independently confirmed by the city's own Maddy Act Appointment List: she has served as the District 2 Planning Commissioner since July 18, 2023, a term running through 2028 that she would presumably leave if elected to the council.

Strengths

Sitting Planning Commission experience since 2023, familiarity with the land-use process the council oversees; a workforce-management occupation corroborated by city records.

Trade-offs

No independent news coverage of her Planning Commission tenure was found in this pass; financial info could not be retrieved (see note below).

Keep in mind

Her Planning Commission seat represents District 2, not District 4 -- worth noting since she'd be seeking to represent a different district on the council than the one she currently serves on the Planning Commission.

Lawrence "Larry" Rivas

Lawrence "Larry" Rivas is a candidate for Colton's open District 4 council seat. He requested no ballot designation. The city's own Maddy Act Appointment List shows him as the Utilities Commission's At-Large member since January 17, 2023, a term running through 2026 -- a sitting city appointment he did not list on the ballot.

Strengths

Three-plus years of sitting Utilities Commission experience, relevant to a council overseeing the city's electric and water utilities -- though at-large, not District 4-specific.

Trade-offs

No occupation, platform statement, or independent news coverage was found anywhere in this pass; financial info was likewise unavailable.

Keep in mind

Choosing not to list "Commissioner" as his ballot designation, despite holding that title, is worth noting -- this dataset surfaces the omitted fact rather than assuming it means something either way.

Source review: Strong (88/100) · 7 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • uploads.rov.sbcounty.gov (opens in a new tab)San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters -- "Offices Up for Election, November 3, 2026, General Election": lists County Board of Education Areas A, B, and D (under the School category) as the county's only expiring-term seats this cycle -- no Board of Supervisors, row office, or Superior Court seat appears anywhere in the 11-page document
  • uploads.rov.sbcounty.gov (opens in a new tab)San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters -- statewide "Report_CandidateList.pdf" candidate-filing report linked from the county's own November 3, 2026 candidates page: within the San Bernardino County section, only Area B carries any candidates (Rita Fernandez-Loof, Miki R. Inbody, Kimberly L. Watson); Areas A and D, both confirmed expiring this cycle by the county's own Offices Up for Election document, have no candidates anywhere in the report and will not appear on the November ballot
  • coltonca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Colton -- City Clerk's "Election Information 2026" page: states "Offices Open for Election: Council Member -- District 3, Council Member -- District 4, Mayor -- City Wide," plus the nomination period (July 13 -- August 7, 2026) and candidate eligibility requirements.
  • coltonca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Colton -- "Candidate Filing Update (FINAL UPDATE)" for the week of August 7-12, 2026: names all seven qualified candidates across the city's three November 2026 offices with their nomination-paper pull/file/qualify dates -- John Echevarria and Frank J. Navarro for Mayor; Luis S. González and Eugene Valdez for District 3; Joseph Paulino, Adrianna Escarcega, and Lawrence "Larry" Rivas for District 4 -- in full agreement with the county's own candidate-filing report.
  • coltonca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Colton -- "City Council" page: names each sitting member by seat (Frank J. Navarro, Mayor; David J. Toro, District 1; Kelly J. Chastain, District 2; Luis S. González, District 3; John R. Echevarria, District 4) and each one's term-expiration date -- Mayor, District 3, and District 4 all expire December 2026 (this cycle); District 1 and District 2 expire December 2028 (not on this ballot).
  • coltonca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Colton -- "Maddy Act Appointment List" (updated August 19, 2026), the city's Government Code Sec. 54970-54974 disclosure of every board and commission appointee: shows Adrianna Escarcega as the District 2 Planning Commissioner since July 18, 2023 (term through 2028), corroborating her "Commissioner" ballot designation, and Lawrence "Larry" Rivas as the Utilities Commission's At-Large member since January 17, 2023 (term through 2026), despite his own ballot designation being "No Ballot Designation Requested."
  • coltonca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Colton -- "Proposed Mural Sign" planning document (165 East "O" Street, South Colton): a community-beautification concept intended to establish an inventory of historical local-business brands and logos and deter graffiti, naming Eugene Valdez as the person behind the proposal -- the only independent record found of District 3 challenger Eugene Valdez's community involvement.

Last updated August 31, 2026.