Skip to main content

City of Downey · Statewide General Election

Downey 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 holds your district's seat on Downey's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. A 4-year term.

Two candidates are running for Downey's District 4 City Council seat: Planning Commission chair Carrie Uva and former Public Works Committee member Lissette Rivera. Incumbent Claudia M. Frometa is term-limited and not on the ballot, so this is an open seat. Whoever gets the most votes wins.

This is the first cycle Downey elects its City Council by district rather than at-large. District 4's seat carries a 4-year term: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside four other district councilmembers. Day-to-day city government runs through an appointed city manager, not any single councilmember.

Neither candidate has held elected office. Uva's record is in the city's land-use process, chairing the Planning Commission; Rivera's is in a citywide advisory committee and community organizing around the fentanyl crisis. Both campaigns name public safety and fiscal responsibility as priorities, so the practical difference is which record — land-use oversight or community-advocacy organizing — a voter weighs more for a general council seat.

Carrie Uva

Chair of the Downey Planning Commission and a real estate attorney, endorsed by Mayor Claudia Frometa, three sitting councilmembers, and six former Downey mayors. She has chaired the citizens' oversight committees for two voter-approved funding measures and previously led the Downey Chamber of Commerce. Her platform centers on police recruitment, a balanced budget, and quality-of-life projects like street repairs and small-business permitting (per the Downey Patriot).

Strengths

Chairs the city's Planning Commission, giving her direct land-use and development experience, plus committee-level fiscal-oversight roles on two voter-approved measures.

Trade-offs

Her land-use and business-association experience is largely appointive and civic, not in a directly elected or budget-voting role.

Keep in mind

Her endorsement list is heavily drawn from sitting and former Downey officeholders — a sign of establishment support, which cuts both ways depending on whether a voter wants continuity or a change in direction.

Lissette Rivera

A small-business owner and former citywide Public Works Committee member, endorsed by state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, state Treasurer Fiona Ma, and U.S. Rep. Linda Sánchez. She co-founded WOLF (War On Lethal Fentanyl), a nonprofit that has partnered with Downey Unified to reach more than 23,000 student families with fentanyl-prevention education. Her platform centers on public safety, infrastructure repair, small-business support, and City Hall transparency (per Los Cerritos Community News).

Strengths

A citywide advisory-committee appointment plus a nonprofit she co-founded that has reached tens of thousands of families with a specific public-health program.

Trade-offs

Her committee service was advisory rather than budget- or land-use-voting, a narrower government role than her opponent's.

Keep in mind

Her core credential is issue-based organizing (fentanyl prevention) rather than land-use or fiscal oversight — relevant to public safety but a different kind of preparation for a general council seat than Uva's Planning Commission chair role.

Source review: Strong (85/100) · 7 cited sources

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

Last updated August 31, 2026.