# Downey City Council, District 4 Compare records and positions simply between Lissette Rivera or Carrie Uva for Downey City Council, District 4 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Downey's 5-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The term is four years. - Jurisdiction: City of Downey - 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/downey-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: August 31, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 85 out of 100 (Strong), across 7 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Lissette Rivera** - **Carrie Uva** A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Two candidates are running for Downey's District 4 City Council seat. Carrie Uva chairs the Planning Commission. Lissette Rivera is a former Public Works Committee member. 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. She is 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. She previously led the Downey Chamber of Commerce. Her platform centers on police recruitment and a balanced budget. It also covers quality-of-life projects like street repairs and small-business permitting, per the Downey Patriot. **Strengths:** Chairs the city's Planning Commission, which gives her direct land-use and development experience. She also holds committee-level fiscal-oversight roles on two voter-approved measures. **Trade-offs:** Her land-use and business-association experience is largely appointive and civic. It is not in a directly elected or budget-voting role. **Keep in mind:** Her endorsement list is heavily drawn from sitting and former Downey officeholders. That is a sign of establishment support. It 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. She is endorsed by state Sen. Lena Gonzalez, state Treasurer Fiona Ma, and U.S. Rep. Linda Sánchez. She co-founded WOLF, which stands for War On Lethal Fentanyl. The nonprofit 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, and small-business support. It also covers City Hall transparency, per Los Cerritos Community News. **Strengths:** A citywide advisory-committee appointment. She also co-founded a nonprofit 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. That is a narrower government role than her opponent's. **Keep in mind:** Her core credential is issue-based organizing on fentanyl prevention rather than land-use or fiscal oversight. That is relevant to public safety. But it is a different kind of preparation for a general council seat than Uva's Planning Commission chair role. ## Sources 1. [City of Downey — Election Information (November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election: City Council Districts 2 and 4, nomination period, and Form 460 campaign-statement portal link)](https://www.downeyca.org/our-city/departments/city-clerk/election-information) 2. [The Downey Patriot — Carrie Uva announces run for City Council (2026-04-16)](https://www.thedowneypatriot.com/articles/carrie-uva-announces-run-for-city-council) 3. [City of Downey — Planning Commission (official roster: Carrie Uva, Chair, District 4)](https://www.downeyca.org/our-city/commissions-boards-task-force/planning-commission) 4. [Los Cerritos Community News — Lissette Rivera Announces Candidacy for Downey City Council District 4 (2026-07-04)](https://www.loscerritosnews.net/2026/07/04/lissette-rivera-announces-candidacy-for-downey-city-council-district-4/) 5. [The Downey Patriot — Lissette Rivera begins early campaign for city council (2025-07-17)](https://www.thedowneypatriot.com/articles/lissette-rivera-begins-early-campaign-for-city-council) 6. [City of Downey — Campaign Finance Statements, Form 460 for Public Viewing (City Clerk's Laserfiche document portal; 45 entries, browsed directly)](https://lf.downeyca.org/WebLink/Browse.aspx?id=782257&dbid=0&repo=Downey) 7. [The Ballot Book — City of Downey Candidates (District 2: Hector Sosa, unopposed; District 4: Carrie Uva and Lissette Rivera)](https://theballotbook.com/jurisdictions/652/candidates) ## The rest of the ballot Downey 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, "Downey City Council, District 4 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/downey-council-4 (sources last retrieved August 31, 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.