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City of Eureka · Statewide General Election

Eureka City Council, Ward 3

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On the ballot

This person would hold one of Eureka's five City Council seats, elected by the voters of Ward 3 to a 4-year term. Eureka (2020 population 26,512) is the county seat of Humboldt County and runs under a council-manager government: the five-member Council sets policy, adopts the budget, and approves contracts; a City Manager runs day-to-day operations. The Mayor, elected separately and citywide, presides over Council meetings but doesn't sit as a sixth ward vote.

Incumbent G Mario Fernandez, first elected to this Ward 3 seat after serving on the Eureka City Schools Board of Trustees, faces Janelle Jackson, a police lieutenant, in his bid for reelection.

Eureka (2020 Census population 26,512) is the county seat of Humboldt County and runs under a council-manager government: a five-member City Council, elected one per ward to 4-year terms, sets policy and adopts the budget, while a City Manager runs day-to-day operations. The separately elected Mayor presides over Council meetings but doesn't sit as a sixth ward vote.

Both candidates answered multiple voter-submitted questions through Lost Coast Outpost's LoCOElections tool. Fernandez's answers lean on land-use and economic-development specifics -- mixed-use and tiny-home/micro-apartment housing, partnerships with local schools and Cal Poly Humboldt -- plus a direct answer on civil rights and police accountability; Jackson's lean on how she'd approach the job itself -- her campaign outreach plan, her posture toward disagreement on the Council, and support for local artists.

G Mario Fernandez

G Mario Fernandez has a background in community organizing and union representation. He was first elected to the Eureka City Schools Board of Trustees in 2018 on a "Think Positive: Plan Ahead" platform before winning this Ward 3 council seat. He describes Eureka as a "tiny city" that should pursue mixed-use and infill housing, including tiny homes and micro-apartments for working-class families, paired with economic-development partnerships between the city, local schools, and Cal Poly Humboldt aimed at retaining young workers and tradespeople as the city prepares for renewable-energy and aquaculture projects. On civil rights, he frames government's core duty as preventing discrimination and ensuring equal protection, and says law enforcement "ought to be no less accountable for their actions than you or I."

Strengths

A consistent housing/land-use policy focus that runs through both his campaign site and his LoCO answers, plus real prior public-service experience (school board, then council).

Trade-offs

As incumbent, he owns the current council's record, including policies his opponents in the Mayor's race criticize; this dataset doesn't know how he personally voted on any specific item.

Keep in mind

His direct answer on civil rights and police accountability stands out because his opponent in this race is herself a sitting police lieutenant -- an implicit contrast worth weighing alongside her own answers.

Janelle Jackson

Janelle Jackson, a police lieutenant, wants Eureka's growth to strengthen what the city provides its own residents -- jobs, local businesses, family opportunities -- rather than chase tourism alone, pointing to the waterfront, downtown, and mall as underused. Her campaign approach includes door-to-door canvassing across Ward 3 and showing up at community events like Arts Alive; she describes wanting to "listen," treat disagreement as "an opportunity to find common ground," and "challenge decisions" she sees as against the community's interest. She supports local artists, including a nuanced stance on AI in creative work: she won't rule AI out of her own campaign materials while citing artists who incorporate it into their practice. She declined to answer an off-topic voter question about a Cal Poly Humboldt protest and journalist arrest, redirecting the asker to campaign-relevant topics, and did not answer a direct question asking what she'd do differently than the incumbent.

Strengths

A specific, detailed campaign-engagement plan and a clearly stated approach to handling disagreement on the Council, rather than only a list of priorities.

Trade-offs

No prior elected or appointed public office was found for her this pass; she didn't answer the one question most directly inviting a contrast with the incumbent's record.

Keep in mind

As a sitting police lieutenant, her own views on the public-safety issues Fernandez addressed directly -- civil rights, police accountability -- weren't found this pass; only his position is documented.

Source review: Strong (82/100) · 7 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.

Review note: G Mario Fernandez's own 2026 campaign website ("The Progressive Choice for Ward 3"): his background in community organizing and union representation; his 2018 election to the Eureka City Schools Board of Trustees on a "Think Positive: Plan Ahead" platform; and platform planks on economic resilience, housing, and public safety that "challenges surveillance-focused approaches." Self-published, self-description attributed in text, not an independent evaluation of it. The site's footer also names an FPPC campaign-committee filer number (#1453484) -- evidence a committee is registered, not a filed financial total. may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • humboldtgov.org (opens in a new tab)Humboldt County Office of Elections -- "Qualified Candidate List - City Contests": the certified, signature-qualified roster for Eureka's Mayor and Council Wards 1, 3, and 5, each candidate's filed occupation/designation, and incumbency.
  • humboldtgov.org (opens in a new tab)Humboldt County Office of Elections -- "2026 [General Election] Candidate Openings" (7-page pre-filing PDF): confirms Ferndale Mayor is a 1-seat, 2-year term (2027-2029) and Ferndale City Council is a 2-seat, 4-year term (2027-2031); separately confirms Eureka's four seat openings (Mayor plus Council Wards 1, 3, and 5, each a 4-year term), with Wards 2 and 4 not up this cycle.
  • eurekaca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Eureka -- its own "Meet the Mayor and Council" page: Kim Bergel as Mayor, G Mario Fernandez as Ward 3 Councilmember, and Renee Contreras-DeLoach (not a 2026 candidate) as sitting Ward 5 Councilmember, confirming that race is an open seat.
  • lostcoastoutpost.com (opens in a new tab)Lost Coast Outpost, LoCOElections -- G Mario Fernandez's candidate page and his direct answers on Eureka's small-town identity and on civil rights/police accountability.
  • lostcoastoutpost.com (opens in a new tab)Lost Coast Outpost, LoCOElections -- Janelle Jackson's candidate page and her direct answers on her campaign approach, her vision for Ward 3, and support for local artists.
  • votegmario.com (opens in a new tab)G Mario Fernandez's own 2026 campaign website: his community-organizing/union background, his 2018 election to the Eureka City Schools Board of Trustees, and his platform. Self-published, attributed in text. Footer names FPPC filer #1453484.
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)A negative-result access check: California's statewide Cal-Access campaign-finance filer/candidate search returned no usable content on direct fetch for any of the seven built Eureka candidates; no City of Eureka campaign-finance/FPPC-filings page could be located this pass either.

Last updated September 2, 2026.