# Healdsburg City Council, District 2

Compare records and positions simply between Alex Wood, Scott Pratt, or Mathew Lopez for Healdsburg City Council, District 2 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would represent one of Healdsburg's five City Council districts. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. Healdsburg is a wine country city in Sonoma County. It has 11,340 residents. A professional city manager runs day-to-day operations. The elected council sets policy and picks one of its own members as Mayor. The Mayor serves a one-year term. Districts 2 and 4 are Healdsburg's first seats ever elected by district. The city dropped its at-large system in 2025. A legal challenge under the California Voting Rights Act forced the change. Districts 1, 3, and 5 stay at-large for now. Their first district elections come in November 2028.

- Jurisdiction: City of Healdsburg
- 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/healdsburg-council-2
- 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 1, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 90 out of 100 (Very strong), across 10 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Alex Wood** — Appointed Planning Commissioner
- **Scott Pratt** — Commercial Advertising Producer
- **Mathew Lopez** — Math Teacher

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

Three candidates are running for Healdsburg's District 2 council seat -- the first time this seat has ever been elected by district rather than citywide: Mathew Lopez, a math teacher; Alex Wood, an appointed Planning Commissioner; and Scott Pratt, a commercial advertising producer. Whichever candidate gets the most votes on November 3 wins outright -- no runoff.

This seat is one of five Healdsburg City Council districts, representing this Sonoma County wine-country city of 11,340 residents (2020 Census). Healdsburg is a council-manager city: the elected council sets the budget, ordinances, and land-use policy, while a professional city manager runs day-to-day operations; the council selects one of its own members to serve a one-year term as Mayor. District 2 is one of only two districts up this November -- the city's council was elected entirely at-large until this cycle, and Districts 1, 3, and 5 remain at-large until their first district elections in November 2028.

Healdsburg moved to district elections after an October 2024 demand letter alleged its at-large system violated the California Voting Rights Act. Rather than litigate, the city held six public hearings, weighed 47 community-submitted maps, and adopted a final five-district map in April 2025, per the city's own account, independently corroborated by the Healdsburg Tribune. That means none of the three District 2 candidates has ever run in a district election here before -- there's no incumbent of this specific seat to measure them against, only their individual backgrounds.

## Mathew Lopez

Mathew Lopez's filed ballot designation is "Math Teacher." They qualified for the ballot August 3, 2026. This pass found no independent news profile, campaign website, or civic-board record for them beyond the county's and city's own candidate listings, and they have filed only a Form 410 statement of organization with the city -- no Form 460 fundraising disclosure was available to check.

**Strengths:** A teaching background gives Lopez direct, ongoing exposure to Healdsburg families and the local school system, a constituency relevant to council decisions on youth services and community facilities.

**Trade-offs:** No independent news coverage, campaign website, or public record beyond their ballot designation was found in this pass -- among the least documented of the three District 2 candidates.

**Keep in mind:** With no Form 460 filed as of this pass, their fundraising activity -- and by extension the base of support behind their campaign -- isn't yet checkable.

## Alex Wood

Alex Wood's filed ballot designation is "Appointed Planning Commissioner." The city's own Planning Commission page independently confirms he is a sitting commissioner, with a term running through June 30, 2027. He qualified for the ballot August 5, 2026. This pass found no independent news profile or campaign website for him beyond the city's own listings, and no Form 460 fundraising disclosure has been posted -- only a Form 410 statement of organization, filed July 13, 2026 and amended August 21, 2026.

**Strengths:** A sitting Planning Commission seat gives him a checkable land-use record and direct experience with the zoning and development questions a councilmember regularly votes on.

**Trade-offs:** No independent news coverage or stated platform beyond his ballot designation was found in this pass, and this pass could not verify specific votes or positions from his Planning Commission tenure.

**Keep in mind:** Like Lopez, no Form 460 has been posted for him as of this pass, so his fundraising and donor base aren't yet checkable.

## Scott Pratt

Scott Pratt's filed ballot designation is "Commercial Advertising Producer," consistent with their committee's own FPPC filings, which list their occupation as a commercial producer with QAS Productions. They qualified for the ballot August 7, 2026. This pass found no independent news profile or campaign website for them beyond the county's and city's own candidate listings.

**Strengths:** Of the three District 2 candidates, Pratt is the only one with a posted Form 460, so their fundraising (see Financial info below) is independently checkable in a way their opponents' currently isn't.

**Trade-offs:** No independent news coverage or stated policy platform beyond their ballot designation and campaign filings was found in this pass.

**Keep in mind:** Their campaign self-financed a portion of its early contributions -- a $100 gift from Pratt themselves appears in their own Form 460 -- alongside contributions from Healdsburg residents and a handful of out-of-town and out-of-state donors.

## Sources

1. [Sonoma County Registrar of Voters -- "Local Candidates Who Have Filed," November 3, 2026 General Election (refetched fresh this session; page's own "Last Updated" stamp reads 8/17/26, 6:45 p.m., after both the regular (Aug. 7) and extended (Aug. 12) nomination deadlines had passed): the "City of Healdsburg" section lists exactly two "CITY CONTESTS" -- DISTRICT 2 (Elect 1): Mathew Lopez ("Math Teacher"), Alex Wood ("Appointed Planning Commissioner"), Scott Pratt ("Commercial Advertising Producer"), none flagged incumbent; DISTRICT 4 (Elect 1): Chris Herrod ("Healdsburg City Councilmember"), also not flagged incumbent -- given a jurisdiction-prefixed key distinct from the county-level shard's own "sonoma-rov-candidates-2026" citation of this same page, and from every other city's own prefixed key citing it, to avoid a bare-key collision.](https://sonomacounty.gov/administrative-support-and-fiscal-services/registrar-of-voters/elections/november-3-2026-general-election-local-candidates-who-have-filed)
2. [City of Healdsburg -- own "Candidates for City Council -- November 3" page: independently names the identical District 2 three-candidate field with matching qualification dates, and for District 4 shows Chris Herrod (qualified 7/30/26) plus a second name, sitting at-large councilmember Evelyn Mitchell, whose nomination papers were issued 7/16/26 but whose qualification-date cell reads "---" -- the page's own footer stamps it "List final as of 8/10/2026 - 12:00 p.m.," predating the extended Aug. 12 deadline, so Mitchell did not end up qualifying per the county's later roster.](https://healdsburg.gov/1056/Candidates-for-City-Council---November-3)
3. [City of Healdsburg -- own "Election Information" page: confirms Districts 2 and 4 are the first seats ever elected by district in Healdsburg, each a 4-year term; Districts 1, 3, and 5 don't hold their first district elections until November 2028; the nomination period opened July 13, 2026.](https://healdsburg.gov/399/Election-Information)
4. [City of Healdsburg -- own "Transition to District Elections" page: states the city adopted district elections after an October 2024 demand letter from a law firm alleging the prior at-large system violated the California Voting Rights Act, rather than litigate; the Council held six public hearings between December 2024 and April 2025, considered 47 community-submitted maps and 8 community-of-interest statements, and adopted "Final Map D" on April 21, 2025, sequencing Districts 2 and 4 to 2026 and Districts 1, 3, and 5 to 2028.](https://healdsburg.gov/1152/Transition-to-District-Elections)
5. [Healdsburg Tribune -- "Voters can now elect a neighbor to the City Council" (July 8, 2026): independent local-journalism corroboration of the city's own account of the CVRA demand letter, the five-district map, and the 2026/2028 election sequencing; names no specific candidates.](https://www.healdsburgtribune.com/voters-can-now-elect-a-neighbor-to-the-city-council/)
6. [City of Healdsburg -- own City Council page: lists the five sitting councilmembers -- Chris Herrod (Mayor), Ron Edwards (Vice Mayor), David Hagele, Ariel Kelley, and Evelyn Mitchell -- as "elected at large ... for 4-year terms," with the Mayor selected annually by a majority vote of the Council from among its own members -- the basis for why the county flags Herrod "not incumbent" for District 4 despite already sitting on the Council and currently serving as Mayor: no one has held an elected "District 4" seat before this cycle.](https://healdsburg.gov/179/City-Council)
7. [Wikipedia -- "Healdsburg, California": used narrowly for the 2020 Census population (11,340) and confirmation of the council-manager government structure -- not relied on for current officeholders, since it names Evelyn Mitchell as Mayor and Chris Herrod as Vice Mayor, conflicting with the city's own live Council page (Herrod as Mayor, Ron Edwards as Vice Mayor); attributed to Wikipedia lagging the city's annual mayor rotation.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Healdsburg,_California)
8. [City of Healdsburg -- own Planning Commission page: independently confirms Alex Wood is a sitting Planning Commissioner (term through 6/30/2027), corroborating his ballot designation "Appointed Planning Commissioner."](https://healdsburg.gov/452/Planning-Commission)
9. [City of Healdsburg -- own "2026 Campaign Statements" page: posts FPPC Form 460/410 filings directly, no NetFile gate. Lists Scott Pratt's and Chris Herrod's Form 460s (each filed July 2026, see their own citations below) alongside Form 410 statements of organization for all four District 2/4 candidates; Mathew Lopez (filed 7/13/26) and Alex Wood (filed 7/13/26, amended 8/21/26) have each filed only a Form 410 as of this pass -- no Form 460 posted for either, so no itemized fundraising figures are available for them.](https://healdsburg.gov/1211/2026-Campaign-Statements)
10. [Scott Pratt for Healdsburg City Council 2026 -- FPPC Form 460 preelection statement, filed 7/30/26, covering 1/1/26-6/30/26: reports $3,297.87 in itemized monetary contributions (individual gifts of $50-$500, including one from the candidate himself), $2,598.32 in expenditures (fundraising events, campaign signage, printed literature), and a $699.55 cash balance at period close.](https://healdsburg.gov/DocumentCenter/View/21121/Pratt_Form-460_06302026_Redacted)

## The rest of the ballot

Healdsburg City Council, District 2 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, "Healdsburg City Council, District 2 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/healdsburg-council-2 (sources last retrieved September 1, 2026).

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