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City of Hesperia · Statewide General Election

Hesperia 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 Hesperia's 5-member, fully district-elected City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, under a council-manager government where an appointed City Manager runs day-to-day operations. A 4-year term, staggered so only some districts are up in any given November -- Districts 1 and 5 next go before voters in 2028; Districts 2, 3, and 4 are up this cycle. Hesperia has no separately elected, citywide Mayor: the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem titles are instead held by two of the five district councilmembers themselves, chosen from among their own ranks.

Three candidates -- Erin Baum, Darrel A. Sauceda Jr., and Leticia "Letty" Cisneros -- are running for Hesperia's open District 4 council seat on the November 3, 2026 ballot. It's open because sitting District 4 councilmember Brigit Bennington -- who also currently holds the council-selected title of Mayor -- did not file nomination papers and is not seeking reelection, per the city's own election-information page. Whichever candidate gets the most votes wins outright; there is no primary or runoff.

This person would hold District 4's seat on Hesperia's 5-member, fully district-elected City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, under a council-manager government where an appointed City Manager runs day-to-day operations. A 4-year term ending November 2030. Hesperia has no separately elected, citywide Mayor -- the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem titles are instead held by two of the five district councilmembers themselves, chosen from among their own ranks. District 4's outgoing member, Brigit Bennington, currently holds the Mayor title; her departure from the council means that title's future is unsettled along with the seat itself, though this dataset does not speculate on how the council will resolve either.

Baum's filed designation, "Retired City Administrator," is the most specific occupational claim among the three -- though no independent record naming which city or agency she administered was found in this pass. Sauceda's designation is "Small Business Owner"; Cisneros's is "Real Estate Agent." None of the three has a current city board, commission, or prior elected-office record found in this pass.

Erin Baum

Erin Baum is a candidate for Hesperia's open District 4 council seat. Her filed ballot designation is "Retired City Administrator." No independent record identifying which city or public agency she administered, or when, was found in this pass -- the designation comes from her own filing, not from independent confirmation.

Strengths

A specific, relevant-sounding occupational designation (city administration), if accurate.

Trade-offs

This dataset could not confirm where or when she served as a city administrator; no news coverage was found; her committee has organized but filed no itemized financial report.

Keep in mind

An unconfirmed but specific self-reported credential is worth asking about directly -- it isn't evidence either way on its own.

Darrel A. Sauceda Jr.

Darrel A. Sauceda Jr. is a candidate for Hesperia's open District 4 council seat. His filed ballot designation is "Small Business Owner." No further independent record of his business, civic involvement, or platform was found in this pass.

Strengths

None independently confirmed beyond his filed designation.

Trade-offs

No news coverage, campaign website, or civic-board record was found in this pass; his committee has filed only a candidate-intention statement, with no financial disclosure.

Keep in mind

Filing minimal paperwork is a legitimate, low-spend way to run and not itself a red flag.

Leticia "Letty" Cisneros

Leticia "Letty" Cisneros is a candidate for Hesperia's open District 4 council seat. Her filed ballot designation is "Real Estate Agent." No further independent record of her business, civic involvement, or platform was found in this pass.

Strengths

None independently confirmed beyond her filed designation.

Trade-offs

No news coverage, campaign website, or civic-board record was found in this pass; her committee has filed only a candidate-intention statement, with no financial disclosure.

Keep in mind

A real-estate background is directly relevant to a council that oversees land use -- worth weighing alongside the lack of other confirmed detail.

Source review: Mixed (74/100) · 6 cited sources

Only procedural records are cited (candidate lists, results, finance filings); no source describes the candidates, so the score is capped.

Review note: No cited source describes the candidates; add descriptive coverage to lift the cap.

  • uploads.rov.sbcounty.gov (opens in a new tab)San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters -- "Offices Up for Election, November 3, 2026, General Election": the City of Hesperia section lists exactly three offices -- Member, City Council, Districts 2, 3, and 4 -- each a single seat with a 4-year term, and no Mayor contest.
  • uploads.rov.sbcounty.gov (opens in a new tab)San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters -- statewide "Report_CandidateList.pdf" candidate-filing report: the City of Hesperia section (pages 144-150) names all nine qualified 2026 candidates across Districts 2, 3, and 4 with their filed ballot designations and incumbency flags, and shows Jacqueline Maheata "Chaplian" Tahauri as the only one of the nine who did not file a candidate statement.
  • hesperiaca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Hesperia -- City Clerk's "Election Information" page: states the nomination period, the three offices up for election (Districts 2, 3, and 4, each a 4-year term ending November 2030), the full key-dates calendar, that "the incumbent candidate in District 4 has not pulled papers, and is not seeking reelection" (hence the 5-day filing extension), and that Hesperia moved from at-large to by-district elections in 2017 with district lines last redrawn April 5, 2022 -- Districts 2, 3, and 4 are up this cycle, Districts 1 and 5 next in 2028.
  • hesperiaca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Hesperia -- City Clerk's own "Certified List of Candidates, November 3, 2026 General Election": names all nine qualified candidates across Districts 2, 3, and 4 with their filed ballot designations, independently corroborating the county's own candidate-filing report name for name.
  • hesperiaca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Hesperia -- "City Council" page: lists all five current councilmembers by district -- confirming Allison Lee (District 2) and Cameron Gregg (District 3) as sitting incumbents, and that the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem titles belong to District 4's Brigit Bennington and District 5's Josh Pullen respectively, rather than to a separately elected citywide office.
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)City of Hesperia's own NetFile-hosted public campaign-finance portal (aid=HES), queried by candidate name for the three District 4 candidates: Erin Baum's committee has filed a Form 410 and two Form 501s but no itemized Form 460; Darrel A. Sauceda Jr. and Leticia "Letty" Cisneros have each filed only a Form 501, with no Form 410 and no itemized financial disclosure.

Last updated August 31, 2026.