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City of Huron · Statewide General Election

Huron City Council

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 one of three City Council seats up this cycle in Huron, a Fresno County farmworker city of about 6,200 residents in the western San Joaquin Valley, incorporated May 3, 1951: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, working with the city's appointed City Manager (Virginia Peñaloza), who also oversees the City Clerk function -- Huron has no separately elected City Clerk or City Treasurer. A 4-year term. Huron's Mayor, Rey León, is directly elected at-large to a separate 2-year term and is not up this cycle; Roberto Pimentel, one of this contest's candidates, currently serves as Mayor Pro-Tem, a title assigned by the Council rather than a separately elected office. Huron's fourth Council seat is currently vacant, per Fresno County's own filing documents, and was up separately this cycle as a "Short Term" contest to fill the balance of that seat's unexpired term -- but it drew no qualified candidate, so this dataset builds no contest for it; see coverage-gaps.ts.

Four candidates are running for three of Huron's City Council seats on November 3: incumbents Roberto Pimentel and Mike Morales are both seeking another term, alongside challengers Joel Mora and David Mercado, for the seat left open by incumbent Arely Arellano not filing for reelection.

This person would hold one of three City Council seats up this cycle in Huron, a Fresno County farmworker city of about 6,200 residents in the western San Joaquin Valley, incorporated May 3, 1951: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, working with the city's appointed City Manager, Virginia Penaloza, who also oversees the City Clerk function -- Huron has no separately elected City Clerk or City Treasurer. A 4-year term. Huron's Mayor, Rey Leon, is directly elected at-large to a separate 2-year term and is not up this cycle; Roberto Pimentel, one of this contest's candidates, currently serves as Mayor Pro-Tem, a title assigned by the Council rather than a separately elected office. Huron's fourth Council seat is currently vacant, per Fresno County's own filing documents, and was up separately this cycle as a "Short Term" contest (5088) to fill the balance of that seat's unexpired term -- but its one filer is flagged "Not Qualified" in the county's own record, leaving zero qualified candidates, so this dataset builds no contest for that seat; see coverage-gaps.ts for the full finding, including this dataset's best inference (not independently confirmed) that the vacancy traces to former Councilmember Hilda R. Plasencia's seat.

With four names on the ballot for three seats, this is a plurality race decided in one round -- the three highest vote-getters win outright. Two of the four candidates (Pimentel, Morales) are sitting incumbents, per Fresno County's own incumbent-of-record listing; a third incumbent, Arely Arellano, did not file for reelection, leaving her seat open. This dataset found no independent reporting comparing the four candidates or covering the race.

Roberto C. Pimentel

An incumbent seeking another term; his filed ballot designation is "Teacher." Fresno County's own records confirm he holds his current seat by direct election, not appointment, and the City of Huron's own City Council page names him the sitting Mayor Pro-Tem. This dataset found no further independent biographical detail (where he teaches, background, or platform) for him.

Strengths

A term already served on the Council, plus current selection by his Council colleagues as Mayor Pro-Tem, confirmed by the city's own City Council page and the county's own incumbent-of-record listing.

Trade-offs

This dataset found no independent reporting or biography evaluating his record -- where he teaches, his background, and his platform beyond the "Teacher" designation are all unconfirmed here.

Keep in mind

No candidate statement was filed for this race per the county's own record, and no campaign site or social-media presence could be found for him this session.

Mike A. Morales

An incumbent seeking another term; his filed ballot designation is simply "Incumbent," with no stated occupation. Fresno County's own records confirm he holds his current seat by direct election, not appointment. This dataset found no independent biographical detail (occupation, background, or platform) for him beyond the county's own filing.

Strengths

A term already served on the Council, confirmed by the county's own incumbent-of-record listing and the city's own City Council page.

Trade-offs

This dataset found no independent reporting or biography evaluating his record -- occupation, background, and platform are all unconfirmed here.

Keep in mind

No candidate statement was filed for this race per the county's own record, and no campaign site or social-media presence could be found for him this session.

Joel Mora

A first-time candidate for the seat left open by Arely Arellano not filing for reelection; his filed ballot designation is "Administrative Coordinator." This dataset found no independent biographical detail (where he works, background, or platform) for him beyond the county's own candidate filing.

Strengths

A stated occupation (administrative coordinator) that could bring organizational experience to the Council, though this dataset could not independently verify or expand on it.

Trade-offs

No campaign materials, endorsements, or independent coverage were found for him.

Keep in mind

As a first-time candidate, he has no council voting record to evaluate.

David Mercado

A first-time candidate for the seat left open by Arely Arellano not filing for reelection; his filed ballot designation is "Operation Manager" (as filed with the county). This dataset found no independent biographical detail (what operation he manages, background, or platform) for him beyond the county's own candidate filing.

Strengths

A stated occupation (operations management) that could bring organizational experience to the Council, though this dataset could not independently verify or expand on it.

Trade-offs

No campaign materials, endorsements, or independent coverage were found for him.

Keep in mind

As a first-time candidate, he has no council voting record to evaluate. He qualified last among the four candidates this cycle, per the county's own filing dates.

Source review: Very strong (90/100) · 7 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • www2.fresnocountyca.gov (opens in a new tab)Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters -- CFMR009 "Candidate List" for the Nov. 3, 2026 Consolidated Statewide General Election (printed 8/12/2026 5:37:13PM, post-filing-deadline): lists Huron's two city-section contests -- City Council (5085), Vote For 3, with Roberto C. Pimentel ("Teacher"), Mike A. Morales ("Incumbent"), Joel Mora ("Administrative Coordinator"), and David Mercado ("Operation Manager") as the four qualified candidates; and City Council Short Term (5088), Vote For 1, with Eduardo Lopez Mendoza ("Business Owner") flagged Not Qualified
  • www2.fresnocountyca.gov (opens in a new tab)Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters -- CFMR001 "Contest/Candidate Proof List," filtered to Contests on Ballot, for the Nov. 3, 2026 election (printed 8/18/2026 8:39:55AM): independently confirms Huron City Council (5085) as ON BALLOT, Vote For 3, 4 qualified of 4 filed, naming Roberto Pimentel, Mike A. Morales, and Arely Maribel Arellano as incumbents-of-record, each "Elected" (not appointed); and confirms City Council Short Term (5088) as ON BALLOT, Vote For 1, but with 1 candidate filed and 0 qualified -- no "Candidate(s):" line appears for this contest, unlike every other contest in the document -- and names the seat's incumbent-of-record as "Vacant / Vacated"
  • huronca.gov (opens in a new tab)The City of Huron's own City Council page: names Mayor Rey Leon (directly elected at-large, 2-year term), Mayor Pro-Tem Roberto Pimentel, and Councilmembers Arely Arellano and Mike Morales as the four sitting officials -- no fourth Councilmember is named. States the generic rule that "four Council members serve four-year staggered terms, with two positions up for election every two years"
  • huronca.gov (opens in a new tab)The City of Huron's own "Notice of City Council Reorganization," dated Dec. 15, 2022, following a Dec. 14, 2022 special meeting -- names all five then-elected offices and each one's term-expiration date: Rey Leon (Mayor, expires Dec. 2024), Roberto C. Pimentel, Arely Arellano, and Mike A. Morales (Councilmembers, each expires Dec. 2026), and Hilda R. Plasencia (Councilmember, expires Dec. 2024). A scanned image PDF with no extractable text layer; read via an image render this session
  • huronca.gov (opens in a new tab)The City of Huron's own Administration page: names Virginia Penaloza as City Manager, "responsible for making policy recommendations to the City Council and implementing City Council policy directives," and places the City Clerk function inside the City Manager's office rather than as a separately elected office; no City Treasurer is named
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's Huron, California article: population 6,206 (2020 census), 95.7% Hispanic or Latino -- the article notes Huron had the highest such share of any U.S. city per the 2000 census; names Rey Leon as Mayor. States no council size or term-length detail
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)A negative-result campaign-finance search: California's Cal-Access campaign-finance search returned only an empty, unrenderable page for a direct query against each of Huron's four 2026 City Council candidates this session, the same recurring bot-detection failure mode already documented elsewhere in this dataset (e.g. Kingsburg, Danville, Coalinga, Firebaugh). Documents the absence of a reachable financial-disclosure source for this contest, not any candidate's actual finances

Last updated September 1, 2026.