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City of Jurupa Valley · Statewide General Election

Jurupa Valley City Council, District 1

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 holds your district's seat on Jurupa Valley's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. A 4-year term. The council doesn't elect its Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem by separate citywide vote -- each year, the council selects one of its own members to serve as Mayor and one to serve as Mayor Pro Tem -- and day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager.

Two candidates are running for Jurupa Valley's District 1 City Council seat: incumbent Armando Carmona against challenger Jose Luis Godinez.

The winner serves a four-year term on Jurupa Valley's five-member City Council, which sets city ordinances, adopts the budget, and decides land use citywide. The council doesn't elect its Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem by separate citywide vote — each year, the council selects one of its own members to serve as Mayor and one to serve as Mayor Pro Tem — and day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager.

Both candidates have a real record to run on: Carmona is finishing his first term as District 1's councilmember, while Godinez has spent six years on the elected board of the local parks district. The choice is between continuity with Carmona's council tenure and a challenger whose public record so far comes from a different, though related, local government body.

Armando Carmona

Armando Carmona is the incumbent District 1 councilmember, first elected in 2022. In his own candidate statement, he points to strengthened neighborhood cleanup efforts, increased fines for illegal dumping, funding to address flooding in the Mira Loma and Pedley areas, and describes his focus as responsible growth, public safety, and preserving Jurupa Valley's rural and equestrian character. He is running for reelection to continue that work.

Strengths

One full term as District 1's sitting councilmember, with specific, checkable accomplishments named in his own statement (dumping-fine increases, Mira Loma/Pedley flood funding).

Trade-offs

His statement is his own account of his record; no independent local-news coverage of his tenure was checked in this pass.

Keep in mind

He frames his four years as independence and willingness to "stand up" even when residents disagree with a given vote — a claim about style as much as substance.

Jose Luis Godinez

Jose Luis Godinez is an educator and, by his own statement, has served six years on the Jurupa Area Recreation and Park District's elected board. He says that district's budget doubled during his tenure, 62 acres of parkland were added, and eleven additional parks entered development, including one long planned for the Mira Loma/Pedley area; he also cites work on inclusive programming, energy upgrades, and water conservation there. He is a Jurupa Valley High School and UC Riverside graduate, pursuing a PhD in Spanish linguistics with dissertation research based in the city, and says he is running for City Council to bring that same track record to the full city.

Strengths

A six-year record on a different local elected board (the parks district) with specific, checkable figures in his own account (budget growth, acreage added).

Trade-offs

That record is on a special-district board, not the City Council itself — relevant to a voter weighing his fit for the council, but self-reported and not independently verified in this pass.

Keep in mind

Both candidates' park-related claims (Carmona's flood funding, Godinez's parkland additions) center on the same Mira Loma/Pedley area — worth comparing directly.

Source review: Very strong (91/100) · 8 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • jurupavalley.org (opens in a new tab)City of Jurupa Valley — November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election page: offices on the ballot (3 City Council seats, Districts 1, 3 and 5, 4-year terms), nomination period, and links to the List of Candidates and Randomized Alphabet Drawing documents
  • jurupavalley.org (opens in a new tab)City of Jurupa Valley — Election Information page: general elections procedures, including that "all campaign and conflict of interest filings required by the Fair Political Practices Commission are centralized in the City Clerk's Office" (no public campaign-finance portal or NetFile link found on this page)
  • jurupavalley.org (opens in a new tab)City of Jurupa Valley — District-Based Elections page: the city is divided into 5 single-member council districts, with 3 seats moved to by-district election in Nov. 2018 and the remaining 2 in Nov. 2020
  • jurupavalley.org (opens in a new tab)City of Jurupa Valley — City Council page: current officeholder roster by district (Mayor Brian Berkson/District 3, Mayor Pro Tem Chris Barajas/District 5, Councilmembers Carmona/District 1, Silva/District 2, Sanchez/District 4), and that the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem titles rotate annually among council members rather than being elected at-large
  • jurupavalley.org (opens in a new tab)City of Jurupa Valley — "List of Candidates for Website": official roster by district with candidate-statement, papers-pulled, papers-filed and qualified-for-election dates, incumbents marked with an asterisk; notes Elias Ascencio (District 3) as qualified but "Declined by candidate" for a statement, and that District 5's nomination period was extended because the incumbent did not seek reelection
  • jurupavalley.org (opens in a new tab)City of Jurupa Valley — "City Council Candidate List by District, November 3, 2026 (In Randomized Alphabet Drawing Order)": ballot order, each candidate's self-reported occupational designation, and each campaign's own website/email
  • jurupavalley.org (opens in a new tab)Armando Carmona's own filed Candidate's Statement, District 1
  • jurupavalley.org (opens in a new tab)Jose Luis Godinez's own filed Candidate's Statement, District 1

Last updated August 31, 2026.