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City of Lodi · Statewide General Election

Lodi City Council, District 2

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 Lodi's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside an appointed city manager who runs day-to-day operations. Lodi's Mayor and Mayor Pro Tempore are not elected directly -- the county's own Nov. 2026 office list carries no separate Lodi Mayor race, and the city's own roster page shows those titles currently held by its District 4 and District 5 councilmembers, neither up this cycle. Only Districts 1, 2, and 3 are on the ballot this cycle; Districts 4 and 5 were last elected in 2020 and return in 2028. A 4-year term, and Lodi sets no term limit.

Incumbent Lisa Craig-Hensley faces one challenger, Jordan Duncan, a former Lodi police officer, for Lodi's District 2 council seat.

Lodi's City Council has five members, one per district, each serving a 4-year term with no term limit. The Council sets city ordinances, the budget, and land-use policy; an appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations. Lodi's Mayor and Mayor Pro Tempore are not elected directly -- the county's own Nov. 2026 office list carries no separate Lodi Mayor race, and the city's own roster page shows those titles currently held by its District 4 and District 5 councilmembers, neither up this cycle. Only Districts 1, 2, and 3 are on the ballot this cycle; Districts 4 and 5 were last elected in 2020 and return in 2028.

This is a direct plurality election with no primary and no runoff -- whichever candidate receives the most votes on November 3 wins outright. Craig-Hensley has held this seat since 2022 and served a term as the city's Mayor in 2024.

Lisa Craig-Hensley

The incumbent, seeking reelection; her filed ballot designation is "Incumbent." A Lodi native (Tokay High, class of 1978), she is principal of The Craig Group Partners, a consulting firm focused on climate resilience and historic-property redevelopment, and manages Kettleman Station, a commercial retail center on Highway 99. Before returning to Lodi in 2018, she spent 35 years in the Washington, D.C. area working in city planning, military housing, property rehabilitation, and Main Street revitalization, later consulting for municipalities in Florida, Massachusetts, North Carolina, and Trinidad and Tobago on climate adaptation. Elected to Council in November 2022, she served as Mayor in 2024, during which she led the hiring process for a new City Manager and convened a town hall on homelessness. She chairs the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission and has focused on downtown revitalization, park improvements, clean energy (the Lodi Energy Center Hydrogen Hub), and economic incentives for the city's historic districts.

Strengths

A planning and disaster-resilience career relevant to Council's land-use work, a completed term as Mayor, and a regional leadership role as Rail Commission chair.

Trade-offs

This dataset found no independent (non-official) reporting evaluating her first term specifically, beyond her own city-published bio.

Keep in mind

Her consulting firm's clients could in principle intersect with Council land-use or redevelopment votes -- this dataset found no reporting alleging a specific conflict, but it is a structural detail worth knowing.

Jordan Duncan

A first-time candidate; his filed ballot designation is "Father/Law Enforcement." A lifelong Lodi resident and 2012 Lodi High graduate who attended San Joaquin Delta College, Duncan was a Lodi Police officer for roughly four months in 2019 before being terminated -- by his own account, for refusing to enforce COVID-19-era public-health closures of churches and businesses he considered essential. He has since continued in law enforcement elsewhere, including work as a school resource officer, a SWAT team member, a defensive-tactics instructor, and a community-oriented-policing adviser, and previously served as a San Joaquin County deputy sheriff trainee. His campaign centers on fiscal restraint -- he has said city government "needs to operate within its means, prioritize essential services, and carefully evaluate how taxpayer dollars are spent," and opposes raising taxes as a default response to budget pressure -- alongside public safety, including clean, safe parks: "Residents should be able to take their children out on a walk or to the park and not feel uneasy or unsafe."

Strengths

Direct law-enforcement and public-safety experience relevant to a frequent Council topic, plus lifelong roots in the district he'd represent.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office, a brief and contested tenure with the Lodi Police Department, and no independent account of his termination beyond his own description.

Keep in mind

His account of why he was terminated is his own; this dataset found no independent confirmation or dispute of it from the Lodi Police Department or other reporting.

Source review: Strong (89/100) · 6 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • sjgov.org (opens in a new tab)San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters -- official "Offices Up for Election" document for the Nov. 3, 2026 General Election: lists the City of Lodi's three offices -- Member of City Council, Districts 1, 2, and 3, each a 4-year term, elected by district, 20 nominations needed -- with no separate Mayor line.
  • sjgov.org (opens in a new tab)San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters -- official "Candidate List" (report CFMR009), Qualified Candidates Only, printed 8/20/2026: names all three Lodi City Council contests "On Ballot: Yes" with each candidate's filed ballot designation and filing date -- District 1 (Brandon Sywassink, Michael Carouba, Dawson Hayre), District 2 (Lisa Craig-Hensley, Jordan Duncan), District 3 (Deanne Barth, Christopher S. Anderson, Cameron Bregman).
  • lodi.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Lodi -- official "Filing Status of 2026 General Election Candidates" page: independently confirms the identical eight qualified candidates across the identical three districts as the county's own Candidate List, plus one candidate, Christopher Hall, who did not qualify for District 3 (papers never submitted) -- correctly absent from the county's Qualified list.
  • lodi.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Lodi -- official "City Council Members and Districts" and "Council Districts" pages: name the five sitting Councilmembers with district numbers (Nakanishi D1, Craig D2, Bregman D3, Mayor Yepez D4, Mayor Pro Tempore Hothi D5), state Districts 1-3 were last elected Nov. 2018 (terms ending Dec. 2026, up this cycle) and Districts 4-5 Nov. 2020 (terms ending Dec. 2028, not up this cycle), and state Council members serve 4-year terms with no term limit.
  • lodi.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Lodi -- official Council biography page for Lisa Craig-Hensley: a Lodi native (Tokay High, class of 1978) and principal of The Craig Group Partners, a climate-resilience and historic-property-redevelopment consulting firm; spent 35 years in the Washington, D.C. area in city planning and disaster-resilience consulting before returning to Lodi in 2018; elected Nov. 2022, served as Mayor in 2024; chairs the San Joaquin Regional Rail Commission.
  • lodinews.com (opens in a new tab)Lodi News-Sentinel -- "2026 Election: Lodi City Council -- Duncan enters race on fiscal, safety platform" (paywalled; free-preview text only): Jordan Duncan is a lifelong Lodi resident and 2012 Lodi High graduate who filed Aug. 7 to challenge incumbent Lisa Craig-Hensley in District 2; a former Lodi Police officer terminated in 2019 after roughly four months for refusing to enforce COVID-19 public-health closures, now working elsewhere in law enforcement (school resource officer, SWAT, defensive-tactics instructor); campaigns on fiscal restraint and public safety.

Last updated September 1, 2026.