Skip to main content

City of Los Banos · Statewide General Election

Los Banos City Council, District 3

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 Los Banos's 5-member City Council (Mayor plus four district-elected Council Members): city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside the separately elected Mayor. A 4-year term; day-to-day operations run through an appointed City Manager.

Sitting Councilmember Marcus Chavez, appointed to the District 3 seat in January 2025, faces challenger Erasmo Viveros for a full 4-year term representing District 3 on the Los Banos City Council. Whoever gets the most votes wins outright on November 3, 2026 -- there is no primary or runoff.

This person holds District 3's seat on Los Banos's 5-member City Council (Mayor plus four district-elected Council Members): city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside the separately elected Mayor. A 4-year term; day-to-day operations run through an appointed City Manager.

Chavez was appointed to the seat on January 8, 2025, filling a vacancy created when District 3's prior councilmember was removed in the same November 5, 2024 recall election that also ousted District 2's councilmember (see that contest). Because he holds the seat by appointment rather than election, this November decides whether Chavez keeps it for a full term.

Marcus Chavez

Marcus Chavez has served on the Los Banos City Council since being appointed to the District 3 seat on January 8, 2025, through a ranked-voting council process, per Los Banos Enterprise's report on that meeting. The paper described his focus at the time as "sustainable development and public safety," and quoted him pledging to "tackle the issues that matter most to our residents, from safety to housing." His filed ballot designation for this race is "Transportation Coordinator."

Strengths

About a year and a half of sitting council experience by the time of this election, spanning budget, housing, and infrastructure votes during a turbulent post-recall period for the council.

Trade-offs

No independent coverage of his specific council votes or record beyond his January 2025 appointment was found this session; no campaign site or platform statement was located either.

Keep in mind

He was appointed, not elected, to the seat he now holds -- this is his first time appearing before District 3 voters directly.

Erasmo Viveros

Erasmo Viveros, a first-time candidate for Los Banos office, has lived in the city since the early 1990s and says on his own campaign site that he brings experience from public affairs, state government, and the private sector working with local governments, businesses, and communities. His platform centers on five points: public-safety staffing as the city grows, "smart growth" development planning, economic development beyond a "bedroom community," investment in parks and community events, and more open, transparent civic engagement. He describes District 3 as the city's historic downtown core. His filed ballot designation for this race is "Public Affairs Professional."

Strengths

A stated five-point platform with specific priorities for District 3 rather than only general themes, plus a notable campaign pledge that he is "the only candidate who won't take a pay check."

Trade-offs

No independent news coverage of his candidacy was found this session; his background and platform come entirely from his own campaign site, not corroborated by any outside source.

Keep in mind

His pledge to decline the councilmember stipend is a specific, checkable commitment -- worth watching for whether it holds if he wins.

No committee or disclosure record was found for either candidate this session. Merced County's own campaign-finance portal (eCampaign) requires an interactive, JavaScript-driven session this pass's automated tools could not complete, and California's CAL-ACCESS -- which covers only state-level committees, not local ones -- returned nothing useful for either name. This is an absence of a reachable disclosure record for both candidates alike, not a claim about either one's actual campaign finances.

Source review: Strong (83/100) · 8 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.

Review note: Erasmo Viveros's own 2026 Los Banos City Council District 3 campaign site (eviveros.com): background (a Los Banos resident since the early 1990s, public affairs/state government/private-sector experience) and a five-point platform -- public safety staffing, 'smart growth' planning, economic development beyond a 'bedroom community,' community/parks investment, and civic-engagement transparency -- plus his stated pledge that he is 'the only candidate who won't take a pay check.' Campaign voice, quoted and attributed as such -- no independent news coverage of his candidacy was found this session. may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • countyofmerced.com (opens in a new tab)Merced County Elections -- official "Final Qualified Candidate List" for the November 3, 2026 General Election (22-page PDF, "Candidates flagged with Authority to Release," print-stamped 8/25/2026): confirms five Los Banos offices, each Vote For: 1 -- Mayor (Michael S. Amabile, "Businessman"), Councilmember District 2 (Refugio Morales Llamas, "Councilmember"), Councilmember District 3 (Erasmo Viveros, "Public Affairs Professional"; Marcus Chavez, "Transportation Coordinator"), City Clerk (Lucy Mallonee, "Incumbent"), and City Treasurer (Lucy Lawrence, "Los Banos City Treasurer") -- and gives each candidate's filed ballot designation verbatim.
  • losbanos.org (opens in a new tab)City of Los Banos -- own "Mayor & City Council Members" page: states the City Council is "made up of the Mayor and four Council seats," that "Council Members serve four-year terms while the Mayor serves a two-year term," and that "the City Clerk and City Treasurer are also elected positions and serve four-year terms." Its own "Terms of Office" table gives each current officeholder's exact term: Mayor Michael S. Amabile (Dec. 4, 2024 - Dec. 2026); District 1, vacant (TBD); Refugio Llamas, District 2 (March 9, 2026 - Dec. 2026); Marcus Chavez, District 3 (Jan. 8, 2025 - Dec. 2026); Mayor Pro Tem Deborah Lewis, District 4 (Nov. 5, 2024 - Dec. 2028); City Clerk Lucy Mallonee (Dec. 7, 2022 - Dec. 2026); City Treasurer Lucy Lawrence (Dec. 4, 2024 - Dec. 2026) -- confirming only Mayor, District 2, and District 3 are up in 2026 alongside the separately elected Clerk and Treasurer.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Los Banos, California": used narrowly for the 2020 Census population figure (45,532).
  • losbanosenterprise.com (opens in a new tab)Los Banos Enterprise -- "Los Banos City Council Fills Vacancies Amid Debate Over Process and Priorities" (Jan. 10, 2025): reports the council's Jan. 8, 2025 meeting, where a ranked-voting process (over objection from Councilmember Ken Lambert) appointed Evan Sanders to District 2 and Marcus Chavez to District 3, filling vacancies "created by the November 2024 recall election"; quotes Mayor Mike Amabile on the process and Chavez pledging to "tackle the issues that matter most to our residents, from safety to housing," and describes Chavez's focus as "sustainable development and public safety."
  • losbanosenterprise.com (opens in a new tab)Los Banos Enterprise -- "Los Banos City Clerk Issues Notice of Special Recall Elections for Two Councilmembers" (2024): the City Clerk's own notice of the November 5, 2024 recall election that removed the sitting District 2 and District 3 councilmembers, the vacancies the council later filled by appointment in January 2025.
  • eviveros.com (opens in a new tab)Erasmo Viveros's own 2026 Los Banos City Council District 3 campaign site (eviveros.com): background (a Los Banos resident since the early 1990s, public affairs/state government/private-sector experience) and a five-point platform -- public safety staffing, "smart growth" planning, economic development beyond a "bedroom community," community/parks investment, and civic-engagement transparency -- plus his stated pledge that he is "the only candidate who won't take a pay check." Campaign voice, quoted and attributed as such -- no independent news coverage of his candidacy was found this session.
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- its own Power Search scope statement covers state-level campaign-finance filings only, which excludes all six Los Banos candidates' local committees by definition; direct filer-search attempts for each name returned no usable result.
  • southtechhosting.com (opens in a new tab)A negative-result local campaign-finance check: Merced County's own eCampaign portal (hosted by SouthTech) is a client-rendered ASP.NET system requiring an interactive, JavaScript-driven search session; a public document-retrieval mirror (campaigndocs.co.merced.ca.us) exists but likewise requires interactive form postbacks this pass's automated fetch tools could not complete for any of the six Los Banos candidates. Documents an absence of a reachable disclosure source, not any candidate's actual campaign finances.

Last updated September 1, 2026.