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City of Merced · Statewide General Election

Merced 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 one of three district seats up this cycle on Merced's 6-member City Council, serving a 4-year term: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for the county seat of Merced County, a charter city of about 86,333 residents (2020 Census). Merced runs under a council-manager government -- an appointed City Manager handles day-to-day operations -- and separately elects a Mayor citywide to a 4-year term; the Mayor isn't up this cycle.

Two candidates are running for District 2 on Merced's City Council: Yang Pao Thao, appointed to the southwest Merced seat in December 2025 and now seeking a full term, and Felipe Rojas-Flores, a public-interest attorney making his second run for a council seat.

Merced runs under a council-manager government: an appointed City Manager handles day-to-day operations, while a 6-member district City Council sets city ordinances, the budget, and land use. Voters also directly elect a Mayor citywide to a 4-year term, but that office isn't on this November's ballot. District 2 covers southwest Merced.

This seat opened when Councilmember Ronnie De Anda, 84, resigned in October 2025 citing memory issues and complications from a stroke, partway through a 4-year term he'd held since 2022. The council interviewed five of thirteen applicants and voted 5-1 in December 2025 to appoint Yang Pao Thao, a Planning Commissioner at the time, to serve out the remainder. Thao is now on the ballot to keep the seat for a full term of his own, against Felipe Rojas-Flores, a Merced High and UC Merced graduate who works as a public-interest attorney representing farmworkers and who ran unsuccessfully for a different council district two years ago.

Yang Pao Thao

Yang Pao Thao, 41, was born in Laos and migrated to the U.S. with his family in 1991, settling in southwest Merced. He holds a community health degree from Fresno State, works as a marketing director for Vantage Financial Alliance, and served on the city's Planning Commission before his council appointment. He was appointed to the District 2 seat in December 2025 and has named the district's drainage and flooding infrastructure as his top priority.

Strengths

Nearly a year of council experience by Election Day, prior Planning Commission service, and appointed 5-to-1 over twelve other applicants.

Trade-offs

Reached the seat by appointment, not election -- his first time facing District 2 voters directly, after saying at appointment he wasn't planning to run for a full term.

Keep in mind

No 2026 campaign website, dedicated news profile, or campaign-finance filing was found for him beyond appointment coverage and the county's own candidate list.

Felipe Rojas-Flores

Felipe Rojas-Flores is a lifelong Merced resident, a graduate of Merced High School and UC Merced who attended law school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana before returning home to practice law. He works as a public-interest attorney at California Rural Legal Assistance, representing low-income farmworkers, and has experience as a union negotiator. He ran for the District 5 council seat in 2024 but withdrew from that race before it was decided; he's now running in District 2.

Strengths

A law degree and day-job experience representing low-income farmworker clients; a prior campaign (District 5, 2024) with concrete proposals on record.

Trade-offs

No elected or appointed government experience; his one prior council campaign, in a different district, didn't reach a final vote before he withdrew.

Keep in mind

His available policy record is drawn from that 2024 District 5 campaign, not a 2026-specific platform -- no dedicated 2026 news coverage of this run was found beyond his name on the county's list and the filing-deadline roundup.

Source review: Strong (88/100) · 8 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • countyofmerced.com (opens in a new tab)Merced County -- official "November 3 2026 General Election -- All Contests -- Final Qualified Candidate List" (report CFMR009, printed 8/25/2026 3:26:53PM): the city section confirms exactly three Merced city rows on the ballot -- Councilmember District 2 (Felipe Rojas-Flores, "Legal Aid Attorney"; Yang Pao Thao, "Appointed Incumbent"), District 4 (Shane Smith, "Councilmember / Legal Counselor" -- the only qualified candidate), and District 6 (John G. Bliss Jr., "Retired Educator"; Yader Zeledon, "Small Business Owner"; Fue Xiong, "Engineer / Housing Advocate") -- with candidate statement filing dates for each. No "Merced Mayor" row appears anywhere in the document.
  • themercedfocus.org (opens in a new tab)The Merced FOCUS (nonprofit newsroom) -- "Merced City Council rejects expanded tenant protection proposal. 'It's not the right time.'" (Aug. 21, 2026): names the full sitting council roster by district -- Mayor Matthew Serratto; District 1, Darin DuPont; District 2, Yang Pao Thao; District 3, Mike Harris; District 4, Shane Smith; District 5, Sarah Boyle; District 6, Fue Xiong -- and reports District 6 Councilmember Fue Xiong's motion to add expanded tenant protections to a future agenda failing for lack of a second.
  • themercedfocus.org (opens in a new tab)The Merced FOCUS -- "Key city races take shape in Merced County. See who made the filing deadline" (Aug. 9, 2026): reports, after the close of filing, that District 6 incumbent Fue Xiong filed for reelection against John Bliss (a Buhach Colony High teacher who lost the same seat by six votes in 2018) and businessman Yader Zeledon; that District 2 incumbent Yang Pao Thao is running to retain his seat against attorney Felipe Rojas-Flores, who "previously ran for District 5 in 2024 but withdrew"; and that District 4 incumbent Shane Smith faced no qualified challenger ("no candidates qualified to compete against Smith on the ballot").
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia, "Merced, California": used narrowly for the fixed 2020 Census population figure (86,333) and for its own-worded confirmation that Merced "is a charter city that operates under a council-manager government."
  • themercedfocus.org (opens in a new tab)The Merced FOCUS -- "Second Hmong council member appointed in Merced. Where does he stand on District 2 issues?" (Dec. 5, 2025): reports that Yang Pao Thao, a 41-year-old Laos-born southwest Merced resident who migrated with his family in 1991, holds a Fresno State community health degree, works as marketing director for Vantage Financial Alliance, and previously served on the city's Planning Commission, was appointed 5-1 by the council on Dec. 2, 2025 over 12 other applicants to fill the District 2 vacancy left by Ronnie De Anda's October resignation, completing a 4-year term that began in 2022; Thao named the district's drainage/flooding infrastructure as his top priority.
  • themercedfocus.org (opens in a new tab)The Merced FOCUS -- "Retired postal worker turned councilman resigns, thanks Merced residents": reports District 2 Councilmember Ronnie De Anda, 84, resigned effective Oct. 31, 2025 citing memory issues and stroke-related health complications, and that Mayor Matthew Serratto said the council would decide whether to appoint a successor or hold a special election -- context for why Yang Pao Thao is an appointed, not elected, incumbent in this race.
  • mercedcountytimes.com (opens in a new tab)Merced County Times -- "Rojas-Flores wants to forge more proactive city leadership" (Sept. 19, 2024): a campaign profile from Felipe Rojas-Flores's prior, unsuccessful 2024 District 5 run, describing him as a 29-year-old lifelong Merced resident, a Merced High/UC Merced graduate who attended law school in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and returned to work as a public-interest attorney at California Rural Legal Assistance representing farmworkers. Used narrowly for biography/background, since it predates his current District 2 run; not used for any 2026-specific claim.
  • campaigndocs.co.merced.ca.us (opens in a new tab)A negative-result local campaign-finance check for all six District 2/4/6 candidates: Merced County's own Campaign Finance eRetrieval portal (hosted at southtechhosting.com) is a client-rendered ASP.NET web form with no GET-queryable search results page this session's tools could drive; direct California Secretary of State Cal-Access filer searches for all six names returned no usable results either. Documents the absence of a reachable financial-disclosure source for these six candidates, not any of their actual finances.

Last updated September 1, 2026.