Skip to main content

City of Modesto · Statewide General Election

Modesto 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 represent one of Modesto's six City Council districts: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for Stanislaus County's largest city and county seat, population 218,464 per the 2020 Census. Modesto operates under a council-manager government, with a professional city manager running day-to-day operations while the elected council sets policy. The Mayor is elected at-large citywide to a 4-year term and isn't on this ballot; the six council seats are elected by district to staggered 4-year terms, with Districts 2, 4, and 5 up this November.

Incumbent Eric Alvarez, seeking a second term on Modesto's City Council, faces two challengers for District 2: Jon Rodriguez, a merchant mariner, and Juan Telles, a nonprofit project coordinator running a grassroots-funded campaign.

Modesto is Stanislaus County's largest city and county seat, with about 218,464 residents per the 2020 Census. It operates under a council-manager government: an elected City Council sets policy while a professional City Manager runs day-to-day operations. The Mayor is elected at-large citywide and isn't up this cycle; the six Council seats are elected by district to staggered 4-year terms, with Districts 2, 4, and 5 on this November's ballot. District 2 is a genuinely contested three-way race -- the only one of Modesto's three council seats up this cycle to draw more than two candidates.

Both challengers filed on August 6, 2026, the day before the filing deadline closed, after Alvarez had already filed for re-election in late July. The two challengers' campaigns look very different on paper: Telles built a small, itemized, individually-funded operation, while Rodriguez has no campaign committee of any kind on file with the city as of this dataset's retrieval.

Eric E. Alvarez

The incumbent, whose ballot designation is simply "Modesto City Councilmember." He filed for re-election on July 29, 2026, three days before the six-day window that followed (an incumbent's early filing doesn't extend the deadline the way a non-filing incumbent's absence can). His campaign has raised the most of any District 2 candidate this cycle.

Strengths

A sitting councilmember with an active fundraising operation -- $10,833 raised in the first half of 2026, funded by a mix of PACs, public-safety unions, and a fellow councilmember's own contribution.

Trade-offs

Several campaign payments went to CJ & Associates, Inc., a firm his own paperwork ties to him via a shared Lakeport address and email domain -- a self-dealing pattern worth weighing.

Keep in mind

His donor list includes both of Modesto's public-safety employee associations (police and fire) and two political action committees, a broader institutional base than either challenger has assembled.

Jon Rodriguez

A first-time candidate for elected office, with the ballot designation "Merchant Mariner." He filed on August 6, 2026, the day before the filing deadline closed. No campaign committee or financial filing of any kind was found for him with the City of Modesto, and no independent news coverage of his candidacy was found this session.

Strengths

An occupational background (merchant mariner) distinct from either of his opponents' -- distinct enough that this dataset could not independently verify further detail about it.

Trade-offs

No prior public office and no discoverable public record of campaign activity -- no committee, no filed statements, no coverage found by this dataset despite a genuine search.

Keep in mind

The absence of a campaign committee doesn't necessarily mean no campaign activity -- California candidates can raise or spend up to $2,000 before state law requires one.

Juan Telles

A first-time candidate for elected office, with the ballot designation "Non-Profit Project Coordinator." His campaign-finance filings identify his employer as Valley Improvement Projects (VIP), matching that designation. He filed on August 6, 2026, the day before the deadline closed, and has run a small, grassroots-funded campaign -- including a Cinco de Mayo parade appearance and a community launch event.

Strengths

A visibly grassroots campaign -- $4,039.04 raised almost entirely in $100-300 contributions, several from his own nonprofit's co-workers, plus a launch event and a parade appearance.

Trade-offs

No prior elected or appointed public office; his campaign required a $550 personal loan from his own treasurer to get started, suggesting a leaner operation than the incumbent's.

Keep in mind

No independent news coverage of his campaign or stated platform was found this session beyond his own filed campaign paperwork.

Source review: Strong (87/100) · 8 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • stanvote.gov (opens in a new tab)Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters -- official "Unofficial Candidate List," General Election Nov. 3, 2026 (document timestamped by the county 7:57 AM 8/31/2026): under "MUNICIPAL OFFICES / CITY OF MODESTO," lists exactly three contests -- Council Member, District 2 (Vote for 1: *Eric E. Alvarez, Jon Rodriguez, Juan Telles), Council Member, District 4 (Vote for 1: *Nick Bavaro), and Council Member, District 5 (Vote for 1: *Jeremiah Williams, Jared Sylvia) -- with no Modesto Mayor contest and no county-level Stanislaus office anywhere in the document.
  • modestogov.com (opens in a new tab)City of Modesto -- own "2026 General Municipal Election" page: confirms "Council Districts 2, 4, and 5" are up in November 2026, that the Mayor is "elected at-large on a nonpartisan basis for four-year terms" and not on this ballot, and gives the candidate nomination period (July 13 - Aug. 7, 2026).
  • modestogov.com (opens in a new tab)City of Modesto -- own "Election Candidate List - Sign Up List" page (the City Clerk's real-time filing record): District 2 -- Eric E. Alvarez (incumbent, filed 7/29/2026), Juan Telles (filed 8/6/2026), Jon Rodriguez (filed 8/6/2026); District 4 -- Nick Bavaro (incumbent, filed 7/20/2026), plus Matthew Gonzalez and Tyler Anthony Slacks, both marked "DID NOT RETURN" their nomination papers; District 5 -- Jeremiah Williams (incumbent, filed 7/24/2026), Jared Sylvia (filed 8/6/2026) -- independently corroborates the county's roster and supplies exact filing dates.
  • modestogov.com (opens in a new tab)City of Modesto -- own "Council Members" page (live roster): Mayor Sue Zwahlen (at-large), District 1 Rosa Escutia-Braaton, District 2 Eric E. Alvarez, District 3 Chris Ricci, District 4 Nick Bavaro, District 5 Vice Mayor Jeremiah Williams, District 6 David Wright -- confirms the 6-district-plus-at-large-Mayor structure and that each incumbent listed above is the sitting officeholder for their district.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Modesto, California": used narrowly for its 2020 Census population figure (218,464) and for confirming the council-manager government type and the at-large-Mayor/by-district-council structure; its named current officials were not used where the city's own live pages (see modesto-cityclerk-councilmembers-2026) could confirm the same facts more directly.
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)Eric Alvarez's committee ("Eric Alvarez for City Council 2026") FPPC Form 460, semi-annual statement for 1/1-6/30/2026, filed 7/31/2026, downloaded via the City of Modesto's NetFile public API and read directly: $10,833 raised and $10,110.11 spent this period, $8,878.99 cash on hand. Itemized contributors include Stronger Valley PAC ($2,500), Latino PAC of Stanislaus County ($2,000), the Modesto Police Officers Association ($2,000), the Modesto City Fire Fighters Association Local 1289 PAC ($1,289), IBEW Local 684 ($684), fellow councilmembers Jeremiah Williams ($200) and Rosa Escutia-Braaton ($100), and consultant Kristin Olsen of California Strategies ($125). Expenditures include $2,507.95 to Austin Sign Works for campaign signage and roughly $3,000 across several payments to Natalie Padilla dba CV Marketing Group, plus smaller payments to CJ & Associates, Inc. -- Alvarez's own consulting firm, per its Lakeport address and "cjandassociatesinc.com" domain matching the committee's own filed contact email.
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)Juan Telles's committee ("Community for Juan Telles 2026 Modesto City Council District 2") FPPC Form 460, semi-annual statement for 1/1-6/30/2026, filed 7/31/2026, downloaded via the City of Modesto's NetFile public API and read directly: $4,039.04 raised (including a $550 loan from treasurer Analisa Freitas) and $2,839.44 spent this period, $1,199.60 cash on hand. Contributions are mostly $100-300 from individual Modesto residents, several identifying Valley Improvement Projects (VIP) as their employer -- the nonprofit matching Telles's own "Non-Profit Project Coordinator" ballot designation. Expenditures include $350 for Cinco de Mayo parade participation (paid to Stanislaus Multicultural Businesses United) and roughly $1,480 for a campaign launch event (catering, desserts, a DJ).
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)A negative-result campaign-finance check: the City of Modesto's own NetFile public API (QuickNameSearch, aid=MOD) returned zero candidates, committees, or filings of any kind under the name "Rodriguez" as of this session's retrieval. Documents the absence of any campaign committee for Jon Rodriguez, not a claim about his actual finances -- California candidates may raise or spend up to $2,000 without triggering the state's committee-formation threshold.

Last updated September 1, 2026.