Review note: Each candidate's own campaign site, self-description attributed in text: Bill Ruh's (billruh.com, confirms election at-large, adds detail consistent with and fuller than the city's own biography of him -- degree, career history, boards and civic involvements, and his 2026 priorities); Javier "John" Dutrey's (montclairmayordutrey.com, consistent with the city's own biography, adds his current policy priorities and objectives); and Victor Mendez's (victor4montclair2026.com -- the only source found for his biography: 24-year Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy across patrol, custody, transportation, and courts; Montclair Town Center HOA member 13 years, president the last 11; youth soccer coach). No campaign site was found for Alice Garcia beyond her filed candidate statement. may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.
- uploads.rov.sbcounty.gov (opens in a new tab)San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters -- "Offices Up for Election, November 3, 2026, General Election" (the same document as sb-offices-up-2026, a different section): the "City of Montclair" section lists exactly two offices, each a 4-year term -- Mayor (1 seat) and Member, City Council (2 seats, no district number given).
- uploads.rov.sbcounty.gov (opens in a new tab)San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters -- statewide "Report_CandidateList.pdf" candidate-filing report (the same document as sb-candidate-list-2026, a different section): the "City of Montclair" section (pp. 152-155 of 249) names one qualified 2026 Mayor candidate -- Javier "John" Dutrey (flagged Incumbent), unopposed -- and four qualified City Council candidates for two seats -- Victor Mendez, Alice Garcia, Bill Ruh (Incumbent), Corysa Martinez (Incumbent) -- each with their filed ballot designation, "Last Updated: 8/28/2026."
- cityofmontclair.org (opens in a new tab)City of Montclair -- "November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election" page: a "City Offices on the Ballot" table confirming Mayor (1 seat, 4 years) and Council Member (2 seats, 4 years), and an "Incumbents of Offices on the Ballot" table naming Javier "John" Dutrey (Mayor, term exp. 11/2026), Bill Ruh (Council Member, term exp. 11/2026), and Corysa Martinez (Mayor Pro Tem, term exp. 11/2026) -- reached directly with a browser User-Agent; a plain WebFetch of cityofmontclair.org returns HTTP 403, but curl does not.
- storage.googleapis.com (opens in a new tab)City of Montclair -- "Qualified Candidates" list (dated 8/7/2026), hosted directly by the city's own site: gives each of the five 2026 candidates' ballot designation, office sought, voluntarily provided contact info and campaign website, and the dates their nomination documents were issued, filed, and qualified -- Ruh's and Martinez's documents were issued and filed weeks after Garcia's, Mendez's, and Dutrey's, consistent with each being an incumbent filing near the deadline.
- storage.googleapis.com (opens in a new tab)City of Montclair -- "List of Qualified Candidates for November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election," hosted directly by the city's own site: gives the certified ballot order (by the Secretary of State's random-alphabet drawing) as Ruh, Garcia, Martinez, Mendez for City Council and confirms which candidates filed a first-person candidate statement -- Ruh, Garcia, and Martinez did ("Yes"); Dutrey and Mendez did not ("No").
- cityofmontclair.org (opens in a new tab)City of Montclair -- "City Council" government page: confirms the Mayor and four Council Members are all elected citywide by Montclair voters (no districts), on staggered 4-year terms, with the Council appointing one of its own members as Mayor Pro Tem following each biennial election; lists the current five-member roster -- Dutrey (Mayor), Martinez (Mayor Pro Tem), Ruh, Benjamin "Ben" Lopez, and Xavier Mendez (the last two, term exp. 11/2028, are not on this year's ballot).
- cityofmontclair.org (opens in a new tab)City of Montclair -- "City Council Biographies" page: city-authored (not campaign-authored) biographies for each sitting Council Member. Dutrey: lifelong resident, Montclair HS class of 1983, BA Political Science and MA Public Administration (both Cal State San Bernardino), son of Basque immigrants, elected to Council in 1996 (after Planning Commission 1990-96) and Mayor in 2018, serves on SBCTA/Omnitrans/SCAG/Metrolink/Foothill Gold Line boards. Martinez: on Council since Nov. 2019, elected uncontested in 2020 to complete the term and re-elected to a full term in 2022, BA Anthropology (USC, 2012), JD (University of La Verne College of Law, 2015), LL.M. in Tax Law (Loyola Law School, 2019), practicing attorney since 2015. Ruh: elected to Council in Nov. 1998 (after Planning Commission 1988-98 and election to the Monte Vista Water District board in 1991 as its then-youngest-ever member), Mayor Pro Tem 2012-14 and 2020-22, BA Political Science (University of La Verne), career in legislative/government affairs including the state Assembly and Senate and the U.S. House, currently chairs the State Water Resources Control Board's Santa Ana Region.
- en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Montclair, California": incorporated April 25, 1956 as "Monte Vista," renamed Montclair in 1958; a General Law city (City Council-City Manager form of government); independently corroborates the current roster (Mayor Javier "John" Dutrey; Mayor Pro Tem Corysa Martinez; Council Members Bill Ruh, Benjamin "Ben" Lopez, and Xavier Mendez) -- confirming Xavier Mendez, a sitting Council Member, is a different person from 2026 Council candidate Victor Mendez.
- montclair.efile.systems (opens in a new tab)City of Montclair's own electronic campaign-finance filing system at montclair.efile.systems (distinct from the NetFile platform other San Bernardino County cities in this dataset use) -- a client-rendered Next.js app whose underlying JSON API this pass reverse-engineered from the app's own downloaded JS bundles, queried directly for all five 2026 candidates and their committees, then used to pull and locally parse (pypdf/pdfplumber) specific FPPC Form 460 filings, unredacted and fully itemized unlike the NetFile filings documented elsewhere in this file. Dutrey's committee (FPPC #1409162, active since a 2018 Form 410) reported $1,000 in itemized contributions for Jan-June 2026 (two $500 gifts: Cole Burr, President of Burrtec Waste Industries, and Edison International), zero expenditures, a $14,910.05 ending cash balance, and a $5,500 outstanding debt (Dutrey's own loan to his committee, dated 12/31/2018). Ruh's committee (FPPC #982027, active since 2018) filed an amended Jan-June 2026 report (2026-08-21) showing zero contributions, zero expenditures, and a flat $4,325.78 cash balance carried forward. Martinez's committee (FPPC #1446356, active since 2020) reported $1,689.09 in contributions for the same period -- $1,589.09 of it a reclassification of a prior loan she personally made to the committee into a contribution, plus a new $100 itemized cash contribution, also from Martinez herself -- for a net cash increase of $100 to a $301.00 ending balance. Garcia's and Mendez's committees had each filed only a Form 410/501 as of this retrieval, no Form 460 yet -- the city's first pre-election filing deadline (Sept. 24, 2026) had not yet passed.
- storage.googleapis.com (opens in a new tab)City of Montclair -- the full first-person candidate statements filed with the City Clerk by Bill Ruh, Alice Garcia, and Corysa Martinez, each hosted as its own PDF on the city's official election page; self-authored by each candidate, treated as first-person self-description and attributed in text, not as independent evaluation.
- dailybulletin.com (opens in a new tab)Inland Valley Daily Bulletin (Steve Scauzillo) -- "Daughter of late Montclair councilwoman appointed to fill her vacant seat": read in full. Reports, with named on-the-record quotes, that the Montclair City Council appointed Corysa Martinez, 29, on Nov. 18, 2019 to fill the seat left vacant by the death in office of her own mother, Councilwoman Trisha Martinez; that she had passed the bar and was practicing law in Upland; and that fellow Councilman Bill Ruh publicly objected to the appointment on principle ("It...violates my beliefs and strong moral opinion that democracy is best served by an election," "I do not believe in dynasties or legacies").
- billruh.com (opens in a new tab)Each candidate's own campaign site, self-description attributed in text: Bill Ruh's (billruh.com, confirms election at-large, adds detail consistent with and fuller than the city's own biography of him -- degree, career history, boards and civic involvements, and his 2026 priorities); Javier "John" Dutrey's (montclairmayordutrey.com, consistent with the city's own biography, adds his current policy priorities and objectives); and Victor Mendez's (victor4montclair2026.com -- the only source found for his biography: 24-year Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy across patrol, custody, transportation, and courts; Montclair Town Center HOA member 13 years, president the last 11; youth soccer coach). No campaign site was found for Alice Garcia beyond her filed candidate statement.
Last updated August 31, 2026.
City of Montclair
Montclair City Council
This person would hold one of two open seats on Montclair's City Council. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. A separately elected Mayor also serves on the council. The council has four seats in total, elected citywide rather than by district. Terms are four years and staggered. The other two seats are held by Benjamin Lopez and Xavier Mendez. Those seats were last up in November 2024. They are not on this ballot. Every two years, the council appoints a member as Mayor Pro Tem.
Four candidates are running for two open Montclair City Council seats. The election is November 3, 2026. Incumbents Bill Ruh and Corysa Martinez face challengers Alice Garcia and Victor Mendez. The two with the most votes win. There is no primary or runoff.
This person would hold one of two open seats on Montclair's City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside the separately elected Mayor. All four Council seats are elected citywide rather than by district, on staggered 4-year terms -- the other two seats (currently Benjamin Lopez and Xavier Mendez, term exp. 11/2028) aren't on this ballot. The Council appoints one of its own members to serve as Mayor Pro Tem after each biennial election.
Ruh, first elected in 1998, and Martinez, on the Council since a 2019 appointment and now the sitting Mayor Pro Tem, are both seeking another term. Garcia and Mendez, both first-time candidates for this office, are challenging them for the two seats.
Bill Ruh
Bill Ruh is a Montclair resident. He was first elected to the City Council in November 1998. He served as Mayor Pro Tem. He chaired the board of the city's former Redevelopment Agency. He has worked for the California State Assembly, State Senate, and U.S. House of Representatives.
Alice Garcia
Alice Garcia is a 25-year Montclair resident. Her ballot title is Project Coordinator. She says her priorities are public safety, fiscal accountability, and small business support. No independent news coverage of Garcia was found.
Corysa Martinez
Corysa Martinez is Montclair's Mayor Pro Tem. Her ballot title is Councilmember, City of Montclair. She was appointed to the council in November 2019. The seat was left vacant by her mother's death in office. She won an uncontested 2020 special election. She was re-elected in November 2022.
Victor Mendez
Victor Mendez is a 27-year Montclair resident. Mendez's ballot title is Deputy Sheriff. They have served 24 years as a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Deputy. They are not Councilmember Xavier Mendez. That seat is not up until 2028.
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A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.