Skip to main content

City of Napa · Statewide General Election

Napa 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 holds one of Napa's four district-elected City Council seats: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for California's Napa County seat, a city of about 79,000 residents. A 4-year term. The Mayor is elected separately, at-large citywide, on a staggered cycle -- not up in 2026 -- while each Council district is elected only by that district's own voters.

Mary Luros, a Councilmember since 2015 seeking a third term representing District 3, faces Jim Hinton, a repeat candidate and self-described government-accountability advocate, for this Napa City Council seat.

Napa's City Council has five seats: an at-large Mayor, elected separately on a staggered cycle, plus four district Councilmembers, each elected only by that district's own voters, to 4-year terms. Neither the Mayor's seat nor Districts 2 and 4 are up in 2026 -- only Districts 1 and 3, per the Municipal Code's staggered-election sequence.

District 3 covers the eastern part of Napa, per the Press Democrat's own August 2026 rundown of Napa County's municipal races. Both candidates filed nomination papers by the city's August 7, 2026 deadline.

Mary Luros

Luros is an attorney: she and her husband opened their own Napa law firm, specializing in business law and estate planning, the day after she passed the bar exam in March 2008, in the middle of that year's recession; the firm has since been repeatedly recognized as Napa County's top law firm, and she has been named one of Northern California's top women attorneys annually since 2013. She grew up on a family walnut farm north of Sacramento -- six generations of farmers -- and was the first in her family to attend college, on scholarship to Saint Mary's College, before earning her law degree at Golden Gate University School of Law. The council appointed her to a District 3 vacancy in January 2015, filling the seat Alfredo Pedroza left for the Napa County Board of Supervisors; she won election to the seat in 2018 and ran unopposed for it in 2022. On the council she chairs the city's Public Finance Authority and represents the city on the Napa Sanitation Board and the Napa-Vallejo Waste Management Authority; she also spent six years as a director of Napa Valley Community Housing. Her stated platform, built around what she calls "One Napa," centers on affordable housing, job quality, and traffic, framed as a balance between preserving what she says makes Napa special and continuing to grow. Her county ballot designation this year is "Councilmember/Attorney/Mom."

Strengths

Over a decade of council experience, including chairing the city's Public Finance Authority, plus a business/estate-law background she frames as directly relevant to the council's work.

Trade-offs

Ran unopposed in 2022 -- her first contested race since 2018, so her record since hasn't faced a direct electoral test. Her site's endorsement list is dated to 2018, not updated for 2026.

Keep in mind

As the incumbent, this is partly a referendum on nearly eight years in the seat, including two council terms' worth of decisions on the same housing and traffic issues she's again campaigning on.

Jim Hinton

Hinton's county ballot designation this year is "Caregiver." He describes himself as a government-accountability advocate and has for years regularly addressed the Napa County Board of Supervisors and Napa City Council at public meetings, per Napa Valley Register reporting. This isn't his first campaign: he ran against Rep. Mike Thompson in the 2014 Congressional race (Thompson won with more than 75% of the vote), then twice for this same City Council seat, drawing supportive letters to the editor in 2018 and 2020 -- several citing his self-described expertise on cannabis policy -- and finishing with about 5.6% of the vote in his most recent Council run, per the Press Democrat. Between campaigns, he's stayed a visible local voice: a May 2022 letter to the editor opposing a since-decided cannabis tax measure argued the tax made "the Napa Valley ... too damn high" on cost, and in March 2026 he filed a Federal Election Commission complaint alleging Rep. Thompson's campaign failed to disclose wine served at a fundraiser as either a donation or a purchase; a Thompson campaign spokesperson called it "a politically motivated complaint filed by a former opponent."

Strengths

A long, consistent public record as a meeting-attending local watchdog, with a specific, examinable record of past positions (cannabis taxation, campaign-finance disclosure).

Trade-offs

No campaign website or platform statement -- his public record is mostly about other people's decisions (Thompson's FEC filings, a 2022 tax measure). His last council run drew about 5.6% of the vote.

Keep in mind

This is at least his third run for this seat and fourth try at elected office overall, including the 2014 Congressional race -- worth weighing against Luros's own multi-cycle tenure.

Source review: Strong (85/100) · 12 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: Mary Luros for Napa City Council -- her own campaign site's home, 'About,' and 'Endorsements' pages: her upbringing on a family walnut farm, education and law career, January 2015 council appointment, 2018 election, council committee assignments, stated 'One Napa' platform, and a list of endorsements dated to her 2018 election (not independently confirmed as current for 2026). may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • napacounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Napa County Registrar of Voters (John Tuteur) -- "Roster of Candidates, Qualified Candidates Only" (CFMR037), General Election 11/3/2026, print date 2026-08-13: Contest 5071 (City Council District 1, City of Napa) lists one qualified candidate, Christopher DeNatale ("Appointed Incumbent"), flagged "On Ballot: Yes." Contest 5073 (District 3) lists two qualified candidates, Mary Luros ("Councilmember/Attorney/Mom") and Jim Hinton ("Caregiver"), both "On Ballot: Yes," both with a candidate statement filed.
  • cityofnapa.org (opens in a new tab)City of Napa -- "2026 Election Information" page: confirms two Council seats (Districts 1 and 3, each a 4-year term) are up November 3, 2026, the nomination-period dates (July 13-Aug 7, 2026, extendable to Aug 12), and links the city's supporting election documents.
  • cityofnapa.org (opens in a new tab)City of Napa -- official "Notice of Election," signed by City Clerk Tiffany Carranza, dated July 2, 2026: confirms 2 City Council seats (Districts 1 & 3, 4-year terms) up for election, filing-period dates, and the standard Elections Code Section 10229 boilerplate on appointment-in-lieu-of-election for an unopposed or unfilled seat.
  • cityofnapa.org (opens in a new tab)City of Napa -- "Candidate Information, Final Listing as of August 7, 2026" (PDF): the city's own final candidate list, naming Christopher DeNatale as the sole District 1 filer and Mary Luros and Jim Hinton as the two District 3 filers, each with filing/qualifying dates and contact information.
  • cityofnapa.org (opens in a new tab)City of Napa -- "City Council" roster page: confirms the 5-seat structure (an at-large Mayor, Scott Sedgley, plus four district Councilmembers), lists Christopher DeNatale as Vice Mayor/District 1 and Mary Luros as District 3, and confirms the Mayor is separately, directly elected citywide to a 4-year term on a staggered cycle not up in 2026.
  • cityofnapa.org (opens in a new tab)City of Napa -- Resolution R2026-060, "Calling and Giving Notice of a General Municipal Election ... for the Purpose of Electing One Councilmember from District 1 and One Councilmember from District 3": cites Napa Municipal Code Section 1.10.020's staggered-election sequence as the reason Districts 1 and 3 (not 2, 4, or the Mayor) are up in 2026; adopted June 2, 2026 by a roll-call vote including sitting members DeNatale and Luros.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Napa, California": used narrowly for the city's 2020 Census population (79,246) and its Mayor-and-Council government type, not for anything volatile or candidate-specific.
  • pressdemocrat.com (opens in a new tab)The Press Democrat (byline Edward Booth) -- "Here's who is running for Napa County's council, mayoral seats in 2026 election" (published online Aug. 11, 2026): independently corroborates District 1's geography (north of Trancas Street and Redwood Road) and DeNatale's unopposed status; District 3's geography (the city's eastern area) and the Luros-Hinton contest, including Luros's 2015 appointment / 2018 election / 2022 unopposed run and Hinton's prior candidacy (finishing near 5.6% of the vote) and history of attending Council meetings.
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)A negative-result campaign-finance search: California's CAL-ACCESS database returned only a blocked, unrenderable page for a direct query against Christopher DeNatale, Mary Luros, and Jim Hinton in every attempt this session, the same recurring bot-detection failure mode documented elsewhere in this dataset. Documents the absence of a reachable financial-disclosure source for these candidates, not any candidate's actual finances.
  • maryluros.com (opens in a new tab)Mary Luros for Napa City Council -- her own campaign site's home, "About," and "Endorsements" pages: her upbringing on a family walnut farm, education and law career, January 2015 council appointment, 2018 election, council committee assignments, stated "One Napa" platform, and a list of endorsements dated to her 2018 election, not independently confirmed as current for 2026.
  • napavalleyregister.com (opens in a new tab)Napa Valley Register (byline Barry Eberling, Napa County Reporter) -- "Napa's Hinton files complaint on Rep. Thompson disclosures" (published Mar. 18, 2026): reports Jim Hinton, described as a self-described government-accountability advocate who has "often spoken at Napa County Board of Supervisors and Napa City Council meetings over the years," filed an FEC complaint alleging Rep. Mike Thompson's campaign didn't disclose wine served at a fundraiser; independently names Hinton's 2014 Congressional run against Thompson (Thompson won with over 75%); quotes a Thompson campaign spokesperson calling the complaint "politically motivated ... filed by a former opponent."
  • napavalleyregister.com (opens in a new tab)Napa Valley Register -- site-search archive for "Jim Hinton": six 2020 letters to the editor supporting his prior City Council run (several citing his self-described cannabis-policy expertise) and Hinton's own May 28, 2022 letter to the editor, in his own voice, opposing a local cannabis tax measure ("The Napa Valley is too damn high ... the bad kind -- Expensive"). Used narrowly to corroborate a repeat-candidate public record, not for any 2026-specific claim.

Last updated September 2, 2026.