# Newman City Council Compare records and positions simply between Brett C. Short, Scott Ball, or Shane Tomlinson for Newman City Council at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds one of Newman's four at-large City Council seats. Newman also has a separately elected Mayor. They vote on the city budget, ordinances, and land use. Newman is a Stanislaus County city of about 12,000 residents. The term is four years. An appointed city manager runs day to day operations. - Jurisdiction: City of Newman - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Seats: 2 - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/newman-council - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: September 1, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 87 out of 100 (Strong), across 7 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Brett C. Short** — Police Lieutenant - **Scott Ball** — Incumbent - **Shane Tomlinson** — Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Three candidates are running for Newman's two at-large City Council seats: incumbents Scott Ball and Shane Tomlinson against challenger Brett C. Short, a police lieutenant. Vote for up to two -- the top two finishers on November 3 win the seats outright, no runoff. This race covers two of Newman's four at-large City Council seats -- alongside the separately, directly elected Mayor, councilmembers vote on the city's budget, ordinances, and land use for this Stanislaus County city of about 12,000 residents. The term is four years. Day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager. Newman's other two council seats (held by Gisel Pimentel and Matthew Harden, who is separately running for Mayor this cycle) aren't up again until 2028. Ball and Tomlinson are both completing the same four-year term together -- the city's own roster lists both their council terms as expiring November 2026 -- and both are seeking reelection to the same seats. Short is the only non-incumbent in the field. ## Scott Ball Scott Ball is a sitting Newman City Council member seeking reelection. The county's own candidate list gives their ballot designation simply as "Incumbent," with no other stated occupation. The city's own FPPC disclosures page shows they filed a Form 470 and Form 501 for 2026, matching a Form 470/501 on record from their 2022 election. No independent news profile, campaign website, or civic-board record beyond their current officeholder status was found in this pass. **Strengths:** A completed four-year term already in hand, with a filing record (2022, 2026) showing continuous engagement with the seat. **Trade-offs:** No independent news coverage, campaign website, or record of specific votes or initiatives from their term was found in this pass -- only the city's own pages and their filing paperwork. **Keep in mind:** Their ballot designation is the bare word "Incumbent," not a stated occupation, so their day-to-day work outside the council isn't established by any source found here. ## Shane Tomlinson Shane Tomlinson (filed under their full legal name, Gary Shane Tomlinson, on their FPPC paperwork) is a sitting Newman City Council member seeking reelection. The county's own candidate list gives their ballot designation simply as "Incumbent," with no other stated occupation. The city's own FPPC disclosures page shows they filed a Form 470 and Form 501 for 2026, matching a Form 470/501 on record from their 2022 election. No independent news profile, campaign website, or civic-board record beyond their current officeholder status was found in this pass. **Strengths:** A completed four-year term already in hand, with a filing record (2022, 2026) showing continuous engagement with the seat, matching Ball's tenure. **Trade-offs:** No independent news coverage, campaign website, or record of specific votes or initiatives from their term was found in this pass. **Keep in mind:** Their ballot designation is the bare word "Incumbent," not a stated occupation, so their day-to-day work outside the council isn't established by any source found here. ## Brett C. Short Brett C. Short is challenging both incumbents for one of Newman's two council seats up this cycle. Their ballot designation on the county's candidate list is "Police Lieutenant." The city's own FPPC disclosures page shows they filed a Form 470 and Form 501 for 2026. No independent news profile, campaign website, or civic-board record beyond this filing was found in this pass. **Strengths:** A stated occupation (police lieutenant) gives voters at least one concrete professional-background cue that neither incumbent's bare "Incumbent" designation supplies. **Trade-offs:** No independent news coverage, campaign website, or civic-record beyond their own filing was found in this pass, same as both incumbents. **Keep in mind:** As the only non-incumbent in a two-seat race against two sitting councilmembers running together, Short would need to outpoll at least one of them to win a seat -- the county's own document lists no other candidate for this race. ## Sources 1. [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, the same fetch already on file for Modesto): under "MUNICIPAL OFFICES / CITY OF NEWMAN," lists exactly two contests -- Mayor (Vote for 1: Matthew L. Harden, "Procurement Manager/Parent," vs. *Casey Graham, "Incumbent") and Council Member (Vote for 2: Brett C. Short, "Police Lieutenant," vs. *Scott Ball, "Incumbent," vs. *Shane Tomlinson, "Incumbent") -- with no district numbers (both offices elected at-large) and no third Newman office anywhere in the document.](https://www.stanvote.gov/pdf/candidate-list.pdf) 2. [City of Newman -- "2026 Election Information -- November 3, 2026 (Consolidated General Municipal Election)" page: confirms Mayor is 1 seat (2-year term) and City Council is 2 seats (4-year terms each), all offices elected At-Large, the nomination filing window (July 13-Aug. 7, 2026, extended to Aug. 12 if an incumbent hasn't filed), and the standard Elections Code Section 10229 appointment boilerplate -- which does not apply this cycle, since both Newman races drew more candidates than seats.](https://cityofnewman.gov/news-and-information/2026-election-information-november-3-2026-consolidated-general-municipal-election/) 3. [City of Newman -- "Public Notice: 2026 Municipal Election -- Offices, Incumbents, and Nomination Papers": independently names the same field as the county's document, with the same incumbent/challenger split -- Mayor incumbent Casey Graham vs. challenger Matthew Harden; Council incumbents Scott Ball and Shane Tomlinson vs. challenger Brett C. Short.](https://cityofnewman.gov/news-and-information/public-notice-2026-municipal-election-offices-incumbents-and-nomination-papers/) 4. [City of Newman -- "Elected Officials" page: names the sitting Mayor and Council (Casey Graham, Mayor, term expires 11/2026; Scott Ball and Shane Tomlinson, Council, terms expire 11/2026; Gisel Pimentel and Matthew Harden, Council, terms expire 11/2028) -- establishing that Harden is currently a sitting councilmember running for Mayor rather than an outsider, and that Ball/Tomlinson (not Pimentel/Harden) are the two council seats up this cycle.](https://cityofnewman.gov/elected-officials/) 5. [City of Newman -- "City Staff" page: names Michael Holland as City Manager, confirming Newman's council-manager structure with day-to-day operations run by an appointed manager rather than the elected Mayor or Council.](https://cityofnewman.gov/elected-officials/city-staff/) 6. [City of Newman -- "Statements of Economic Interests / FPPC Candidate & Campaign Statements & Reports" page (posted per AB 2151): for all five 2026 candidates (Graham, Harden, Ball, Tomlinson, Short), lists only a Form 470 ("Officeholder and Candidate Campaign Statement -- Short Form," filed when a candidate does not anticipate raising or spending more than $2,000 total) and a Form 501 (candidate intention statement) -- no Form 460 (itemized committee statement) is posted for anyone. A documented finding that none of the five is running a committee-level campaign, not a research gap; the posted forms are themselves redacted per AB 2151 (street number and bank account info removed) and carry no itemized dollar figures.](https://cityofnewman.gov/elected-officials/statements-of-economic-interests-fppc-candidate-campaign-statements-reports/) 7. [Wikipedia -- Newman, California: cited only for the fixed, uncontroversial 2020 Census population figure (12,351, up from 10,224 at the 2010 census) -- the article carries no government-structure or candidate detail, and Ballotpedia's own Newman, California page returned empty content to a direct fetch this session and could not be used.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newman,_California) ## The rest of the ballot Newman City Council is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "Newman City Council — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/newman-council (sources last retrieved September 1, 2026). 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