# Mayor of Newman

Compare records and positions simply between Matthew L. Harden or Casey Graham for Mayor of Newman at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would preside over Newman's City Council meetings. They would also represent the city publicly. The Mayor votes as one of five members on budget, ordinances, and land use. An appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations. The Mayor is Newman's only citywide-elected seat. The other four council seats are elected at large. The Mayor serves a two-year term, shorter than the council's four-year terms.

- Jurisdiction: City of Newman
- Election: November 3, 2026 California general election
- Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements.
- Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/newman-mayor
- 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

- **Matthew L. Harden** — Procurement Manager/Parent
- **Casey Graham** — Incumbent

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

Two candidates are running for Newman's Mayor seat: incumbent Casey Graham against Matthew Harden, a sitting City Council member running for the citywide seat instead of finishing their council term. Whichever gets the most votes on November 3 wins outright -- no runoff.

Newman's Mayor presides over City Council meetings and represents the city publicly, but votes as one of five members on the budget, ordinances, and land use for this Stanislaus County city of about 12,000 residents -- day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager. It's the only Newman office elected citywide rather than shared among four at-large council seats, and unlike the council's 4-year terms, the mayor serves a 2-year term.

Both candidates already hold local elected office. Graham is completing a term as Mayor and seeking reelection. Harden is a sitting at-large councilmember whose own council term doesn't expire until November 2028 -- they are running for the citywide Mayor's office now rather than waiting to seek it in a future cycle, and if they win would leave two years remaining on their council seat unfilled by election, a vacancy this dataset does not track further.

## Casey Graham

Casey Graham is Newman's sitting Mayor, 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 (short form, for a candidate who doesn't expect to raise or spend more than $2,000) and a Form 501 for this cycle, matching their filings in 2022 and 2024. No independent news profile, campaign website, or civic-board record beyond their current officeholder status was found in this pass.

**Strengths:** Sitting experience as Mayor going into this race, with a filing record (2022, 2024, 2026) showing continuous engagement with the office.

**Trade-offs:** No independent news coverage, campaign website, or record of specific accomplishments in office 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 -- the county's convention for candidates who list no separate job title -- so their day-to-day work outside the Mayor's office isn't established by any source found here.

## Matthew L. Harden

Matthew L. Harden is a sitting Newman City Council member (elected in 2024, term not up until November 2028) now running for Mayor rather than completing that term. Their ballot designation on the county's candidate list is "Procurement Manager/Parent." The city's own FPPC disclosures page shows they filed a Form 470 and Form 501 for 2026, matching a Form 470/501 filing on record from their 2024 council run. No independent news profile, campaign website, or civic-board record beyond their council seat and this filing was found in this pass.

**Strengths:** Roughly two years of sitting-council experience by Election Day, on the body whose meetings the Mayor presides over, plus a stated occupation Graham's bare "Incumbent" line lacks.

**Trade-offs:** No independent news coverage, campaign website, or record of specific votes or initiatives from their time on the council was found in this pass.

**Keep in mind:** A vote for Harden moves a sitting councilmember into the Mayor's seat with two years left on their council term -- how that remaining council seat gets filled is not addressed by any source found in this pass.

## 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

Mayor of Newman 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, "Mayor of Newman — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/newman-mayor (sources last retrieved September 1, 2026).

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