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City of Ontario · Statewide General Election

Ontario City Council, District 2

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

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 hold one of Ontario's four district seats on the City Council, alongside the separately, directly elected Mayor: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. Day-to-day operations are run by an appointed City Manager. A 4-year term, staggered so only two of the four districts are up in any given November -- Districts 2 and 3 this cycle, Districts 1 and 4 next in 2028.

Two candidates, Ruben Valencia and Stephanie Martinez, are running for Ontario's open City Council District 2 seat on the November 3, 2026 ballot. It's open because sitting District 2 councilmember Jim Bowman -- on the council since 1986, with time off in between -- is not seeking re-election. Whoever gets the most votes wins outright; there is no primary or runoff.

This person would hold District 2's seat on Ontario's 4-member, district-elected City Council, alongside the separately, directly elected Mayor: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. Day-to-day operations are run by an appointed City Manager. A 4-year term, staggered so only two of the four districts are up in any given November -- Districts 2 and 3 this cycle, Districts 1 and 4 next in 2028.

This dataset infers the seat is open, rather than that finding being stated directly anywhere: the city's own bio pages place council members Debra Porada in District 1 and Daisy Macias in District 4 (neither up this cycle), leaving Alan Wapner and Jim Bowman -- both shown with a term running "December 2022 - December 2026" on their own city bio pages -- as Districts 2 and 3's occupants. The county's own candidate list places Wapner specifically under District 3 (see that contest), and Bowman does not appear anywhere in Ontario's 2026 candidate roster, so District 2 is treated as his seat and as open by his not filing for re-election. Neither Valencia nor Martinez has held elected office before, and no independent record of either was found in this pass beyond their filed ballot designations.

Ruben Valencia

Ruben Valencia is a candidate for Ontario's open District 2 council seat, filing under the ballot designation "Retired Deputy Sheriff." No independent information about his background or platform was found in this research pass beyond his filed ballot designation; a domain-name guess (rubenvalencia.com) resolved only to a generic parked-domain page with no connection to this race.

Strengths

His filed ballot designation, "Retired Deputy Sheriff," points toward a public-safety career background, though it is self-described and not independently verified.

Trade-offs

No campaign site, news coverage, or independent profile was found beyond the filed ballot designation.

Keep in mind

A first-time candidate with no public record yet is not necessarily weaker -- only less documented; weigh the ballot designation on its own.

Stephanie Martinez

Stephanie Martinez is a candidate for Ontario's open District 2 council seat, filing under the ballot designation "Businesswoman." No independent information about her background or platform was found in this research pass beyond her filed ballot designation; a domain-name guess (stephaniemartinez.com) resolved only to a generic parked-domain page with no connection to this race.

Strengths

None could be documented in this research pass.

Trade-offs

No campaign site, news coverage, or independent profile was found beyond the filed ballot designation.

Keep in mind

A first-time candidate with no public record yet is not necessarily weaker -- only less documented; weigh the ballot designation on its own.

Source review: Strong (88/100) · 8 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • uploads.rov.sbcounty.gov (opens in a new tab)San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters -- "Offices Up for Election, November 3, 2026, General Election": lists County Board of Education Areas A, B, and D (under the School category) as the county's only expiring-term seats this cycle -- no Board of Supervisors, row office, or Superior Court seat appears anywhere in the 11-page document
  • 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): within its "City of Ontario" section (pp. 158-163 of 249), three contests appear, each "Number to be elected: 1" -- Mayor (4 candidates: Kevin Kizzee, Nicolo Lalama, Paul Leon [flagged Incumbent], Daisy Macias), Member of the City Council District 2 (2 candidates: Ruben Valencia, Stephanie Martinez, neither flagged Incumbent), and District 3 (4 candidates: D'Andre Lampkin, Michael Rios, Larry Trinidad, Alan Wapner, none flagged Incumbent).
  • ontarioca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Ontario -- City Clerk's municipal-elections page: states directly, "City Council Districts 2 and 3 will be up for election in November 2026, along with the office of Mayor... November 2028: Districts 1 and 4," and that "Residents vote for the City Council candidate representing the district in which they live. The Mayor is elected citywide."
  • ontarioca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Ontario -- "City Council" roster page: names the current 5 members -- Paul S. Leon (Mayor), Debra Porada (Mayor Pro Tem), Alan D. Wapner, Jim W. Bowman, and Daisy Macias -- with no Milhiser or Valencia remaining on the current roster; the page's own general intro paragraph still reads "All Council Members serve at large," stale boilerplate contradicted by this page's own district-specific bio pages for Porada and Macias and by the city's separate municipal-elections and districts-archive pages.
  • ontarioca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Ontario -- Council Member Debra Porada's own official bio page: representing the City's 1st District, first elected to the council in December 2008, most recently elected to her current term in December 2024, named Mayor Pro Tem in August 2026 -- corroborates District 1 as not up this cycle.
  • ontarioca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Ontario -- Council Member Alan D. Wapner's own official bio page: "Current Term December 2022 - December 2026"; over 30 years on the council, a retired Ontario police sergeant, former Vice President of the Ontario-Montclair School Board, President of the Ontario International Airport Authority and Chair of the Omnitrans Board.
  • ontarioca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Ontario -- Council Member Jim W. Bowman's own official bio page: "Current Term December 2022 - December 2026"; first elected to the council in 1986, did not seek re-election in 1998 to focus on his Ontario Fire Department career (retiring as Fire Chief), returned to elected office in 2006; does not appear anywhere in the county's 2026 Ontario candidate roster.
  • public.netfile.com (opens in a new tab)San Bernardino County's public NetFile campaign-finance portal (public.netfile.com/pub2/?aid=SBD), queried directly by name via its own QuickNameSearch API for all ten 2026 Ontario candidates: nine names returned no filer (Kizzee, Lalama, Macias, Wapner, Valencia, Martinez, Lampkin, Rios, Trinidad); a "Leon, Paul" filer exists but its filing history (2013 Assembly and Senate runs, a 2016 OMSD school-board run) never includes an Ontario City Council or Mayor filing, treated as very likely a different, same-named person rather than Mayor Paul S. Leon; a decade-old "Valencia 4 City Council 2016" committee surfaced but names no candidate or city and isn't assumed connected to 2026 District 2 candidate Ruben Valencia.

Last updated August 31, 2026.