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City of Rancho Cordova · Statewide General Election

Rancho Cordova City Council, District 5

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 holds your district's seat on Rancho Cordova's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, alongside an appointed city manager who runs day-to-day operations. The Mayor and Vice Mayor are not elected separately -- the two positions rotate annually every December among the five sitting council members, chosen by their colleagues. Only two of Rancho Cordova's five district seats, District 2 and District 5, are up this cycle; Districts 1, 3, and 4 were last elected in 2024 and are not up again until 2028. A 4-year term.

Three candidates are running for Rancho Cordova's District 5 council seat: incumbent Vice Mayor Linda Budge, seeking her seventh term, challenged by fellow Planning Commissioner Tegan Mauldin and by Lilia Darbinyan, a school principal.

Rancho Cordova's City Council has five members, one per district, each serving a 4-year term. The Council sets city ordinances, the budget, and land-use policy; an appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations. The Mayor and Vice Mayor are not elected directly -- the two roles rotate annually each December among the five sitting councilmembers, chosen by their colleagues. Only District 2 and District 5 are up this cycle; Districts 1, 3, and 4 were last elected in 2024 and return in 2028.

This is a direct plurality election with no primary and no runoff -- whichever of the three candidates receives the most votes on November 3 wins the seat outright. Budge has represented this seat since Rancho Cordova incorporated as a city in 2003, longer than any other sitting councilmember; both challengers currently serve alongside each other on the city's Planning Commission, one in a district seat and one at-large.

Linda Budge

The incumbent, seeking a seventh term; her filed ballot designation is "Councilmember, City of Rancho Cordova." Budge was elected to Rancho Cordova's first City Council at the city's 2003 incorporation and has been reelected every cycle since (2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, 2022), serving as Mayor five times (2004, 2008, 2013, 2018, 2023) and Vice Mayor four times (2007, 2012, 2017, 2022), including the city's current Vice Mayor. Professionally she is an American Institute Certified Planner and owner of Geometra Planning & Permitting, a planning and permit-processing firm serving clients nationwide. A resident of the area for more than 40 years, she chaired the Sacramento County Subdivision Review Committee -- which hears every parcel and subdivision map filed in the county -- for over 18 years, and previously led the Cordova Community Council and helped preserve the historic Mills Station building as a community center.

Strengths

Unmatched institutional experience -- 23 years on the Council since the city's 2003 incorporation -- plus a planning career relevant to its land-use work.

Trade-offs

This dataset found no independent (non-official) reporting evaluating her most recent term, and her long tenure means accountability runs mostly through name recognition rather than fresh scrutiny.

Keep in mind

As owner of a planning and permitting firm, her clients' interests could occasionally intersect with Council land-use votes -- this dataset found no reporting alleging a specific conflict, but it is a structural detail worth knowing.

Tegan Mauldin

A first-time council candidate; her filed ballot designation is "Planning Commissioner, City of Rancho Cordova." She currently holds one of the city's two at-large Planning Commission seats (appointed under the name Tegan Knifton; the city's own site now lists this same commissioner, at the same contact address format, as Tegan Mauldin). Beyond her current Planning Commission service, this dataset's real, multi-method search -- the city's own site, Wikipedia, Ballotpedia (blocked to automated access in this pass), general web and news search -- found no further biographical detail, campaign website, or news coverage for her.

Strengths

Sitting experience on the city's Planning Commission, reviewing the same land-use and development matters the Council ultimately votes on.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office, and beyond her Planning Commission role this dataset located no independent reporting or campaign material describing her platform or priorities.

Keep in mind

This is a documented sourcing gap, not evidence against her -- a real search effort turned up nothing further to report.

Lilia Darbinyan

A first-time candidate; her filed ballot designation is "School Principal/Businesswoman." This dataset's real, multi-method search -- the city's own site, Wikipedia, Ballotpedia (blocked to automated access in this pass), CAL-ACCESS, LinkedIn (blocked to automated access in this pass), and general web and news search -- found no campaign website, news coverage, or further biographical detail beyond her self-declared occupation as filed with the county.

Strengths

not established in the sourcing found for this race.

Trade-offs

as a first-time candidate with no located public record beyond her filed ballot designation, voters have little more than her name and stated occupation to go on.

Keep in mind

this is a documented sourcing gap, not evidence against her -- several search tools returned blocked or empty results in this pass, and it is possible more exists than this dataset could confirm.

Source review: Strong (84/100) · 7 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • elections.saccounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Sacramento County Registrar of Voters -- official Nov. 3, 2026 General Election Roster of Candidates, read directly at its server-rendered address (elections.saccounty.gov redirects there from its content/vre/... front-end path): names both Rancho Cordova City Council contests as "On Ballot: Yes," each Vote for 1 -- District 2 (contest 5533: Elliott Stevenson, Qualified) and District 5 (contest 5536: Tegan Mauldin, Linda Budge, and Lilia Darbinyan, all Qualified; Sheikh Zulkader, Did Not Qualify) -- with each candidate's filed ballot designation verbatim.
  • cityofranchocordova.org (opens in a new tab)City of Rancho Cordova -- official City Council page (read via dated Internet Archive snapshots after cityofranchocordova.org itself returned HTTP 403 to direct fetches in this pass; content is the city's own official page, not an archive-only source). A Jan. 2026 snapshot names the sitting Council: Mayor Garrett Gatewood, Vice Mayor Linda Budge, and Council Members David M. Sander, Joe Little, and Siri Pulipati, and states in its own words that "Two Council seats for District 2 and District 5 will be up for election in November 2026" while Districts 1, 3, and 4 (elected Nov. 2024) are next up in 2028. Its elected-members table gives explicit district numbers for Sander (1), Little (3), and Pulipati (4) but not, in that table, for Gatewood or Budge (both elected Nov. 2022, term Dec. 2022-Dec. 2026) -- district assignment for those two is established independently (see the rancho_cordova_contests() code comment). Also confirms the Mayor/Vice Mayor rotation is annual, in December, chosen by the council's own members rather than elected separately.
  • cityofranchocordova.org (opens in a new tab)City of Rancho Cordova -- official Elections page (read via a dated Internet Archive snapshot after cityofranchocordova.org itself returned HTTP 403 to direct fetches in this pass; content is the city's own official page, not an archive-only source), Feb. 2026 snapshot: states "Two (2) City Council District seats are up for election: District 2 and District 5" for the Nov. 3, 2026 General Election, independently matching the county's own roster; also gives the candidate nomination period (July 13-Aug. 7, 2026) and the FPPC Form 501/Form 410 filing requirements, with Form 501 filed with the City Clerk's office and Form 410 (once $2,000 is raised or spent) with the Secretary of State -- no NetFile or other searchable online campaign-finance portal is referenced on this page.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's Rancho Cordova, California article -- confirms the council-manager form of government, a 5-member City Council with an annually rotating Mayor chosen by council peers, and names Garrett Gatewood as Mayor and Linda Budge as Vice Mayor alongside Council Members David Sander, Joe Little, and Siri Pulipati; does not itself mention the 2026 election or any 2026 candidate.
  • cityofranchocordova.org (opens in a new tab)City of Rancho Cordova -- official Planning Commission biography page for Tegan Mauldin, read via a dated Internet Archive snapshot (March 2026) after cityofranchocordova.org itself returned HTTP 403 to direct fetches in this pass: a one-line official bio ("currently serves as Planning Commissioner for the City of Rancho Cordova") with contact address tmauldin@cityofranchocordova.org -- no further biographical detail is published on this page. Still hosted at the city's older "tegan-knifton" URL slug; see the rancho_cordova_contests() code comment on this name change.
  • cityofranchocordova.org (opens in a new tab)City of Rancho Cordova -- official City Council biography page for Linda Budge, read via a dated Internet Archive snapshot after cityofranchocordova.org itself returned HTTP 403 to direct fetches in this pass: elected to Rancho Cordova's first City Council at incorporation in 2003, reelected 2006, 2010, 2014, 2018, and 2022; served as Mayor in 2004, 2008, 2013, 2018, and 2023 and as Vice Mayor in 2007, 2012, 2017, and 2022 (current term: Dec. 2022-Dec. 2026); an American Institute Certified Planner and owner of Geometra Planning & Permitting, a planning and permit-processing firm; a 40+-year area resident who chaired the Sacramento County Subdivision Review Committee for more than 18 years.
  • cityofranchocordova.org (opens in a new tab)City of Rancho Cordova -- official Planning Commission roster page, read via dated Internet Archive snapshots (Jan. and Feb. 2025) after cityofranchocordova.org itself returned HTTP 403 to direct fetches in this pass: names the seven Planning Commissioners and which councilmember nominated each of the five district seats (Devarapalli nom. by Pulipati, Frechette nom. by Sander, McGarvey nom. by Terry, Stauss-Vlassopoulos nom. by Budge, Tripette nom. by Gatewood) plus two at-large seats -- "Tegan Knifton" and Dave Huhn, P.E. -- confirming Tegan Knifton/Mauldin's seat is at-large, not district-nominated, and that each councilmember nominates the commissioner from their own district, the basis for placing Gatewood in District 2 by elimination.

Last updated September 1, 2026.