# Redlands City Council, District 3

Mario Saucedo is running uncontested for Redlands City Council, District 3. Full ballot at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Redlands' five-member City Council. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. An appointed City Manager runs daily operations. The term is four years. Redlands does not directly elect a Mayor. The council picks one of its own members to serve in that role. The role rotates among council members. The current Mayor is Mario Saucedo of District 3, serving since 2024. The city's five districts elect in staggered groups. Districts 2 and 4 last went before voters in November 2024. Districts 1, 3, and 5 are up this November.

- Jurisdiction: City of Redlands
- 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/redlands-council-district-3
- 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: August 31, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 90 out of 100 (Very strong), across 7 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Mario Saucedo** — Redlands Council Member · Incumbent

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

Incumbent Mario Saucedo, Redlands' sitting Mayor, is the only candidate who qualified for the City Council District 3 seat on the November 3, 2026 ballot -- an uncontested race.

This person would hold District 3's seat on Redlands' 5-member, district-elected City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use, under a council-manager government -- an appointed City Manager runs day-to-day operations. The term is four years. Redlands does not directly elect a Mayor; the council selects one of its own members for that role on a rotating basis, and District 3's own councilmember currently holds it.

Saucedo, first elected in 2022, is seeking a second term unopposed; the city's own qualified-candidates document lists no other filer for District 3.

## Mario Saucedo

Mario Saucedo is Redlands' incumbent District 3 councilmember, first elected in 2022, and is currently serving as Mayor for the 2024-2026 term -- a title the council selects from among its own members rather than voters electing directly. A third-generation Redlander, he graduated from Redlands High School in 1975, initially owned and operated a landscaping business, and then spent 30 years working for the City of Redlands itself across public works, the landfill, parks, and water distribution before retiring in 2018. While with the city, he initiated a revitalization strategy for north Redlands that became the North Redlands Vision Plan, securing a $3.5 million grant for property revitalization. He previously served as a Planning Commissioner (2019-2022). His filed ballot designation is "Redlands Council Member."

**Strengths:** 30 years of city staff experience across departments before running for office, plus a named accomplishment (the North Redlands Vision Plan) beyond a general platform.

**Trade-offs:** No independent news coverage of his council or mayoral record was found; financial info could not be retrieved. No opponent means no comparative choice this cycle.

**Keep in mind:** Decades on city staff before elected office is a different kind of experience than a career politician's -- worth weighing on its own terms.

## Sources

1. [San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters -- statewide "Report_OfficesUpForElection.pdf" (the same document as sb-offices-up-2026 above, a different section): its "City" category lists "City of Redlands, Member, City Council, District 1" / "...District 3" / "...District 5," each "Number to be elected: 1" and "Term (years): 4" -- no Mayor line anywhere for Redlands, and Districts 2 and 4 do not appear](https://uploads.rov.sbcounty.gov/ROV/Elections/2026/1103/Report_OfficesUpForElection.pdf)
2. [San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters -- statewide "Report_CandidateList.pdf" (the same document as sb-candidate-list-2026 above, a different section): within its "City of Redlands" section (pp. 169-172 of 249), three contests appear, each "Number to be elected: 1" -- District 1 (3 candidates: Denise Davis - Incumbent, Doug Gonzales, Andrew Hoder), District 3 (1 candidate: Mario Saucedo - Incumbent), and District 5 (1 candidate: Paul Barich - Incumbent), each with ballot designations as filed](https://uploads.rov.sbcounty.gov/ROV/Elections/2026/1103/Report_CandidateList.pdf)
3. [City of Redlands -- live "Elections" page (redlands.gov/elections/): states the three contested council districts (1, 3, 5), the candidate filing period (July 13 - August 7, 2026), and links both the city's own qualified-candidates document and its Notice of Municipal Election, plus the city's NetFile campaign-disclosure portal](https://www.redlands.gov/elections/)
4. [City of Redlands -- "Council Member Candidates Qualified for 11/3/26" (as of 8/7/26): names all five qualified candidates across the city's three November 2026 council districts with phone, email, and their intention-statement, papers-pulled, papers-filed, and qualified-for-ballot dates, in agreement with the county's own candidate-filing report](https://www.redlands.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/8.7.26-Council-Member-Candidates.pdf)
5. [City of Redlands -- "City Council District Maps" page: confirms the city's 5-district structure and the staggered election cycle -- Districts 2 and 4 elected November 2024, Districts 1, 3, and 5 this November -- with maps for each district adopted March 15, 2022](https://www.redlands.gov/city-council-district-maps/)
6. [City of Redlands -- District 3's own official bio page for Mayor Mario Saucedo: first elected to the council in 2022, serving as Mayor for the 2024-2026 term; a third-generation Redlander who spent 30 years working for the city itself before retiring in 2018 and initiating the North Redlands Vision Plan](https://www.redlands.gov/mayor-mario-saucedo/)
7. [A documented financial-info gap, not a claim about any candidate's fundraising: the California Secretary of State's CAL-ACCESS filer search was blocked outright by an Incapsula bot wall on every attempt, including a direct fetch of Denise Davis's own filer-detail URL by the FPPC ID her campaign site discloses; the City of Redlands' own local NetFile portal (agency ID RDL) is a JavaScript single-page app with no static content and no discoverable public API endpoint to this session's automated fetchers](https://www.netfile.com/agency/RDL/index.html)

## The rest of the ballot

Redlands City Council, District 3 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, "Redlands City Council, District 3 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/redlands-council-district-3 (sources last retrieved August 31, 2026).

Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.