# Rialto City Council Compare records and positions simply between Edward J. Carrillo, Edward Montoya Jr., Celina Diaz, and 6 more for Rialto City Council at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of two open at-large seats on Rialto's City Council. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. Rialto is in San Bernardino County and has about 104,000 people. Rialto also has a separately elected Mayor. The term is four years. All four Council seats are elected citywide, not by district. Seats are staggered, so not all are up the same year. The other two seats belong to Andy Carrizales and Karla Perez. Their terms end in 2028, so they are not on this ballot. - Jurisdiction: City of Rialto - 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/rialto-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: August 31, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 81 out of 100 (Strong), across 14 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Edward J. Carrillo** — City Treasurer - **Edward Montoya Jr.** — Appointed Incumbent · Incumbent - **Celina Diaz** — Human Resources - **Ed Scott** — Rialto City Councilman · Incumbent - **Robert "Bobby" Bustamante** — Iron Worker - **Ana Gonzalez** — Nonprofit Executive Director - **Blanca Mondragon** — Community Advocate - **Carl Mayfield** — Parole Agent Supervisor - **Rafael Trujillo** — Case Manager/Parent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Nine candidates are running for Rialto's two open, at-large City Council seats on the November 3, 2026 ballot. That is more than any other San Bernardino County city race covered here. Whoever gets the two highest vote totals wins outright. There is no primary or runoff. This person would hold one of two open seats on Rialto's City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use in this San Bernardino County city of about 104,000, alongside the separately elected Mayor (Joe Baca, elected 2024, not on this ballot). The term is four years. All four Council seats are elected citywide rather than by district, on staggered terms -- the other two seats (Andy Carrizales and Karla Perez, term exp. 2028) aren't up this cycle. One of the two open seats belongs to Edward Montoya Jr., appointed in January 2025 after Joe Baca's own prior Council seat became vacant when Baca won the Rialto mayoralty that November; Montoya is now running to hold the seat for a full term. The other belongs to Ed Scott, the city's longest-serving candidate in this race -- first elected in 1996, by his own account, and now Mayor Pro Tem. ## Edward J. Carrillo Edward J. Carrillo is Rialto's sitting City Treasurer, a separately elected office. That term expires 2028. Their filed ballot designation for this City Council race is literally "City Treasurer." Their 2026 council campaign committee formed on August 5, 2026. That was right before the Aug. 7 filing deadline. It reported $5,000 in contributions against $50 in expenditures in its first, short filing period. Ending cash was $4,950. No independent news coverage of their council candidacy was found. **Strengths:** Direct, current experience with one of the city's own elected financial offices. No other candidate in the field has that. **Trade-offs:** No independent reporting explains why a sitting Treasurer is also seeking a Council seat. Carrillo's committee formed late, days before the deadline. That leaves a thin financial record so far. **Keep in mind:** Holding one elected city office while running for a second is a plainly unusual structural fact. It is worth asking them about directly. This entry documents it without speculating on their reasons or on any eligibility question. ## Celina Diaz Celina Diaz is a candidate for Rialto City Council. Their filed ballot designation is "Human Resources." Diaz has no campaign committee registered with the city. No independent news coverage of them was found. **Strengths:** A human-resources professional background. That is a distinct lens on municipal personnel and workforce matters compared to other candidates in this field. **Trade-offs:** No independent verification of their platform or background was found beyond their filed designation. Diaz has no registered committee, so no financial disclosure exists to review. **Keep in mind:** A candidate with no campaign committee has less of a public paper trail than their rivals. That matters this close to the election. Factor it into how much you can learn about them before voting. ## Ed Scott Ed Scott is Rialto's incumbent Mayor Pro Tem. By his own account he was first elected to the City Council in 1996. That makes him the longest-serving candidate in this race. He is a retired mechanical engineer from Southland University. Per a 2018 profile, he is a decades-long Rialto resident. That profile says he has prioritized public safety, economic development, and street paving. Scott has also championed nitrous-oxide regulation since 2014. That year his son Myles Edward "Eddie" Scott died in a car crash, a week after graduating high school. The vehicle's driver had lost consciousness from inhaling nitrous oxide recreationally. Rialto banned nitrous-oxide sales and distribution in 2017 under Scott's push. It was reported at the time as a first for a U.S. city. Scott has since praised the federal "Myles Edward Scott Act" addressing illicit nitrous-oxide distribution. His 2026 committee reported $18,800 in total contributions for Jan-June 2026, including $5,900 nonmonetary. It reported $6,284.71 in expenditures. Ending cash was $34,869.19. That is the largest war chest disclosed in this race. **Strengths:** Three decades of Council experience and a well-funded 2026 campaign. He also has an independently reported personal cause in nitrous-oxide regulation. A legislative record sits behind it. **Trade-offs:** No independent coverage of his 2026 campaign or recent votes was found beyond the nitrous-oxide story. Three decades in office is worth weighing against the knowledge it represents. **Keep in mind:** Scott's nitrous-oxide advocacy is well-documented and independently reported. It is not just self-described. That is a meaningfully different kind of record than a platform statement alone. ## Robert "Bobby" Bustamante Robert "Bobby" Bustamante is a candidate for Rialto City Council. Their filed ballot designation is "Iron Worker." Their 2026 campaign committee has registered, filing a Form 410/501 in August 2026. It had filed no Form 460, so no dollar figures are available. No independent news coverage of them was found. **Strengths:** A skilled-trades background. No other candidate in this field shares that occupation. **Trade-offs:** No independent verification of their platform or background was found beyond their filed designation. With no Form 460 filed yet, their fundraising and spending are unconfirmed. **Keep in mind:** A newly registered committee this close to the election is not itself disqualifying. But it does mean voters have less to go on for them. Candidates with a longer filing history offer more. ## Ana Gonzalez Ana Gonzalez is a 30-year Rialto resident. She moved to the city at age 9 in 1996. She is a mother of two making her third run for this office. Independent headlines confirm Council bids in 2018 and 2024 as well as this cycle. Her filed ballot designation is "Nonprofit Executive Director." Per her own campaign site, she has served on the city's Budget Advisory Committee and General Plan Community Advisory Committee. She chairs the California Transportation Commission's Interagency Equity Advisory Committee. Her platform centers infrastructure, housing, health and safety, small business, and services for seniors. Her 2026 committee reported $10,762 in contributions against $2,783.83 in expenditures for Jan-June 2026. Ending cash was $7,978.17. Her own filed summary page's beginning- and ending-cash figures do not fully reconcile with each other. They are reported here exactly as filed. **Strengths:** Multiple prior city advisory-committee roles and a state-commission leadership post. She also shows persistence. This is her third campaign for the same seat. **Trade-offs:** Neither prior cycle won her the seat. Only headline-level coverage of her three runs was found, not full articles. Her site does not name the nonprofit she leads. **Keep in mind:** A third run for the same seat can reflect sustained commitment to this specific office. It can also be a signal worth asking her about directly. Ask what would be different this time. ## Blanca Mondragon Blanca Mondragon is a candidate for Rialto City Council. Their filed ballot designation is "Community Advocate." Their 2026 campaign committee registered on August 31, 2026, filing a Form 410. It had filed no Form 460, so no dollar figures are available. No independent news coverage of them was found. **Strengths:** A self-described community-advocacy background. That suggests direct engagement with residents ahead of holding office. **Trade-offs:** No independent verification of their platform was found beyond their filed designation. Mondragon's committee registered only days ago, so no fundraising record exists yet. **Keep in mind:** A committee formed this late in the cycle is a genuinely thin starting point for evaluating a campaign. Know that going in. Do not assume more information exists than what is reported here. ## Edward Montoya Jr. Edward Montoya Jr. is Rialto's incumbent Council member. He was appointed in January 2025 to the seat Joe Baca vacated. Baca had won the Rialto mayoralty the previous November. Montoya's filed ballot designation, "Appointed Incumbent," reflects that. He is a U.S. Army retired combat veteran, with 17 years as a Combat Medic and Medical Platoon Sergeant. He works as a paramedic. He founded the Brotherhood Bridge Foundation. He describes it as helping veterans and first responders through crisis intervention and mental-health advocacy. His children were raised in Rialto and graduated from local schools. Per his own site, he represents the city on CONFIRE and the Veterans Committee. That same sentence also names "the California Association of Public Cemeteries." That is an odd or possibly garbled pairing that could not be independently verified. His 2026 committee reported $25,841.25 in contributions against $17,627.21 in expenditures for Jan-June 2026. Ending cash was $18,456.16, with $1,334.12 in outstanding debt. **Strengths:** A well-funded 2026 campaign and a substantive military and first-responder background. He also has roughly a year and a half of direct Council experience as the sitting appointee. **Trade-offs:** No independent coverage of his conduct in office was found beyond the appointment itself. His own site's list of board roles includes an odd, unverifiable pairing. Take that with caution. **Keep in mind:** An appointed incumbent asking voters to make that appointment permanent is a distinct situation. It differs from an incumbent who already won the seat outright. Weigh it on its own terms rather than as an ordinary reelection. ## Carl Mayfield Carl Mayfield is a candidate for Rialto City Council. Their filed ballot designation is "Parole Agent Supervisor." Mayfield has no campaign committee registered with the city. No independent news coverage of them was found. **Strengths:** A corrections and law-enforcement supervisory background. That is a distinct professional lens on public safety compared to other candidates in this field. **Trade-offs:** No independent verification of their platform or background was found beyond their filed designation. Mayfield has no registered committee, so no financial disclosure exists to review. **Keep in mind:** A candidate with no campaign committee has less of a public paper trail than their rivals. That matters this close to the election. Factor it into how much you can learn about them before voting. ## Rafael Trujillo Rafael Trujillo is a Rialto resident, a father of two, and a repeat candidate for city office. Campaign-finance records independently confirm a committee for City Council in 2020. They also confirm Mayor in 2024, City Council again in 2024, and now City Council in 2026. That is four runs in three cycles. None has won him the office sought. His filed ballot designation is "Case Manager/Parent." Per his own campaign site, he has served on the San Bernardino County Committee on School District Organization. He has also served on the West Valley Water District and city parks commissions. His site does not mention any of his prior runs. He cites past work expanding first-time-homebuyer housing, establishing Fire Station 5, and pandemic relief. His 2026 committee reported just $200 in contributions against $282.51 in expenditures for Jan-June 2026. Ending cash was $736.19. That is the smallest campaign treasury disclosed in this race. **Strengths:** A record of public-board service apart from his campaigns. It includes school-district organization, a water district, and parks commissions. He also knows the nomination process firsthand. **Trade-offs:** None of his three prior runs for Rialto office have succeeded. His 2026 campaign's fundraising is the thinnest of any candidate with a filed Form 460 in this race. **Keep in mind:** Persistence across four campaigns in three cycles is worth weighing on its own terms. It can read as sustained civic commitment. It can also be a pattern worth asking him about directly. ## Review notes - Ana Gonzalez's own campaign site (voteanagonzalez.com), self-description attributed in text: describes her as a 30-year Rialto resident (moved to the city at age 9 in 1996), a mother of two, and cites service on the city's Budget Advisory Committee and General Plan Community Advisory Committee, plus chairing the California Transportation Commission's Interagency Equity Advisory Committee -- consistent with, though not naming the specific organization behind, her filed ballot designation "Nonprofit Executive Director." Lists five platform priorities: infrastructure, housing, health and safety, small business, and seniors., Edward Montoya Jr.'s own campaign site (edwardmontoya4rialtocitycouncil.com), self-description attributed in text: describes him as a U.S. Army retired combat veteran (17 years as a Combat Medic and Medical Platoon Sergeant), a paramedic with law-enforcement experience, and founder of the Brotherhood Bridge Foundation, which he describes as having helped thousands of veterans and first responders through crisis intervention and mental-health advocacy; says his children were raised in Rialto and graduated from local schools; and lists, in his own words, "CONFIRE, the California Association of Public Cemeteries, and the Veterans Committee" as bodies he represents the city on -- quoted verbatim rather than independently verified, since that pairing (a fire-dispatch authority alongside a cemetery association) reads as an odd or possibly garbled description on the candidate's own site., and Rafael Trujillo's own campaign site (rafaeltrujillo.com), self-description attributed in text: describes him as a father of two living with his wife Mirella, cites past service on the San Bernardino County Committee on School District Organization, the West Valley Water District, and city parks commissions, and credits himself with expanding first-time-homebuyer housing programs, establishing Fire Station 5, and pandemic relief efforts; does not mention his prior, unsuccessful runs for this office in 2020 and 2024 or for Mayor in 2024 (independently confirmed instead by his own campaign-finance committee history -- see rialto-netfile-2026). may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources. ## Sources 1. [San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters -- "Offices Up for Election, November 3, 2026, General Election" (the same document as sb-offices-up-2026, a different section): the "City of Rialto" section lists exactly one office, a 4-year term -- Member, City Council (2 seats, no district number given).](https://uploads.rov.sbcounty.gov/ROV/Elections/2026/1103/Report_OfficesUpForElection.pdf) 2. [San Bernardino County Registrar of Voters -- statewide "Report_CandidateList.pdf" candidate-filing report (the same document as sb-candidate-list-2026, a different section): the "City of Rialto" section (pp. 173-176 of 249) names all nine qualified 2026 City Council candidates for the two open at-large seats -- Edward Montoya Jr. (flagged Incumbent), Ana Gonzalez, Robert "Bobby" Bustamante, Ed Scott (flagged Incumbent), Carl Mayfield, Edward J. Carrillo, Blanca Mondragon, Celina Diaz, and Rafael Trujillo -- each with their filed ballot designation, "Last Updated: 8/28/2026."](https://uploads.rov.sbcounty.gov/ROV/Elections/2026/1103/Report_CandidateList.pdf) 3. [City of Rialto -- official bilingual "Notice of Election, November 3, 2026," signed by City Clerk Barbara A. McGee: confirms exactly "2 (two) Members" of the City Council, "Full term of 4 (four) years," a July 13-August 7, 2026 nomination period (extendable to August 12 if an incumbent doesn't file), and cites Elections Code section 10229 as the mechanism for filling a seat by appointment if no one or only one person is nominated.](https://www.rialtoca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/8760/Notice-of-Election---English-and-Spanish-2026) 4. [City of Rialto -- the City Clerk's own "2026 Candidates List" (updated 8/13/2026), giving the certified ballot order from the California Secretary of State's randomized-alphabet drawing (Aug. 13, 2026) for all nine City Council candidates -- Edward J. Carrillo, Celina Diaz, Ed Scott, Robert "Bobby" Bustamante, Ana Gonzalez, Blanca Mondragon, Edward Montoya Jr., Carl Mayfield, and Rafael Trujillo -- each with their filed ballot designation and voluntarily provided contact/campaign-website information, headed "CANDIDATES FOR CITY COUNCIL MEMBER" with no district breakout for any name.](https://www.rialtoca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/8777/2026-Candidates-List-updated-8132026) 5. [City of Rialto -- "City Council & Elected Officials" page: confirms a five-member elected body (Mayor plus four Council Members), naming Mayor Joe Baca (term expires 2028), Mayor Pro Tem Ed Scott (term expires 2026), and Council Members Andy Carrizales (2028), Karla Perez (2028), and Edward Montoya Jr. (2026) -- exactly matching the two seats up this cycle -- and separately naming Edward J. Carrillo as the city's sitting, separately elected City Treasurer (term expires 2028).](https://www.rialtoca.gov/285/City-Council-Elected-Officials) 6. [City of Rialto's own city-specific NetFile-hosted public campaign-finance portal (aid=RIAL, distinct from the county-wide aid=SBD portal used elsewhere in this file), queried directly by name for all nine 2026 candidates via its own QuickNameSearch/filings-by-filer JSON API (reverse-engineered from the portal's own downloaded JS bundle), with each available candidate's most recent Form 460 downloaded directly via the portal's own CampaignDocuments/download endpoint. Ed Scott reported $18,800 in total contributions (incl. $5,900 nonmonetary) against $6,284.71 in expenditures for Jan-June 2026, ending cash $34,869.19. Edward Montoya Jr. reported $25,841.25 in contributions against $17,627.21 in expenditures, ending cash $18,456.16, with $1,334.12 in outstanding debt. Ana Gonzalez reported $10,762 in contributions against $2,783.83 in expenditures, ending cash $7,978.17 (her own filed summary page's beginning- and ending-cash figures do not arithmetically reconcile with each other; reported here exactly as filed, not corrected or guessed at). Edward J. Carrillo's committee, formed August 5, 2026, reported $5,000 in contributions and $50 in expenditures for its first (July 1-28, 2026) filing period -- a scanned image PDF with no extractable text layer, read by rendering it to an image and reading the figures directly -- ending cash $4,950. Rafael Trujillo reported $200 in contributions against $282.51 in expenditures for Jan-June 2026, ending cash $736.19. Robert Bustamante's and Blanca Mondragon's 2026 committees have filed only Form 410/501 threshold paperwork, no Form 460 yet; Carl Mayfield and Celina Diaz have no committee registered with the city at all as of this retrieval.](https://netfile.com/public/RIAL/campaign) 7. [KVCR News -- "Rialto appoints Army veteran and nonprofit leader Edward Montoya Jr. to vacant seat": headline, outlet, and publish date confirmed via Google News RSS's own structured metadata; kvcrnews.org itself was not fetchable directly in this pass, so the article body could not be read or cited for any claim beyond what the headline itself states.](https://kvcrnews.org/local-news/2025-01-09/rialto-appoints-army-veteran-and-nonprofit-leader-edward-montoya-jr-to-vacant-seat) 8. [San Bernardino Sun -- four separate headlines tracking Joe Baca's council-seat vacancy and its filling, confirmed via Google News RSS's own structured metadata (sbsun.com itself was not fetchable directly in this pass, so no article body was read beyond each headline): "Rialto City Council to appoint new member to fill vacancy in January" (Dec. 12, 2024); "Rialto City Council has an opening. Here's how you can apply to fill it" (Dec. 18, 2024); "How the Rialto City Council filled its open seat" (Jan. 8, 2025) -- consistent with and independent of kvcrnews.org's Jan. 9, 2025 report naming Edward Montoya Jr. as the appointee.](https://www.sbsun.com) 9. [Inland Empire Community News (iecn.com, by Manny Sandoval) -- "Mayor Pro-Tem Ed Scott vying for another term on Rialto City Council": read in full. Scott's own quote, "I was first elected into office in 1996," plus his account of a mechanical-engineering degree from Southland University, 32 years as a Rialto resident, and his priorities (public safety, the Rialto Marketplace's economic development, and street paving).](https://iecn.com/mayor-pro-tem-ed-scott-vying-for-another-term-on-rialto-city-council/) 10. [Inland Empire Community News (iecn.com) -- "Rialto Mayor Pro Tem Scott praises bill, named in honor of his late son, that would address illicit distribution of nitrous oxide": read in full. Reports that Scott's son Myles Edward "Eddie" Scott died in 2014 in a car crash a week after graduating high school when the vehicle's driver lost consciousness after inhaling nitrous oxide; that Rialto banned nitrous-oxide sales/distribution in 2017 under Scott's push (reported as a first for a U.S. city); and quotes Scott praising the federal "Myles Edward Scott Act," introduced by Rep. Norma Torres and co-sponsored by Rep. Pete Aguilar.](https://iecn.com/mayor-pro-tem-scott-praises-bill-named-in-honor-of-his-late-son-that-would-address-illicit-distribution-of-nitrous-oxide/) 11. [Ana Gonzalez's own campaign site (voteanagonzalez.com), self-description attributed in text: describes her as a 30-year Rialto resident (moved to the city at age 9 in 1996), a mother of two, and cites service on the city's Budget Advisory Committee and General Plan Community Advisory Committee, plus chairing the California Transportation Commission's Interagency Equity Advisory Committee -- consistent with, though not naming the specific organization behind, her filed ballot designation "Nonprofit Executive Director." Lists five platform priorities: infrastructure, housing, health and safety, small business, and seniors.](https://www.voteanagonzalez.com/) 12. [Two outlets' headlines independently confirming Ana Gonzalez ran for this same office in each of her two prior eligible cycles, confirmed via Google News RSS's own structured metadata (neither article's full body was fetchable in this pass): Inland Empire Community News's "Ana Gonzalez eyes Rialto City Council seat" (Dec. 28, 2018) and the San Bernardino Sun's "Ana Gonzalez, Rialto City Council, 2024 election questionnaire" (Oct. 7, 2024).](https://iecn.com) 13. [Edward Montoya Jr.'s own campaign site (edwardmontoya4rialtocitycouncil.com), self-description attributed in text: describes him as a U.S. Army retired combat veteran (17 years as a Combat Medic and Medical Platoon Sergeant), a paramedic with law-enforcement experience, and founder of the Brotherhood Bridge Foundation, which he describes as having helped thousands of veterans and first responders through crisis intervention and mental-health advocacy; says his children were raised in Rialto and graduated from local schools; and lists, in his own words, "CONFIRE, the California Association of Public Cemeteries, and the Veterans Committee" as bodies he represents the city on -- quoted verbatim rather than independently verified, since that pairing (a fire-dispatch authority alongside a cemetery association) reads as an odd or possibly garbled description on the candidate's own site.](https://www.edwardmontoya4rialtocitycouncil.com/) 14. [Rafael Trujillo's own campaign site (rafaeltrujillo.com), self-description attributed in text: describes him as a father of two living with his wife Mirella, cites past service on the San Bernardino County Committee on School District Organization, the West Valley Water District, and city parks commissions, and credits himself with expanding first-time-homebuyer housing programs, establishing Fire Station 5, and pandemic relief efforts; does not mention his prior, unsuccessful runs for this office in 2020 and 2024 or for Mayor in 2024 (independently confirmed instead by his own campaign-finance committee history -- see rialto-netfile-2026).](https://www.rafaeltrujillo.com/) ## The rest of the ballot Rialto 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, "Rialto City Council — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/rialto-council (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.