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City of Richmond · Statewide General Election

Mayor of Richmond

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 presides over City Council meetings and represents Richmond publicly, but votes as one of seven members on the budget and city ordinances -- day-to-day city government runs through an appointed city manager. Richmond's mayor is the only council seat elected citywide; the other six are elected by district. Richmond is also the only Contra Costa city that runs its own June-primary/November-runoff system: no June candidate won a majority here, so the top two meet in November. A 4-year term.

Richmond's Nov. 3 ballot has just one local race: Mayor. In the city's first-ever primary this June, no candidate won a majority, so the top two advance -- City Councilmember Claudia Jimenez (39%, certified) and retired HR director Ahmad Anderson (28%). Incumbent Mayor Eduardo Martinez, who faced criticism over social-media comments many read as antisemitic, finished third with 22% and is out.

The winner serves a 4-year term as the only citywide-elected member of Richmond's 7-person council -- the other six seats are elected by district. Under Richmond's council-manager government, an appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations; the mayor chairs council meetings, represents the city publicly, and votes as one of seven, with no veto. City Council Districts 2, 3, and 4 were also up this year, but all three incumbents (Cesar Zepeda, Doria Robinson, Soheila Bana) won outright in June, so the mayor's race is the only one reaching November.

Both candidates frame the race around what comes after Chevron's $550 million settlement with the city. Jimenez, a two-term councilmember who helped negotiate that money, argues for experienced continuity in spending it. Anderson, a retired human-resources director and first-time officeholder who says he's learned from past election losses, argues Richmond needs new leadership on public safety and jobs beyond Chevron. Both are longtime Richmond Democrats running in this nonpartisan race -- the split reads more insider-vs-outsider than left-right.

Richmond's first primary-runoff election

Richmond had never run a primary before this year. A 2024 charter amendment, approved by 58% of voters, created a June primary/November runoff for Mayor and City Council, replacing the old single-round election. This June was the system's debut: five mayoral candidates and eight council candidates (across Districts 2, 3, and 4) qualified. A candidate who wins an outright majority in June is elected without a November race -- which is what happened in all three council districts. Only the mayor's race, with five candidates splitting the vote, produced no June majority.

Claudia Jimenez

A two-term Richmond city councilmember representing District 6, Jimenez led the June primary with 39% of the vote. Originally from Colombia, she's a trained architect with a master's in environmental planning from UC Berkeley who worked on affordable-housing and watershed projects there before moving to Richmond. On the council, she helped negotiate the city's $550 million Chevron settlement, led an "Invest in People Not Prison" campaign that redirected $5.2 million toward reentry services, and championed the 2016 rent-control ballot measure. She's pledged to take no money from corporations, fossil-fuel interests, city contractors, or developers, and is backed by the Sierra Club, Richmond Firefighters Local 188, United Teachers of Richmond, SEIU Local 1021, and IFPTE Local 21.

Strengths

Two terms on the council plus a direct hand in the Chevron settlement and rent-control fights, plus five major labor and environmental endorsements.

Trade-offs

Owning the settlement money means owning how it's spent -- if voters are unhappy with city finances, she's the incumbent-adjacent choice.

Keep in mind

Richmond Confidential could not get Jimenez to sit for its dedicated Q&A interview series, unlike Anderson and two other candidates.

Ahmad Anderson

A retired human-resources director who was born and raised in Richmond -- he cites 66 years in the city -- Anderson finished second in the June primary with 28%. He spent his career in HR and workforce roles, most recently as Director of People and Culture at Golden Gate Park's operating nonprofit, and earlier at UPS and Goodwill Industries; he's also taught at UC Berkeley for more than 13 years. He chaired Richmond's Economic Development Commission, serves as vice president of the Richmond NAACP, and sits on the board of Fair Housing Advocates of Northern California. His platform centers on public safety, workforce development beyond Chevron (citing OpenAI's planned 730 local jobs), and directing Chevron settlement money toward a Hilltop-area hospital. He's endorsed by the California Democratic Party, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, State Sen. Jesse Arreguin, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, and three sitting Richmond councilmembers.

Strengths

A detailed platform from his own dedicated Q&A interview, decades of workforce/HR experience, and endorsements from the state Democratic Party and three sitting councilmembers.

Trade-offs

No prior elected office -- his leadership record is professional and civic (NAACP, Economic Development Commission), not governmental.

Keep in mind

He's run for office and lost before; he says the experience taught him what kind of leader he wants to be.

Source review: Very strong (90/100) · 12 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • ca-richmond3.civicplus.com (opens in a new tab)City of Richmond -- City Clerk's own "Municipal Elections & Voter Registration" info sheet: states plainly that "Richmond Mayor is elected at large and City Councilmembers are elected by districts beginning with the November 3, 2020, election, and serve staggered four-year terms," and that the Nov. 3, 2026 General Municipal Election is "for the purpose of electing a new mayor and three City Council members to represent districts 2, 3, and 4 for four-year terms"
  • ca-richmond3.civicplus.com (opens in a new tab)City of Richmond -- City Clerk's own post-filing-deadline nomination-document ledger ("501's on File -- Nomination documents issued, filed, qualified," data as of 5/2/2026), a scanned PDF read directly: lists all five qualified Mayoral candidates (Ahmad J. Anderson, Claudia Jimenez, Demnlus Johnson III, incumbent Eduardo Martinez, Mark Wassberg) with each one's campaign-committee name and FPPC id, plus the qualified fields for Council Districts 2 (Cesar Zepeda, unopposed), 3 (Brandon Evans, incumbent Doria Robinson), and 4 (incumbent Soheila Bana, Keycha Gallon, Jamin Pursell)
  • ca-richmond3.civicplus.com (opens in a new tab)City of Richmond -- City Clerk's own "2026 GENERAL ELECTION INFORMATION" page: states directly that "No general election races for Districts 2, 3, and 4 -- all incumbents won majority votes in the June primary and are re-elected" (Cesar Zepeda, Doria Robinson, Soheila Bana), and that the November 3, 2026 ballot's only race is Mayor, between Claudia Jimenez and Ahmad Anderson, linking each one's official candidate statement
  • ca-richmond3.civicplus.com (opens in a new tab)City of Richmond -- City Clerk's own "2026 PRIMARY ELECTION INFORMATION" page: indexes each qualified candidate's self-authored ballot-designation statement for the June 2, 2026 primary, for both Mayor and City Council Districts 2, 3, and 4
  • ca-richmond3.civicplus.com (opens in a new tab)City of Richmond -- Claudia Jimenez's own filed Candidate Statement for the Nov. 3, 2026 Mayoral general election (a scanned PDF read directly): her own account of her two terms on the City Council, the $550 million Chevron settlement and credit-default-swap fight, her corporate/fossil-fuel/city-contractor/developer contribution-free pledge, and her endorsements (Sierra Club, Richmond Firefighters Local 188, United Teachers of Richmond, SEIU Local 1021, IFPTE Local 21)
  • ca-richmond3.civicplus.com (opens in a new tab)City of Richmond -- Ahmad Anderson's own filed Candidate Statement for the Nov. 3, 2026 Mayoral general election (a scanned PDF read directly): his own account of his background as a Human Resources Director born and raised in Richmond, his tenure chairing the Richmond Economic Development Commission, his public-safety/economic/housing platform, and his endorsements (California Democratic Party, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, State Sen. Jesse Arreguin, Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, and Councilmembers Soheila Bana, Jamelia Brown, and Cesar Zepeda)
  • ca-richmond3.civicplus.com (opens in a new tab)City of Richmond -- Claudia Jimenez's official City Council biography page (District 6): confirms over a decade of Richmond residency, an architecture background from Colombia, a UC Berkeley master's in Environmental Planning, and specific council-record accomplishments including the "Invest in People Not Prison" campaign that redirected $5.2 million toward reentry services, rebuilding Solano Playlot, and the 2016 rent-control ballot initiative
  • ca-richmond3.civicplus.com (opens in a new tab)City of Richmond -- "City Council" page: confirms the council-manager government structure, that the Council consists of "six Councilmembers elected at large and a separately elected Mayor" (six district seats numbered 1-6 plus the citywide Mayor), and names the sitting roster
  • richmondconfidential.org (opens in a new tab)Richmond Confidential (a project of UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism), byline Christine Schiavo -- "Election Results: shakeup in Richmond's first primary as incumbent Mayor Martinez's chances fade, with Jimenez taking a strong lead" (June 3, 2026): reports certified primary shares Jimenez 39%, Anderson 28%, Martinez 22%, Johnson 10%, Wassberg 6%; that Martinez's third-place finish followed controversy over social-media comments many read as antisemitic; that this was Richmond's first-ever primary election, created by a 2024 ballot measure approved by 58% of voters; and that all three council incumbents up this cycle (Zepeda, Robinson, Bana) appeared to have won outright
  • richmondconfidential.org (opens in a new tab)Richmond Confidential, byline Jordan Montero -- "Q&A with Ahmad Anderson, Mayoral Candidate" (May 19, 2026): a dedicated, six-question interview covering Anderson's age (66), retirement, most recent position (Director of People and Culture at Golden Gate Park's operating nonprofit), UC Berkeley political-science degree, prior UPS and Goodwill Industries roles, 13-plus years teaching at UC Berkeley, NAACP and Fair Housing Advocates board seats, and platform detail on public safety, economic development, Chevron-settlement spending, Flock cameras, and housing -- with an editor's note that neither Mayor Martinez nor Councilmember Jimenez agreed to be interviewed
  • richmondconfidential.org (opens in a new tab)Richmond Confidential -- "Meet the five candidates for Richmond mayor on Wednesday" (April 21, 2026): announces a candidate forum ahead of the June primary and independently names each candidate's self-designation as of that filing, including Jimenez as "Councilmember" and Anderson as "human resources director"
  • calaccess.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)This dataset's own documented record of a dedicated, unsuccessful attempt to retrieve Richmond Mayor campaign-finance filings from the state's Cal-Access disclosure system: every attempt (cal-access.sos.ca.gov and calaccess.sos.ca.gov alike) returned a TLS hostname/certificate mismatch against an unrelated Azure Government backend rather than the state's own certificate, blocking any lookup before a search could run

Last updated September 1, 2026.