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City of Ripon · Statewide General Election

Ripon City Council

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 Ripon's five at-large City Council seats: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this San Joaquin County city of about 16,013 residents per the 2020 Census. Ripon is a general-law city (incorporated 1945) operating under a Council-City Administrator form of government. A 4-year term: three seats are elected one cycle and the other two the next -- this November it's the two seats currently held by Vice Mayor Dean Uecker and Councilmember Michael Restuccia. The Mayor and Vice Mayor titles rotate among the five councilmembers by the council's own selection, not by separate election; Mayor Gary Barton isn't up this cycle.

Two long-serving incumbents on Ripon's five-member City Council, Vice Mayor Dean Uecker and Councilmember Michael Restuccia, both filed for new terms, drawing a single challenger: Frank Madrigal, a compliance consultant making his first run for local office.

Ripon is a general-law city, incorporated in 1945, operating under a Council-City Administrator form of government, with about 16,013 residents per the 2020 Census. All five Council seats are elected identically -- at-large and citywide, to 4-year terms -- with three seats up one election cycle and the other two up the next; this November it's the two seats currently held by Uecker and Restuccia. Mayor Gary Barton, Leo Zuber, and Daniel de Graaf hold the other three seats and are not up until 2028.

Restuccia filed for re-election just three days after the July 13 filing window opened; Uecker filed two weeks later. Madrigal, the only newcomer in the race, filed the day before the August 7 deadline closed, avoiding what could otherwise have been an uncontested two-seat election.

How Ripon picks its Mayor

Ripon's Mayor and Vice Mayor aren't separately elected offices. All five City Council seats are elected the same way, at-large and citywide, and the council chooses one of its own members to hold each title -- typically on a rotating basis. Restuccia himself held the Mayor's title as recently as December 2022; Daniel de Graaf, one of the three councilmembers not up this cycle, took a turn starting December 2024; Gary Barton holds it now. Uecker has been selected Mayor four separate times over his roughly two decades on the council, most recently serving as Vice Mayor, per Manteca Bulletin reporting.

Michael Restuccia

The incumbent, whose ballot designation is simply "Incumbent." He has previously held the council-selected Mayor's title, as recently as December 2022. He is President and CEO of Restuccia Enterprises, a Ripon management-and-training business, and a compensated Director of Bank of Stockton and its parent, 1867 Financial Corporation.

Strengths

Sitting councilmember with prior experience as the council's chosen Mayor, plus a local business background and a seat on a regional bank's board.

Trade-offs

His paid Bank of Stockton/1867 Financial Corporation directorship, disclosed on his own Form 700, is a financial tie worth weighing alongside his votes on city financial matters.

Keep in mind

He filed for re-election within days of the filing window opening, well before it was clear the seat would draw a challenger.

Dean D. Uecker

The incumbent Vice Mayor, whose ballot designation is also simply "Incumbent." He has served on Ripon's City Council for roughly two decades and has been selected by his fellow councilmembers to serve as Mayor four separate times, per Manteca Bulletin reporting -- most recently drawing outside attention in March 2026 for publicly endorsing a candidate in neighboring Manteca's mayoral race.

Strengths

Roughly two decades of continuous council service and four separate turns as the council's chosen Mayor -- the deepest institutional experience in this race.

Trade-offs

That same two-decade tenure means a long record to weigh, though this dataset found no specific controversy or vote tied to his name this cycle.

Keep in mind

His filed Form 700 reports no outside investments, real property, or income of any kind -- the simplest economic-interest disclosure of the three candidates.

Frank L. Madrigal

A first-time candidate for elected office, with the ballot designation "Compliance Consultant." He is an Associate at Currie & Brown, Inc., a compliance-consulting and project-management firm, and separately works as an independent consultant for Next Evolution Water Solutions, Inc./NELOGIS, a government-contracting and consulting company, paid via a retainer. He was the only one of the three candidates to file a paid candidate statement with the county.

Strengths

A professional compliance and government-contracting consulting background, plus the initiative to file a candidate statement -- something neither incumbent did.

Trade-offs

No prior elected or appointed public office; no independent news coverage of his campaign or stated platform was found this session beyond his own filed paperwork.

Keep in mind

He filed on the last full day of the filing period, the day before the deadline closed.

Source review: Very strong (91/100) · 11 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • sjgov.org (opens in a new tab)San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters -- "Qualified Candidate List" (report CFMR009, printed 8/20/2026, two weeks after the Aug. 7 filing deadline): confirms the sole November 2026 City of Ripon contest, "Ripon City Council" (contest 3551), On Ballot: Yes, Vote For: 2, with three qualified candidates -- Michael Restuccia (Incumbent), Dean D. Uecker (Incumbent), and Frank L. Madrigal ("Compliance Consultant," the only one of the three who filed a candidate statement) -- no Section 10229 single-filer scenario applies
  • sjgov.org (opens in a new tab)San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters -- "Offices Up for the 2026 General Election": confirms the City of Ripon's sole office up this cycle -- "Member of City Council -- Vote for 2," 4-year terms, At Large
  • cityofripon.org (opens in a new tab)City of Ripon -- official "Notice of Election" (signed by City Clerk Lisa Roos, dated June 30, 2026, published July 2, 2026): confirms "TWO (2) COUNCIL MEMBERS FOR THE CITY OF RIPON FOR FULL TERMS OF FOUR YEARS," with a filing period of July 13-Aug. 7, 2026 (extendable to Aug. 12 only if an incumbent fails to file, which neither did)
  • cityofripon.org (opens in a new tab)City of Ripon -- 2026 "Candidate Log," General Municipal Election, 11/3/2026 (the city's own real-time filing record): Michael P. Restuccia (papers issued 7/13/2026, filed and qualified 7/16/2026), Frank L. Madrigal (issued 7/16/2026, filed and qualified 8/6/2026, the day before the filing deadline closed), Dean Uecker (issued 7/16/2026, filed and qualified 7/29/2026) -- independently corroborates the county's own roster and gives each candidate's filing address
  • cityofripon.org (opens in a new tab)City of Ripon -- "Ripon City Council" page (live roster with term-expiration dates): "Incorporated in 1945, the City of Ripon is a General Law City operating under a Council-City Administrator form of governance. Council Members are elected to four-year terms during General Elections -- three members are elected at one General Election and two members are elected at the next." Lists the current 5-member roster: Gary Barton (Mayor/Seat 1, term expires Nov. 2028), Dean Uecker (Vice Mayor/Seat 2, term expires Nov. 2026), Michael Restuccia (Council Member/Seat 3, term expires Nov. 2026), Leo Zuber (Council Member/Seat 4, term expires Nov. 2028), Daniel de Graaf (Council Member/Seat 5, term expires Nov. 2028) -- confirming Uecker's and Restuccia's are the two seats up this November, and that Barton, Zuber, and de Graaf are not on this ballot
  • cityofripon.org (opens in a new tab)Michael Restuccia's filed FPPC Form 700 (Statement of Economic Interests) for City of Ripon City/Town Council Member, filed 7/14/2026, downloaded and read directly: President and CEO of Restuccia Enterprises (management and training, Ripon); Director of Bank of Stockton and its parent 1867 Financial Corporation, compensated via director fees; real-property interests in Ripon and Tracy held through the Restuccia Family 1996 Trust, of which he is executor
  • cityofripon.org (opens in a new tab)Dean Uecker's filed FPPC Form 700 (Statement of Economic Interests) for City of Ripon City/Town Council Member, filed 7/29/2026, downloaded and read directly: a 1-page cover-page-only filing with no schedules attached and "None -- No reportable interests on any schedule" checked -- the simplest of the three candidates' filings
  • cityofripon.org (opens in a new tab)Frank Madrigal's filed FPPC Form 700 (Statement of Economic Interests) for City of Ripon City/Town Council Member, filed 8/6/2026, downloaded and read directly: Associate at Currie & Brown, Inc. (compliance consulting and project management), matching his "Compliance Consultant" ballot designation; independent consultant for Next Evolution Water Solutions, Inc./NELOGIS (government contracting and consulting services), paid via a retainer for services
  • mantecabulletin.com (opens in a new tab)Manteca Bulletin -- "Ripon Vice Mayor backs Naven in Manteca mayor against incumbent Singh" (published March 10, 2026): identifies Dean Uecker as Ripon's Vice Mayor, states he has served on Ripon's City Council for roughly two decades and has been selected by his council colleagues to serve as Mayor four separate times
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)NetFile -- San Joaquin County's real-time countywide "Filing Log" RSS feed (covers the trailing 15 days of e-filed and paper-only filings across every county and city jurisdiction on the SJC NetFile instance): queried directly and contains no filing under any of Michael Restuccia's, Dean D. Uecker's, or Frank L. Madrigal's names in that window. A negative-result check, not proof no campaign committee exists -- the portal's own full historical search (public.netfile.com/pub2/?aid=SJC) is a Cloudflare Turnstile-gated single-page application this session's fetch tooling could not drive, and the city's own Election Documents page (see ripon-candidatelog-2026) posts only Form 700s for all three 2026 candidates, no Form 410/460/470/497 for any of them
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Ripon, California": used in this shard only for its 2020 Census population figure (16,013); Ballotpedia's own Ripon, California page returned only an empty HTTP 202 response to a direct fetch this session, the same non-JS-renderable failure mode already documented elsewhere in this dataset (e.g. Shafter), so it could not be used or cross-checked

Last updated September 1, 2026.