# Riverbank City Council, District 3 Compare records and positions simply between Carissa Commons or Sammi Martinez for Riverbank City Council, District 3 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would represent one of Riverbank's four City Council districts. They would vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. Riverbank is a Stanislaus County city of about 24,865 residents. Riverbank uses a council-manager government. A professional City Manager runs day-to-day operations. The elected council sets policy. The Mayor is elected at-large, citywide, and is not on this ballot. Rachel Hernandez has held the Mayor's office since her 2024 election. The four council seats are elected by district to staggered 4-year terms. Districts 1 and 3 are up this November. - Jurisdiction: City of Riverbank - 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/riverbank-council-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: September 1, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 90 out of 100 (Very strong), across 8 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Carissa Commons** — Hospice Nurse/Mother - **Sammi Martinez** — Fraud Investigation Technician A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Two candidates are running for Riverbank's open District 3 council seat: Carissa Commons against Sammi Martinez. Whichever candidate gets the most votes on November 3 wins outright -- no runoff. This seat is one of Riverbank's four district-elected City Council seats, alongside a citywide-elected Mayor. Councilmembers vote on the city's budget, ordinances, and land use; day-to-day operations run through a professional City Manager. Riverbank's council seats serve staggered 4-year terms -- Districts 2 and 4, and the Mayor, aren't up again until their own terms expire. The seat is open because District 3's sitting officeholder, John Pimentel, currently holds it by prior Council appointment rather than election -- the city's own filing record labels him "Appointed Incumbent" -- and he is not seeking election to it this cycle, which is why neither candidate below carries an incumbent marker. A third person, Alex Rodriguez, pulled nomination papers for this seat but never filed them. ## Carissa Commons Carissa Commons is running for Riverbank's open District 3 council seat. Their filed ballot designation is "Hospice Nurse/Mother." They were the first District 3 candidate to pull nomination papers (July 13, 2026), filed July 29, and were verified by the Registrar of Voters August 3, 2026. No campaign committee, independent news profile, or campaign website was found for them in this pass beyond their own filing with the city. **Strengths:** A hospice nursing background is a distinct, checkable professional credential, and Commons filed and were verified earliest of the two qualified District 3 candidates. **Trade-offs:** No committee filing, platform, or independent profile was found for Commons -- their public paper trail in this pass rests entirely on their own candidacy filing. **Keep in mind:** A thin public profile here reflects what could be found in this pass, not a judgment about Commons's candidacy or qualifications. ## Sammi Martinez Sammi Martinez is running for Riverbank's open District 3 council seat. Their filed ballot designation is "Fraud Investigation Technician." They pulled nomination papers July 20, 2026, filed August 5, and were verified August 5, 2026. No campaign committee, independent news profile, or campaign website was found for them in this pass beyond their own filing with the city. **Strengths:** A fraud-investigation background is a distinct, checkable professional credential relative to Martinez's opponent. **Trade-offs:** No committee filing, platform, or independent profile was found for Martinez -- their public paper trail in this pass rests entirely on their own candidacy filing. **Keep in mind:** A thin public profile here reflects what could be found in this pass, not a judgment about Martinez's candidacy or qualifications. ## Sources 1. [Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters -- official "Unofficial Candidate List," General Election Nov. 3, 2026 (timestamped by the county 7:57 AM 8/31/2026, refetched fresh for this shard): under "CITY OF RIVERBANK," lists exactly two contests -- Council Member, District 1 (Nai N. Sosongkham, Jeanette Reyes, Sherry Fenn, *Luis Uribe) and Council Member, District 3 (Carissa Commons, Sammi Martinez, neither flagged incumbent) -- with no Riverbank Mayor contest anywhere in the document.](https://www.stanvote.gov/pdf/candidate-list.pdf) 2. [City of Riverbank -- own "Candidate List" pull-sheet ("Updated: 08/12/2026 @ 5:00 P.M.," the close of the extended nomination period): the City Clerk's real-time filing record showing papers-pulled/filed/verified dates for every person who pulled nomination papers in each district, including the two District 1 filers (Daymond Mayfield, George Serna) who did not go on to qualify for the final ballot, and naming District 3's sitting officeholder as "Appointed Incumbent John Pimentel."](https://www.riverbank.org/DocumentCenter/View/5499/Candidate-List_08-12-2026) 3. [City of Riverbank -- own "Notice of Nominees for Public Office" (posted August 13, 2026; published August 19, 2026): the final, post-verification certified roster, listing "For Member of City Council District 1 -- Vote for One: Luis Uribe, Jeannette Reyes, Sherry Fenn, Nai Nicholas Sosongkham" and "For Member of City Council District 3 -- Vote for One: Carissa Commons, Sammi Martinez."](https://www.riverbank.org/DocumentCenter/View/5509/NOTICE-OF-NOMINEES-FOR-PUBLIC-OFFICE) 4. [City of Riverbank -- own statutory "Notice of Election" (published July 1, 2026, per Elections Code 10224.5): states unambiguously that only two offices are up this cycle -- "One Member of the City Council - District 1" and "One Member of the City Council - District 3," each a full 4-year term -- confirming no Mayor or District 2/4 race exists in Riverbank this November, and that both offices drew more than one nominee, so neither is an Elections Code Section 10229 direct appointment.](https://www.riverbank.org/DocumentCenter/View/5459/Elections-Candidate-Notice-7-1-2026) 5. [City of Riverbank -- own live "Elections" page: the City Clerk/Elections Official's index of 2026 election documents, linking the Candidate List, Notice of Nominees, and Notice of Election cited separately above.](https://www.riverbank.org/214/Elections) 6. [City of Riverbank -- own live "City Council" page: names the current roster -- Mayor Rachel Hernandez (at-large), District 1 Luis Uribe, District 2 Cindy Fosi, District 3 Vice Mayor John C. Pimentel, District 4 Stacy Call -- the decisive independent confirmation that the county candidate list's Riverbank block (specifically its "*Luis Uribe Incumbent" line) belongs to Riverbank and not a neighboring Stanislaus city.](https://www.riverbank.org/192/City-Council) 7. [Wikipedia -- "Riverbank, California": used narrowly for the 2020 Census population figure (24,865); does not mention the 2026 city council races.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverbank,_California) 8. [City of Riverbank -- own live "Campaign Financing" / FPPC Statement Filings page: as of this retrieval, lists exactly one 2026 candidate committee -- Luis Uribe's "Vote Luis Uribe 2026" (Form 410 Initial only, no Form 460 on file) -- and no committee at all for any of Sosongkham, Reyes, Fenn, Commons, or Martinez. A second 2026 committee on the same page, "Voters for Farmland," is tied to Riverbank's Measure M ballot initiative, not to any candidate in these two contests, and is not cited for either candidate profile.](https://www.riverbank.org/216/Campaign-Financing) ## The rest of the ballot Riverbank 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, "Riverbank City Council, District 3 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/riverbank-council-3 (sources last retrieved September 1, 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.