- riversideca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Riverside City Clerk -- "Elections" page: states directly that the Nov. 3, 2026 General Municipal Runoff Election is for City Council Wards 2 and 4 only ("no candidate received a majority of the vote in either ward during the June 2, 2026 Primary Election"; Ward 6 was decided in the primary), and that the city's next General Municipal Election -- Mayor plus Wards 1, 3, 5, 7 -- is not until March 7, 2028. Links the county's certified June 2, 2026 results PDF and the city's own Laserfiche-hosted candidate-statement PDF (the latter returned only a "cookies not enabled" error on every retrieval attempt in this pass).
- voteinfo.net (opens in a new tab)Riverside County Registrar of Voters -- "Election Summary Report, Final Certified Election Results" for the June 2, 2026 Statewide Direct Primary Election (the same PDF the City of Riverside's own Elections page links as its "Certified June 2, 2026 Election Results"): gives, by raw vote and percent, Riverside City Council Ward 2 (Torres 3,047/37.99%, Ayra 2,865/35.72%, Vahl 1,808/22.54%, Montero 300/3.74%; 8,020 total), Ward 4 (Conder 5,966/45.63%, Vandenberg 3,705/28.34%, Qattawi 3,403/26.03%; 13,074 total), and Ward 6 (Hernandez 2,657/50.29% -- an outright majority, no runoff -- Puerta 28.26%, Berrellez 21.45%; 5,283 total). This section of the PDF carries the same contest-header/candidate-block shift bug already documented elsewhere in this dataset (see sources/riverside-candidates-nov2026.txt): the printed headers "Treasurer-Tax Collector" and "Riverside City Council Ward 2" each sit one candidate-block early, over the Ward 2 and Ward 4 blocks respectively, rather than their own. Candidate-to-ward assignment here relies on Ballotpedia's independently labeled results tables (below), which match these exact names and vote totals under the correct ward header, not on this PDF's own (mis)placed headers.
- ballotpedia.org (opens in a new tab)Ballotpedia -- "Riverside, California": city-government reference page confirming Riverside is a charter city with council-manager government, an 8-member council (7 ward-elected members plus a citywide-elected, non-voting Mayor), sourced to the Riverside City Charter and Code via Municode; also carries the current officeholder table used to confirm Ward 2 (Clarissa Cervantes, term ending 2026) and Ward 4 (Charles Conder Jr., term ending 2026) had no incumbent listed past this cycle, that Ward 6's Luis Hernandez assumed office July 7, 2026 (an outright June win, no runoff), and that Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson (in office since 2020) is not up again until 2028.
- ballotpedia.org (opens in a new tab)Ballotpedia -- "City elections in Riverside, California (2026)": dedicated election page with certified June 2, 2026 general-election and Nov. 3, 2026 runoff voteboxes for each ward. Ward 2: "Gracie Torres and Aram Ayra advanced to a runoff. They defeated Mike Vahl and Christen Montero" (same vote totals as the county PDF, under the correct label). Ward 4: "Incumbent Charles Conder Jr. and Rich Vandenberg advanced to a runoff. They defeated Jessica Qattawi." Ward 6: "Luis Hernandez defeated Oz Puerta and Norma Berrellez" outright, no runoff. Also states the citywide filing deadline was March 6, 2026 and that this is a nonpartisan election.
- ballotpedia.org (opens in a new tab)Ballotpedia -- candidate page for Aram Ayra (Riverside City Council Ward 2, 2026): a short biography section states he "earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Riverside in 2018." No campaign-website or platform content is present on the page.
- netfile.com (opens in a new tab)City of Riverside NetFile public campaign-disclosure portal — candidate and committee filing search
- vote411.org (opens in a new tab)League of Women Voters -- Vote411 voter guide, 'City of Riverside City Council Member, Ward 2' race (statewide All Races list): each candidate's self-submitted ballot designation and campaign contacts, plus answers to the League's questions -- 'If elected, what are your top 3 priorities?' and 'What background, experience and/or education qualify you for this elected office?' Answers on file from Gracie Torres. Capture in data/nov-2026/sources/vote411/riverside-council-2.json.
Last updated October 6, 2026.
City of Riverside
Riverside City Council, Ward 2
This person holds your ward's seat on Riverside's City Council. Members vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The council has seven ward-elected members, plus a Mayor elected citywide. The Mayor presides over meetings but does not vote. All seats serve four-year terms. Wards 2, 4, and 6 are elected together. The Mayor and Wards 1, 3, 5, and 7 vote in the other years. That group is next up in March 2028. A candidate needs over half the vote in the spring primary to win outright. Otherwise, the top two candidates meet in a November runoff, as here.
No candidate got over 50% in Riverside's Ward 2 primary. Gracie Torres, with 38.0% in June, faces Aram Ayra, with 35.7%, for this open seat. Councilmember Clarissa Cervantes did not run again, and the winner serves a 4-year term on the City Council.
This person holds Ward 2's seat on Riverside's 8-member City Council (7 ward members plus a separately elected, non-voting Mayor). They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use for a charter city of about 315,000 with council-manager government. Riverside elects by majority vote -- a candidate who tops 50% in the spring primary wins outright, as Ward 6 did this cycle -- and sends the top two to a November runoff otherwise, as here.
Four candidates ran in the June 2, 2026 primary for this open seat (8,020 total votes): Torres and Ayra advanced; Mike Vahl (22.5%) and Christen Montero (3.7%) did not. Riverside's Mayor and City Council Wards 1, 3, 5, and 7 are on a separate cycle and are not on this ballot -- they are next up in March 2028.
Gracie Torres
Gracie Torres led the June primary with 38.0% of the vote, or 3,047 votes. It was a four-way race for this open seat. No outside biography, job, or platform statement was found for her.
Aram Ayra
Aram Ayra was a close second in June with 35.7%, or 2,865 votes. He earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Riverside, in 2018. No other biography or platform statement was found for him.
Your pick
A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.