City of Rohnert Park · Statewide General Election
Rohnert Park City Council, District 5
This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.
On the ballot
- Susan Hollingsworth Adams — Incumbent
- Arlene G. Linder — Retired Artist
- Mauricio Barreto — Retired Peace Officer
Councilmembers vote on Rohnert Park's city budget, ordinances, and land use for this Sonoma County city of 44,390 residents (2020 Census). Rohnert Park is a council-manager city: a professional city manager runs day-to-day operations while the five-member elected Council sets policy. The city moved from at-large to district-based Council elections in 2020, adopting five districts by Ordinance No. 944; each seat serves a 4-year term. This November's ballot includes two of the five districts, District 2 and District 5 -- this dataset could not independently confirm the remaining districts' election schedule beyond that. Rohnert Park's current Mayor, Emily Sanborn, holds that title while representing District 2; this dataset could not independently confirm how Rohnert Park selects its Mayor (directly elected citywide vs. chosen by the Council from among its own members), since no source reachable in this pass addressed the question directly.
Incumbent Susan Hollingsworth Adams faces two challengers, retired peace officer Mauricio Barreto and retired artist Arlene G. Linder, for Rohnert Park's District 5 council seat. Whichever candidate gets the most votes on November 3 wins the seat outright -- no runoff.
Councilmembers vote on Rohnert Park's city budget, ordinances, and land use for this Sonoma County city of 44,390 residents (2020 Census). Rohnert Park is a council-manager city: a professional city manager runs day-to-day operations while the five-member elected Council sets policy. The city moved from at-large to district-based Council elections in 2020, adopting five districts by Ordinance No. 944; each seat serves a 4-year term. Only Districts 2 and 5 are up this November -- this dataset could not independently confirm when the remaining three districts next come up.
The county's own candidate roster labels itself "not final or official" pending a later posting, but every candidate here qualified before the extended August 12 nomination deadline, and the city's own Candidate Resources page independently confirms the same field and states the nomination period "is officially closed" -- so this dataset treats the race as settled rather than left unbuilt. Unlike Santa Rosa's posted-statement model, Rohnert Park does not publish candidate statements online for this cycle; the city's own page states biographical materials and Form 700 filings are available only "by appointment only, upon request" through the City Clerk's office.
Susan Hollingsworth Adams
Susan Hollingsworth Adams is Rohnert Park's sitting District 5 councilmember, running for reelection; the county's own candidate list prints her ballot designation simply as "Incumbent." The city's own Meet My City Council page independently confirms her as the sitting District 5 councilmember. No independent news profile, campaign website, or civic-board record was found for her in this pass beyond that officeholder status.
Strengths
Sitting officeholder status, with a checkable record in the seat and independent confirmation of her current role from the city's own council roster.
Trade-offs
No independent news coverage or specific council-voting record was found in this pass -- only the county's bare candidate list, her incumbency, and the city's own roster confirmation.
Keep in mind
Rohnert Park does not post candidate statements online this cycle, so no fuller account of her record in office -- good or bad -- could be checked beyond what's here.
Mauricio Barreto
Mauricio Barreto is challenging incumbent Susan Hollingsworth Adams for District 5; his ballot designation is "Retired Peace Officer." No independently reachable campaign website, news profile, or civic-board record was found for him in this pass beyond that ballot designation.
Strengths
No independent source describes any record, background, or platform for him beyond his ballot designation and the county's certified candidate list.
Trade-offs
Voters have no statement, platform, or public record to weigh for him beyond that filing.
Keep in mind
A thin public profile here reflects what could be found in this pass -- Rohnert Park does not post candidate statements online this cycle -- not a judgment about his candidacy.
Arlene G. Linder
Arlene G. Linder is challenging incumbent Susan Hollingsworth Adams for District 5; her ballot designation is "Retired Artist." No independently reachable campaign website, news profile, or civic-board record was found for her in this pass beyond that ballot designation.
Strengths
No independent source describes any record, background, or platform for her beyond her ballot designation and the county's certified candidate list.
Trade-offs
Voters have no statement, platform, or public record to weigh for her beyond that filing.
Keep in mind
A thin public profile here reflects what could be found in this pass -- Rohnert Park does not post candidate statements online this cycle -- not a judgment about her candidacy.
Source review: Strong (85/100) · 7 cited sources
Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.
- sonomacounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Sonoma County Registrar of Voters -- "Local Candidates Who Have Filed," November 3, 2026 General Election: lists exactly two Rohnert Park "CITY CONTESTS" -- City Council Districts 2 and 5, each Elect 1 -- with per-contest candidate name, ballot designation, qualification date, and incumbent flag; carries the page's sitewide "not final or official" disclaimer. Page last updated 8/17/26, unchanged on a live re-check 2026-09-01 after both the regular (Aug. 7) and extended (Aug. 12) nomination deadlines had passed.
- rpcity.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Rohnert Park -- own "Candidate Resources" page: independently names the identical six-candidate, two-district field with each candidate's own contact information, and states the nomination period for the November 3, 2026 election "is officially closed." Notes that Form 700 and candidate biographical materials are available "by appointment only, upon request" through the City Clerk's office -- the city does not post candidate statements online for this cycle.
- rpcity.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Rohnert Park -- own "City Elections" page: states directly that the November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election includes a District 2 and a District 5 City Council seat, each a 4-year term, alongside Measure K (a citywide ballot measure; measures are descoped from display in this dataset).
- rpcity.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Rohnert Park -- own "By-District Elections Transition" page: confirms the city adopted five City Council districts by Ordinance No. 944 on Feb. 25, 2020, transitioning from at-large elections after seven public hearings; references a staggered "election order of each district" without stating the full six-year rotation schedule.
- rpcity.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Rohnert Park -- own "Meet My City Council" page: independently confirms Susan Hollingsworth Adams as the sitting District 5 councilmember (corroborating the county roster's incumbent flag) and Emily Sanborn as the city's current Mayor while representing District 2 -- no candidate named Sanborn appears among District 2's three 2026 filers.
- en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Rohnert Park, California": used narrowly for the 2020 Census population (44,390) and the city's council-manager government structure -- does not cover the 2026 election.
- southtechhosting.com (opens in a new tab)A documented financial-disclosure access gap: Rohnert Park's own "Campaign Statement Filings" page links a SouthTech Hosting "Web Retrieval" portal for statements filed on or after July 17, 2023, and a companion "eCampaign" filer portal. Both load (HTTP 200), but a direct inspection of the served HTML shows an ASP.NET WebForms application driven entirely by client-side __VIEWSTATE/__PostBack controls, with no static candidate or filer data and no URL-parameter or REST-API path this session's fetch tooling could reach (no browser extension connected this pass) -- the same client-side-gated pattern documented elsewhere in this dataset for NetFile-hosted portals, on different vendor infrastructure. No FPPC Form 460, 470, or 501 could be confirmed present or absent for any of the six candidates.
Last updated September 1, 2026.