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City of San Joaquin · Statewide General Election

San Joaquin City Council

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 would hold one of two at-large City Council seats up this cycle in San Joaquin, a Fresno County farming city of about 3,700 residents: city ordinances, the budget, and land use under a council-manager government with an appointed City Manager. A 4-year, overlapping term. San Joaquin's Mayor is selected by the Council from among its own members rather than elected directly by voters, and the city has no elected City Clerk or City Treasurer.

San Joaquin's two City Council seats are effectively decided without a contest: incumbents Dora "Martha" Mejia and Adam Flores-Cornejo, who already hold the seats by prior Council appointment, are the only two candidates who qualified for the two open seats on November 3.

This person would hold one of two at-large City Council seats up this cycle in San Joaquin, a Fresno County farming city of about 3,700 residents: city ordinances, the budget, and land use under a council-manager government with an appointed City Manager (Elizabeth Cabrera) and City Attorney (Hilda Cantu Montoy). A 4-year, overlapping term. San Joaquin's Mayor is selected by the Council from among its own members rather than elected directly by voters -- Adam Flores-Cornejo, one of this contest's two candidates, currently holds that title, with Dora Martha Mejia as the sitting Mayor Pro-Tem. The city has no elected City Clerk or City Treasurer in either county candidate document or on the city's own site.

With exactly two names on the ballot for two seats, both candidates are effectively elected outright -- no runoff or ranked-choice voting applies. Fresno County's own post-filing documents name both as reaching their current seats by direct Council appointment rather than election ("Appointed in Lieu"), though this dataset could not confirm exactly when or why that appointment happened; the city's own public meeting agendas confirm both were already serving by March 2023 and remained seated through at least December 2024. Both candidates filed the identical ballot designation, "School Secretary/Councilmember," independently corroborated by Golden Plains Unified School District's own staff directory. This dataset found no independent news coverage of this race or either candidate.

Dora "Martha" Mejia

A sitting councilmember and the city's current Mayor Pro-Tem, seeking to retain the seat she already holds by prior Council appointment. Her filed ballot designation is "School Secretary/Councilmember," independently corroborated by Golden Plains Unified School District's own staff directory, which lists her as a Secretary III at San Joaquin Elementary School. This dataset found no independent biographical detail (length of residency, community involvement, or platform) beyond her official roles.

Strengths

Sitting Council experience, including current service as Mayor Pro-Tem, confirmed by the city's own site.

Trade-offs

No independent reporting evaluates her record; background and platform beyond her school-secretary job are unconfirmed, and no campaign-finance filing could be found.

Keep in mind

She reached her seat by Council appointment, not election, per the county's own record, and faces no opponent this cycle -- voters have no comparison point on the ballot itself.

Adam Flores-Cornejo

A sitting councilmember and the city's current Mayor -- a title selected by the Council from among its own members, not by direct election -- seeking to retain the council seat he already holds by prior Council appointment. His filed ballot designation is "School Secretary/Councilmember," independently corroborated by Golden Plains Unified School District's own staff directory, which lists him as a Secretary II / Attendance Clerk at San Joaquin Elementary School. This dataset found no independent biographical detail (length of residency, community involvement, or platform) beyond his official roles.

Strengths

Sitting Council experience, including current service as Mayor (a title his Council colleagues chose him for), confirmed by the city's own site.

Trade-offs

No independent reporting evaluates his record; background and platform beyond his school-secretary job are unconfirmed, and no campaign-finance filing could be found.

Keep in mind

He reached his seat by Council appointment, not election, per the county's own record, and faces no opponent this cycle -- voters have no comparison point on the ballot itself.

Source review: Very strong (90/100) · 8 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • www2.fresnocountyca.gov (opens in a new tab)Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters -- CFMR009 "Candidate List" for the Nov. 3, 2026 Consolidated Statewide General Election (printed 8/12/2026 5:37:13PM, post-filing-deadline): lists San Joaquin's single City Council contest (5185), Vote For 2, with DORA "MARTHA" MEJIA and ADAM FLORES-CORNEJO -- both filed designation "School Secretary/Councilmember," both Qualified -- as the two qualified candidates
  • www2.fresnocountyca.gov (opens in a new tab)Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters -- CFMR001 "Contest/Candidate Proof List," filtered to Contests on Ballot, for the Nov. 3, 2026 election (printed 8/18/2026 8:39:55AM): confirms San Joaquin's "Member, City Council" contest (5185) as ON BALLOT, Vote For 2, 2 qualified of 2 filed, and separately names the seat's incumbents-of-record as "Adam Flores Appointed in Lieu" and "Dora Martha Mejia Appointed in Lieu" -- both reaching their current seats by direct Council appointment, not election
  • cityofsanjoaquin.org (opens in a new tab)City of San Joaquin's own official site, "About / Departments" leadership listing: confirms a council-manager government with five Council Members on four-year, overlapping terms, a Council-selected (not directly elected) Mayor -- naming Adam Flores-Cornejo as the sitting Mayor and Dora Martha Mejia as the sitting Mayor Pro-Tem, alongside councilmembers Cristina Covarrubia, Abel Lua, and Rosa M. Ramirez -- plus an appointed City Manager (Elizabeth Cabrera) and City Attorney (Hilda Cantu Montoy); no elected City Clerk or City Treasurer appears on the page
  • cityofsanjoaquin.org (opens in a new tab)City of San Joaquin's own City Council meeting agenda, March 7, 2023: the roll call lists Julia Hernandez as Mayor, Adam Flores as Mayor Pro Tem, and Cristina Covarrubia, Abel Lua, and Martha Mejia as councilmembers -- the earliest agenda this dataset could reach with readable text, establishing both this contest's candidates already held council seats by March 2023
  • cityofsanjoaquin.org (opens in a new tab)City of San Joaquin's own special City Council meeting agenda packet, December 18, 2024: the roll call lists Adam Flores-Cornejo and Martha Mejia (by then using the hyphenated surname) as the top two names, with Cristina Covarrubia, Abel Lua, and Rosa M. Ramirez -- Ramirez newly appearing in place of Julia Hernandez, an unrelated, more recent council transition -- confirming both still held their seats through the end of 2024
  • sjes.gpusd.org (opens in a new tab)Golden Plains Unified School District's own staff directory for San Joaquin Elementary School: lists Dora Martha Mejia as a Secretary III (mmejia@gpusd.org) and Adam Flores-Cornejo as a Secretary II / Attendance Clerk (acornejo@gpusd.org) -- independently corroborating both candidates' filed ballot designation, "School Secretary/Councilmember," and confirming San Joaquin Elementary is one school within Golden Plains Unified, not a standalone district
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's San Joaquin, California article: 2020 census population 3,701 (down from 4,001 in 2010), 95.6% Hispanic or Latino, incorporated February 14, 1920 as the 10th incorporated city in Fresno County (originally named "Graham," renamed San Joaquin in 1913); 1.2 square miles, roughly 11 miles southwest of Kerman; represented by U.S. Rep. Jim Costa (CA-21)
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California's Cal-Access campaign-finance search (cal-access.sos.ca.gov): returned only an empty, unrenderable page for both Dora Martha Mejia and Adam Flores-Cornejo in every attempt this session -- the same Incapsula-style bot-detection failure mode already documented elsewhere in this dataset -- documenting an absence of a reachable source, not either candidate's actual finances

Last updated September 1, 2026.