# San Joaquin City Council Adam Flores-Cornejo and Dora "Martha" Mejia are running uncontested for San Joaquin City Council. Full ballot at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of two at-large City Council seats up this cycle. San Joaquin is a Fresno County farming city of about 3,700 residents. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. An appointed City Manager runs daily operations. Terms are four years and staggered. San Joaquin's Mayor is selected by the Council from among its own members. Voters do not elect the Mayor directly. The city has no elected City Clerk or City Treasurer. - Jurisdiction: City of San Joaquin - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Seats: 2 - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/san-joaquin-council - 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 - **Adam Flores-Cornejo** — School Secretary/Councilmember · Incumbent - **Dora "Martha" Mejia** — School Secretary/Councilmember · Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. 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. San Joaquin is a Fresno County farming city of about 3,700 residents. Council members vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The city runs on a council-manager government. Elizabeth Cabrera is the appointed City Manager. Hilda Cantu Montoy is the City Attorney. Terms are four years and staggered. The Council picks the Mayor from among its own members. Voters do not elect the Mayor directly. Adam Flores-Cornejo, one of this contest's two candidates, holds that title now. Dora Martha Mejia is the sitting Mayor Pro-Tem. The city has no elected City Clerk or City Treasurer. Neither the county candidate document nor the city's own site lists one. Two names are 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 call both "Appointed in Lieu." That means they reached their current seats by direct Council appointment, not election. When or why that appointment happened is not confirmed. The city's own public meeting agendas show both were already serving by March 2023. Both remained seated through at least December 2024. Both filed the identical ballot designation, "School Secretary/Councilmember." Golden Plains Unified School District's own staff directory backs that up. No independent news coverage of this race or either candidate was found. ## Dora "Martha" Mejia A sitting councilmember and the city's current Mayor Pro-Tem, seeking to retain the seat they already hold by prior Council appointment. Their filed ballot designation is "School Secretary/Councilmember," independently corroborated by Golden Plains Unified School District's own staff directory, which lists them as a Secretary III at San Joaquin Elementary School. This dataset found no independent biographical detail (length of residency, community involvement, or platform) beyond their official roles. **Strengths:** Mejia has sitting Council experience. They serve now as Mayor Pro-Tem. The city's own site confirms it. **Trade-offs:** No independent reporting evaluates their record. Their background and platform beyond their school-secretary job are unconfirmed. No campaign finance filing could be found. **Keep in mind:** Mejia reached their seat by Council appointment, not election, per the county's own record. Mejia 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 they already hold by prior Council appointment. Their filed ballot designation is "School Secretary/Councilmember," independently corroborated by Golden Plains Unified School District's own staff directory, which lists them 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 their official roles. **Strengths:** Flores-Cornejo has sitting Council experience. They serve now as Mayor, a title their Council colleagues chose them for. The city's own site confirms it. **Trade-offs:** No independent reporting evaluates their record. Their background and platform beyond their school-secretary job are unconfirmed. No campaign finance filing could be found. **Keep in mind:** Flores-Cornejo reached their seat by Council appointment, not election, per the county's own record. Flores-Cornejo faces no opponent this cycle. Voters have no comparison point on the ballot itself. ## Sources 1. [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](https://www2.fresnocountyca.gov/2850/post/2026NOV/CandidateList.pdf) 2. [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](https://www2.fresnocountyca.gov/2850/post/2026NOV/Contests%20on%20Ballot%20with%20Qualified%20Candidates.pdf) 3. [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](https://cityofsanjoaquin.org/home/about/departments) 4. [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](https://cityofsanjoaquin.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/3-7-23_CCA_hcm.pdf) 5. [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](https://cityofsanjoaquin.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/12-18-24-Special-City-Council-Agenda-Packet.pdf) 6. [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](https://sjes.gpusd.org/staff/directory) 7. [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)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Joaquin,_California) 8. [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](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Candidates/) ## The rest of the ballot San Joaquin City Council 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, "San Joaquin City Council — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/san-joaquin-council (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.