# San Ramon City Council, District 4

Compare records and positions simply between Jeffrey Joh or Marisol Rubio for San Ramon City Council, District 4 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of San Ramon's four district-elected City Council seats. A separately, citywide-elected Mayor also sits on the five-member council. An appointed City Manager runs day-to-day operations. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. San Ramon has about 84,600 residents. The term is four years. Whichever candidate gets the most votes wins. San Ramon does not use ranked-choice voting.

- Jurisdiction: City of San Ramon
- 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/san-ramon-council-4
- 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 7, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 92 out of 100 (Very strong), across 11 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Jeffrey Joh** — Technology Strategist
- **Marisol Rubio** — Councilwoman/In-Home Provider · Incumbent

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

Incumbent Vice Mayor Marisol Rubio faces first-time candidate Jeffrey Joh for the District 4 City Council seat.

This person would hold one of San Ramon's four district-elected City Council seats, alongside a separately, citywide-elected Mayor, on a 5-member council with an appointed City Manager who runs day-to-day operations. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use for a city of about 84,600 residents (2020 census). The term is four years. Whichever candidate gets the most votes wins -- no ranked-choice voting is documented for San Ramon.

District 4 pairs an incumbent finishing her first full council term -- with a 2022 election win and a 2024 run for higher office on her record -- against a first-time candidate with no prior campaign or public record beyond one committee application this cycle. The two candidates' public track records differ sharply in length.

A third prospective candidate, Nick Harvey, pulled nomination papers for District 4 but never qualified for the ballot. That is per DanvilleSanRamon's filing deadline reporting. San Ramon's City Council set this year's voluntary campaign spending limit for District 4 at $36,597. That is about $2.75 per registered voter, up slightly from the 2024 cap. Council members noted actual spending in recent city elections has generally run well below either limit.

## Marisol Rubio

The incumbent Vice Mayor, seeking her first full reelection to District 4; her filed ballot designation is "Councilwoman/In-Home Provider." Rubio previously served as a Director and Vice President of the Dublin San Ramon Services District before winning a decisive 2022 election to San Ramon's District 4 council seat over Heidi Kenniston-Lee. In 2024 she ran unsuccessfully for State Senate, losing to Tim Grayson. A UC Berkeley graduate in Molecular and Cell Biology and a former bilingual science teacher, Rubio is the parent of a childhood brain-cancer survivor and has an extensive local volunteer record in disability rights, reproductive health, and environmental advocacy, including work with the Sierra Club's San Francisco Bay Chapter. On the council she has championed the city's new Sustainability Advisory Committee and was a vocal supporter of the city's Pride Flag display policy in 2026.

**Strengths:** A full term on the council plus prior special district board experience. She also has a deep, well documented record of local and regional volunteer advocacy.

**Trade-offs:** Her 2024 State Senate run means part of her term went to campaigning for a different office. No independent reporting scrutinizing her council record was found beyond routine coverage.

**Keep in mind:** No confirmed 2026 campaign finance figures are on file here. DanvilleSanRamon reported her campaign was still in an "early fundraising phase" with no official website as of July 28, 2026. No CAL-ACCESS or city disclosure filing was found for her.

## Jeffrey Joh

A first-time candidate; their filed ballot designation is "Technology Strategist." Beyond that county filing, the only independent, dated detail this dataset located is an Aug. 30, 2026 DanvilleSanRamon article naming Joh -- identified there as "a city council candidate challenging District 4 councilmember Marisol Rubio" -- as one of two applicants for a seat on the Contra Costa Transportation Authority's Citizens Advisory Committee. This dataset searched the city's own site, Ballotpedia, Wikipedia, and DanvilleSanRamon's own site search for a campaign website or further biographical detail and found nothing more.

**Strengths:** Not established in the sourcing found for this race, beyond an application for a county transportation advisory committee seat.

**Trade-offs:** Joh is a first time candidate with no located campaign site or news profile. Voters have little beyond their name, self declared occupation, and that single advisory committee application.

**Keep in mind:** The lack of sources is not evidence against them. The city's own site, Ballotpedia, Wikipedia and local news carry nothing further.

## Sources

1. [Contra Costa County Elections Division -- "Positions Up for Election, November 3, 2026, General Election": the only county-section contest in the document is County Board of Education Areas 2, 4, and 5 (under Schools) -- no Board of Supervisors, row office, or Superior Court seat appears anywhere, consistent with both Supervisor seats up this cycle (Districts 1 and 4) having been decided outright in the June 2026 primary](https://www.contracostavote.gov/wp-content/uploads/26Nov03_PositionsUpForElection.pdf)
2. [Contra Costa County Elections Division -- "Contest/Candidate Proof List" (8-27-26_candidatelist_detail_final.pdf), the county's post-certification ballot-order-proofing export: shows Area 2 as a 3-candidate contest (Sarah Butler, incumbent; Pamela West; Sibyl Minighini) with each candidate's filed ballot designation and qualification date -- this export omits single-filer contests entirely, which is why Areas 4 and 5 do not appear in it (see cc-candidate-summary-2026)](https://www.contracostavote.gov/wp-content/uploads/8-27-26_candidatelist_detail_final.pdf)
3. [Contra Costa County Elections Division -- "Candidate List" (8-14-26_candidatelist_summary_final.pdf), the county's complete qualified-candidate roster including single-filer contests: confirms Area 2 (Sarah Butler, Pamela West, Sibyl Minighini), Area 4 (Mike Maxwell, sole qualified candidate), and Area 5 (Clyde Henry Lewis, Jr., sole qualified candidate)](https://www.contracostavote.gov/wp-content/uploads/8-14-26_candidatelist_summary_final.pdf)
4. [City of San Ramon — City Clerk's Elections page: confirms the Nov. 3, 2026 local election date and vote-by-mail logistics; the city's own City Council roster page (read the same session) names the sitting 5-member council — Mayor Mark Armstrong, Vice Mayor Marisol Rubio, and Councilmembers Robert Jweinat, Richard Adler, and Sridhar Verose.](https://www.sanramon.ca.gov/our_city/departments_and_divisions/city_clerk/Elections/)
5. [Wikipedia's San Ramon, California article — 2020 census population 84,605; incorporated July 1, 1983.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Ramon,_California)
6. [DanvilleSanRamon — "San Ramon Valley candidates finalized for November ballot" (2026-08-14): confirms the final San Ramon Valley-wide candidate roster after the non-incumbent filing extension closed, with no further changes to the three San Ramon city races.](https://www.danvillesanramon.com/news/2026/08/14/san-ramon-valley-candidates-finalized-for-november-ballot/)
7. [City of San Ramon — Vice Mayor Marisol Rubio's official City Council bio page: a former Dublin San Ramon Services District board Director/Vice President elected to San Ramon council District 4 on Nov. 8, 2022; UC Berkeley graduate in Molecular and Cell Biology; extensive volunteer record in disability rights, environmental, and reproductive-health advocacy.](https://www.sanramon.ca.gov/our_city/city_council/vice_mayor_marisol_rubio)
8. [DanvilleSanRamon — "Rubio running for second term on San Ramon City Council" (2026-07-28): Rubio's campaign announcement, her 2022 win over Heidi Kenniston-Lee, her unsuccessful 2024 State Senate run against Tim Grayson, and confirmation that as of this article her campaign remained in an early fundraising phase with no official website yet available.](https://www.danvillesanramon.com/city-politics/2026/07/28/rubio-running-for-second-term-on-san-ramon-city-council/)
9. [DanvilleSanRamon (Embarcadero Media) — "Contested elections for San Ramon, Danville councils; one SRVUSD incumbent faces challenge" (2026-08-07): the county filing-deadline roundup naming all three San Ramon city races as contested — Armstrong vs. Ntatsos vs. Chigbu for Mayor, Adler vs. Kathrani for District 2, Rubio vs. Joh for District 4 — and noting a fourth mayoral prospect (Brian Swanson) and a third District 4 prospect (Nick Harvey) each pulled papers but did not qualify.](https://www.danvillesanramon.com/city-politics/2026/08/07/contested-elections-for-san-ramon-danville-councils-one-srvusd-incumbent-faces-challenge/)
10. [DanvilleSanRamon — "San Ramon council set for advisory body appointments" (2026-08-30): names Jeffrey Joh, identified as "a city council candidate challenging District 4 councilmember Marisol Rubio," as one of two applicants for a Contra Costa Transportation Authority citizens'-advisory-committee seat — independent, dated corroboration of civic engagement beyond the county's own filing record.](https://www.danvillesanramon.com/city-government/2026/08/30/san-ramon-council-set-for-advisory-body-appointments/)
11. [DanvilleSanRamon — "San Ramon council raises campaign expenditure limits for upcoming general election" (2026-06-15): the city council's June 9, 2026 vote setting this cycle's voluntary campaign-expenditure limits at $91,453 for Mayor and $39,938 / $36,597 for Council Districts 2 and 4 respectively — the ceiling, not a report of what any 2026 candidate actually raised.](https://www.danvillesanramon.com/city-government/2026/06/15/san-ramon-council-raises-campaign-expenditure-limits-for-upcoming-general-election/)

## The rest of the ballot

San Ramon City Council, District 4 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 Ramon City Council, District 4 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/san-ramon-council-4 (sources last retrieved September 7, 2026).

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