# Sanger City Council, District 4 Compare records and positions simply between Juan Alvarez-Tovar or Michael Montelongo for Sanger City Council, District 4 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of four district seats on Sanger's City Council. The council has five members, four elected by district and one directly elected Mayor. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. Sanger is a Fresno County city of about 26,600 residents. The term is four years. Sanger has no separately elected City Clerk or City Treasurer. Both are appointed staff positions under the City Manager. - Jurisdiction: City of Sanger - 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/sanger-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 1, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 89 out of 100 (Strong), across 5 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Juan Alvarez-Tovar** — Groundskeeper - **Michael Montelongo** — Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Incumbent Michael Montelongo faces one challenger, groundskeeper Juan Alvarez-Tovar, for this seat. This person would hold one of four district seats on Sanger's 5-member City Council, alongside a directly elected Mayor. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Fresno County city of about 26,600 residents, under a council-manager form of government. The term is four years. Sanger has no separately elected City Clerk or City Treasurer; both are appointed staff positions under the City Manager. Whichever candidate gets the most votes wins -- no runoff or ranked-choice voting is used. This dataset found no independent reporting comparing the two candidates or covering this race. ## Michael Montelongo The incumbent Councilmember for District 4, seeking another term; Montelongo's filed ballot designation is simply "Incumbent," and they did not file a candidate statement for this race. The City of Sanger's own Council page independently confirms they currently hold this seat. This dataset found no further independent biographical detail for them beyond that. **Strengths:** Direct incumbency, independently confirmed by the city's own current Council roster. **Trade-offs:** This dataset found no independent reporting or biography evaluating Montelongo's record in office, and they did not file a candidate statement for this race. **Keep in mind:** See this contest's financial note below. ## Juan Alvarez-Tovar A first-time candidate challenging the incumbent; Alvarez-Tovar's filed occupation is "Groundskeeper," and they did not file a candidate statement for this race. This dataset found no independent biographical detail for them beyond that despite a genuine multi-method search (Ballotpedia, the city's own site, GV Wire's own site search, and general web search until this session's search budget was exhausted). **Strengths:** None independently confirmed beyond Alvarez-Tovar's filed occupation. **Trade-offs:** No independent reporting, campaign site, or platform statement was found for them. **Keep in mind:** See this contest's financial note below. ## Sources 1. [City of Sanger -- "City Council" page: confirms a mayor-council structure with the Mayor "elected at large" (Frank Gonzalez) separate from four district council seats -- Esmeralda Hurtado (District 1, not up this cycle), Dolores Melendez (District 2), Daniel Martinez (District 3, Mayor Pro Tem, not up this cycle), and Michael Montelongo (District 4)](https://www.ci.sanger.ca.us/340/City-Council) 2. [City of Sanger -- "City Manager" page: confirms a council-manager form of government -- City Manager Nathan Olson, appointed by the City Council Feb. 1, 2024, as "Chief Executive Officer of the City"](https://www.ci.sanger.ca.us/161/City-Manager) 3. [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 Sanger's three contests (5170 Mayor, 5172 City Council District 2, 5174 City Council District 4), each Vote For 1 -- Mayor: Gavino Barrera ("Code Compliance Supervisor"), Frank Gonzalez ("Incumbent," candidate statement filed 7/29/2026), Victor Ruiz (no ballot designation, statement filed 7/27/2026); District 2: Hilda "Monique" Reyna ("College Program Coordinator"), Dolores Melendez ("Incumbent," statement filed 8/05/2026); District 4: Michael Montelongo ("Incumbent"), Juan Alvarez-Tovar ("Groundskeeper")](https://www2.fresnocountyca.gov/2850/post/2026NOV/CandidateList.pdf) 4. [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): independently confirms all three Sanger contests as ON BALLOT and genuinely contested (two or three qualified candidates apiece), and confirms each seat's incumbent-of-record reached their current seat by direct election, not appointment -- "Frank Gabriel Gonzalez, Elected" (Mayor), "Dolores Melendez Hernandez, Elected" (District 2), "Michael A Montelongo, Elected" (District 4)](https://www2.fresnocountyca.gov/2850/post/2026NOV/Contests%20on%20Ballot%20with%20Qualified%20Candidates.pdf) 5. [Wikipedia's Sanger, California article: population 26,617 (2020 census), incorporated May 9, 1911](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanger,_California) ## The rest of the ballot Sanger 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, "Sanger City Council, District 4 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/sanger-council-4 (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.