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Sonoma City Council, District 1

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City of Sonoma

Sonoma City Council, District 1

This person holds the District 1 seat on Sonoma's City Council. The council has five members. The Council sets policy and the budget. It also selects one of its own members to serve as Mayor. The term is four years, running to 2030. This is the city's first election under a new district-based system, adopted in 2025. Districts 1, 3, and 5 are up this cycle. Districts 2 and 4 follow in 2028.

Three candidates are running for Sonoma's District 1 City Council seat. They are Michael Menefee, Julian Mackie, and Peggy Hutton. The vote is on November 3, 2026. It is the city's first contested race under its new district system.

This is the only Sonoma City Council seat actually on the November ballot. Two other seats were up this cycle -- Districts 3 and 5 -- but each drew only its sitting councilmember as a candidate, so the City Council cancelled both elections under state law and appointed Councilmembers John Gurney (District 3) and Ron Wellander (District 5) to new terms instead; neither appears on any ballot. There's also no Mayor, City Clerk, or City Treasurer race: Sonoma is a council-manager city, so the five-member Council picks one of its own to serve as Mayor, and the Clerk and Treasurer are appointed staff jobs, not elected ones.

The winner serves a 4-year term, through 2030, on a Council that sets city policy and budget and hires a City Manager to run day-to-day operations. This is also the first Council election Sonoma has ever run by district rather than citywide at-large -- the boundaries were adopted in 2025 -- so District 1's roughly one-fifth of the city is choosing its own dedicated representative for the first time.

Michael L. Menefee

Michael L. Menefee is a retired firefighter paramedic. He has lived in Sonoma since 1972. He runs on historic preservation and steady, sustainable growth. He opposes a plan to redevelop the General's Daughter. That is a historic landmark on West Spain Street.

Julian Mackie

Julian Mackie, 33, is Executive Director of Sonoma Valley Commons. It is a local affordable housing nonprofit. His platform centers on housing affordability and childcare access. It also covers energy costs and wildfire and climate resilience. He and his fiancee recently bought a home in District 1.

Peggy Hutton

Peggy Hutton qualified for the ballot on August 7, 2026. That was the final day to file. Her ballot title is "Business Owner." No other background on her was found.

Why aren't Districts 3 and 5 on the ballot?

Sonoma's shift to district elections put three seats up this cycle -- 1, 3, and 5 -- but only District 1 drew more than one candidate. Districts 3 and 5 each drew just their sitting councilmember, John Gurney and Ron Wellander respectively, so under California Elections Code Section 10229 the City Council voted on August 19, 2026 to cancel both elections and appoint them to new terms instead, rather than print single-name ballot lines. State law treats an appointment made this way as equivalent to being elected -- Gurney and Wellander take office the same as if they'd run unopposed and won.

Your pick

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

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