Skip to main content

City of St Helena · Statewide General Election

St. Helena City Council

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 seats up this cycle on St. Helena's 5-member City Council (elected at-large) -- city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Napa County city of about 6,000 residents. A 4-year term.

Five candidates are running for two seats on the St. Helena City Council: appointed incumbents Kate Spadarotto and Scott Diaz, plus challengers Joshua Parke, Daniel Hale, and John Pedersen.

St. Helena's City Council has five members -- the Mayor plus four Council Members -- all elected at-large (no districts) for this Napa County city of about 6,000 residents. Council Members serve staggered 4-year terms. Two seats are up this November.

Both incumbents reached the council by appointment, not election: Spadarotto was chosen from a field of applicants in December 2024/January 2025 to replace a departing member, and Diaz was appointed in May 2026 -- one of seven applicants for a seat vacated when Billy Summers was removed from the council under state law for missing 60 days of meetings. This is the first time either has faced voters for the seat. Whoever gets the two highest vote totals wins outright, with no runoff.

Kate Spadarotto

Spadarotto's county ballot designation this year is "Appointed Incumbent." She is a Realtor and past president of the North Bay Association of Realtors, appointed to the council in December 2024/January 2025 from a field of applicants after a prior member's departure.

Strengths

Real-estate professional background relevant to a city grappling with housing issues, plus roughly a year and a half of current council experience.

Trade-offs

Reached the council by appointment rather than election, so this is her first time before voters for the seat; no 2026 platform statement was found in her own words.

Keep in mind

Both incumbents in this race got there by appointment -- worth weighing whether that changes how you think about "incumbency" here.

Scott Diaz

Diaz's county ballot designation this year is "Appointed Incumbent." Raised in Denver, he worked as an advertising executive in Los Angeles before entering the wine industry, where he spent 17 years -- brand manager, then VP of marketing, at Wilson Daniels from 2008 to 2021, then senior VP of global brand strategy and marketing at the St. Helena-based Demeine Estates. A St. Helena resident since 2015, he holds a bachelor's degree in accounting and is studying for the CPA exam. Appointed in May 2026 over several more locally familiar applicants, he has focused on implementing the recommendations of the city's own Blackberg efficiency study, developing a formal strategic plan, and helping hire a permanent city manager.

Strengths

A budgeting and strategic-planning background from nearly two decades in wine-industry leadership, plus a stated focus on the city's own efficiency-reform agenda.

Trade-offs

Like Spadarotto, reached the council by appointment; stayed largely out of local public life before that ("under the radar," by his own account) despite living in St. Helena since 2015.

Keep in mind

He was picked over several longtime, locally prominent applicants (including a former mayor's-race candidate and a sitting Planning Commissioner) specifically as an outside perspective -- worth weighing against Spadarotto's more locally-rooted background.

Joshua Parke

Parke's county ballot designation this year is "Business Owner/Parent." He is an architect who has served on several city committees and led a grassroots campaign in 2025 calling for the ouster of then-City Manager Anil Comelo, per Napa Valley Register reporting on his unsuccessful May 2026 application for the council's other recent vacancy.

Strengths

An architecture background relevant to land-use decisions, plus recent, hands-on experience organizing around a specific city-hall controversy.

Trade-offs

Applied for -- and did not win -- the council's May 2026 vacancy appointment; no independent detail on his committee service or 2026 platform was found beyond that one article.

Keep in mind

His most documented public act, the 2025 campaign against the former city manager, shows he's willing to take on city hall directly -- worth asking what specifically he'd do differently as a sitting member.

Daniel Hale

Hale's county ballot designation this year is "Designer." He is an artist and architectural designer with more than 30 years in art, design, and construction, a St. Helena resident since 2001, who served on the city's Planning Commission from 2018 to 2022, per Napa Valley Register reporting on his unsuccessful May 2026 application for the council's other recent vacancy.

Strengths

Four years of Planning Commission service gives him direct, relevant land-use experience, plus a long local tenure (St. Helena resident since 2001).

Trade-offs

Applied for -- and did not win -- the council's May 2026 vacancy appointment; his commission service ended in 2022, so this campaign asks voters to weigh a few years' gap.

Keep in mind

Of the three non-incumbents, he has the most directly relevant prior government service (the Planning Commission) to compare against the two appointed incumbents' more recent, unelected tenure.

John Pedersen

Pedersen's county ballot designation this year is "Father." By his own campaign site, he works as a business analyst focused on solving problems, managing budgets, and improving operations, with a background in Political Science and Human Security; he describes himself as a husband and father of two. His site lays out a nine-part policy platform touching community design, public works, city finance, economic vitality, housing and development, public safety, organizational efficiency, and IT/process improvement. St. Helena's own NetFile portal confirms he has filed an FPPC Form 501 candidate-intention statement.

Strengths

A real, maintained campaign site with a detailed, specific policy platform -- more programmatic detail, in his own words, than several of his rivals have published.

Trade-offs

No independent press coverage, prior committee service, or civic record was found for him beyond his own campaign material -- thinner background than Spadarotto, Diaz, Parke, or Hale.

Keep in mind

Everything here comes from Pedersen himself, not independent reporting -- worth reading his platform directly and weighing it against rivals whose records outside media outlets have also documented.

Source review: Strong (82/100) · 11 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • napacounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Napa County Registrar of Voters (John Tuteur) -- "Roster of Candidates, Qualified Candidates Only" (CFMR037), General Election 11/3/2026, print date 2026-08-13: Contest 5100 (Mayor, City of St Helena) lists two qualified candidates, Bonnie Schoch ("Accountant") and Patrick Kenealy ("Venture Capitalist"), both "On Ballot: Yes" with a candidate statement filed. Contest 5120 (City Council, City of St Helena, Vote for 2) lists five qualified candidates -- Kate Spadarotto ("Appointed Incumbent"), Joshua Parke ("Business Owner/Parent"), Daniel Hale ("Designer"), John Pedersen ("Father"), and Scott Diaz ("Appointed Incumbent") -- also "On Ballot: Yes."
  • cityofsthelena.gov (opens in a new tab)City of St. Helena -- "Unofficial Council Candidate Status (November 3, 2026)" page, last updated Aug. 11, 2026: the City Clerk's own pre-certification tracker, confirming "Two (2) City Council seats, for four-year terms expiring December 2030 and one (1) Mayor, for a two-year term expiring December 2028," and each candidate's nomination-paper and qualification status. Names John Shields as having pulled papers but never returned them.
  • cityofsthelena.gov (opens in a new tab)City of St. Helena -- official "City Council" page: confirms the 5-seat at-large (no-district) structure, that Council Members serve staggered 4-year terms while the Mayor serves a 2-year term, and lists the outgoing council -- Mayor Paul Dohring, Vice Mayor Michelle Deasy, and Council Members Aaron Barak, Kate Spadarotto, and Scott Diaz.
  • napavalleyregister.com (opens in a new tab)Napa Valley Register/St. Helena Star -- "Patrick Kenealy joins St. Helena mayoral race": reports Kenealy entered the mayoral race in the final days before the Aug. 12 filing deadline, describes him as a businessman with a media/venture-capital background who served a partial council term in 2024, and confirms the final 5-candidate Council field.
  • napavalleyregister.com (opens in a new tab)Napa Valley Register -- "This year's Napa County elections, at a glance" (staff-reported, byline credit spanning Howard Yune, Keith Cousins, Barry Eberling, Jennifer Huffman, and Brett Marsh): a countywide roundup independently corroborating the St. Helena Mayor race (Schoch; Kenealy, a former CEO for the International Data Group, publisher of PC World and the "For Dummies" series) and the 5-candidate Council field.
  • napavalleyregister.com (opens in a new tab)Napa Valley Register/St. Helena Star -- "Meet Kate Spadarotto, St. Helena's new City Council member" (published Jan. 22, 2025): profiles Spadarotto after her appointment to the council; this session's retrieval returned only a short, paywalled preview ("Kate Spadarotto might have gotten onto the St. Helena City Council the easy way, but she knows the hard part is just beginning"), consistent with -- and not contradicting -- this dataset's other citations of her Realtor background and prior appointment.
  • napavalleyregister.com (opens in a new tab)Napa Valley Register/St. Helena Star (byline Jesse Duarte) -- "Meet Scott Diaz, the newest member of the St. Helena City Council" (published Jun. 10, 2026): a full profile after his appointment -- raised in Denver, worked as an LA advertising executive before entering the wine industry; brand manager then VP of marketing at Wilson Daniels (2008-2021), then SVP of global brand strategy and marketing at Demeine Estates; a St. Helena resident since 2015; bachelor's in accounting, studying for the CPA exam; names his priorities as implementing the Blackberg efficiency study's recommendations, a strategic plan, and hiring a permanent city manager.
  • napavalleyregister.com (opens in a new tab)Napa Valley Register/St. Helena Star (Star Staff) -- "Seven apply for vacancy on St. Helena City Council" (published May 20, 2026): reports seven applicants -- Bonnie Schoch, Daniel Hale, Joshua Parke, Mark Smithers, Michael Haley, Michelle Liu Covell, and Scott Diaz -- for the seat vacated when Billy Summers was removed April 27, 2026 under state law for missing 60 days of council meetings; profiles each applicant, including Hale ("an artist and architectural designer who served on the Planning Commission from 2018 to 2022") and Parke ("an architect who has served on several city committees and led a grassroots campaign in 2025 calling for the ouster of then-City Manager Anil Comelo"). Diaz was the one appointed.
  • johnpedersencitycouncil.com (opens in a new tab)John Pedersen for St. Helena City Council -- his own campaign site's "About" and "Key Issues" pages (johnpedersencitycouncil.com): first-person content describing him as "a business analyst focused on solving problems, managing budgets, and improving operations," with a background in Political Science and Human Security; describes himself as a husband and father of two; a 9-part policy platform (Community Design, Public Works, Finance, Economic Vitality, Housing/Development, Public Safety, Organizational Efficiency, IT/Process Improvement). Thinner than his rivals' third-party press coverage, but a real, identifiable, maintained campaign site -- not a blank.
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)St. Helena's own NetFile campaign-finance portal, reached live via browser (netfile.com/public/CSH/campaign/persons): shows John Pedersen has exactly one filing, an FPPC Form 501 (Candidate Intention Statement) dated 8/6/2026 -- no Form 460 as of retrieval, so no additional financial detail, but confirms he is a formally declared candidate.
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)A negative-result access attempt: St. Helena's own campaign-finance portal (netfile.com/public/CSH/campaign, linked from the city's own Elections page) is a client-rendered single-page app returning no static filer data to this session's fetch tooling, with no discoverable public REST endpoint. Documents the absence of a reachable financial-disclosure source for Schoch or Kenealy, not either candidate's actual finances.

Last updated September 2, 2026.