# Tracy City Council, District 1

Compare records and positions simply between Robin Cole or Jass Sangha for Tracy City Council, District 1 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of four district seats on Tracy's City Council, alongside a directly elected, citywide Mayor. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this San Joaquin County city of about 93,000 residents per the 2020 Census. City Manager Midori Lichtwardt runs day-to-day operations under Council direction. The term is four years. This is Tracy's first-ever district-based Council election, adopted Jan. 16, 2026 in response to statewide California Voting Rights Act litigation risk. District 1 covers northwestern Tracy -- mostly west of Corral Hollow Road, with West Valley Mall at the north end, the Redbridge neighborhood at the south end, and the Cordes Ranch industrial development -- an open seat with no sitting council member living there.

- Jurisdiction: City of Tracy
- 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/tracy-council-1
- 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 3, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 91 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

- **Robin Cole** — Project Manager
- **Jass Sangha** — Businesswoman/Mother

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

District 1 is an open seat with no incumbent -- part of Tracy's first-ever district-based City Council election. Two first-time district candidates are running: Jass Sangha, a longtime local planning commissioner, and Robin Cole, a Democratic Party official.

This person would hold one of four district seats on Tracy's City Council, alongside a directly elected, citywide Mayor. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this San Joaquin County city of about 93,000 residents per the 2020 Census. City Manager Midori Lichtwardt runs day-to-day operations under Council direction. The term is four years.

The Council adopted its first-ever district map on Jan. 16, 2026, after a public process responding to statewide California Voting Rights Act litigation risk. District 1 covers northwestern Tracy -- mostly west of Corral Hollow Road, with West Valley Mall at the north end, the Redbridge neighborhood at the south end, and the Cordes Ranch industrial development -- and no sitting council member lives there, making it an open seat by geography rather than by an incumbent's choice not to run.

## Jass Sangha

Her filed ballot designation is "Businesswoman/Mother." Sangha served two terms on the Tracy Planning Commission and has served on the San Joaquin County Planning Commission since 2021. A cancer survivor, she serves as a United States Ambassador for World Cancer Care and has sat on numerous local nonprofit boards, including the Women's Center-Youth & Family Services in Stockton and the Tracy Police Chief's Community Advisory Board; the Tracy Chamber of Commerce named her its 2016 Female Citizen of the Year. She has the endorsements of the Tracy Police Officers Association and the Tracy Firefighters Association. She previously ran for City Council in 2010 and for Mayor in 2020; per Tracy Press's own election roundup, both bids were unsuccessful.

**Strengths:** Two prior local planning-commission terms plus current county planning-commission service, and public-safety-association endorsements.

**Trade-offs:** No prior elected office, despite two previous runs for one.

**Keep in mind:** Her planning-commission background gives her land-use experience directly relevant to a fast-growing district that includes an industrial development (Cordes Ranch).

## Robin Cole

Her filed ballot designation is "Project Manager." Cole is President Emeritus of the Democratic Club of Greater Tracy and secretary of the San Joaquin County Democratic Party. She launched her campaign on July 11, 2026 at an event whose guests included State Assembly Member Rhodesia Ransom (D-Tracy) and Mayor Dan Arriola, and which also promoted the 2026 re-election campaigns of Ransom, Arriola, and U.S. Rep. Josh Harder (D-Tracy) -- reported directly by Tracy Press, not an endorsement claim by this dataset.

**Strengths:** Established local and county party organizing experience.

**Trade-offs:** No prior elected office, and this dataset found no independent (non-campaign) reporting on her professional project-management background beyond her filed ballot designation.

**Keep in mind:** Her campaign launch was explicitly linked to Mayor Arriola's own re-election effort, per Tracy Press's reporting -- worth weighing alongside Arriola's mayoral record if you're voting in both races.

## Sources

1. [San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters -- official "Offices Up for Election" document for the Nov. 3, 2026 General Election: lists the City of Tracy's three offices -- Mayor (2-year term, at-large, 20 nominations needed) and Member of City Council, Districts 1 and 3 (each a 4-year term, elected by district) -- with no other Tracy office appearing.](https://www.sjgov.org/docs/default-source/registrar-of-voters-documents/elections/gubernatorial-general-election-2026/candidate-services/offices-up-for-2026-general-election.pdf)
2. [San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters -- official "Candidate List" (report CFMR009), Qualified Candidates Only, printed 8/20/2026: names all three Tracy contests "On Ballot: Yes" with each candidate's filed ballot designation and filing date -- Mayor (Mateo Bedolla, "Teacher/Tracy Councilmember"; Dan Arriola, "Deputy District Attorney"; Uyiosa Felix Oviawe, "Maintenance Director/Contractor"), District 1 (Jass Sangha, "Businesswoman/Mother"; Robin Cole, "Project Manager"), and District 3 (Dan Evans, "Council Member"; Ameni Alexander, "Nonprofit Organization CFO"; Ametrius V. Sidney, "Public Safety Executive").](https://www.sjgov.org/docs/default-source/registrar-of-voters-documents/elections/gubernatorial-general-election-2026/candidate-services/candidate-roster-(35).pdf)
3. [Tracy Press -- "Council agrees on district election map": the City Council's Jan. 16, 2026 special meeting adopting the four-district "Green" map for Tracy's first-ever district-based Council election, in response to statewide California Voting Rights Act of 2002 litigation risk; names which sitting council members live in which draft district and which two districts are up in 2026 versus 2028, and quotes consultant Michael Wagaman stating the discussion-phase district numbers "could change by the time the election comes around."](https://www.ttownmedia.com/tracy_press/council-agrees-on-district-election-map/article_4ec66c2a-c370-43db-a310-fd660d5b6402.html)
4. [Tracy Press -- "Ballots are set for Nov. 3 local elections": the paper's own post-filing-deadline election roundup, independently confirming the county's certified roster for all three Tracy contests and adding biographical detail beyond ballot designations -- Arriola's full elected-office history (TUSD board 2016, Council 2018, Mayor 2024, "eligible to serve one more term"), Bedolla's 2022 mayoral run and 2020 County Supervisor primary run, Oviawe's role as president of Murgreen Environmental, Sangha's 2010 council and 2020 mayoral runs, and Alexander's and Sidney's backgrounds (TUSD board 2018-2022 for Alexander; 24-year resident and County of San Mateo Public Safety Communications Deputy Director, first campaign for office, for Sidney).](https://www.ttownmedia.com/tracy_press/ballots-set-for-nov-3-local-elections/article_502045c0-a3c3-4e25-b4dc-b341e69dc15d.html)
5. [Wikipedia's Tracy, California article -- 2020 Census population of about 93,000; confirms a City Manager form of government (current City Manager Midori Lichtwardt) and names Dan Arriola as Mayor; does not describe the city's council-district structure or any 2026 candidate.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tracy,_California)
6. [Tracy Press -- "Sangha announces candidacy for Tracy City Council": Jass Sangha's June 12, 2026 campaign-launch announcement, describing her two terms on the Tracy Planning Commission, San Joaquin County Planning Commission service since 2021, cancer-survivor advocacy, endorsements from the Tracy Police Officers Association and Tracy Firefighters Association, 2016 Female Citizen of the Year honor, and District 1's boundaries (northwestern Tracy, West Valley Mall, Redbridge neighborhood, Cordes Ranch industrial development) with no sitting council member living there.](https://www.ttownmedia.com/tracy_press/sangha-announces-candidacy-for-tracy-city-council/article_aa1e7897-fa2e-44c0-80bb-9047449b65db.html)
7. [Tracy Press -- "Cole announcing candidacy for Tracy City Council": Robin Cole's July 10, 2026 campaign-launch announcement for the "newly created" District 1 seat, naming her as President Emeritus of the Democratic Club of Greater Tracy and secretary of the San Joaquin County Democratic Party, and reporting that her July 11 kickoff event's guests included State Assembly Member Rhodesia Ransom, Tracy Mayor Dan Arriola, and promotion of U.S. Rep. Josh Harder's 2026 re-election campaign; independently confirms Evans's District 3 candidacy and the same District 1 boundary description as Sangha's announcement.](https://www.ttownmedia.com/tracy_press/cole-announcing-candidacy-for-tracy-city-council/article_3cb2c519-ff0e-4714-b0bb-29802496c973.html)
8. [San Joaquin County's own NetFile public campaign-disclosure portal (agency code "SJC") -- a live-browser name search of the full candidate/committee index found no 2026 filing for any of the eight Tracy candidates (Bedolla, Arriola, Oviawe, Sangha, Cole, Evans, Alexander, Sidney)](https://netfile.com/public/SJC/campaign)

## The rest of the ballot

Tracy City Council, District 1 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, "Tracy City Council, District 1 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/tracy-council-1 (sources last retrieved September 3, 2026).

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