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City of Trinidad · Statewide General Election

Trinidad City Council, 2-Year Seat

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On the ballot

This person would hold Trinidad's fourth City Council seat, a partial term running only through November 2028 rather than the usual 4 years. Trinidad (2020 population 307, one of California's smallest incorporated cities) is a general-law city under a council-manager government with no separately elected Mayor -- the Council selects one of its own members to hold that title.

Only one candidate qualified for Trinidad's fourth City Council seat, a partial term running through November 2028: appointed incumbent John Waskiewicz. This contest is settled and your vote here does not change the outcome.

This seat runs only through November 2028, two years shorter than the regular 4-year Council terms decided in Trinidad's other City Council race on this ballot. Trinidad (2020 population 307, one of California's smallest incorporated cities) is a general-law city under a council-manager government with no separately elected Mayor -- the Council selects one of its own members to hold that title.

With no opponent, the useful question is whether anything unusual explains the empty field. Trinidad's own official election-resources page states the city "will have a full ballot this November," listing this seat in the same breath and same format as the three regular seats that are genuinely contested-by-filing -- not flagged as an appointment-in-lieu-of-election. The Times-Standard's own Aug. 13, 2026 preview article, after speaking directly with City Clerk/Interim City Manager Gabriel Adams, describes the four-candidate slate (including this seat) as "a success," with Adams saying "right now, we're sitting pretty" fielding a full slate of councilors for Nov. 3 -- language inconsistent with a Section 10229 cancellation-and-appointment, where there would be no candidate slate to speak of. This is a genuine on-ballot, uncontested race, not an appointment in lieu of an election.

John Waskiewicz

John Waskiewicz is a sitting Trinidad Councilmember, appointed to the seat at the Council's Nov. 11, 2025 meeting to fill a vacancy left by Carrie Varela, per the Times-Standard's own civic-calendar reporting from that week -- nearly a year before this cycle's filing period even opened. Trinidad's own live staff directory confirms he currently holds that Council Member seat alongside Kati Breckenridge and Jack Tuttle. Beyond the appointment date and his current officeholding, this dataset found no independently verifiable occupation, campaign website, or candidate statement for him this cycle -- the same gap already documented for Tuttle and Breckenridge in Trinidad's other Council race on this ballot.

Strengths

Already a sitting Councilmember by Council appointment roughly a year before this election, so a vote here continues a known status quo rather than installing someone new.

Trade-offs

Running unopposed, his term faces no organized counter-argument, and this dataset found no platform or priorities for a full term beyond his continued candidacy.

Keep in mind

This is one of California's smallest cities (2020 population 307), and this dataset found no 2026 election coverage specific to this seat beyond confirming it's on the ballot -- a documented sourcing gap common to a jurisdiction this small, not a sign anything is being withheld.

Source review: Strong (87/100) · 6 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • humboldtgov.org (opens in a new tab)Humboldt County Office of Elections -- "Qualified Candidate List - City Contests" (3-page PDF, fetched directly and text-extracted locally with pypdf): names Jack Tuttle (Incumbent) and Kati Breckenridge (Incumbent) alongside challenger Gretchen Riddle as the three qualified candidates for Trinidad's three regular 4-year City Council seats, and John Waskiewicz (Appointed Incumbent) as the sole qualified candidate for a separately listed "Trinidad City Councilmember, 2-Yr" seat.
  • trinidad.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Trinidad -- "2026 General Election Resources" page, reached via a live browser session after direct HTTP access (curl and WebFetch) returned 403 on every path tried, in this pass and two prior ones: its Aug. 14, 2026 update, posted over City Clerk/Interim City Manager Gabriel Adams's own name, states the city "will have a full ballot this November" and lists John Waskiewicz (Appointed Incumbent) as the sole qualified candidate for a 2-year partial-term seat alongside the three regular 4-year seats; its earlier July 13, 2026 pre-filing notice independently lists that same 2-year seat as an open seat from the start.
  • times-standard.com (opens in a new tab)Times-Standard -- "Trinidad, Blue Lake prepare for Nov. 3 city council elections" (Robert Schaulis, published 2026-08-13): reports all four Trinidad Council seats are on the ballot with four qualified candidates after interviewing City Clerk/Interim City Manager Gabriel Adams directly, who called the slate "a success"; quotes Gretchen Riddle's own candidate statement.
  • times-standard.com (opens in a new tab)Times-Standard -- "Civic calendar | Chris Rogers to tour McKinleyville" (Robert Schaulis, published 2025-11-08): records that the Nov. 11, 2025 Trinidad City Council meeting seated newly appointed Councilmember John Waskiewicz to fill the vacancy left by Carrie Varela.
  • trinidad.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Trinidad -- its own live Staff Directory: confirms John Waskiewicz currently holds a Council Member seat alongside Kati Breckenridge and Jack Tuttle.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia, "Trinidad, California": used narrowly for the fixed, dated 2020 Census population figure (307, down from 367 in 2010) and the Nov. 7, 1870 incorporation date; does not cover the 2026 election.

Last updated September 2, 2026.