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City of Union City · Statewide General Election

Union City Council, District 4

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

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 three Union City Council seats up this cycle: city ordinances, the budget, and land use in this Alameda County city of about 70,000, under a council-manager government with an appointed City Manager. A 4-year term, Dec. 8, 2026-Dec. 10, 2030. Union City switched from at-large to district-based Council elections in November 2020; city ordinance limits the Mayor and Councilmembers to three consecutive terms in the same office.

District 4 is an open seat: sitting Councilmember Scott Sakakihara is not on the county's certified candidate list for it. Four candidates are running -- Sarabjit Kaur Cheema, Qasim Lodhi, Vipan S. Bajwa, and Ann Yap-Jequinto.

This person would hold one of three Union City Council seats up this cycle: city ordinances, the budget, and land use in this Alameda County city of about 70,000, under a council-manager government with an appointed City Manager. A 4-year term, Dec. 8, 2026-Dec. 10, 2030.

Union City switched from at-large to district-based Council elections in November 2020. City ordinance limits the Mayor and Councilmembers to three consecutive terms in the same office. The city's own roster page does not list Sakakihara among the county's certified District 4 candidates; this dataset treats that absence as confirmation he is not seeking reelection, without asserting a reason why.

Sarabjit Kaur Cheema

Her filed ballot designation is "High School Teacher." The city's own candidate-statements page describes her as a former New Haven Unified School District Board member (2010-2022) with an engineering background, focused on economic development and public safety; NetFile records show she also ran a committee for Union City Mayor in 2020. Her 2026 committee, Cheema, Sarabjit Kaur for Union City Council Dist4 2026, has filed only initial FPPC Form 410/501 organizing paperwork -- no Form 460 is on file yet, so no fundraising total exists to report.

Strengths

Named prior public service (12 years on the New Haven Unified School District Board) and a prior 2020 citywide campaign, both confirmed via her own NetFile filing history.

Trade-offs

No Form 460 is on file for her 2026 committee, so this dataset has no fundraising total to report for her.

Keep in mind

her school-board service and engineering background come from her own candidate statement; this dataset did not independently verify the specific engineering claim.

Qasim Lodhi

A first-time candidate; his filed ballot designation is "Software Engineer/Father." The city's own candidate-statements page describes him as a resident since 2021, age 43, emphasizing transparent governance and affordable housing, and links a campaign site (Lodhi2026.com) not independently verified by this dataset. His campaign has filed only an initial FPPC Form 501 -- no committee or Form 460 is on file yet.

Strengths

not established in the sourcing found for this race.

Trade-offs

as a first-time candidate with no committee or fundraising filing on record, voters have little beyond his name, his self-declared occupation, and the fact that he qualified for the ballot.

Keep in mind

this is a documented sourcing gap, not evidence against him -- a real, multi-method search turned up nothing further to report.

Vipan S. Bajwa

His filed ballot designation is "City Commissioner/Accountant." The city's own candidate-statements page describes him, at age 34, as a local Chamber of Commerce Vice President and nonprofit board chair, prioritizing neighborhood safety and taxpayer accountability, and links a campaign site (VipanBajwa.com) not independently verified by this dataset; his Schedule A lists his occupation as a self-employed accountant. NetFile records show he also ran for this same District 4 seat in 2022. His 2026 campaign committee reported $0 in monetary contributions but a $2,000 loan from Bajwa himself (dated 5/27/2026, still outstanding in full) for the first half of 2026, with $0 in expenditures.

Strengths

A named local commission role (City Commissioner, unspecified commission) plus Chamber of Commerce leadership, and a prior run for this same seat in 2022.

Trade-offs

No independent (non-official, non-campaign-finance) reporting on his candidacy was found in this pass, and his 2026 committee has drawn no outside monetary contributions so far.

Keep in mind

the entire $2,000 his committee has reported is a loan to himself, not outside support -- it says nothing about broader donor backing.

Ann Yap-Jequinto

Her filed ballot designation is "Planning Commissioner/Caregiver." The city's own candidate-statements page describes her, at age 57, as founder of the nonprofit Rodhi's Hope, focused on homelessness and disability advocacy, and a Union City resident since 1977; her own NetFile filing lists her occupation as Classroom Assistant IV with the New Haven Unified School District. Her campaign committee, Yap-Jequinto for Union City Council 2026, reported $800 in monetary contributions (from her treasurer, Martin Jequinto) plus a $3,000 loan from Yap-Jequinto herself (dated 2/1/2026, still outstanding in full) for the first half of 2026, against $3,464.99 in expenditures, ending the period with $385.01 cash on hand and $3,050 in total outstanding loan debt.

Strengths

Named local commission experience (Planning Commissioner), a locally founded nonprofit, and the longest stated District 4 residency (since 1977) of any candidate in this race.

Trade-offs

No independent reporting on her candidacy was found; most of her $3,850 raised is a personal loan, ending with the lowest cash-on-hand of the four District 4 candidates.

Keep in mind

$3,050 of her reported total is loans to herself, still outstanding -- only $800 (from her treasurer) reflects outside support so far.

Source review: Strong (85/100) · 7 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • alamedacountyca.gov (opens in a new tab)Alameda County Registrar of Voters -- official Candidate List system (electionId 260, "General Election - 11/03/2026 (Official)"), queried directly via its own JSON/HTML API (POST /rov_app/candidatelist/) for all three Union City races (categoryId 600, raceIds 134-136): For Member Of City Council #2, Union City (Jaime Patino, Victor Lopez Pulido); #3 (Jeff Wang, Cheris Crocker-Root); #4 (Vipan S. Bajwa, Sarabjit Kaur Cheema, Qasim Lodhi, Ann Yap-Jequinto). Names ballot designations verbatim as filed: "Councilmember/Finance Manager" (Patino), "Legal Advocate/Translator" (Lopez Pulido), "Incumbent" (Wang), "Financial Asset Manager" (Crocker-Root), "City Commissioner/Accountant" (Bajwa), "High School Teacher" (Cheema), "Software Engineer/Father" (Lodhi), "Planning Commissioner/Caregiver" (Yap-Jequinto). The system's own "Incumbent" field reads "N" for every Union City candidate here too, including Patino and Wang -- this dataset does not treat that field as reliable and instead confirms incumbency independently against the City of Union City's own roster page (see union-city-clerk-roster-2026).
  • unioncityca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Union City -- "November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election" overview page: states in its own words that three City Council seats are up (District 2, District 3, District 4), each seat's term running Dec. 8, 2026-Dec. 10, 2030, and quotes the city's term-limit ordinance (Municipal Code Chapter 2.07): three consecutive terms in the same office, partial terms don't count, and a former officeholder may run again after sitting out two years. Links the city's candidates/filing-status page, candidate-statements page, and its NetFile campaign-finance portal, all used as separate sources below.
  • unioncityca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Union City -- "Candidates and Filing Status" page: lists each district's qualified candidates by filing and qualifying date (District 2: Patino filed 8/3, qualified 8/4; Lopez Pulido filed 8/7, qualified 8/9. District 3: Wang filed and qualified 7/27; Crocker-Root filed and qualified 8/4. District 4: Cheema filed 8/10, qualified 8/11; Lodhi filed and qualified 8/5; Bajwa filed and qualified 8/7; Yap-Jequinto filed 8/6, qualified 8/7) and states all are "listed in ballot order per the randomized alphabet drawing conducted August 13, 2026" -- the option order used throughout this dataset. Also names two people issued District 3 nomination papers who did not file them: Allan Samson (issued 7/22/2026) and Kashif Wasim (issued 7/24/2026); neither is a candidate here.
  • unioncityca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Union City -- "Candidate Statements" page: real, candidate-submitted biographical statements for all eight 2026 Council candidates, several linking a personal campaign website (not independently verified by this dataset). Notable detail beyond bare ballot designations: Sarabjit Kaur Cheema is a former New Haven Unified School District Board member (2010-2022); Vipan S. Bajwa is a local Chamber of Commerce Vice President and nonprofit board chair; Ann Yap-Jequinto founded the nonprofit Rodhi's Hope and has lived in the city since 1977; Cheris Crocker-Root has 17 years of district residency plus Park Commission and Parks & Trails Commission leadership experience.
  • unioncityca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Union City -- "Mayor & City Council" page: names Jaime Patino as District 2's sitting Councilmember and Vice Mayor, and Jeff Wang as District 3's sitting Councilmember; District 4's sitting Councilmember, Scott Sakakihara, is not on the county's certified candidate list for District 4 -- the basis for treating that seat as open. Also names Mayor Gary Singh (not up this cycle -- Union City's eight-race City category on the county's own candidate list has no Union City Mayor race at all) and District 1's Lance Nishihira (not up this cycle either).
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's Union City, California article -- 2020 census population (70,143); incorporated Jan. 26, 1959 (combining the communities of Alvarado and Decoto); council-manager government; states the city "switched from citywide elections to districts" on November 3, 2020; states the mayor and council members serve 4-year terms with a 3-consecutive-term limit, cross-checked against the city's own election page's identical term-limit language.
  • netfile.com (opens in a new tab)City of Union City's own NetFile-hosted public campaign-finance portal (agency code UNION, linked directly from the city's own election page), queried directly via its own QuickNameSearch and filings/byCandidate JSON API for all eight 2026 candidates, with each available candidate's most recent H1 2026 FPPC Form 460 downloaded directly via the portal's own CampaignDocuments/download endpoint and read for its actual reported totals. Real H1 2026 totals (monetary contributions raised / total expenditures, this period): Jaime Patino $19,678 plus a $1,000 loan from Patino himself (dated 4/10/2026, still outstanding in full) / $14,839.54, ending with $6,059.65 cash on hand; Victor Lopez Pulido $11,780 / $1,944.79, ending with $9,883.21 cash on hand; Jeff Wang $30,819 / $3,331.10, ending with $27,487.90 cash on hand; Cheris Crocker-Root $5,520 raised this period (plus an $11,283.16 beginning balance carried from H2 2025) / $3,295.78, ending with $13,507.38 cash on hand; Sarabjit Kaur Cheema no Form 460 on file yet, only a Form 410/501; Qasim Lodhi no committee yet, only a Form 501; Vipan S. Bajwa $0 monetary plus a $2,000 loan from Bajwa himself (dated 5/27/2026, still outstanding in full) / $0, ending with $2,000 cash on hand; Ann Yap-Jequinto $800 (from her treasurer, Martin Jequinto) plus a $3,000 loan from Yap-Jequinto herself (her own Schedule A lists her occupation as Classroom Assistant IV, New Haven Unified School District) / $3,464.99, ending with $385.01 cash on hand and $3,050 in outstanding loan debt.

Last updated September 1, 2026.