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City of Visalia · Statewide General Election

Visalia City Council, District 5

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 represent District 5 on Visalia's five-member City Council, a Tulare County city of 141,384 residents (2020 Census) governed under the council-manager form: an appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations while the elected Council sets policy. Council seats are elected by district to staggered 4-year terms, a shift from at-large elections that took effect after a 2012 ballot measure. Visalia has no separately elected Mayor -- each March, the City Council chooses one of its own members to serve as Mayor and another as Vice Mayor for the coming year; the current Mayor, Brett Taylor, represents District 2, not District 5.

Four candidates are running for Visalia's District 5 City Council seat: incumbent Steve Nelsen, real-estate agent Esther Perez, and two candidates with thinner public records, Justin Stie and Jose Sosa Wences.

This person would represent District 5 on Visalia's five-member City Council, a Tulare County city of 141,384 residents (2020 Census) governed under the council-manager form: an appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations while the elected Council sets policy and the budget. Council seats are elected by district to staggered 4-year terms, a shift from at-large elections that took effect after a 2012 ballot measure. Visalia has no separately elected Mayor -- each March, the City Council chooses one of its own members to serve as Mayor and another as Vice Mayor for the coming year; the current Mayor, Brett Taylor, represents District 2, not District 5.

With four names on the ballot for one seat, District 5 is decided by whichever candidate gets the most votes on November 3 -- no ranked-choice voting or runoff.

Steve Nelsen

The incumbent, seeking another term; his filed ballot designation is "Incumbent." Per the city's own official biography, he is a long-time Visalia resident originally from San Diego with a B.A. in Communications from CSU Fullerton. He is a former Chairman of the Tulare County Council of Cities and founded the C.A.R.E. Foundation, supporting dementia and Alzheimer's patients, in January 2015. His other civic roles include founding member of the Visalia Advisory Flood Map Committee, member and past chair of the Mid-Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability Agency, President of the Tulare County Sheriff's Foundation, and Golden West High School soccer coach from 1990 to 1999. He is the father of three and grandfather of eight.

Strengths

A sitting Council member with an extensive, city-documented record of local civic and nonprofit leadership spanning decades.

Trade-offs

This dataset found no independent news coverage of his record in office, and no 2026 campaign platform beyond his official biography.

Keep in mind

No campaign-finance figures were independently reviewed for him this pass; he has forms on file with the City Clerk's office per the city's own disclosure index.

Esther Perez

A challenger to the incumbent; her filed ballot designation is "Realtor." Her own campaign site describes her as a 20-year Visalia resident and real-estate agent with prior experience in insurance sales, customer service, and administrative work, married to a teacher of over 20 years. She chairs the Visalia Cemetery District and has served on the North Visalia Advisory Committee and the Tulare-Kings Hispanic Chamber of Commerce board, and is a 2011 Leadership Visalia alumna. Her stated platform emphasizes small-business-driven economic growth, fiscal responsibility, and public-safety funding, and she lists endorsements from a school board member, a former Farmersville mayor, the Tulare County GOP, and Connie Conway.

Strengths

A detailed self-published platform and a list of named local endorsements, plus a substantial record of civic-board service.

Trade-offs

As a non-incumbent she has no council voting record, and this dataset found no independent news coverage corroborating her campaign-site biography.

Keep in mind

No campaign-finance figures were independently reviewed for her this pass; she has forms on file with the City Clerk's office per the city's own disclosure index.

Justin Stie

A challenger with no filed ballot designation. This dataset found no independent news coverage or campaign website for him. What is confirmed comes from his own official filings with the City of Visalia: a Candidate Intention Statement (Form 501, filed July 13, 2026) and a Statement of Economic Interests (Form 700, filed July 17, 2026) on which he checked "None -- No reportable interests on any schedule," disclosing no investments, property, outside income, or business positions.

Strengths

None found beyond his official candidate filings.

Trade-offs

No independent news coverage, campaign website, or stated platform was found for him despite a genuine multi-engine search, so voters have essentially nothing beyond his name on the ballot.

Keep in mind

His own Form 700 discloses no reportable financial interests, and his campaign-finance filing (below) declares a small-scale campaign.

Jose Sosa Wences

A challenger whose filed ballot designation, "County Office Assistant," is confirmed and specified by his own Statement of Economic Interests (Form 700, filed July 28, 2026): its Schedule C names his employer as the County of Kings' Human Services Agency in Hanford, where his position is "Office Assistant I -- Bilingual," with a salary in the $10,001-$100,000 range. This dataset found no independent news coverage or campaign website for him beyond this and his Candidate Intention Statement (Form 501, filed July 13, 2026).

Strengths

A confirmed, specific public-sector job (bilingual office assistant for Kings County's Human Services Agency), from his own sworn economic-interest filing.

Trade-offs

No independent news coverage, campaign website, or stated platform was found for him despite a genuine multi-engine search.

Keep in mind

This dataset could not establish whether he has filed a campaign-finance (Form 460/470) statement; none was found on the city's disclosure index.

Source review: Very strong (90/100) · 11 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.

Review note: Esther Perez's own campaign site (vote4esther.com): a 20-year Visalia resident, real-estate agent with prior insurance-sales, customer-service, and administrative experience, married to a teacher of 20-plus years; chair of the Visalia Cemetery District, member of the North Visalia Advisory Committee and the Tulare-Kings Hispanic Chamber of Commerce board, 2011 Leadership Visalia alumna; platform priorities of small-business-driven economic growth, fiscal responsibility, and public-safety funding; endorsed by a school board member, a former Farmersville mayor, the Tulare County GOP, and Connie Conway. may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • tc-web.widen.net (opens in a new tab)Tulare County Elections -- official "Contest/Candidate Proof List" (report CFMR001) for the November 3, 2026 General Election, independently re-downloaded via direct curl for this shard: within the City of Visalia's own contests, exactly two appear -- District 4 (incumbent Emmanuel Hernandez Soto; Nick Kastle, "Businessman") and District 5 (incumbent Steve Nelsen; Esther Perez, "Realtor"; Justin Stie, "No Ballot Designation"; Jose Sosa Wences, "County Office Assistant") -- no other City of Visalia contest (no Mayor, no other citywide office) appears anywhere in the 63-page document
  • visalia.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Visalia -- its own City Council page (visalia.gov/173/City-Council): names all five sitting members by district -- Vice Mayor Liz Wynn (District 1), Mayor Brett Taylor (District 2), Brian Poochigian (District 3), Emmanuel Hernandez Soto (District 4), and Steve Nelsen (District 5) -- confirming the five-district structure and that no sixth, separately elected Mayor seat exists; does not itself state the mechanism by which the Mayor title is assigned
  • visalia.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Visalia -- Council Member Steve Nelsen's own official District 5 biography page: a long-time Visalia resident originally from San Diego, B.A. in Communications from CSU Fullerton; former Chairman of the Tulare County Council of Cities; founded and led the C.A.R.E. Foundation (dementia/Alzheimer's support) in Jan. 2015; founding member of the Visalia Advisory Flood Map Committee, member and past chair of the Mid-Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability Agency, President of the Tulare County Sheriff's Foundation, Golden West High School soccer coach 1990-1999; father of three, grandfather of eight.
  • vote4esther.com (opens in a new tab)Esther Perez's own campaign site (vote4esther.com): a 20-year Visalia resident, real-estate agent with prior insurance-sales, customer-service, and administrative experience, married to a teacher of 20-plus years; chair of the Visalia Cemetery District, member of the North Visalia Advisory Committee and the Tulare-Kings Hispanic Chamber of Commerce board, 2011 Leadership Visalia alumna; platform priorities of small-business-driven economic growth, fiscal responsibility, and public-safety funding; endorsed by a school board member, a former Farmersville mayor, the Tulare County GOP, and Connie Conway.
  • visalia.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Visalia -- 'Financial Disclosures & Forms' page: the city's own index of every 2026 city-election candidate's FPPC filings (Forms 501, 700, 410, 460/470, 497) by direct document link, confirming which forms are on file for each District 5 candidate, including Stie and Sosa Wences.
  • visalia.gov (opens in a new tab)Justin Stie's FPPC Form 501 (Candidate Intention Statement), filed with the City of Visalia City Clerk's Office 7/13/2026: name on file 'Stie, Justin A.,' Visalia, CA 93292, non-partisan office, City Council District 5.
  • visalia.gov (opens in a new tab)Justin Stie's FPPC Form 700 (Statement of Economic Interests), filed 7/17/2026, City of Visalia, City/Town Council Member, candidate for the 11/2/2026 election: 'None -- No reportable interests on any schedule' is checked; no investments, real property, income sources, or business positions disclosed.
  • visalia.gov (opens in a new tab)Justin Stie's FPPC Form 470 (Officeholder and Candidate Campaign Statement -- Short Form), signed and filed 7/13/2026 for calendar year 2026, office sought 'Visalia City Council' District 5: declares under penalty of perjury that he anticipates receiving less than $2,000 and spending less than $2,000 during the year, with no committee listed.
  • visalia.gov (opens in a new tab)Jose Sosa Wences's FPPC Form 501 (Candidate Intention Statement), filed with the City of Visalia City Clerk's Office 7/13/2026: name on file 'Sosa Wences, Jose G.,' Visalia, CA 93292, non-partisan office, City Council District 5.
  • visalia.gov (opens in a new tab)Jose Sosa Wences's FPPC Form 700 (Statement of Economic Interests), filed 7/28/2026, City of Visalia, City/Town Council Member, candidate for the 11/3/2026 election, Schedule C attached: source of income 'County of Kings (Human Services Agency),' 1400 W Lacey Blvd, Hanford, CA 93230, business activity 'Human Services,' business position 'Office Assistant I -- Bilingual,' gross income $10,001-$100,000 (salary).
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Visalia, California": 2020 Census population 141,384; council-manager government; states the city elected its five-member City Council at-large until a 2012 ballot measure moved it to by-district elections, and that "each March, the City Council meets and chooses one of its own members as mayor and one as vice-mayor" -- confirming there is no separately elected Mayor seat

Last updated September 2, 2026.