Skip to main content

City of Waterford · Statewide General Election

Waterford 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 open at-large seats on Waterford's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Stanislaus County city of about 9,120 residents (2020 Census), alongside a separately, directly elected Mayor (not on this ballot) and 2 other Council Members. Waterford operates under a council-manager government, with a professional city manager running day-to-day operations while the elected council sets policy. Council Members are elected at-large, citywide -- there are no council districts -- to 4-year terms.

Four candidates are running for two seats on the Waterford City Council: incumbent Christine R. Harris against three challengers -- Jeremy T. Hedden, Todd R. Valdez, and Desiree Turnbough. The two highest vote-getters win outright on November 3 -- no runoff.

Waterford's City Council sets city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Stanislaus County city of about 9,120 residents, operating under a council-manager government where a professional city manager runs day-to-day operations while the elected council sets policy. Council Members are elected at-large, citywide -- there are no council districts -- to 4-year terms.

Waterford's Mayor is a separate, directly elected office with a 2-year term, but no Mayor's race appears on this county's candidate list at all this cycle -- unlike other small Stanislaus cities where a single-candidate Mayor's race still gets printed on the ballot. That total absence suggests the seat drew only its sitting incumbent and was filled by City Council appointment under state election law rather than placed on the ballot, though this dataset could not independently confirm that with a city notice: the city's own site was unreachable throughout this pass.

Christine R. Harris

Christine R. Harris is a sitting Waterford Council Member running for reelection. She is the only one of the four candidates with a ballot designation, printed simply as "Incumbent" on the county's official candidate list -- independently corroborated by Wikipedia's current Waterford council roster, which lists her among the sitting Council Members. No independent news profile, campaign website, or civic-board record was found for her in this pass beyond that officeholder status.

Strengths

Sitting officeholder status, the only candidate in this race with a checkable record in the seat.

Trade-offs

No independent news coverage or voting record was found in this pass -- only her incumbency and her name on the county list and the city roster.

Keep in mind

This dataset could not reach Waterford's own site in this pass beyond archived snapshots that predate the 2026 filing season, so no fuller account of her council record -- good or bad -- could be checked beyond what's here.

Jeremy T. Hedden

Jeremy T. Hedden is challenging incumbent Christine R. Harris for one of Waterford's two open Council seats. His filed ballot designation is "Retail Merchandiser." No independent news profile, campaign website, or civic-board record was found for him in this pass.

Strengths

No independent record, background, or platform was found for him beyond the name and filed occupation on the county's certified candidate list -- the same gap for every non-incumbent candidate here.

Trade-offs

Voters have no statement, platform, or public record to weigh for him beyond that filing.

Keep in mind

A thin public profile here reflects what could be found in this pass -- Waterford's own site was unreachable throughout, and this dataset's WebSearch budget was already exhausted before this jurisdiction's research began -- not a judgment about his candidacy.

Todd R. Valdez

Todd R. Valdez is challenging incumbent Christine R. Harris for one of Waterford's two open Council seats. His filed ballot designation is "Sales Consultant." No independent news profile, campaign website, or civic-board record was found for him in this pass.

Strengths

No independent record, background, or platform was found for him beyond the name and filed occupation on the county's certified candidate list -- the same gap for every non-incumbent candidate here.

Trade-offs

Voters have no statement, platform, or public record to weigh for him beyond that filing.

Keep in mind

A thin public profile here reflects what could be found in this pass -- Waterford's own site was unreachable throughout, and this dataset's WebSearch budget was already exhausted before this jurisdiction's research began -- not a judgment about his candidacy.

Desiree Turnbough

Desiree Turnbough is challenging incumbent Christine R. Harris for one of Waterford's two open Council seats. Her filed ballot designation is "Accounting Clerk." No independent news profile, campaign website, or civic-board record was found for her in this pass.

Strengths

No independent record, background, or platform was found for her beyond the name and filed occupation on the county's certified candidate list -- the same gap for every non-incumbent candidate here.

Trade-offs

Voters have no statement, platform, or public record to weigh for her beyond that filing.

Keep in mind

A thin public profile here reflects what could be found in this pass -- Waterford's own site was unreachable throughout, and this dataset's WebSearch budget was already exhausted before this jurisdiction's research began -- not a judgment about her candidacy.

Source review: Strong (80/100) · 6 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • stanvote.gov (opens in a new tab)Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters -- "Unofficial Candidate List," General Election, Nov. 3, 2026 (refetched fresh this session; PDF metadata date-stamped 8/31/2026, page footers time-stamped 7:57 AM 8/31/2026): the "CITY OF WATERFORD" block of the "MUNICIPAL OFFICES" section names one office -- COUNCIL MEMBER (Vote for 2): *Christine R. Harris (Incumbent), Jeremy T. Hedden (Retail Merchandiser), Todd R. Valdez (Sales Consultant), Desiree Turnbough (Accounting Clerk) -- with each candidate's filed ballot designation; no Mayor heading appears for Waterford anywhere in the document.
  • stanvote.gov (opens in a new tab)Stanislaus County Registrar of Voters -- "City Clerks" directory: confirms that Waterford candidate filing runs through the city's own clerk, not the county, and gives the city's official contact information (101 E Street / PO Box 199, Waterford, CA 95386; 209-874-2328; cityofwaterford.org)
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- Waterford, California: 2020 Census population (9,120, up from 8,456 in 2010) and the current council roster -- Mayor Charlie Goeken, Vice Mayor Jamie Hilton, Council Members Lupita Gutierrez, Christine Harris, and Elizabeth Talbott -- independently confirming Christine Harris as a sitting Council Member.
  • web.archive.org (opens in a new tab)City of Waterford -- own "City Council" page, read via a Wayback Machine capture dated 12/26/2025 since the live site is Cloudflare-gated this session: confirms a council-manager government organized as a general law city in 1969, a directly elected Mayor serving a 2-year term versus Council Members' 4-year terms, all at-large/citywide with no districts, and $300/month council compensation (text unchanged from an earlier 2021 capture).
  • web.archive.org (opens in a new tab)City of Waterford -- own "FPPC Campaign Statements" index, read via a Wayback Machine capture dated 11/11/2025 (predating the 2026 candidate-filing window): lists historical 2020-2025 filings for council members Hilton, Kitchens, Harris, Stepp, and Talbott, and shows Mayor Charlie Goeken filed an FPPC Form 501 candidate-intention statement for "Election 2024"; no 2026-cycle filing is visible in this capture for any of the four 2026 Council candidates.
  • cityofwaterford.org (opens in a new tab)A documented site-access gap, not a claim about any candidate's background, the Mayor race's disposition, or fundraising: the live City of Waterford site (cityofwaterford.org) returned a Cloudflare managed challenge (HTTP 403) to every path tried this session -- the root domain, /city-council, and /elections -- under both WebFetch and a direct curl with a realistic browser User-Agent, and no Wayback Machine capture exists from the actual 2026 candidate-nomination window (Jul-Aug 2026) for any Waterford elections-related page.

Last updated September 1, 2026.