Stockton City Council 2026: Padilla Leads District 1, Blower Ahead in District 3 as County Canvass Continues

STOCKTON, California — November 5, 2026. San Joaquin County’s latest available election-night reporting separates three Stockton City Council contests by district, each with its own electorate. Two of them — District 1 and District 3 — show distinct leads in the registrar’s official but uncertified November 3 general-election dashboard.

District 1: Padilla and Small

Michele Padilla has 5,069 votes (58.69%) against Tamica Small’s 3,568 (41.31%), a reported 1,501-vote difference. The percentages are based on valid votes counted in District 1, not a citywide estimate or the number of people voting in the mayoral or gubernatorial contests. Neither side’s eventual total can be derived from the countywide voter turnout estimate.

District 3: Blower and Toccoli

In a separate two-candidate race, Michael Blower has 4,411 votes (59.54%) and Jessica Toccoli 2,997 (40.46%), a 1,414-vote reported lead. District 3 totals must be read independently of District 1. A higher or lower raw vote total across districts does not in itself demonstrate the same number of voters, registration or turnout in either constituency.

District 5: a separate election with an important ballot complication

The official dashboard records Desiree Lynch 1,972 votes (53.60%) versus Brando Villapudua 1,707 (46.40%) in District 5. This is a separate race. California58 has already published a District 5 report about the unusual circumstance of a candidate withdrawing after the ballot-removal deadline. Reporting a person’s name on the ballot or counted lead is not the same thing as determining office eligibility or declaring a winner.

Why every Stockton result remains provisional

San Joaquin election officials must complete the post-election canvass, including checking valid additional mailed ballots, provisional ballots, signatures and a required manual audit. The county’s published audit schedule begins ballot retrieval for its one-percent manual tally November 9 and targets the conclusion by November 25. Final official local results are expected no earlier than completion of that procedure. The three figures above come from the county’s latest accessible election-night dataset, not a new certified Thursday canvass.

What the city council controls

Stockton council representatives take part in city budgeting, local planning, municipal services and ordinances. The governing decisions affect neighborhoods beyond any one political campaign. Residents should track their own council district, since election-night data for other districts do not describe the representatives they personally elect.

Related election coverage

For the countywide perspective and the earlier change in the Manteca mayoral count, read California58’s November 4 San Joaquin County overview. For official data go directly to the San Joaquin Registrar election results. This story preserves the county’s early-November-4 numbers for later comparison; they may change as more votes are tabulated.

Primary sources: San Joaquin County Registrar of Voters election results, accessed November 5; county October 30 audit schedule. Candidate vote totals are unofficial and time-stamped to the latest accessible election-night batch, not certified outcomes.

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