{"id":344210,"date":"2026-06-03T06:12:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/344210\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T06:12:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T06:12:12","slug":"sacramento-council-primary-could-avoid-november-runoffs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/344210\/","title":{"rendered":"Sacramento council primary could avoid November runoffs"},"content":{"rendered":"

At least two Sacramento City Council incumbents could win outright in the June primary, allowing them to avoid a November runoff election.<\/p>\n

It remains to be seen if District 1 Councilmember Lisa Kaplan will be as fortunate. Despite early returns showing that Kaplan holds a majority of votes, she faces a formidable challenger in the progressive Jenn Chawla and a third candidate who could corner enough of the ballot to prevent Kaplan from winning outright.<\/p>\n

Kaplan was leading with 53.2% of the vote as of 10:06 p.m., Chawla followed with 42% and third candidate Venkat Mechineni has 4.8%.<\/p>\n

Kaplan said that the early returns were encouraging but they won\u2019t be certain about results for at least a week.<\/p>\n

\"Sacramento Sacramento City Councilmember Lisa Kaplan speaks to supporters during her election night party at Aloft Hotel in Natomas on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

\u201cI am hopeful that we can end this is June, but I just want to thank everybody for exercising their democratic process to vote,\u201d Kaplan said.<\/p>\n

Spirits were high at Chawla\u2019s party. The newcomer said that she is expecting to see a boost as ballots are counted since her supporters are left-leaning and tend to turn in their votes later.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be nervous if I were her,\u201d Chawla said of her opponent.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not over,\u201d Vice Mayor Karina Talamantes said at Chawla\u2019s party Tuesday night. \u201cEvery vote counts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sacramento Sacramento City Council candidate Jenn Chawla cheers with her supporters during a TV interview at her election night party at Frends Brewhouse in South Natomas on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. HG BIGGS hg.biggs@sacbee.com City council incumbents\u2019 success<\/p>\n

In Sacramento, around 75% of City Council races in the last 20 years were determined in the June primary election, and the numbers could be roughly similar this year. This election cycle may match that statistic exactly \u2014 besides the contentious District 1 race, another two seem likely to end in victories for sitting council members, while the fourth has Talamantes winning District 3 automatically as she ran unopposed.<\/p>\n

District 5 incumbent Caity Maple, representing Oak Park, Hollywood Park and Parkway, leads with 64% in early returns. She is likely to forgo the campaign trail this fall \u2014 a blessing considering the pregnant politician is due in early September.<\/p>\n

Her opponents, Henry Harry and Santiago Mario Morales Jr., have 20.3% and 15.6% of the vote, respectively.<\/p>\n

Longtime Councilmember Rick Jennings, now representing District 7 which covers the Pocket, Meadowview and Greenhaven, held 56% of the vote as of 10:06 p.m., a result which would free him of the obligation to campaign in the fall. Jennings has never had to run in the general election, including when he was first elected in 2014.<\/p>\n

His opponents, Scott Lau and Mark Velasquez, hold 26% and 18% of the vote, respectively.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat leads up to this result is the work that you\u2019ve done for the past 12 years and I think the people know that, in me, they have a safe person who is going to put the issue before the politics,\u201d Jennings said.<\/p>\n

District 1<\/p>\n

Conversations surrounding public safety and homelessness have defined the bitter race In District 1, which covers North Natomas, Robla and Regency Park.<\/p>\n

Kaplan is well-supported by local law enforcement and business groups, while Chawla, a former Federal Bureau of Investigations investigative specialist, has earned the endorsements of labor groups, several sitting council members and Mayor Kevin McCarty.<\/p>\n

\"Sacramento Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty makes an appearance in support of Sacramento City Council candidate Jenn Chawla, who he has endorsed, during her election night party at Frends Brewhouse in South Natomas on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. HG BIGGS hg.biggs@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

The endorsements for her opponent from fellow council members is unusual, but not surprising for close observers of council dynamics \u2014 Kaplan frequently butts heads with McCarty, particularly when it comes to a micro-community of tiny homes<\/a> he proposed to build on city-owned land in her district. Tensions between the two flared again recently when the mayor shut down her suggestion<\/a> to freeze, rather than cut, 17 vacant firefighting positions. No other council members opted to weigh in and Kaplan later said that the \u201clack of leadership failed Sacramento residents.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite being a first-time candidate for public office, Chawla has gained steady support since announcing her campaign last summer and has raised about $150,000 since then. The Sacramento Central Labor Council has also spent around $32,000 on mailers opposing Kaplan.<\/p>\n

Kaplan has raised around $140,000 this year alone. The California Apartment Association PAC has spent $53,000 on mailers supporting Kaplan and $20,000 on mailers opposing Chawla.<\/p>\n

\"Sacramento Sacramento City Councilmember Lisa Kaplan speaks to supporter Reina Lisbet Tarango during her election night party at the Aloft Hotel in Natomas on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. HECTOR AMEZCUA hamezcua@sacbee.com <\/p>\n

Kaplan\u2019s PAC supporters have heavily criticized Chawla\u2019s plan for public safety, claiming on mailers that the progressive has proposed defunding fire and police departments. Chawla said that this is a mischaracterization.<\/p>\n

In an email to the California Apartment Association, Chawla suggested reducing the fire and police budgets by 10% each, generating about $43 million. She specified in the email that she wanted those savings to come from eliminating vacancies, reforming overtime and structural changes \u201crather than frontline staffing reductions.\u201d<\/p>\n

This story was originally published June 2, 2026 at 8:48 PM.<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Jennah Pendleton<\/a><\/p>\n

The Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n

Jennah Pendleton is an education reporter for The Sacramento Bee. She previously covered schools and culture in the San Francisco Bay Area. She grew up in Orange County and is a graduate of the University of Oregon.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"At least two Sacramento City Council incumbents could win outright in the June primary, allowing them to avoid…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":344211,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[121,123,122],"class_list":["post-344210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=344210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/344210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/344211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=344210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=344210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=344210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}