Election Day: Tuesday, November 3, 2026Key datesVoter guide

Transparent Salinas

Campaign Finance · Salinas City Council · Public Record

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Salinas ballot · November 3, 2026

Who funds Salinas politics?

Who is paying for Salinas campaigns, who is on your ballot, and what your vote decides. Start with the question you have.

Data as of 2026-10-17

Source: City of Salinas NetFile · FPPC Form 460 · 2024–2025 snapshot through · También en español →

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The races

All 2026 races →

Four Salinas council seats, plus a U.S. House race. Salinas is in California’s 18th Congressional District (Zoe Lofgren, D, vs. Shane Lewis, R); the CA-19 race shown here covers the Monterey Peninsula and coastal Monterey County. Check your sample ballot for your district. Here’s who’s running.

My council district

Three council seats — D1, D4, D6 — are mid-term and not on the 2026 ballot.

Data as of 2026-10-17Monetary contributions each committee reported in its 2026 campaign statements. Coverage differs by committee.

Mayor

Monetary contributions

Bar lengths use one scale for this list.

Council District 2

Monetary contributions

  • Tony BarreraPaper-filed $8,488Read from the committee's paper-filed Form 460 statements (filing 217038488, received 2026-07-08; filing 217534118, received 2026-09-28), not from the City's e-filed data.
  • Jose GuerraUnavailable not zeroNo matched committee

Council District 3

Monetary contributions

Bar lengths use one scale for this list.

Council District 5

Monetary contributions

Bar lengths use one scale for this list.

Candidates appear in the order of the source table. Each figure is one measure, reported separately and never added to another; loans, in-kind support and later receipts are not included in these figures. “Unavailable” means no committee in the City’s e-filed exports used here was matched to that candidate; it is not zero.

Open 2026 Money →Results by committee →2024–2025 history ↓

U.S. House · CA-19 Neighboring district · not on Salinas ballots

The measures

Both measures, side by side →

Local · City of Salinas · Sales tax

Measure G — Sales tax extension

A vote on whether to extend the existing 1¢ local sales tax that Salinas voters approved in 2014. The tax is currently set to expire on April 1, 2030. This measure would keep it in place at the same rate — not raise it.

A YES vote

Keeps the 1¢ sales tax going past its April 1, 2030 sunset — same rate, not an increase. The ballot question describes the tax as raising about $30 million a year.

A NO vote

Lets the tax expire on April 1, 2030. The City projects a roughly $47 million shortfall (about 21% of the budget) starting FY 2030–31, with cuts to services and staff.

2026 committeesData as of 2026-10-17

No committee opposing the renewal appears in the campaign statements used here, through 2026-10-17.

This measure, in full →

Local · City of Salinas · Referendum

Measure H — Rent reform referendum

The City describes this as a vote on Ordinance No. 2687, the council’s June 2025 ordinance repealing four rent-related ordinances. The petition qualified and the council placed the repeal ordinance on the November 2026 ballot. The guide below is provisional until Transparent Salinas verifies the final certified ballot title and official voter materials.

Expected YES effect

Adopt Ordinance No. 2687, the repeal ordinance. On the current official record, that would repeal the four rent-related ordinances. Verify the certified ballot language before voting.

Expected NO effect

Vote against Ordinance No. 2687. On the current official record, the four rent-related ordinances would remain in effect, subject to later lawful changes. Verify the certified ballot language before voting.

2026 committeesData as of 2026-10-17 · in committee ID order

One late contribution to committee 1484184 was reported by the sending committee on a late-contribution report (Form 497) and by committee 1484184 as an in-kind contribution (Schedule C); it is counted once, in that committee’s in-kind figure. Committees for other ballot measures are listed in 2026 Money.

Positions are stated only as each committee’s filings, or the City’s filing portal, state them; they are not endorsements by Transparent Salinas.

This measure, in full →

How and when to vote

How to vote →
01

Dates to remember

Mark them now — some of these are sooner than you think.

Mail ballots sent Mon, Oct 5 Every active registered voter in Monterey County is mailed a ballot.
Early voting opens Mon, Oct 5 In-person voting starts at the Monterey County Elections Office in Salinas; more early-voting sites open later in October. Locations on the Monterey County Elections site.
Voter registration deadline Mon, Oct 19 Missed it? From Oct 20 through Election Day you can register and vote the same day (conditional voter registration) at the county elections office, an early-voting site, or your polling place.
Election Day Tue, Nov 3 Polling places are open 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Drop boxes close at 8 p.m.

Dates reflect the published 2026 California General Election calendar. Confirm at montereycountyelections.us.

The budget

Full budget →

City budget

Where every dollar goes.

Total budget, FY 25–26
$285M
Year-over-year change
+10.0%
Authorized FTEs (+10.5 YoY)
660.5
Personnel share of budget
68.5%

Where it goes, by department →Measure G, Year by Year →

Follow the money

2026 Money →

2024–2025 history, data through

Contribution and expenditure records from this site’s dated FPPC filing snapshot. A separate dataset from the 2026 filings above.

Tracked across the 2024–2025 cycle
$1.36M
Contributions
722
FPPC Form 460
Candidates & Committees
13
Council, PAC, referendum
Election Cycles
2
2024 & 2025

Follow the money →See the council ↓

Use the data

Glossary →

From the earlier front page

The sections of the earlier front page, as they were. Open any of them.

New here? Start with these.
  1. What the words mean A plain-language glossary — PAC, Schedule A, independent expenditure, and more.
  2. Follow the money One picture: who gave, which committee took it in, and what it paid for.
  3. Your ballot cheat sheet Key dates, what’s on the Salinas ballot, and how to vote.
City Council

Campaign finance profiles for the seven members of the Salinas City Council. Figures on these cards are 2024–2025 history; 2026 figures are at the top of this page.

On the Ballot in 2026
Mayor 4 candidates
  • Dennis Donohue Incumbent
  • Daniel Muñoz Challenger
  • Peter Szalai Challenger
  • Hezekiah Gonzalez Challenger
View race →
District 2 2 candidates
  • Tony Barrera Incumbent
  • Jose Guerra Challenger
View race →
District 3 3 candidates
  • Margaret D’Arrigo Incumbent
  • Cary Swensen Challenger
  • Brent Bagley Challenger
View race →
District 5 2 candidates
  • Andrew Sandoval Incumbent
  • Irma C Lopez Challenger
View race →
All 2026 races →
Follow the Money2024–2025 investigations

Investigations into who’s funding Salinas politics — and where the money actually goes.

Referendum

Referendum Committee Financing

$85K across both committees

Project label “repeal”: $53K from 16 filing-name groups. Project label “keep”: $32K from 71.

Explore referendum → PACs

Independent Expenditures

$290K across three PACs

Protect Salinas, the Recall Sandoval effort, and Vote to Protect Renters.

Track PACs → Expenditures

Where the Money Went

$1.39M in vendor payments

1,132 transactions. Consultants, mailers, signs, payroll — line by line.

See spending → Donors

Donor Directory

Filing records, searchable

Browse included contribution records by name, type, and recipient. Filing-name groups are not verified identities.

Open directory → Research aid

Editorial Donor Groupings

Project-defined record groups

Review the filing evidence and identity limits behind editorial groupings; no coordination is inferred.

Review groups → Timeline

Key Dates

2024 → 2026

Selected election, recall, and referendum filing dates from the 2024–2026 cycle.

Open timeline → Sales tax

Measure G, Year by Year

$300M collected, FY 2014–15 through FY 2024–25

Twelve fiscal years of the 1% Measure G sales tax — revenue, department spending, transfers out, and $76.7M in capital projects. Figures come from the city’s adopted budgets and audited financial statements. The tax sunsets April 1, 2030; renewal is on the November 2026 ballot.

Open Measure G →
What We Found2024–2025 history

Three findings from $1.36M in tracked Salinas campaign money. Each one opens a deeper page.

73%

One contribution is 73% of one committee’s total

UDR, Inc. contributed $39,125, or 73% of the contributions shown for the committee this project labels as supporting Ordinance No. 2687’s repeal.

See the referendum → $149K

One company appears across two committee records

The included filings show Taylor Fresh Foods contributions to Protect Salinas and the Recall Sandoval committee. Shared giving does not by itself establish coordination between committees.

Track the PACs → 28%

One firm received 28% of included vendor payments

Across 1,132 vendor invoices, CleanSweep Campaigns — appearing under four payee labels as filed — received $392,851, more than one in four dollars spent.

See spending →

About these numbers

  1. Each 2026 figure is its own measure. The 2026 figures are not added together, within a committee or across committees.
  2. Unavailable (not zero): Shown when a figure could not be established from the filings used here, such as when no committee was matched to a candidate or a committee has no 2026 full statement. It does not mean zero dollars.
  3. Names withheld: individual contributors below the disclosure threshold are pooled into one row. Pooled amounts remain in funding totals.
  4. Loans, in-kind support and contributions reported after a committee’s last full statement are shown separately from monetary contributions.
  5. Reports filed after the export date may be missing. Check the City’s NetFile portal for newer filings.
  6. Positions of ballot-measure committees are as their filings or the City’s portal state them. They are not endorsements by Transparent Salinas.