When we first wrote about this race the count was known and the names were not. Filing has closed, so here they are. Six candidates are running for two at-large Oakdale City Council seats on November 3, 2026, each a four-year term.
Two, at-large, four-year terms each.
Sal Hernandez, Christopher Chavez, Benjamin Amaral, Mary Buchanan, Fred Smith, and incumbent Kayleigh Gilbert.
Top two vote getters win. No districts, no runoff.
Incumbent Cherilyn Bairos, unopposed.
What at-large actually means for your ballot.
Oakdale does not elect council members by district. Every voter in the city votes on the same list, and the two highest vote totals take the two seats. There is no runoff and no second round. A candidate can win a seat with well under half the vote if the field is split six ways, which is exactly the situation here.
One incumbent, Kayleigh Gilbert, is on the ballot. Fred Smith has served on the council previously. The other four — Sal Hernandez, Christopher Chavez, Benjamin Amaral and Mary Buchanan — are the rest of the field. We are not endorsing and we are not ranking them.
The mayor's race is not a race.
Incumbent Cherilyn Bairos filed unopposed for a four-year term. That is worth stating plainly rather than burying, because an unopposed office still appears on your ballot and still holds real authority for four years.
Riverbank next door.
Riverbank does elect by district, and has two contested seats. District 1 has incumbent Luis Uribe against Nai Nicholas Sosongkham, Sherry Fenn and Jeannette Reyes. District 3 is an open seat between Carissa Commons and Sammi Martinez, after appointed incumbent John Pimentel did not file for reelection.
What this council will actually decide.
Not abstractions. The people elected in November will sit on the decisions this paper has been covering all year. Whether Oakdale pursues a move off PG&E to MID once the feasibility study lands. How the Sierra Pointe annexation is conditioned as it moves past LAFCo. Who pays for sidewalks. Whether the city writes data-center rules before somebody applies rather than after, which is the exact mistake Patterson had to spend a year unwinding.
Those are the questions to ask a candidate who knocks on your door. Not how they feel about Oakdale. Everybody feels good about Oakdale.