Menifee City Council: Diederich and Sandoval Lead Two District Races

MENIFEE, Riverside County — November 4, 2026. Preliminary Riverside County returns place Ben Diederich ahead in Menifee City Council District 2 and Frank Sandoval ahead in District 4.

Preliminary numbers from the county

District 2 shows Diederich with 43.96%, Laz C. Peterson at 33.38%, and Thomas Patrick Fuhrman at 22.65%. District 4 shows Sandoval with 65.81%, Randy Madrid with 27.21%, and Daniel Stephens with 6.98%.

What these early results mean

The District 2 candidate in first place has less than half of the votes reported, but that is an early lead rather than a certified result. The figures also cannot be combined across council districts.

Riverside County reported that election-night counting had finished while an estimated 485,000 vote-by-mail ballots and 11,000 conditional-registration ballots remained to be counted countywide. Those countywide totals do not specify how many ballots are still outstanding in this particular contest. Check the registrar’s latest posting for changes before concluding who won or whether a measure passed.

Sources: Riverside County Registrar of Voters, November 3 general election, Update #8; Valley News, November 4, 2026, based on Riverside County returns. Figures are unofficial. California58 statewide election hub.

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