La Grande Skips May Primary, All Candidates Head to November Ballot

Four La Grande City Council races will skip the May ballot entirely after candidate filings closed with two or fewer contenders in every position, triggering a charter provision that routes all candidates directly to the November 3 general election.

Section 29 of the La Grande City Charter requires a May primary only when three or more candidates file for a single position. With none of the four open seats drawing that level of interest before the filing deadline, the city announced there will be no municipal primary on May 19, 2026. "A Primary Election will not be held in the City of La Grande on Tuesday, May 19, 2026," the city stated in its official press release. "Pursuant to Section 29 of the La Grande City Charter, if two (2) or fewer candidates file for any particular Position Number, the names of those candidates will appear only on the November 3, 2026, General Election ballot."

All candidates were required to collect and submit signature petitions, with only those who had verified signatures cleared to file. Incumbents faced a February 24 deadline; new candidates had until March 3.

The result is two uncontested races and two contested ones. Mayor Justin B. Rock, who first won the seat in the 2022 general election with 56.1% of the vote over Mathew Miles and was reelected in 2024, is running unopposed for the two-year term. Councilor Molly King faces no challenger for Position 5, a four-year seat she also won without opposition in 2022, capturing 59.4% of the vote that year.

The two contested four-year council seats will offer La Grande voters genuine choices. Rod Sands is challenging incumbent Denise Wheeler for Position 6; Wheeler earned her seat in 2022 with 48.8% of the vote. In Position 7, John R. Lackey faces incumbent Corrine Dutto, a two-term council veteran who won her current seat in 2022 with 46% of the vote.

All four positions are non-partisan, and the city confirmed that the filing deadline has passed with no further changes to the candidate roster expected before November 3.