Stockton City Council candidate Desiree Lynch formally withdrew from the District 5 race Monday, just five days after she was arrested on five felony charges related to alleged election fraud.
This is the second time in 10 days Lynch has announced she is leaving the race amid questions about her residency in the district, having returned to the campaign just prior to her arrest.
In a letter dated Monday and addressed to the Stockton city clerk, Lynch said she was withdrawing her candidacy effective immediately and asked that her name be removed from consideration as permitted by law.
“Today Ms. Lynch resigned and withdrew from the race effective immediately,” her attorney, Allen Sawyer, said in a statement to Stocktonia. “In light of the legal process she is facing, there will be no other comment on this matter. Ms. Lynch is focused on taking care of her daughter and will devote 100% of her attention to her family responsibilities.”
The withdrawal is the latest turn in a tumultuous two weeks for Lynch, a registered nurse who was challenging incumbent Councilmember Brando Villapudua for the District 5 seat representing south central Stockton.
Lynch was arrested Aug. 19 following a six-week investigation by the San Joaquin County District Attorney’s Office Bureau of Investigations. She was booked on three counts of perjury, one voter registration violation and one count of filing a false nomination or declaration of candidacy. She was released on bond later that day.
Prosecutors allege Lynch registered to vote and filed candidate paperwork using Stockton addresses where she did not live in order to qualify to run in District 5. District Attorney investigators allege Lynch instead resided in Lodi and north Stockton, which is within City Council District 1.
A criminal complaint obtained by Stocktonia alleges Lynch signed voter registration documents under penalty of perjury using addresses where prosecutors say she did not live and submitted false paperwork to qualify as a District 5 candidate. The allegations stretch from November 2025 through Aug. 17.
Her arrest came one day after Lynch reversed an earlier announcement that she was stopping her campaign.
Lynch first announced Aug. 14 that she would no longer campaign, citing concerns about her safety, health and family. Four days later, she told the city clerk she had reconsidered and would remain in the race against Villapudua. She was arrested the following morning.
Monday’s signed withdrawal is the first formal notice from Lynch asking the city to remove her candidacy.
Although Lynch’s letter asks the city clerk to remove her name from consideration “as permitted by law,” it does not cite a specific law. California Elections Code allows a municipal candidate to withdraw nomination papers until the 88th day before an election, but not afterward. As of Monday, there were 73 days remaining until the general election on Nov. 5.
Sawyer is also familiar with one of the key figures in the controversy surrounding Lynch’s candidacy. He previously represented former Stockton Mayor Anthony Silva in criminal proceedings that resulted in a 2019 felony conflict-of-interest conviction, which was later reduced to a misdemeanor and expunged.
Silva later became a prominent critic of Lynch’s campaign, publicly questioning whether she lived in District 5. In July, Lynch sought a civil harassment restraining order against him, alleging he unlawfully entered the East Oak Street apartment she identified as her residence, recorded videos inside and posted her address online. The case and temporary restraining order were dismissed Thursday after Lynch failed to appear for the hearing.
Lynch is scheduled to be arraigned at 1:30 p.m. on Sept. 2 in San Joaquin County Superior Court. If convicted on all five felony counts, she faces a maximum sentence of six years and eight months in prison, according to the District Attorney’s Office.