BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — In a crowded race to be the next representative for Bakersfield’s Ward 3, Seth Hewett knows he sticks out.
In fact, the 26-year-old Bakersfield native is describing his own campaign for Bakersfield City Council as “unorthodox.”
“Being 26 is definitely an uphill battle,” Hewett said. But “I think it’s a challenge that I so willingly accept.”
But despite being young — 20 years younger than some of the other candidates he’s running against in the Ward 3 race — Hewett says he believes he’s the best prepared because he has quite literally studied for it.
Hewett told 17 News during an in-studio interview that he earned a master’s degree from the University of Southern California in public administration while working as a City Hall Fellow with the Bakersfield Fire Department.
“Although I think life experience definitely is a major factor in City Council, I also think that practical knowledge around public policy and city county management is also a factor that voters should consider,” he said. “I think I am the only candidate for the past four years (who) has been training for this role, getting ready for it.”
He said part of that policy experience also includes working with the Kern County Network for Children, the Kern Leaders Academy and the Kern Taxpayers Association.
“All of those were in preparation for City Council,” Hewett said.
Jumping into the political world
Hewett said he’s more inclined to a third way of political thinking.
“I am a fan of the two-party system. I’m not a fan of the culture that’s grown around it, and so I see this as an opportunity for my campaign to provide not a third party, but just a third way of thinking,” he said.
With that, Hewett said he falls more on the conservative side of politics than not, but he does not like to simplify it that way.
“As soon as I come out and publicly say I’m a Republican or I’m a Democrat, now there’s less inclination to ask me what my stances are on certain things like energy or oil or other programs related to public cohesion because they’re going to assume ‘Ah, well, if he’s with this party, I already know his answer.'”
If successfully elected as the next Bakersfield City Council representative for Ward 3, Hewett would succeed Ken Weir, a role he has been in since 2006.
Hewett — whose campaign slogan is “Hewett Will Do It” — said Weir was one of his first “local celebrities” and is a “watchdog” on behalf of voters.
One thing Hewett would prioritize if he succeeded Weir would be focusing on engaging with constituents and “meeting people where they are at.”
“One of the things that I pride myself on my campaign is it’s not my campaign; it’s our campaign,” Hewett said.
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With that notion in mind, Hewett said one of his first priorities would be to create a more transparent City Council through an interactive online portal.
“One of the biggest concerns that we’ve been swept out from public comments here in Bakersfield is obviously conflicts of interest. Where is our money going? Is our money being spent the right way? Well, an AI budget transparency portal (takes) a lot of our publicly available financial information, our contracts, all of our vendors,” he said. “A company will come in, digitalize all of that, and make it accessible to every resident, regardless of if they have a background in financial literacy.”
Hewett said he envisions it being connected to a city app where residents could ask questions to, like, how much money has been funneled into specific projects, who city contractors are and how and where tax dollars have been spent.
He said he’s done work with both of Bakersfield’s Young Democrats and Young Republicans clubs, thinking they’d accept him “with open arms.”
They’d say “I’m so glad he’s a Democrat, or I’m so glad he’s a Republican, then I’d tell them, ‘”Well, you know, I’m running as an Independent,’ and boy, that door closes quick,” Hewett said. “Unfortunately, we’re not quite there yet with breaking down that culture here in town of just being so siloed in our political camps.”
Family roots
In the contested race for the council’s fourth Ward, Hewett is competing against local businesswoman and owner of KC’s Steakhouse Cassie Bittle, accountant and bookkeeper Kathryn Halling, Bakersfield native Pedro Naveiras who has worked as a prosecutor on both the federal and local level and professional fighter and martial arts gym owner JC Llamas.
Local government is new to all five candidates running in the 2026 election, except Bittle, who currently serves on the City’s Planning Commission. Her term is up in 2028.
But even though Hewett would be new to the local government in the role, his ancestry isn’t.
The sixth-generation Bakersfield resident’s great grandfather is Walter Floyd Heisey, a former Bakersfield City Council member and vice mayor from the 1970s, who helped secure the City’s water rights in the Kern River.
Although his great grandfather passed away when he was young, Hewett said he’s grown up looking up to him as a role model.
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But when he started to see more of Heisey’s “mementos” from his time serving Bakersfield and business cards from his City Council work, he started looking up to him as a political influence, too.
“I want to say about (age) 18, 19, that’s when I started to use my grandpa as that role model, and I really admired and revered what he did in our community and how much pride he took in our city,” Hewett said.
Believing in Bakersfield
Although he said that jumping into the political sector and into the public service landscape has always been the plan, Hewett said the City of Bakersfield itself has played a significant role in wanting to get into the field.
If elected by voters into the role come November, Hewett said he wants to see Bakersfield be “the source of best practices.”
“I think homelessness being such an underdog fight right now in California is one of the best ways that Bakersfield can put itself on the map and create a replicable model that can change the rest of the state.”
And to achieve that, he wants to stay right at home.
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“Oftentimes, 26-year-olds getting into politics these days, they want to go for these very high roles with grassroots movements like running for governor of the state, because they have these ideas to do these statewide changes, which I definitely admire,” Hewett said. “That type of energy, I think, is rare to come by, and I love to hear those voices, but it’s a little unrealistic. I mean, hell, even City Council is a little unrealistic.”
But with being a six-generation Bakersfield resident, Hewett said he wants to stay close to the industries that have built the city up and do hands-on work.
For example, Hewett said he and his door knocking team carry weed whackers and mowers when they do their canvassing. If they see a house with overgrown greenery, he said they’ll stop and tend to it.
“Does this cut down our efficiency by probably 200%? Yes, but we are actively taking care of our community as we’re moving through, and I really like the precedent that gets set by that,” he said.
But regardless of the election that is just weeks away, Hewett said he’s ready.
“I want my constituents to know that I am ready to go, that this 26-year-old doesn’t have to go to Khan Academy to learn the functions of his trade,” he said. “This is something that I’ve absolutely trained for.”
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