{"id":435839,"date":"2026-08-18T02:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T02:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/435839\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T02:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T02:24:07","slug":"residents-to-weigh-city-council-elections-in-november-2026-general-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/435839\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents to weigh City Council elections in November 2026 General Election"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) \u2014 As we get closer to the first day of Fall, many are preparing for the return of pumpkin spice-flavored coffees, football season, and Halloween, but on November 3rd residents will also cast their ballots for the next era of their city council members.<\/p>\n<p>Depending on which city a Kern County resident lives in, their council can be structured in a few different ways: districts, at-large, or a mix of both.<\/p>\n<p>District elections require candidates to live within the district they represent, and voters only get to vote for candidates in the district they reside in.<\/p>\n<p>At-large elections only require candidates to live within city limits, voters generally vote for several candidates on one ballot, and the top vote-getters are awarded a seat on the council.<\/p>\n<p>However, similar to the 2024 election, some residents in Wasco and Tehachapi likely won&#8217;t vote for their city council members as they are running unopposed. Wasco City Council is slated to vote on cancelling the District 3 race where Valentin Medina is the only candidate. A spokesperson for the City of Tehachapi indicated the city intends to do the same, as there is only one candidate per race on their city council ballot.<\/p>\n<p>However, McFarland is unable to take advantage of the same scenario despite only having one candidate per district. City Clerk Erika De La Cruz told 23ABC in an email, &#8220;In this case, two measures and one initiative have qualified for the upcoming election. As a result, the City cannot proceed under Section 10229(a). Additionally, the Kern County Elections Office has confirmed that there is no additional cost to the City for including the unopposed candidate contests since the City already has measures on the ballot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The Kern County Elections Office will begin to mail out mail-in ballots to eligible residents starting on October 5; residents are able to vote in person on Election Day on November 3.<\/p>\n<p>Below is a list of all city council elections that Kern Residents will be tasked with deciding this November; the official list can be found on the <a class=\"Link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kernvote.com\/elections\/upcoming-elections\/november-3-2026-general-election\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Kern County Elections website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>    Arvin \u2014 At-large (three open council seats)<\/p>\n<p>Nora PerezLissette MedinaSusanna Reyes (Incumbent)Anabel &#8220;Quintino&#8221; RubioGabriel GarciaJose Luis Garcia, Jr.<br \/>\n    Bakersfield \u2014 District races (four open council seats)<\/p>\n<p>    Ward 1<\/p>\n<p>Mercy Pe\u00f1aEric Arias (Incumbent)<br \/>\n    Ward 3<\/p>\n<p>Kathryn HallingJuan Carlos \u201cJC\u201d LlamasPedro NaveirasCassie BittleSeth M. HewettJohnny Olaguez<br \/>\n    Ward 4<\/p>\n<p>Ryan CrowlBob Smith (Incumbent)<br \/>\n    Ward 7<\/p>\n<p>Manpreet Kaur (Incumbent)Angie Valdez<br \/>\n    California City \u2014 Mayor and two at-large council seats<\/p>\n<p>    Mayor (2-year term)<\/p>\n<p>Marquette Hawkins (Incumbent)Isaac Barcelona<br \/>\n    At-Large Council Member #1<\/p>\n<p>Ron Smith (Incumbent)Jeanie O\u2019LaughlinKarina Perez<br \/>\n    At-Large Council Member (Short-Term)<\/p>\n<p>Dawn FergusonElexis ShawJohn Fischer<br \/>\n    Treasurer<\/p>\n<p>Keith Middleton (Incumbent)Inishia White<br \/>\n    Delano \u2014 At-large (two open council seats)<\/p>\n<p>Mario Nunez Jr. (Incumbent)Liz Morris (Incumbent)Elizabeth Arteaga-GonzalezCarlton M. LennonAaron De Santiago (Not qualified)<br \/>\n    Maricopa \u2014 At-large (two open council seats)<\/p>\n<p>Cory Morse (Incumbent)John Crump Jr.Malinda AdamsRichard W. AlbrightVirgil Bell (Incumbent)<br \/>\n    McFarland \u2014 District (all unopposed incumbents)<\/p>\n<p>    Mayor<\/p>\n<p>    District 1<\/p>\n<p>    District 2<\/p>\n<p>    District 3<\/p>\n<p>    Ridgecrest \u2014 Mayor and two at-large council seats<\/p>\n<p>    Mayor<\/p>\n<p>Megan WashingtonJeremy \u2018JV\u2019 Vaughn<br \/>\n    Councilmember (At-large)<\/p>\n<p>Brenda LicitraJohn P. \u2018Skip\u2019 Gorman (Incumbent)Ron StrandDebilyn KinzlerLawrence C. GacetaTamara \u2018Charlon\u2019 BouyerDaniel Neal (Not qualified)<br \/>\n    Shafter \u2014 At-large (two open council seats)<\/p>\n<p>Malachi GonzalesDusti McDarisGustavo Olvera Jr. (Incumbent)Nelson SalinasDale A. ScadronRafael S. ZamudioCathy Prout (Incumbent)<br \/>\n    Taft \u2014 At-large (three open council seats)<\/p>\n<p>Bob LeikamRonald Waldrop (Incumbent)Dennis SchertzJosh Bryant (Incumbent)Jeremy Gregory<br \/>\n    Tehachapi \u2014 District (all unopposed)<\/p>\n<p>District 1 \u2014 Kim NixonDistrict 3 \u2014 Marianna GutierrezDistrict 4 \u2014 Joan Pogon-CordDistrict 5 \u2014 Hannah ChungCity Treasurer \u2014 Coty DeArmond<br \/>\n    Wasco \u2014 District (two open council seats)<\/p>\n<p>    District 1<\/p>\n<p>Gilberto Reyna (Incumbent)Aubrey E. Wimberly<br \/>\n    District 3<\/p>\n<p>Valentin Medina (Incumbent)<\/p>\n<p>Stay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) \u2014 As we get closer to the first day of Fall, many are preparing for&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":435840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[75701,151,155,153,152,5793,20865,173008,952,93634,162],"class_list":["post-435839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bakersfield","tag-arvin","tag-bakersfield","tag-bakersfield-downtown","tag-bakersfield-headlines","tag-bakersfield-news","tag-california-city","tag-candidates","tag-city-council-elections","tag-delano","tag-kern-county-elections","tag-kern-county-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=435839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/435839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/435840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=435839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=435839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=435839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}