BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) \u2014 In a crowded race to be the next representative for Bakersfield’s Ward 3, Seth Hewett knows he sticks out.<\/p>\n
In fact, the 26-year-old Bakersfield native is describing his own campaign for Bakersfield City Council as “unorthodox.”<\/p>\n
“Being 26 is definitely an uphill battle,” Hewett said. But “I think it’s a challenge that I so willingly accept.”<\/p>\n
But despite being young \u2014 20 years younger than some of the other candidates\u00a0he’s\u00a0running against in the Ward 3 race \u2014 Hewett says he believes\u00a0he’s\u00a0the best prepared because he has quite literally studied for it.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u00a0Watch 17 News, After Sunrise and more local news free on your smart TV. Click to learn more about KGET+\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n “Although I think life experience\u00a0definitely is\u00a0a 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.”<\/p>\n He said part of that policy experience also includes working with the Kern County Network for Children, the Kern Leaders\u00a0Academy\u00a0and the Kern Taxpayers Association.<\/p>\n “All of those were in preparation for City Council,” Hewett said.<\/p>\n Jumping into the political world\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Hewett said\u00a0he’s\u00a0more inclined to a third way of political thinking.<\/p>\n “I am a fan of the two-party system.\u00a0I’m\u00a0not 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.<\/p>\n With that, Hewett said he falls more on the conservative side of politics than not, but he\u00a0does not\u00a0like to simplify it that way.<\/p>\n “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\u00a0party,\u00a0I already know his answer.'”<\/p>\n If successfully elected as the next Bakersfield City Council representative for Ward 3, Hewett would\u00a0succeed\u00a0Ken Weir, a role he has been in since 2006.<\/p>\n Hewett \u2014 whose campaign slogan is “Hewett Will Do It” \u2014 said Weir was one of his first “local celebrities” and is a “watchdog” on behalf of voters.<\/p>\n One thing Hewett would prioritize if he succeeded Weir would be focusing on engaging with constituents and “meeting people where they are at.”<\/p>\n “One of the things that I pride myself on my campaign is it’s not my campaign; it’s our campaign,” Hewett said.<\/p>\n \u00a0Your Kern County 2026 Midterm Election Voter Guide\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n With that notion in mind, Hewett said one of his first priorities would be to create a more transparent City Council\u00a0through\u00a0an interactive online portal.<\/p>\n “One of the biggest concerns that\u00a0we’ve\u00a0been 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?\u00a0Well, an AI budget transparency portal\u00a0(takes)\u00a0a lot of our publicly available financial information, our contracts, all of our vendors,” he said.\u00a0“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.”<\/p>\n Hewett said he envisions it being connected to a city app\u00a0where\u00a0residents 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.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n He said\u00a0he’s\u00a0done work with both of Bakersfield’s Young Democrats and Young Republicans clubs, thinking\u00a0they’d\u00a0accept him “with open arms.”<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n Family roots<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Local government is new to all five candidates running in the 2026 election, except Bittle, who currently serves on the City’s Planning Commission.\u00a0Her term is up in 2028.<\/p>\n But even though Hewett would be new\u00a0to the\u00a0local government in the role, his ancestry\u00a0isn’t.<\/p>\n The\u00a0sixth-generation\u00a0Bakersfield 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.<\/p>\n Although his great grandfather passed away when he was young, Hewett said\u00a0he’s\u00a0grown up looking up to him as a role model.<\/p>\n \u00a0Previous general election shows over 50% of Kern County voters opted for mail-in ballots\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n But when he started to see more of Heisey’s “mementos” from his time serving\u00a0Bakersfield\u00a0and business cards from his City Council work, he started looking up to him as a political influence, too.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n “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.<\/p>\n Believing in Bakersfield\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n 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\u00a0a significant role\u00a0in wanting to get into the field.<\/p>\n If elected by voters into the role come November, Hewett said he wants to see Bakersfield be “the source of best practices.”<\/p>\n “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.”<\/p>\n And to achieve that, he wants to stay right at home.<\/p>\n