City of Avenal · Statewide General Election
Avenal City Council
This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.
On the ballot
- Paul R. Cobine — Retired School Employee
- Alvaro M. Preciado
- Lou Gravelle, Jr.
- Jose G. Barrera — Special Agent
- Martin Leonardo Maldonado II
- Alex Ramirez — Businessman
- Sergio Trejo Grajeda
This person would hold one of five at-large seats on Avenal's City Council: the budget, land use, and city ordinances for this Kings County city. The council doesn't elect its mayor directly -- members choose one of their own to serve as mayor every two years. Avenal is mid-crisis heading into this election: an April 2026 recall vote removed four of the five sitting council members, and Kings County Superior Court ruled in August 2026 that those four seats had been vacant since the recall's May 2026 certification.
Seven candidates qualified for Avenal's two regular 4-year City Council seats -- the two highest vote-getters win outright, with no runoff. One qualified candidate, Alvaro Preciado, is a recalled former council member whose own candidacy was the subject of an August 2026 court order.
This person would hold one of five at-large seats on Avenal's City Council: the budget, land use, and city ordinances for this Kings County city. The council doesn't elect its mayor directly -- members choose one of their own to serve as mayor every two years. Both seats up in this contest carry the usual 4-year term.
Avenal is mid-crisis heading into this election. An April 2026 recall vote removed four of the five sitting council members; the recalled members refused to leave, arguing the recall was procedurally unauthorized, and Kings County sued in quo warranto. A Kings County Superior Court order dated August 24, 2026 held the four seats had been unlawfully held and vacant since the recall's May 2026 certification. A related order the same day held that state election law bars a recalled official from succeeding themselves only at the recall election itself, not a later regularly-scheduled one, and specifically ordered the county to place recalled Mayor Alvaro Preciado on this ballot for his own seat. Both current incumbents-of-record for these two seats are listed by the county as vacant.
Paul R. Cobine
Filed ballot designation: Retired School Employee. This dataset found no independent biographical detail beyond the county's own candidate filing.
Strengths
A stated background in public education, per his filed occupation.
Trade-offs
This dataset found no independent reporting or biography evaluating him.
Keep in mind
As a first-time candidate for this dataset's purposes, he has no prior council record here to compare against the field.
Alvaro M. Preciado
A recalled former Avenal council member and Mayor; filed no ballot designation. His candidacy for this seat was the direct subject of an August 24, 2026 Kings County Superior Court order (Case No. 26CU0248), which held that state election law bars a recalled official from succeeding themselves only at the recall election itself, and specifically ordered the county to accept his nomination papers for this ballot. Beyond the court record, this dataset found no independent biographical detail about him.
Strengths
Prior council and mayoral experience in Avenal.
Trade-offs
He was one of five council members removed by an April 2026 recall vote, per the recall's own certification.
Keep in mind
His presence on this ballot exists specifically because a court ordered it, over an apparent objection from the county -- a genuinely contested legal question about recalled officials, not a routine candidacy.
Jose G. Barrera
Filed ballot designation: Special Agent. This dataset found no independent biographical detail beyond the county's own candidate filing.
Strengths
A stated law-enforcement/investigative background, per his filed occupation.
Trade-offs
This dataset found no independent reporting or biography evaluating him.
Keep in mind
As a first-time candidate for this dataset's purposes, he has no prior council record here to compare against the field.
Alex Ramirez
Filed ballot designation: Businessman. This dataset found no independent biographical detail beyond the county's own candidate filing.
Strengths
A stated business background, per his filed occupation.
Trade-offs
This dataset found no independent reporting or biography evaluating him.
Keep in mind
As a first-time candidate for this dataset's purposes, he has no prior council record here to compare against the field.
Sergio Trejo Grajeda
Filed no ballot designation. This dataset found no independent biographical detail beyond the county's own candidate filing.
Strengths
This dataset found no independently verified strengths to report.
Trade-offs
This dataset found no independent reporting or biography evaluating him, and he filed no stated occupation.
Keep in mind
With no ballot designation and no independent coverage found, this is the thinnest-documented candidacy in this race.
Lou Gravelle, Jr.
Filed no ballot designation. This dataset found no independent biographical detail beyond the county's own candidate filing.
Strengths
This dataset found no independently verified strengths to report.
Trade-offs
This dataset found no independent reporting or biography evaluating him, and he filed no stated occupation.
Keep in mind
With no ballot designation and no independent coverage found, little is confirmable about him beyond his qualification for the ballot.
Martin Leonardo Maldonado II
Filed no ballot designation. This dataset found no independent biographical detail beyond the county's own candidate filing.
Strengths
This dataset found no independently verified strengths to report.
Trade-offs
This dataset found no independent reporting or biography evaluating him, and he filed no stated occupation.
Keep in mind
With no ballot designation and no independent coverage found, little is confirmable about him beyond his qualification for the ballot.
Source review: Mixed (74/100) · 3 cited sources
Only procedural records are cited (candidate lists, results, finance filings); no source describes the candidates, so the score is capped.
Review note: No cited source describes the candidates; add descriptive coverage to lift the cap.
- countyofkingsca.gov (opens in a new tab)Kings County Elections Division -- "Contest/Candidate Proof List" (CFMR001), the county's own official document for the Nov. 3, 2026 General Election (68 pages, print date 9/1/2026): independently confirms every Avenal, Corcoran, Hanford, and Lemoore City Council contest, seat count, and qualified-candidate roster, cross-validated against each contest's own "Num Cands"/"Num Qualified" summary fields -- see sources/kings-city-contests-nov2026.txt for the full contest-by-contest transcription and retrieval method
- cityofavenal.gov (opens in a new tab)Kings County Superior Court -- Final Order, Case No. 26CU0265 (County of Kings v. Alvaro Preciado, et al.), Aug. 24, 2026: quo warranto ruling holding that four Avenal City Council seats were unlawfully held and vacant since the April 2026 recall's May 28, 2026 certification
- cityofavenal.gov (opens in a new tab)Kings County Superior Court -- Final Order, Case No. 26CU0248 (Taxpayers of the City of Avenal v. City of Avenal, cross-complaint by recalled Mayor Alvaro Preciado), Aug. 24, 2026: orders the County Registrar to accept Preciado's nomination papers for the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot, holding Elections Code section 11381 bars a recalled official from succeeding themselves only at the recall election itself
Last updated September 2, 2026.