# Bakersfield City Council, Ward 1

Compare records and positions simply between Mercy Peña or Eric Arias for Bakersfield City Council, Ward 1 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of seven ward seats on Bakersfield's City Council. The Mayor is elected separately and directly. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. Bakersfield is a Kern County city of about 403,000 residents. Terms are four years and staggered. Roughly half the seven wards are up every two years. Wards 1, 3, 4, and 7 are up this cycle. Wards 2, 5, and 6 were elected in 2024 and are not up. Mayor Karen Goh is not on this ballot. She was last elected in 2024, and her term runs through 2028. Bakersfield has no elected City Clerk or City Treasurer. Both are appointed positions.

- Jurisdiction: City of Bakersfield
- Election: November 3, 2026 California general election
- Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements.
- Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/bakersfield-council-1
- Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/
- Sources last retrieved: October 6, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 85 out of 100 (Strong), across 10 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Mercy Peña**
- **Eric Arias** — Incumbent

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

Incumbent Eric Arias faces Mercy Peña, a Greenfield Union School District trustee, for this southeast Bakersfield seat.

This person would hold one of seven ward seats on Bakersfield's City Council, alongside a separately, directly elected Mayor. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Kern County city of about 403,000 residents. The term is four years. Bakersfield has no separately elected City Clerk or City Treasurer; both are appointed positions. There is no run-off -- whichever candidate gets the most votes wins the seat outright.

Ward 1 is one of four Bakersfield wards up this cycle (with Wards 3, 4, and 7); Wards 2, 5, and 6 were last elected in 2024 and are not on this ballot. Arias is seeking a second full term.

## Eric Arias

The incumbent, first elected in a Dec. 2020 special election (74.3% of the vote) and unopposed in his 2022 re-election. Born and raised in Ward 1, he worked in Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez's office beginning in 2014 and has organized community events including food donations and back-to-school drives.

**Strengths:** Five years of incumbency, deep roots in the ward he represents, and prior experience inside county government via Supervisor Perez's office.

**Trade-offs:** Having run unopposed in 2022, this is his first contested race since the 2020 special election -- less recent competitive scrutiny of his record than a typical multi-term incumbent would have.

**Keep in mind:** No independent reporting evaluating his Council votes on specific issues was found this session beyond his own campaign announcements; his public record is best checked directly against City Council meeting minutes if that level of detail matters to you.

## Mercy Peña

A trustee of the Greenfield Union School District (Kern County) school board, Area C, elected in 2024. Her Ward 1 run is her first bid for city office.

**Strengths:** Current elected-official experience on a local school board, which carries budget and governance responsibilities of its own.

**Trade-offs:** No independent reporting on her Ward 1 platform or campaign themes was found this session beyond her name, ward, and candidacy status.

**Keep in mind:** Her Greenfield Union trustee term runs through 2028, so she would not need to vacate that seat to serve on the City Council if elected -- whether she intends to hold both was not addressed in any source found this session.

## Sources

1. [Ballotpedia -- "City elections in Bakersfield, California (2026)": the full November 3, 2026 City Council candidate roster by ward -- Ward 1 (incumbent Eric Arias, Mercy Peña), Ward 3 (Cassie Bittle, Kathryn Halling, Seth Hewett, Juan Carlos "JC" Llamas, Pedro Naveiras; Johnny Olaguez listed separately as not making the ballot), Ward 4 (incumbent Bob Smith, Ryan Crowl), and Ward 7 (incumbent Manpreet Kaur, Angie Valdez) -- with an Aug. 7, 2026 filing deadline](https://ballotpedia.org/City_elections_in_Bakersfield,_California_(2026))
2. [Ballotpedia -- "Bakersfield, California": its City Council table gives a "Date term ends" year for every sitting member -- Wards 1, 3, 4, and 7 all read 2026, Wards 2, 5, and 6 all read 2028 -- and its election-history section states that in 2014, three cycles (12 years) prior on the same staggered rotation, "Wards 1, 3, 4 and 7 were up for election"; also confirms Mayor Karen Goh's term runs through 2028 after a combined Mayor-and-Council election in November 2024, and that the Nov. 3, 2026 City Council filing deadline was Aug. 7, 2026](https://ballotpedia.org/Bakersfield,_California)
3. [The Bakersfield Californian -- "Local election filing closes, with six potential candidates for Ward 3" (Peter Segall, Aug. 7, 2026): confirms Wards 1, 3, 4, and 7 are up this cycle, that Ward 3's filing period was extended to Aug. 12 because incumbent Ken Weir was not running, and transcribes the full candidate roster "listed online by the Kern County Elections Division as of 5 p.m. Friday" for every Bakersfield ward race -- names City Clerk Julie Drimakis as the office confirming candidate status](https://www.bakersfield.com/news/local-election-filing-closes-with-six-potential-candidates-for-ward-3/article_9fd8aab6-a8d5-4ec0-bf01-1fb95bb2c4ec.html)
4. [The Bakersfield Californian -- "City Council incumbents draw challengers ahead of Aug. 7 filing deadline" (July 31, 2026): earlier-stage filing status for all four Bakersfield ward races -- Ward 3 already the most competitive with four declared candidates and no certified incumbent bid; Ward 4 incumbent Bob Smith ("serving since 2012") facing challenger Ryan Crowl; Ward 1 incumbent Eric Arias facing Mercy Peña, a Greenfield Union School District trustee; Ward 7 incumbent Manpreet Kaur facing Angie Valdez](https://www.bakersfield.com/news/city-council-incumbents-draw-challengers-ahead-of-aug-7-filing-deadline/article_c05e2155-8529-4fef-a9bc-7452dfcec7ab.html)
5. [Wikipedia -- "Bakersfield City Council": a 7-member council elected from single-member wards to staggered 4-year terms, presided over by a directly elected Mayor; names the current roster by ward and party and the council's standing committees](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bakersfield_City_Council)
6. [Kern County Elections Division -- its own "November 3, 2026, General Election" landing page, confirming the election date and linking to (but not itself substituting for) the county's "Candidate List" and "Contest/Candidate Proof List" documents; fetched via an Internet Archive Wayback Machine snapshot from Aug. 28, 2026 after the live site's WAF returned HTTP 403 to every direct automated fetch, the same block already documented elsewhere in this dataset for Kern County's own Board of Education filing](https://web.archive.org/web/20260828045357/https://www.kernvote.com/elections/upcoming-elections/november-3-2026-general-election)
7. [Ballotpedia -- Eric Arias: confirms his Dec. 16, 2020 special-election win (74.3% over Gilberto De La Torre), his unopposed 2022 re-election (100%, 5,343 votes), and that his current term ends in 2026](https://ballotpedia.org/Eric_Arias)
8. [Ballotpedia -- Mercy Peña: confirms she is a Greenfield Union School District (Kern County) school board trustee, Area C, elected 2024 with a term ending 2028, running for Bakersfield City Council Ward 1](https://ballotpedia.org/Mercy_Pe%C3%B1a)
9. [The Bakersfield Californian -- "Eric Arias announces candidacy for Bakersfield City Council's Ward 1 seat" (2020): Arias was born and raised in Ward 1, worked in Kern County Supervisor Leticia Perez's office beginning in 2014, and organized community events including food donations and back-to-school drives](https://www.bakersfield.com/news/eric-arias-announces-candidacy-for-bakersfield-city-council-s-ward-1-seat/article_701970bc-bd7c-11ea-a4fc-83e68ffc20a2.html)
10. [League of Women Voters -- Vote411 voter guide, 'City of Bakersfield City Council Member, Ward 1' race (statewide All Races list): each candidate's self-submitted ballot designation and campaign contacts, plus answers to the League's questions -- top three priorities; qualifying background, experience and education. No answers were on file at capture. Capture in data/nov-2026/sources/vote411/bakersfield-council-1.json.](https://www.vote411.org/plan-your-vote)

## The rest of the ballot

Bakersfield City Council, Ward 1 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/

## How to cite this page

Vote or Else, "Bakersfield City Council, Ward 1 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/bakersfield-council-1 (sources last retrieved October 6, 2026).

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