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City of Bakersfield · Statewide General Election

Bakersfield City Council, Ward 3

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

This person would hold one of seven ward seats on Bakersfield's City Council, alongside a separately, directly elected Mayor: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Kern County city of about 403,000 residents. A 4-year term, staggered so 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 (elected in 2024) are not. Bakersfield's Mayor is directly elected separately and is not on this ballot -- Karen Goh was last elected in 2024 and her term runs through 2028. Bakersfield has no separately elected City Clerk or City Treasurer; both are appointed positions.

A genuinely open, five-way race: 20-year incumbent Ken Weir isn't running again, and Cassie Bittle, Kathryn Halling, Seth Hewett, JC Llamas, and Pedro Naveiras are competing to replace him. No run-off -- the plurality winner takes the seat.

This person would hold one of seven ward seats on Bakersfield's City Council, alongside a separately, directly elected Mayor: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Kern County city of about 403,000 residents. A 4-year term. Bakersfield has no separately elected City Clerk or City Treasurer; both are appointed positions.

This is the shard's only open seat among Bakersfield's four races up this cycle: incumbent Ken Weir announced in June 2026 he would not seek reelection after 20 years on the Council. Because of that, Ward 3's candidate-filing period was extended to Aug. 12, five days past the other three wards' deadline. A sixth potential candidate, Regina Velasquez, pulled nomination papers for this seat but never returned them -- she is a qualified candidate for a different office this cycle, Kern County Board of Education Trustee Area 3, a separate contest elsewhere on this ballot. A seventh name, Johnny Olaguez, is listed by Ballotpedia as a filer who did not make the ballot.

Cassie Bittle

A Bakersfield Planning Commissioner and local business owner (her family owns KC Steakhouse), Bittle is a Ridgeview High School graduate who has lived downtown for 14 years. She joined the Downtown Business Association in 2018 and has collaborated with Flood Ministries, a nonprofit serving people living on the streets. Her stated platform centers on homelessness, jail beds and housing, and the city's upcoming General Plan update. She was endorsed at her June announcement by Kern County Supervisor Jeff Flores and Downtown Business Association board member Cathy Butler.

Strengths

A sitting Planning Commissioner's direct familiarity with land-use process, an early and well-attended campaign launch, and endorsements from a county supervisor and a downtown business leader.

Trade-offs

Planning Commission experience is advisory, not legislative -- it doesn't carry a voting record on budget or ordinance questions the way a prior Council seat would.

Keep in mind

Her family restaurant sits on F Street, the same downtown corridor her Supervisor endorser praised her for improving -- a direct, disclosed stake in the district she'd help govern, not a hidden one.

Kathryn Halling

A local business owner endorsed by Assemblymember Stan Ellis (R-Bakersfield) and McFarland Mayor Saul Ayon. Her own campaign website (kathrynhalling.com) was unreachable in every attempt this session -- a TLS handshake failure on the site itself, not a fetch-tooling problem -- so no platform detail from it could be confirmed.

Strengths

Endorsements from a sitting state Assemblymember and a neighboring city's mayor, suggesting some regional political relationships.

Trade-offs

With her own campaign site unreachable, this dataset could not confirm her stated platform or occupation beyond "local business owner" as reported by the Californian.

Keep in mind

If her site comes back online before you vote, it's worth checking directly -- kathrynhalling.com -- since this dataset's outage may not reflect its status on Election Day.

Seth Hewett

A 26-year-old "City Hall Fellow" in Policy & Operations for the Bakersfield Fire Department, Hewett holds a B.A. in Communication Studies from Westmont College and a Master of Public Administration from USC's Sol Price School. He launched his campaign on his 26th birthday, Jan. 5, 2026, at the Kern County Rescue Mission, and is Kern Kiwanis President-Elect. His platform includes an AI-powered city-budget transparency portal, a revived citizen emergency-preparedness training program, and video public comment for Council meetings.

Strengths

Current, inside experience with city operations via his Fire Department fellowship, graduate training in public administration, and a detailed policy platform published on his own campaign site.

Trade-offs

At 26, with no prior elected experience, he would be the least tenured member of a Council whose other three 2026 races all feature multi-term or long-serving incumbents.

Keep in mind

His current City Hall Fellow role sits inside city government (Fire Department) rather than outside it, which is a source of direct operational knowledge but also means a Council seat would change his relationship to his own current employer.

Juan Carlos "JC" Llamas

A professional fighter who announced his candidacy in February 2026 -- a year before the nomination period even opened -- and was certified as a candidate in early August. No further independent biographical detail was found beyond his occupation and the timeline of his filing.

Strengths

The earliest campaign announcement of any candidate in this race, suggesting sustained commitment to the run.

Trade-offs

No independent reporting on his platform, prior civic involvement, or policy positions was found this session.

Keep in mind

A professional-fighting career is a genuinely different background from the other four Ward 3 candidates (business owner, city fellow, prosecutor) -- whether that outsider profile appeals to you is a values question this dataset can't answer for you.

Pedro Naveiras

A federal prosecutor and former Kern County deputy district attorney. No further independent biographical detail was found beyond his legal career.

Strengths

A legal and prosecutorial background that touches directly on public-safety policy, one of this race's live issues (Bittle and Smith elsewhere on this ballot both cite jail capacity, for instance).

Trade-offs

No independent reporting describes his campaign platform, endorsements, or stated priorities for the Council seat specifically.

Keep in mind

A federal prosecutor's job is distinct from city governance -- budget, land use, and ordinance-writing are not core prosecutorial work, so his legal background is relevant but not a direct preview of his Council performance.

Source review: Strong (84/100) · 10 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.

Review note: Seth Hewett's own campaign site (hewettwilldoit.com): Hewett, 26, is a Bakersfield Fire Department "City Hall Fellow" in Policy & Operations, holds a B.A. in Communication Studies from Westmont College and a Master of Public Administration from USC's Sol Price School, launched his campaign Jan. 5, 2026 at the Kern County Rescue Mission, and is Kern Kiwanis President-Elect; platform pages describe an AI-powered city-budget transparency portal, a revived citizen emergency-preparedness training program, and video public comment for Council meetings. may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • ballotpedia.org (opens in a new tab)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
  • ballotpedia.org (opens in a new tab)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
  • bakersfield.com (opens in a new tab)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
  • bakersfield.com (opens in a new tab)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
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)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
  • web.archive.org (opens in a new tab)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
  • bakersfield.com (opens in a new tab)The Bakersfield Californian -- "Packed race for Ward 3 gives any candidate a chance" (Peter Segall, Aug. 12, 2026): reports Ward 3 has no run-off, so the plurality winner takes the seat; JC Llamas, a professional fighter, announced in February and was certified "last week"; Cassie Bittle, a local business owner, announced in June with an endorsement from Kern County Supervisor Jeff Flores; Kathryn Halling, a local business owner, is endorsed by Assemblymember Stan Ellis and McFarland Mayor Saul Ayon; Pedro Naveiras is a federal prosecutor and former Kern County deputy district attorney; Seth Hewett, a 26-year-old master's student, was still awaiting signature verification as of this piece; Regina Valasquez pulled but never returned nomination papers
  • bakersfield.com (opens in a new tab)The Bakersfield Californian -- "Bittle announces run for Ward 3 Bakersfield City Council seat" (John Cox, June 24, 2026): Cassie Bittle is a Bakersfield Planning Commissioner and a graduate of Ridgeview High School who has lived downtown 14 years; her family owns KC Steakhouse; she joined the Downtown Business Association in 2018 and has collaborated with Flood Ministries; her platform names homelessness, jail beds and housing, and the city's General Plan update; endorsed at her announcement by Kern County Supervisor Jeff Flores and Downtown Business Association board member Cathy Butler
  • hewettwilldoit.com (opens in a new tab)Seth Hewett's own campaign site (hewettwilldoit.com): Hewett, 26, is a Bakersfield Fire Department "City Hall Fellow" in Policy & Operations, holds a B.A. in Communication Studies from Westmont College and a Master of Public Administration from USC's Sol Price School, launched his campaign Jan. 5, 2026 at the Kern County Rescue Mission, and is Kern Kiwanis President-Elect; platform pages describe an AI-powered city-budget transparency portal, a revived citizen emergency-preparedness training program, and video public comment for Council meetings
  • ballotpedia.org (opens in a new tab)Ballotpedia -- Ken Weir: confirms he assumed office in 2006, his current (final) term ends in 2026, and that he "did not run for re-election to Bakersfield City Council Ward 3" this cycle after 20 years on the Council; separately confirms he lost a 2024 run for California State Assembly District 32

Last updated September 1, 2026.