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City of California City · Statewide General Election

California City Council, At-Large

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 California City's at-large City Council seats: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Kern County city of about 15,000 residents, alongside a separately, directly elected Mayor and Treasurer. A 4-year term.

Incumbent Ron Smith faces two challengers, Jeanie O'Laughlin and Karina Perez, for one of California City's regular 4-year at-large Council seats.

This person would hold one of California City's at-large City Council seats: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Kern County city of about 15,000 residents, alongside a separately, directly elected Mayor and Treasurer. A 4-year term. This is a distinct contest from the second, short-term at-large Council seat also on this ballot.

Smith is a sitting member of a Council that has faced real turnover this term -- two seats vacated by resignation in 2025 -- and voted in August 2026, alongside the Mayor and the rest of the Council majority, to uphold the city's approvals for a CoreCivic-run immigration detention facility.

Ron Smith

The incumbent, seeking another term. He is confirmed a sitting councilmember as of late August 2026, having voted with the Council majority to uphold the city's CoreCivic detention-facility approvals.

Strengths

Incumbency and a documented recent voting record on a high-profile local issue.

Trade-offs

This dataset found no independent reporting on his broader platform, occupation, or background beyond the county's own candidate roster and his recorded Council vote.

Keep in mind

His vote to uphold the CoreCivic approvals put him on the winning, majority side of a contested local issue -- voters can weigh that record directly.

Jeanie O'Laughlin

A challenger. This dataset found no independent biographical detail (occupation, background, or platform) for her despite a genuine multi-method search this session -- a documented sourcing gap, not a claim about her actual background.

Strengths

Unconfirmed by this dataset -- no independent coverage was reachable this session.

Trade-offs

No campaign materials, endorsements, or independent reporting were found for her.

Keep in mind

As a challenger, she has no Council voting record to evaluate.

Karina Perez

A challenger. This dataset found no independent biographical detail (occupation, background, or platform) for her despite a genuine multi-method search this session -- a documented sourcing gap, not a claim about her actual background.

Strengths

Unconfirmed by this dataset -- no independent coverage was reachable this session.

Trade-offs

No campaign materials, endorsements, or independent reporting were found for her.

Keep in mind

As a challenger, she has no Council voting record to evaluate.

Source review: Strong (89/100) · 4 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • turnto23.com (opens in a new tab)23ABC/KERO (turnto23.com), byline Sam Hoyle -- "Kern residents to weigh City Council elections in November 2026 General Election": a city-by-city roundup of every Kern County municipal race this cycle, citing the Kern County Elections website as its own source; names California City's four contests and all ten candidates -- Mayor (Marquette Hawkins, Incumbent, 2-year term, vs. Isaac Barcelona), At-Large Council (Ron Smith, Incumbent, vs. Jeanie O'Laughlin and Karina Perez), At-Large Council Short-Term (Dawn Ferguson, Elexis Shaw, John Fischer), and Treasurer (Keith Middleton, Incumbent, vs. Inishia White)
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's California City, California article: 2020 census population 14,973; 203.70 square miles (third-largest city by land area in California); founded 1958 as a planned Mojave Desert community, incorporated 1965; infobox names Marq Hawkins as the sitting Mayor and Jim Creighton as Mayor Pro Tem
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)A negative-result campaign-finance search: California's Cal-Access candidate/filer search returned only an empty, unrenderable page for every query attempted this session, for all ten California City candidates -- the same recurring bot-detection failure mode documented elsewhere in this dataset. Documents the absence of a reachable financial-disclosure source for these four contests, not any candidate's actual finances
  • southkernsol.org (opens in a new tab)South Kern Sol -- "California City Council Upholds CoreCivic Approvals After Hours of Public Testimony" (Aug. 26, 2026): its own vote-tally reporting names the sitting Council casting this vote -- Councilmember Della Clark, Councilmember Ronald Smith, Mayor Pro Tem Creighton, and Councilmember Hawkins voting yes, Councilmember Sean Bradley dissenting -- independently confirming Marquette Hawkins and Ron Smith both still active in their respective offices as of this date

Last updated September 1, 2026.