# California City Council, At-Large Compare records and positions simply between Karina Perez, Jeanie O'Laughlin, or Ron Smith for California City Council, At-Large at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of California City's at-large City Council seats. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. California City is a Kern County city of about 15,000 residents. A separately, directly elected Mayor and Treasurer also serve. The term is four years. - Jurisdiction: City of California City - 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/california-city-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: September 1, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 89 out of 100 (Strong), across 4 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Karina Perez** - **Jeanie O'Laughlin** - **Ron Smith** — Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. 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. They vote on 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. The term is four years. 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 them despite a genuine multi-method search this session -- a documented sourcing gap, not a claim about their 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 them. **Keep in mind:** As a challenger, they have no Council voting record to evaluate. ## Karina Perez A challenger. This dataset found no independent biographical detail (occupation, background, or platform) for them despite a genuine multi-method search this session -- a documented sourcing gap, not a claim about their 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 them. **Keep in mind:** As a challenger, they have no Council voting record to evaluate. ## Sources 1. [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)](https://www.turnto23.com/news/in-your-neighborhood/bakersfield/kern-residents-to-weigh-city-council-elections-in-november-2026-general-election) 2. [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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_City,_California) 3. [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](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Candidates/list.aspx?view=certified) 4. [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](https://southkernsol.org/2026/08/26/california-city-council-upholds-corecivic-approvals-after-hours-of-public-testimony/) ## The rest of the ballot California City Council, At-Large 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, "California City Council, At-Large — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/california-city-council-1 (sources last retrieved September 1, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.