- 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 Primary Election Results 2026" (June 3, 2026): its own results tally for "City of California City Councilmember" records Shawn Bradley defeating Isaac D. Barcelona 510-503 (50.35%-49.65%) in the June 2, 2026 special election for a vacated council seat -- independent confirmation that Barcelona is an active, named Cal City political figure ahead of his Nov. 2026 mayoral run, and that Bradley's seat is already resolved (not on this ballot)
- 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
- news.google.com (opens in a new tab)Mojave Desert News (desertnews.com) -- Google News' own RSS index entry for "Interview with Calif. City Mayoral Candidate Marquette Hawkins" (published Aug. 19, 2026, 22:30 GMT): confirms the headline, outlet, and publication timestamp of a mayoral-candidate interview piece. The underlying desertnews.com article itself returned HTTP 429 (rate-limited) on every direct-fetch attempt this session, so only this indexed title/date/outlet is cited, not the interview's full text
- news.google.com (opens in a new tab)Mojave Desert News (desertnews.com) -- Google News' own RSS index entry for "Interview with Calif. City Mayoral Candidate Issac Barcelona" (published Aug. 19, 2026, 22:00 GMT), run immediately before the Hawkins interview above: confirms the headline, outlet, and publication timestamp. The underlying desertnews.com article itself returned HTTP 429 (rate-limited) on every direct-fetch attempt this session, so only this indexed title/date/outlet is cited, not the interview's full text
Last updated September 1, 2026.
City of California City
Mayor of California City
This person leads California City, a Kern County city in the Mojave Desert. It covers 203 square miles and has about 15,000 residents. They preside over City Council meetings and represent the city publicly. They also cast one vote with the Council. That covers city laws, the budget, and land use. An appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations. The term is two years.
Incumbent Mayor Marquette Hawkins faces Isaac Barcelona. Barcelona lost a City Council special election by just seven votes this past June. He is now running for Mayor instead.
California City is a 203-square-mile Kern County city of about 15,000 residents in the Mojave Desert. The Mayor presides over Council meetings, represents the city publicly, and casts one vote alongside the Council on ordinances, the budget, and land use, with day-to-day operations run by an appointed city manager. The term is two years, shorter than the Council's own 4-year seats.
The Council has had a turbulent stretch: two seats were vacated by resignation in mid-2025, one of which needed a special election this June to fill (Barcelona lost that race). Whoever wins the Mayor's seat inherits a Council still absorbing that turnover, plus an ongoing, contested fight over a CoreCivic-run immigration detention facility in the city that the Council voted to uphold in August 2026.
Marquette Hawkins
Marquette Hawkins is the Mayor now and wants another term. In 2025 he proposed a public interview process to fill two empty council seats. In August 2026 he voted with the Council majority. That vote upheld the city's CoreCivic detention approvals.
Isaac Barcelona
Isaac Barcelona is a challenger with recent election experience. He ran for a California City Council seat in a June 2, 2026 special election. He lost by seven votes, 510 to 503. He is now running for Mayor instead.
Your pick
A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.