City of Calipatria · Statewide General Election
City of Calipatria Council
This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.
On the ballot
- Graciela Castaneda — Business Woman
- Hector H. Cervantes — Retired
- Javier Lorenzo Amezcua — Incumbent
- Michael J. Luellen II — Incumbent
This person would hold one of three at-large seats up this cycle on Calipatria's City Council, elected to a 4-year term. The Council -- not voters directly -- picks a Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem from among its own members each year: Calexico Chronicle's own report on the city's Dec. 2025 reorganization meeting shows the Council reselecting Michael Luellen as Mayor and naming Fred Beltran Mayor Pro Tem, with Javier Amezcua named as the prior year's Mayor Pro Tem. Calipatria (2020 population 6,515, incorporated 1919) is a small Imperial County farming and prison town -- home to Calipatria State Prison -- and is popularly known as the lowest incorporated city in the Western Hemisphere, roughly 184 feet below sea level.
Four candidates are running for three at-large seats on Calipatria's City Council: incumbents Javier Lorenzo Amezcua and Michael J. Luellen II face two challengers, Graciela Castaneda and Hector H. Cervantes.
Calipatria elects its City Council entirely at-large to 4-year terms -- there's no district system. The Council itself picks a Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem from among its own members each year, so neither title is separately elected: Calexico Chronicle's own report on the city's December 2025 reorganization meeting shows the Council reselecting Michael Luellen as Mayor and naming Fred Beltran Mayor Pro Tem, with Javier Amezcua named as the prior year's Mayor Pro Tem. No source found this pass confirms the Council's total membership -- Calipatria has no functioning official city website (its one plausible domain is a parked landing page), and its municipal code was not reachable -- so this only covers the three seats actually up this cycle.
Two of the four candidates are sitting Council members seeking re-election: Amezcua and Luellen both carry the county's own "Incumbent" ballot designation, independently corroborated by the Chronicle's reorganization-meeting report above. Castaneda and Cervantes are challengers with no prior Council service found, so this race is a straightforward continuity-versus-change choice among the four.
Calipatria (2020 population 6,515, incorporated 1919) is a small Imperial County farming and prison town, popularly known as the lowest incorporated city in the Western Hemisphere (roughly 184 feet below sea level) and home to Calipatria State Prison.
Javier Lorenzo Amezcua
Javier Lorenzo Amezcua is an incumbent seeking re-election, carrying the county's "Incumbent" ballot designation. KYMA's own candidate profile lists his occupation as work with the Imperial County Resource Management Agency, and Calexico Chronicle's December 2025 report on the city's reorganization meeting independently names him as the prior year's Mayor Pro Tem.
Strengths
A sitting Council member with a confirmed prior turn as the Council-selected Mayor Pro Tem, plus a named employer (Imperial County Resource Management Agency).
Trade-offs
As an incumbent, he's part of the continuity option in a field that also includes fellow incumbent Luellen.
Keep in mind
No 2026-specific news coverage beyond KYMA's brief profile and the Chronicle's reorganization-meeting report was found this pass, despite a genuine multi-engine search; no campaign finance filing was reachable for him (Calipatria's own City Clerk page could not be found).
Michael J. Luellen II
Michael J. Luellen II is an incumbent seeking re-election, carrying the county's "Incumbent" ballot designation. He is the city's sitting Mayor: KYMA's own candidate profile and Calexico Chronicle's December 2025 reorganization-meeting report both independently confirm the City Council reselected him to continue as Mayor for another year.
Strengths
A sitting Council member and the Council's own choice as Mayor as of December 2025, confirmed by two independent sources.
Trade-offs
As an incumbent and the sitting Mayor, he's part of the continuity option in a field that also includes fellow incumbent Amezcua.
Keep in mind
No 2026-specific news coverage beyond KYMA's brief profile and the Chronicle's reorganization-meeting report was found this pass, despite a genuine multi-engine search; no campaign finance filing was reachable for him (Calipatria's own City Clerk page could not be found).
Graciela Castaneda
Graciela Castaneda, a "Business Woman" per her filing with the county, is one of two challengers for the three seats. No prior Council service or other independently verifiable background was found this pass.
Strengths
None independently documented beyond her candidacy itself and the county's own "Business Woman" designation.
Trade-offs
No prior elected or appointed city government experience was found.
Keep in mind
No source beyond the county's own ballot designation and KYMA's bare candidate listing was found this pass, despite a genuine multi-engine search across local news, web search, and social media. No campaign finance filing was reachable for her either.
Hector H. Cervantes
Hector H. Cervantes, "Retired" per his filing with the county, is one of two challengers for the three seats. No prior Council service or other independently verifiable background was found this pass.
Strengths
None independently documented beyond his candidacy itself and the county's own "Retired" designation.
Trade-offs
No prior elected or appointed city government experience was found.
Keep in mind
No source beyond the county's own ballot designation and KYMA's bare listing (which notes only a Facebook/Instagram presence) was found this pass, despite a genuine multi-engine search. No campaign finance filing was reachable for him either.
Source review: Mixed (77/100) · 11 cited sources
Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.
- elections.imperialcounty.org (opens in a new tab)Imperial County Registrar of Voters -- "Imperial County Candidate Status" document for the November 3, 2026 General Election (Updated as of 08/20/2026), re-fetched and read directly as a PDF with layout-preserving extraction: names all four qualified City of Calipatria Council candidates -- Javier Lorenzo Amezcua (Incumbent), Michael J. Luellen II (Incumbent), Graciela Castaneda (Business Woman), Hector H. Cervantes (Retired) -- no "NO ELECTION" tag.
- elections.imperialcounty.org (opens in a new tab)Imperial County Registrar of Voters -- official "List of Contests" spreadsheet for the November 3, 2026 General Election, generated pre-filing in July 2026: 'City of Calipatria - Council', 3 seats, 4-year term, no incumbent pre-filled.
- kyma.com (opens in a new tab)KYMA (El Centro/Yuma broadcast news) -- 2026 Voter Guide: lists all four City of Calipatria Council candidates, linking to an individual profile page for each.
- kyma.com (opens in a new tab)KYMA -- candidate profile, Javier Lorenzo Amezcua: office sought Calipatria City Council, nonpartisan, occupation "Imperial County Resource Management Agency," seeking re-election. No website/social media listed.
- kyma.com (opens in a new tab)KYMA -- candidate profile, Michael Luellen II: office sought Calipatria City Council, nonpartisan, currently serves as Mayor of Calipatria, seeking re-election. No website/social media listed.
- kyma.com (opens in a new tab)KYMA -- candidate profile, Graciela Castaneda: office sought Calipatria City Council, nonpartisan. Carries no fact beyond her candidacy itself -- no occupation, website, or social media listed.
- kyma.com (opens in a new tab)KYMA -- candidate profile, Hector Cervantes: office sought Calipatria City Council, nonpartisan. Carries no fact beyond his candidacy itself -- no occupation or website listed; notes a Facebook/Instagram presence with no further detail.
- calexicochronicle.com (opens in a new tab)Calexico Chronicle -- "Calipatria Sticks with Luellen as Mayor; Beltran As Mayor Pro Tem" (Dec. 22, 2025): at the city's Dec. 16, 2025 annual reorganization meeting, the City Council "officially selected Michael Luellen to continue as mayor" and chose Fred Beltran as mayor pro tem, with Javier Amezcua named as the prior year's mayor pro tem -- independently confirms the Council selects its own Mayor/Mayor Pro Tem annually and that Amezcua and Luellen are real sitting Council members.
- elections.imperialcounty.org (opens in a new tab)Imperial County Registrar of Voters -- "Campaign Finance & Disclosure Reports" page: "City Candidates and Committees ... file with your City Clerk," explaining why no county-hosted filing exists for Calipatria City Council candidates.
- cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)A negative-result access check: California's statewide Cal-Access campaign-finance filer/candidate search was queried directly this pass and returned no usable content, consistent with the same class of block documented elsewhere in this dataset.
- en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia, "Calipatria, California": used narrowly for the 2020 Census population figure (6,515) and the 1919 incorporation date; carries no local-government section for the city.
Last updated September 2, 2026.