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City of Carpinteria · Statewide General Election

Carpinteria City Council, District 5

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 your district's seat on Carpinteria's 5-member City Council -- city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Santa Barbara County city of 13,264 residents (2020 Census), alongside a professional city manager who runs day-to-day operations. Carpinteria's Mayor and Vice Mayor are chosen by the Council from among its own members, not directly elected by voters. A 4-year term.

Two candidates are running for Carpinteria's open District 5 City Council seat: Planning Commissioner Alexandra "Xy" VanAntwerp and parole agent supervisor Randy Carrasco. Incumbent Al Clark is not seeking re-election. Whoever gets the most votes on November 3 wins outright -- no primary, no runoff.

This is one of Carpinteria's five City Council districts. Council members set city ordinances, the budget, and land-use policy for this Santa Barbara County beach town of 13,264 residents (2020 Census), while a professional city manager runs day-to-day operations. Carpinteria's Mayor and Vice Mayor aren't elected directly -- the Council chooses them from among its own members, customarily for two-year terms. This seat carries a four-year term, and it is genuinely open: the city's own Notice of Offices and Nominations confirms sitting District 5 Councilmember Al Clark did not file for re-election, extending the district's nomination window to August 12, 2026.

VanAntwerp brings appointed city experience as a sitting Planning Commissioner and a seat on the city's General Plan Update Committee; Carrasco brings nearly three decades of law-enforcement and public-service experience but no prior city appointment. VanAntwerp filed an official ballot statement; Carrasco did not, so this dataset relies on a dedicated Coastal View News profile for the fullest independent account of his candidacy.

Alexandra "Xy" VanAntwerp

Alexandra "Xy" VanAntwerp is a sitting Carpinteria Planning Commissioner; her approved ballot designation is "Carpinteria Planning Commissioner." Her filed candidate statement says she has seen firsthand the decisions ahead for the city council and wants to keep Carpinteria "small, friendly and sustainable -- fiscally and environmentally." She names fiscal sustainability while retaining staff, resident participation in decision-making, new state housing mandates, proposed development of the remaining Carpinteria Bluffs open space, and housing affordability as the challenges ahead, and pledges to apply the city's General Plan to protect its small-town character, community diversity, and open space. She holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science and Economics and an MBA, has built and run technology businesses, and was previously on the board of the Carpinteria Valley Association, which she credits with helping save the Carpinteria Bluffs.

Strengths

Current appointed service on the Planning Commission and the city's General Plan Update Committee -- direct, relevant land-use experience for a Council seat.

Trade-offs

Her filed statement's account of helping save the Bluffs (via a past Carpinteria Valley Association board seat) is her own description; no independent account itemizing it was found.

Keep in mind

As a Planning Commissioner, she has already weighed in on land-use questions the Council will keep facing -- worth considering alongside Carrasco's outsider perspective on the same issues.

Randy Carrasco

Randy Carrasco is a parole agent supervisor and first-time candidate for elected office; his approved ballot designation is "Parole Agent Supervisor." He filed no candidate statement of his own; the fullest independent account of his candidacy is a dedicated Coastal View News profile, which reports he has lived in Carpinteria for 11 years (six of them in District 5), that he and his wife are raising their children locally while his spouse runs a local business, and that he has volunteered in the community, including coaching youth sports. His law-enforcement career began as a correctional officer in 1998, moved into parole agent work in 2005, and for the past five years he has served as a parole agent supervisor overseeing staff and resources. His stated priorities include supporting local businesses while preserving Carpinteria's character, maintaining a balanced city budget, addressing illegal and long-term RV parking in District 5, and managing growth thoughtfully under state housing mandates -- on which he's quoted: "The question isn't will we grow, but how will we grow."

Strengths

Nearly three decades of public-service management experience (correctional officer through parole supervisor), plus deep District 5 residency and a named local issue (RV parking).

Trade-offs

No candidate statement, campaign website, or social-media presence, and no prior city appointment found this pass -- his platform is documented through one news profile, not his own words.

Keep in mind

His career has been in state parole supervision, not municipal government -- a different kind of management experience than VanAntwerp's land-use-specific Planning Commission service, worth weighing on its own terms rather than as directly comparable.

Source review: Strong (88/100) · 10 cited sources

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

  • carpinteriaca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Carpinteria -- "CERTIFIED LIST OF CANDIDATES FOR CITY OF CARPINTERIA GENERAL MUNICIPAL ELECTION - NOVEMBER 3, 2026" (dated August 12, 2026; the city's website links this document under a later "WEBSITE Updated 08-28-26" filename, but its content is the same August 12 certified roster): three contests -- District 1 (Monica Solorzano vs. Aja Forner), District 3 (Julia Mayer, unopposed), and District 5 (Alexandra "Xy" VanAntwerp vs. Randy Carrasco) -- with each candidate's approved ballot designation and whether they filed a candidate statement
  • carpinteriaca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Carpinteria -- "NOTICE OF OFFICES AND NOMINATIONS" (posted August 4, 2026, signed by City Clerk/Elections Official Brian C. Barrett): confirms three City Council seats -- District Nos. 1, 3, and 5, each a full four-year term -- and states the District No. 5 incumbent is not seeking re-election, extending that district's nomination window to August 12, 2026
  • carpinteriaca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Carpinteria -- City Clerk / Elections page: confirms the November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election covers three Council seats (Districts 1, 3, 5), the nomination-period dates, and links the certified candidate list, notices, and district candidate-statement documents; states the City Clerk is the local filing officer for candidate campaign-disclosure reports but links no self-service filing portal, directing inquiries to the state FPPC generally
  • carpinteriaca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Carpinteria -- City Council page: describes a 5-member, district-elected Council whose Mayor and Vice Mayor are "selected by their fellow Council members" and "customarily serve two-year terms" (not directly elected), and lists the current roster -- Mayor Natalia Alarcon (District 2, term ends Dec. 2028), Vice Mayor Monica Solorzano (District 1, term ends Dec. 2026), Al Clark (District 5, term ends Dec. 2026), Julia Mayer (District 3, term ends Dec. 2026), and Wade T. Nomura (District 4, term ends Dec. 2028) -- confirming which three districts are up this cycle and that Al Clark, not a certified candidate, is the retiring District 5 incumbent
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Carpinteria, California": 2020 Census population (13,264) and independently corroborates Natalia Alarcon as Mayor; used narrowly for demographic/structural facts and does not cover the 2026 election
  • coastalview.com (opens in a new tab)Coastal View News -- "November ballot set: Council races, sales tax" (Aug. 19, 2026): Carpinteria's own local paper independently confirms all three Council contests (District 1 and 5 contested, District 3 uncontested), summarizes each candidate's campaign framing, and reports a proposed quarter-cent sales-tax ballot measure (parked as a ballot measure per this dataset's measures-descoped policy, not built here)
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- filer searches for all five Carpinteria candidates (Solorzano, Forner, Mayer, VanAntwerp, Carrasco): every query returned no extractable content, consistent with this dataset's documented pattern of Cal-Access blocking automated queries elsewhere this session; the session's live-browser fallback was disconnected throughout, so no in-browser retry was possible either
  • carpinteriaca.gov (opens in a new tab)City of Carpinteria -- District 5 Candidate Statement (filed under Elections Code 13307): Alexandra "Xy" VanAntwerp's filed statement, in her own words; the certified list confirms Randy Carrasco filed no statement of his own
  • coastalview.com (opens in a new tab)Coastal View News -- "Randy Carrasco enters City Council race, District 5" (Aug. 26, 2026): a dedicated profile of Carrasco's nearly three decades of law-enforcement/public-service background, 11 years of Carpinteria residency (six in District 5), and stated campaign priorities -- the only substantive account of his candidacy found this pass, since he filed no candidate statement of his own
  • instagram.com (opens in a new tab)Alexandra "Xy" VanAntwerp's own campaign Instagram account (@xyforcarp): confirms her District 5 candidacy, campaign theme ("Small, Friendly, Sustainable"), and discloses her FPPC filer ID (#1492730)

Last updated September 1, 2026.