# Carson City Council, District 2 Compare records and positions simply between Derek Haskell Jr. or Jim Dear for Carson City Council, District 2 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Carson's 5-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The term is four years. - Jurisdiction: City of Carson - 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/carson-council-2 - 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 7, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 79 out of 100 (Mixed), across 7 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Derek Haskell Jr.** - **Jim Dear** — Incumbent A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Incumbent Jim Dear, on the council since 2001 with intervening terms as mayor and city clerk, faces Derek Haskell Jr., a youth-nonprofit executive making their first run for elected office, for the District 2 seat. This person holds one of five district seats on Carson's City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land-use decisions. The term is four years. Council members choose one of their own to serve as mayor and mayor pro tem, presiding over meetings but casting only one vote like any other member. Dear is campaigning on continuity built from two decades of intermittent city service — council, mayor, and city clerk — plus a public-safety focus. Haskell, a first-time candidate, is campaigning under the slogan "Time for a Fixer" on youth programs tied to the 2028 Olympics, infrastructure, and government transparency. ## Jim Dear Jim Dear is the incumbent, first elected to the council in 2001 and returning to it in 2018 after two stints as mayor (2004-2016, on and off) and one as city clerk (2015-2018). He names public safety and support for local labor and the business community as his priorities, and points to founding the city's Ethics Task Force and its Women's Issues Commission. A retired LAUSD history and civics teacher, he still works part-time as a substitute due to the teacher shortage. **Strengths:** Two decades of intermittent city service — council, four mayoral terms, one as city clerk — plus founding the city's Ethics Task Force. **Trade-offs:** Returning to a seat he's cycled through several other offices in raises the question of what a sixth stint on the council does differently this time. **Keep in mind:** His platform leans on institutional history more than a new, specific plan for the district; a concrete District 2 priority for this term is what would separate it from his prior returns to office. ## Derek Haskell Jr. Derek Haskell Jr. is a first-time candidate and Executive Director of the C3 Foundation, a youth-empowerment nonprofit (per their own LinkedIn profile). They're campaigning under the slogan "Time for a Fixer" on public safety and infrastructure, youth programs tied to the 2028 Olympics, and government transparency. They also coach for Twin City Baseball Little League in Carson. **Strengths:** Runs a youth-focused nonprofit and coaches local Little League — direct, hands-on experience with the city's younger residents and families. **Trade-offs:** No prior elected or appointed government experience — their record is nonprofit and community work, not City Hall administration. **Keep in mind:** Haskell's platform names concrete goals — Olympic-linked youth programs, infrastructure — but as a first-time candidate they have no council voting record for a voter to check them against. ## Review notes - Derek Haskell for Carson (@derekhaskellforcarson) may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources. ## Sources 1. [City of Carson — REVISED Notice of General Municipal Election, November 3, 2026 (City Clerk, City Treasurer, Council Districts 2 and 4, each a term expiring November 2030; dated Aug. 26, 2026)](https://carsonca.gov/Documents/Department/CityClerk/E-Board/REVISED%20NOTICE%20OF%20GENERAL%20MUNICIPAL%20ELECTION%20NOVEMBER%203%2C%202026.pdf) 2. [City of Carson — Elected Officials (current council roster by district)](https://carsonca.gov/government/elected_officials/) 3. [City of Carson — CampaignDocs eRetrieval (SouthTech/Granicus public campaign-finance disclosure portal)](https://www.southtechhosting.com/CarsonCity/CampaignDocsWebRetrieval/Default.aspx) 4. [The Ballot Book — City of Carson District 2 2026 candidates (unofficial, automated-monitoring aggregator)](https://theballotbook.com/jurisdictions/1333/candidates) 5. [City of Carson — Jim Dear's Biography (official council-member bio)](https://carsonca.gov/government/elected_officials/jimdearbio) 6. [Derek Haskell Jr. — LinkedIn profile (Executive Director, C3 Foundation)](https://www.linkedin.com/in/derek-haskell-jr-a659a660) 7. [Derek Haskell for Carson (@derekhaskellforcarson) — campaign Instagram account](https://www.instagram.com/derekhaskellforcarson/) ## The rest of the ballot Carson City Council, District 2 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, "Carson City Council, District 2 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/carson-council-2 (sources last retrieved September 7, 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.