# Farmersville City Council

Compare records and positions simply between Tina Hernandez, Crystal Johnson, Danny Valdovinos Jr, and 2 more for Farmersville City Council at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of three at-large seats on Farmersville's five-member City Council. Seats serve staggered four-year terms with no term limits. Council members vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. An appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations. The Council picks its own Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem from among its members.

- Jurisdiction: City of Farmersville
- Election: November 3, 2026 California general election
- Seats: 3
- Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements.
- Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/farmersville-council
- 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: 85 out of 100 (Strong), across 13 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Tina Hernandez** — Realtor · Incumbent
- **Crystal Johnson**
- **Danny Valdovinos Jr** — Incumbent
- **Carrie Elaine Ortiz** — Business Owner
- **Paul Boyer** — Incumbent

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

Five candidates are running for three of Farmersville's five at-large City Council seats: incumbents Paul Boyer and Danny Valdovinos Jr (both running as "Incumbent"), fellow incumbent Tina Hernandez (running as "Realtor"), and challengers Carrie Elaine Ortiz and Crystal Johnson. Whoever gets the three highest vote totals on November 3 wins -- no runoff.

Farmersville is a Tulare County city of roughly 10,400 residents. The 2020 Census counted 10,397. The city runs a council-manager government. An appointed city manager handles day-to-day operations. The five councilmembers set the budget, ordinances, and land use. They also choose one of their own as Mayor and another as Mayor Pro Tem. Voters do not elect either post directly. All five seats are elected at-large, citywide rather than by district. Terms are staggered and run four years, with no term limits, per the city's own Elections page. This cycle's three seats will run through November 2030.

All three incumbents in this race are at the center of a public fight over council leadership. That fight has run through this summer. On July 20, 2026, the council voted 3-2 to remove Hernandez and Araceli Ochoa. They lost the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem posts to Boyer and Valdovinos. Valdovinos, Boyer, and Councilmember Greg Gomez voted in favor. Gomez is not up for election this cycle, and neither is Ochoa. Boyer and Gomez said Hernandez and Ochoa had used more authority than the largely ceremonial mayor role allows. Hernandez rejected that account. Some public commenters at the meeting called the move sexist. The same 3-2 split repeated on August 24, 2026. The council chose an interim city manager over Hernandez and Ochoa's preferred candidate. The prior city manager left office August 21. Both sides' own public statements appear below, rather than a position in this ongoing dispute.

## Paul Boyer

Paul Boyer's ballot designation is "Incumbent." He moved to Farmersville in 1979, holds a BA in Earth Sciences and Environmental Studies from UC Santa Cruz, and retired as Community Development Program Director at Self-Help Enterprises, a San Joaquin Valley nonprofit that helps rural communities finance water and sewer projects. He became Mayor in July 2026 after the council's 3-2 leadership vote.

**Strengths:** Chaired the Planning Commission, led Kiwanis, and represents Farmersville on the Tulare County Association of Governments and Groundwater Sustainability Agency.

**Trade-offs:** Led the July 2026 vote stripping Hernandez and Ochoa's titles; critics at the meeting called it entrenchment by a two-decade incumbent, he called it a needed structural fix.

**Keep in mind:** He's said he doesn't favor hiring a permanent city manager before this election, preferring the next council make that call -- a stance that could matter either way it goes.

## Tina Hernandez

Tina Hernandez's ballot designation is "Realtor," not "Incumbent" -- but per the county's own filing document and the city's own staff-directory bio, she is the incumbent: the city describes her as "Christine 'Tina' Hernandez," appointed to the council in November 2018, and a Century 21 Jordan Link real estate agent since 2015. She was removed from the Mayor's seat in the same contentious 3-2 council vote in July 2026.

**Strengths:** Active in the National, California, and Tulare County Realtor associations; chairs Farmersville High's Ag Advisory Board; credited by some with better-kept parks.

**Trade-offs:** Boyer and Gomez said she'd overstepped a ceremonial mayor's role, citing a December 2024 exchange where she called Gomez "boy," "liar," and "dirty"; she called the process rushed.

**Keep in mind:** She and Ochoa voted against the council's August 2026 interim city manager pick -- a hiring disagreement that could resurface with whichever three candidates win.

## Danny Valdovinos Jr

Danny Valdovinos Jr's ballot designation is "Incumbent." Wikipedia's Farmersville, California article describes them as the owner of a local gym; the city's own directory page for them carries no independent biography beyond their title, Mayor Pro Tem -- a post they were elevated to in the same July 2026 vote that removed Hernandez from it.

**Strengths:** Cast the deciding vote in July 2026's council reorganization, elevating themselves to Mayor Pro Tem, and called afterward for the council to "work together as a team."

**Trade-offs:** Wikipedia describes Valdovinos as a gym owner; beyond that and the reorganization vote, no independent profile, campaign site, or news coverage of their platform was found.

**Keep in mind:** Valdovinos appeared to waver during the meeting, telling the crowd early on they didn't know why the reorganization had come up, before ultimately siding with Boyer and Gomez.

## Carrie Elaine Ortiz

Carrie Elaine Ortiz's ballot designation is "Business Owner." A lifelong Farmersville resident (46 years in the same house, by her own account in 2024), she owns Carrie's Maintenance Company and holds business and child-development degrees from College of the Sequoias, where she's also pursuing a degree in dance. This is her second run for the council: she lost a 2024 bid for one of Farmersville's other two seats.

**Strengths:** Ran a self-funded 2024 campaign on senior/low-income housing, a shelter, more street cameras, and street and park repairs; says her uncle also served on the council.

**Trade-offs:** No 2026-specific statement, campaign site, or coverage was found; her only verifiable platform is that 2024 Q&A, so it may not reflect any updated priorities.

**Keep in mind:** She said in 2024 she hopes to become Mayor -- under Farmersville's structure that means being chosen by fellow councilmembers, not elected directly by voters.

## Crystal Johnson

Crystal Johnson filed with no ballot designation, per the county's own candidate-filing document -- the only one of the five candidates to do so. This dataset could not independently confirm any biographical or professional background for her.

**Strengths:** None could be independently confirmed.

**Trade-offs:** No campaign site, social media, or news coverage connecting a Farmersville candidate named Crystal Johnson to any occupation or platform was found in this pass.

**Keep in mind:** This absence of coverage reflects this dataset's inability to find anything about her -- it isn't evidence about her qualifications either way.

## Sources

1. [Tulare County Elections -- official "Contest/Candidate Proof List" (report CFMR001) for the November 3, 2026 General Election: within its City section, the City of Farmersville shows exactly one contest -- "Member, City Council," Vote For 3, 5 qualified candidates -- with incumbents Danny D Valdovinos Jr, Christine Marie Hernandez, and Paul H Boyer listed as the three seats' sitting officeholders, and Danny Valdovinos Jr, Paul Boyer (both "Incumbent"), Tina Hernandez ("Realtor"), Carrie Elaine Ortiz ("Business Owner"), and Crystal Johnson ("No Ballot Designation") as the five qualified candidates](https://tc-web.widen.net/s/sgnr5sgmjc/novgenuocl)
2. [City of Farmersville -- official City Council page: names the current five councilmembers (Paul Boyer, Mayor; Danny Valdovinos, Mayor Pro Tem; Gregorio Gomez, Tina Hernandez, and Araceli Ochoa, Council Members) -- an exact name match against the county's three incumbents-of-record for this cycle's seats](https://www.cityoffarmersville-ca.gov/187/City-Council)
3. [City of Farmersville -- official Elections page: "The City Council is comprised of five elected councilmembers with staggered four-year terms. There is no limit to the number of terms an individual can serve," and that the city has the Tulare County Registrar of Voters conduct its municipal elections](https://www.cityoffarmersville-ca.gov/337/Elections)
4. [Wikipedia's Farmersville, California article -- used narrowly for the city's 2020 Census population (10,397) and, separately, as the source (citing the city's own former City-Council URL) for Danny Valdovinos's description as the owner of a local gym, an occupational detail not repeated on the city's own current bio page for him](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farmersville,_California)
5. [City of Farmersville -- Paul Boyer's official staff-directory bio page: moved to Farmersville in 1979, BA in Earth Sciences and Environmental Studies from UC Santa Cruz, retired as Community Development Program Director at Self-Help Enterprises, and previously chaired the Farmersville Planning Commission, presided over the Kiwanis Club, and represented Farmersville on the Tulare County Association of Governments and the Greater Kaweah Groundwater Sustainability Agency](https://www.cityoffarmersville-ca.gov/m/directory/employee?eid=26)
6. [City of Farmersville -- Tina Hernandez's official staff-directory bio page: states "Christine 'Tina' Hernandez was appointed the position of Farmersville City Councilmember in November of 2018" and that she has been a Real Estate Agent with Century 21 Jordan Link since 2015 -- the first-party confirmation that the county's candidate-roster name "Tina Hernandez" is the same person as the roster's separately listed incumbent-of-record, Christine Marie Hernandez](https://www.cityoffarmersville-ca.gov/m/directory/employee?eid=15)
7. [City of Farmersville -- Danny Valdovinos's official staff-directory bio page: confirms his title, Mayor Pro Tem, and contact information, but carries no independent narrative biography beyond that -- a genuine content gap, not an omission by this dataset](https://www.cityoffarmersville-ca.gov/m/directory/employee?eid=61)
8. [The Sun-Gazette Newspaper -- "Farmersville reorganizes council seats" (July 21, 2026): the council's July 20, 2026 special meeting, relocated to the Boys and Girls Club for attendance, voted 3-2 (Valdovinos, Gomez, and Boyer in favor) to remove Tina Hernandez and Araceli Ochoa from the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem posts and install Boyer and Valdovinos instead; quotes Boyer, Gomez, Valdovinos, Hernandez, and Ochoa on both sides of the dispute over whether Hernandez and Ochoa exceeded the ceremonial authority of a council-manager mayor](https://thesungazette.com/article/news/2026/07/21/farmersville-reorganizes-council-seats/)
9. [The Sun-Gazette Newspaper -- "Farmersville selects interim city manager" (August 27, 2026): the council voted 3-2 on August 24, 2026 (Hernandez and Ochoa opposed) to offer the interim city manager post to Kevin Northcraft after Jay Brock left the position August 21, and that City Attorney Mike Farley separately announced his resignation -- the same 3-2 split from the July reorganization vote recurring on a hiring decision](https://thesungazette.com/article/city/2026/08/27/farmersville-selects-interim-city-manager/)
10. [The Sun-Gazette Newspaper -- "ELECTION 2024: Q&A with Farmersville City Council candidate Carrie Ortiz" (October 16, 2024): Ortiz, in her own words, describes 46 years living in Farmersville, a business degree and child-development degree from College of the Sequoias (pursuing a third in dance), her own business (Carrie's Maintenance Company), a self-funded campaign, and a platform of senior/low-income housing, a homeless shelter, more street cameras, and street and park repairs; also independently confirms the city's at-large, staggered-term council structure and that Ortiz lost that 2024 race](https://thesungazette.com/article/news/2024/10/16/election-2024-qa-with-farmersville-city-council-candidate-carrie-ortiz/)
11. [This dataset's own documented record of a dedicated, unsuccessful search for independent background on candidate Crystal Johnson: Brave Search results for her name alongside "Farmersville" and "city council" returned no relevant matches, only unrelated people of the same common name; a Ballotpedia page titled "Crystal Johnson" is confirmed (by direct inspection) to be a disambiguation page, not a Farmersville candidate or officeholder entry](https://ballotpedia.org/Crystal_Johnson)
12. [Ballotpedia's "Farmersville, California" article: a bare structural stub (federal/state officeholders, generic ballot measure and recall boilerplate) with no city-government section, no city council listing, and no 2026 election coverage of any kind for Farmersville specifically](https://ballotpedia.org/Farmersville,_California)
13. [This dataset's own documented record of a dedicated, unsuccessful attempt to retrieve campaign-finance filings for all five Farmersville City Council candidates: California's Cal-Access filer search (cal-access.sos.ca.gov) returned only an Incapsula bot-detection challenge page for every query attempted this session, and the city's own Elections page names no online disclosure portal at all. Documents the absence of a reachable financial-disclosure source for these five candidates, not any of their actual finances.](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Candidates/)

## The rest of the ballot

Farmersville City Council 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, "Farmersville City Council — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/farmersville-council (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.
