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City of Hawthorne · Statewide General Election

Hawthorne City Treasurer

This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.

On the ballot

Hawthorne's City Treasurer is a separately elected, citywide office (a 4-year term) responsible for the city's investments and cash management, distinct from the appointed city manager and finance staff who handle day-to-day accounting.

Two candidates qualified for City Treasurer: L. David Patterson and Raymond Vergara. The sitting incumbent, Marie Poindexter-Hornback, did not file for re-election.

Hawthorne's City Treasurer is a separately elected, citywide office (a 4-year term) responsible for the city's investments and cash management, distinct from the appointed city manager and finance staff who handle day-to-day accounting.

Sitting City Treasurer Marie Poindexter-Hornback, whose term runs through December 2026, is not on this ballot: she was federally indicted in December 2025 on bank-fraud and embezzlement charges tied to a prior employer (roughly $200,000, alleged June 2023-July 2024), per NBC Los Angeles and Daily Breeze reporting; neither outlet reported on her 2026 re-election plans directly, but the city's own Notice of Qualified Candidates confirms she is not among the two names who filed.

L. David Patterson

He previously served as Hawthorne's City Treasurer from 2013 to 2020 -- elected in November 2013 as the city's first African American City Treasurer, unseating a 10-year incumbent with more than 57% of the vote -- and then as a City Councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem from 2020 to 2024, per his own professional profiles. He currently serves as Chief Deputy Treasurer for the City of Carson, and holds a PhD; his stated background includes public finance, investments, budgeting, taxation, and real estate.

Strengths

Eleven years of prior elected city service in Hawthorne (Treasurer, then Council/Mayor Pro Tem) plus current professional experience as a sitting Chief Deputy Treasurer for a neighboring city.

Trade-offs

Left the City Council in 2024; this dataset could not confirm why he didn't seek another term then, or what prompted a return bid for Treasurer specifically now.

Keep in mind

The only candidate in this race with prior experience in the Treasurer's office itself.

Raymond Vergara

He is a local Hawthorne business owner -- a Farmers Insurance agent with an office on Hawthorne Boulevard, independently confirmed via Farmers' own site, Yelp, and the local Chamber of Commerce directory. He has not previously held elected office in Hawthorne. His own campaign site frames his run around the local economy and reliable leadership.

Strengths

A verifiable local business owner and first-time candidate offering an outside alternative to a former officeholder.

Trade-offs

No prior experience in elected office or public-sector finance could be confirmed, unlike his opponent's direct Treasurer's-office background.

Keep in mind

No specific financial-management credentials beyond running his own insurance agency could be confirmed from available reporting.

Source review: Mixed (79/100) · 9 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.

Review note: Raymond Vergara's own 2026 campaign site, "Raymond Vergara for City Treasurer" may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • cityofhawthorne.org (opens in a new tab)City of Hawthorne -- "Notice of Qualified Candidates for Public Office," General Municipal Election, November 3, 2026, signed by Deputy City Clerk Diana Cucalon, dated Aug. 17, 2026: names Katrina Manning, Alex Monteiro, and Sergio Mortara for City Council (2 seats); Dayna Williams-Hunter for City Clerk (1 seat, unopposed); and L. David Patterson and Raymond Vergara for City Treasurer (1 seat)
  • cityofhawthorne.org (opens in a new tab)City of Hawthorne's own Elected Officials page: Mayor Alex Vargas, Mayor Pro Tem Faye Johnson, Council Members Katrina Manning, Angie Reyes English, and Alex Monteiro
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's Hawthorne, California article, Government section: a citywide-elected Mayor plus four at-large council members on 4-year terms; sourced current-officeholder table shows Manning and Monteiro both term-ending Dec. 2026 (up this cycle) while Vargas, Reyes-English, and Johnson all run through Dec. 2028; City Clerk Dayna Williams-Hunter and City Treasurer Marie Poindexter-Hornback both also term-ending Dec. 2026
  • goodparty.org (opens in a new tab)GoodParty.org's profile of L. David Patterson, PhD: previously Hawthorne City Treasurer, City Councilmember, and Mayor Pro Tem; currently Chief Deputy Treasurer for the City of Carson
  • bcifund.org (opens in a new tab)BCI Fund's bio for Dr. L. David Patterson: 11 years as an elected Hawthorne official -- first elected African-American City Treasurer 2013-2020, then Council member 2020-2024
  • raymondvergaraforhawthorne.com (opens in a new tab)Raymond Vergara's own 2026 campaign site, "Raymond Vergara for City Treasurer"
  • agents.farmers.com (opens in a new tab)Farmers Insurance's own agent-directory listing for Raymond Alejandro Vergara in Hawthorne, CA, independently corroborated by Yelp and the local Chamber of Commerce directory
  • nbclosangeles.com (opens in a new tab)NBC Los Angeles / Daily Breeze reporting on sitting City Treasurer Marie Poindexter-Hornback's December 2025 federal indictment on bank-fraud/embezzlement charges tied to a prior employer -- used only to explain her absence from the 2026 candidate field, not to characterize the two actual candidates
  • lavote.gov (opens in a new tab)A negative-result attempt to reach a Hawthorne-specific NetFile campaign-disclosure portal: netfile.com/public/HAW/campaign redirects to NetFile's own generic corporate homepage rather than a live agency portal, and LA County RR/CC's own Campaign Disclosure Information page describes its system as mid-transition without a working direct link

Last updated September 3, 2026.