# Hemet City Council, District 5 Compare records and positions simply between James Welker or James DePasse for Hemet City Council, District 5 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat on Hemet's 5-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The term is four years, capped at three lifetime terms (Hemet Municipal Code Sec. 2-37, counting only terms since 2012). The council selects one of its own members to serve as Mayor and another as Mayor Pro Tem -- the titles rotate rather than being separately elected. - Jurisdiction: City of Hemet - 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/hemet-council-5 - 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 3, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 87 out of 100 (Strong), across 6 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **James Welker** - **James DePasse** A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. District 5's seat is open: Mayor Linda Krupa, the sitting councilmember since 2010, is not among the candidates. Correctional Lieutenant James Welker and longtime local business owner James "Jimmy" DePasse are running to succeed her. This person holds your district's seat on Hemet's 5-member City Council. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The term is four years, capped at three lifetime terms. The council selects one of its own members to serve as Mayor and another as Mayor Pro Tem -- the titles rotate rather than being separately elected. With no incumbent in the race, District 5 is guaranteed a new representative -- and because the departing Mayor Krupa held this seat, the council will also need to choose a new Mayor from among its members next term. Both candidates filed their own candidate statements laying out their priorities. ## James Welker James Welker is a Correctional Lieutenant with more than 25 years of public-safety and leadership experience, and serves on Hemet's Mobile Home Rent Review Commission. Their own filed candidate statement lists priorities of safer neighborhoods, cleaner streets, practical solutions to homelessness, improved roads, reducing illegal dumping, attracting responsible development, and supporting youth programs and job pathways. **Strengths:** A quarter-century of public-safety leadership experience, plus current appointed service on a city commission that gives them direct exposure to city government. **Trade-offs:** No prior elected office; their statement's priorities are broad (safety, streets, homelessness, development) without specific proposals attached. **Keep in mind:** As a correctional lieutenant seeking a council seat that sets city public-safety policy and budget, voters may want to weigh that professional overlap. ## James DePasse James "Jimmy" DePasse's family has lived in the San Jacinto Valley for more than 50 years; DePasse has raised four children with their wife, Denise, and has run a local automotive-repair business for 31 years. Their own filed candidate statement is critical of the City Council's recent fiscal decisions, arguing Hemet "does not have a revenue problem -- it has a spending problem," and calls for eliminating wasteful spending rather than raising taxes -- an apparent reference to the sales-tax measure the council placed on the same November 2026 ballot. **Strengths:** More than three decades running a local small business gives them direct experience managing a budget and payroll. **Trade-offs:** No prior elected or appointed public service found. **Keep in mind:** Their statement explicitly opposes the council's proposed sales-tax measure on the same ballot -- voters can weigh that position alongside how they plan to vote on the measure itself. ## Sources 1. [City of Hemet -- General Municipal Election, November 3, 2026 (official election page: lists District 1, District 2, and District 5 City Council seats as contested, every candidate who filed for each with filing date, and notes Jackie Peterson's withdrawal and Eric Urena's non-filing)](https://www.hemetca.gov/1372/General-Municipal-Election---November-3-) 2. [City of Hemet -- Mayor & City Council (official roster: Mayor Linda Krupa/District 5, Mayor Pro Tem Joe Males/District 4, Councilmembers Connie Howard-Clark/District 1, Jackie Peterson/District 2, Tom Lodge/District 3)](https://www.hemetca.gov/65/Mayor-City-Council) 3. [City of Hemet -- Municipal Elections Information (three-term lifetime limit on council service, Hemet Municipal Code Sec. 2-37, counting only terms since 2012; nomination filing period July 13-Aug. 7, 2026, extended to Aug. 12 for District 2)](https://www.hemetca.gov/1006/Municipal-Elections-Information) 4. [City of Hemet -- James Welker's filed Candidate Statement, City Council District 5 (a Correctional Lieutenant with 25-plus years of public-safety and leadership experience, serves on Hemet's Mobile Home Rent Review Commission; priorities of safer neighborhoods, cleaner streets, homelessness, roads, illegal dumping, and responsible economic development)](https://www.hemetca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/13063) 5. [City of Hemet -- James "Jimmy" DePasse's filed Candidate Statement, City Council District 5 (family in the valley more than 50 years, owner of a local automotive-repair business for 31 years; priorities of fiscal leadership and opposing the council's proposed sales-tax measure)](https://www.hemetca.gov/DocumentCenter/View/13060) 6. [City of Hemet NetFile — public campaign-disclosure search](https://netfile.com/public/HMT/campaign/search-entities) ## The rest of the ballot Hemet City Council, District 5 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, "Hemet City Council, District 5 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/hemet-council-5 (sources last retrieved September 3, 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.