# Indian Wells City Council Compare records and positions simply between Michael Hazelton, Rob Zwemmer, or Karlyn Neel for Indian Wells City Council at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds one of two at-large seats up this cycle. The seats are on Indian Wells' City Council. The council has five members. They vote on the city budget, land use, and public safety contracts. Indian Wells is a Coachella Valley resort city. The term is four years. Indian Wells has no separately elected Mayor. Each year, the five councilmembers choose a Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem. They choose both from among themselves. Voters approved this rotation process. - Jurisdiction: City of Indian Wells - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Seats: 2 - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/indian-wells-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: August 31, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 91 out of 100 (Very strong), across 7 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Michael Hazelton** - **Rob Zwemmer** - **Karlyn Neel** A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Two of Indian Wells' five City Council seats are on the November 3 ballot, and neither expiring incumbent is running again: Dana Reed and Bruce Whitman are both stepping down. Three newcomers are competing for the two open seats: Michael Hazelton, Karlyn Neel, and Rob Zwemmer. Indian Wells' council is five members, all elected citywide (at large, no districts) on staggered 4-year terms; the other three seats — held by Mayor Toper Taylor, Mayor Pro Tem Brian Penna, and Council Member Greg Sanders — aren't up this cycle. The council chooses one of its own to serve as Mayor and another as Mayor Pro Tem each year under a voter-approved rotation process, so voters elect councilmembers, not a mayor directly. Whoever wins holds the seat for four years, setting the budget, land use, and public-safety contracting for this small, affluent Coachella Valley resort city built around golf resorts, tennis, and the BNP Paribas Open. With no incumbent in the field, this is a genuinely open race decided in a single round: the two highest vote-getters among the three candidates win outright, with no primary or runoff. All three are first-time candidates for this seat, so the choice comes down to which two of three professional backgrounds voters want steering the city's next four years. ## Michael Hazelton Michael Hazelton is a local real estate agent, per The Desert Sun's reporting. No campaign website, platform statement, or additional independent news coverage of their candidacy turned up in this research beyond that one-line description and the city's own certified candidate record. **Strengths:** A real estate background gives them direct, practical exposure to Indian Wells' housing market and property-tax base, both relevant to council decisions on land use and city finances. **Trade-offs:** No campaign platform, website, or additional independent coverage was found — beyond their occupation, their positions on specific city issues are not a matter of public record in this research. **Keep in mind:** This is a small, low-turnout local race with limited press coverage; what's known about them comes from a single newspaper roundup and the city's own filing record, not an extended public campaign record. ## Karlyn Neel Karlyn Neel is a designer and historical-preservation advocate who owns a home in Indian Wells designed by William Cody, a noted mid-century modern architect closely associated with the Coachella Valley's Palm Springs-era architecture, per The Desert Sun's reporting. No campaign website, platform statement, or additional independent news coverage of their candidacy turned up in this research beyond that description and the city's own certified candidate record. **Strengths:** A stated interest in historical preservation speaks to a live issue in this mid-century resort city, and a design background is relevant to development and aesthetic review the council oversees. **Trade-offs:** No campaign platform, website, or added independent coverage was found — beyond their preservation advocacy, their positions on city issues are not a matter of public record in this research. **Keep in mind:** This is a small, low-turnout local race with limited press coverage; what's known about them comes from a single newspaper roundup and the city's own filing record, not an extended public campaign record. ## Rob Zwemmer Rob Zwemmer is president of a local realty group and co-owner of the Coachella Valley Scorpions, a local professional pickleball team, per The Desert Sun's reporting. No campaign website, platform statement, or additional independent news coverage of their candidacy turned up in this research beyond that description and the city's own certified candidate record. **Strengths:** A real estate leadership role gives them exposure to the local property and resort economy, and co-owning a professional pickleball team signals ties to the city's tourism and recreation base. **Trade-offs:** No campaign platform, website, or additional independent coverage was found — beyond their business ties, their positions on specific city issues are not a matter of public record in this research. **Keep in mind:** This is a small, low-turnout local race with limited press coverage; what's known about them comes from a single newspaper roundup and the city's own filing record, not an extended public campaign record. ## Sources 1. [Riverside County Registrar of Voters — 2026 Annual Election Calendar (lists every November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election office by city, including "City of Cathedral City: City Council District 3 / District 4 / District 5 / City Treasurer")](https://voteinfo.net/sites/g/files/aldnop371/files/2026-02/Annual%20Election%20Calendar%202026.pdf) 2. [City of Indian Wells -- City Clerk "Elections" page (fetched live via Google's translate.goog English-to-English proxy after the origin 403'd every direct WebFetch/curl attempt): "The election is for two (2) Council Member at-large seats, all serve a four-year term"; "The office of Mayor is not directly elected by the voters. Instead, the Mayor and Mayor Pro Tem are appointed annually by the City Council from among its members pursuant to the City's voter-approved mayoral rotation process"; states the nomination period closed August 12, 2026, and embeds the official Roster of Candidates table.](https://www.cityofindianwells.org/city-hall/elections) 3. [City of Indian Wells -- official "ROSTER OF CANDIDATES" table (image embedded on the City Clerk's Elections page, retrieved as raw image bytes via the translate.goog proxy since the direct image URL also 403's): names exactly three qualified 2026 candidates with their nomination-papers-issued, nomination-papers-filed, and qualified-for-ballot dates -- Michael Hazelton (filed 07/24/2026, qualified 07/27/2026), Karlyn Neel (filed 07/27/2026, qualified 07/27/2026), and Rob Zwemmer (filed 08/05/2026, qualified 08/05/2026).](https://www.cityofindianwells.org/home/showpublishedimage/4371) 4. [City of Indian Wells -- "City Council Members" page: lists the current 5-member Council -- Mayor Dr. Toper Taylor, Mayor Pro Tem Brian Penna, and Council Members Greg Sanders, Dana Reed, and Bruce Whitman -- none of whom shares a name with any of the three 2026 qualified candidates.](https://www.cityofindianwells.org/city-hall/city-council/city-council-members) 5. [City of Indian Wells -- Dana Reed's own government biography page (URL slug "mayor-pro-tem-dana-reed," a holdover from a past year in the Council's rotating Mayor Pro Tem role): "Elected 2014, Current Term of Office 2026" -- confirms his current seat is one of the two expiring this cycle, and (via his absence from the qualified-candidate roster) that he is not seeking reelection.](https://www.cityofindianwells.org/city-hall/city-council/city-council-members/mayor-pro-tem-dana-reed) 6. [City of Indian Wells -- Bruce Whitman's own government biography page (URL slug "mayor-bruce-whitman," a holdover from a past year in the Council's rotating Mayor role): "Elected 2022, Current Term of Office 2026" -- confirms his current seat is the other of the two expiring this cycle, and (via his absence from the qualified-candidate roster) that he is not seeking reelection.](https://www.cityofindianwells.org/city-hall/city-council/city-council-members/mayor-bruce-whitman) 7. [The Desert Sun — "See who's running for mayor and city council in Coachella Valley" (Tom Coulter and Sam Morgen, Aug. 13, 2026; its own "Who's running in Indian Wells?" section states two seats are up, that Bruce Whitman and Dana Reed are each not seeking reelection, and names all three qualified candidates with a one-line occupation/background note each)](https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/08/13/election-2026-whos-running-for-mayor-city-council-palm-springs-area/91221615007/) ## The rest of the ballot Indian Wells 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, "Indian Wells City Council — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/indian-wells-council (sources last retrieved August 31, 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.