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City of Lawndale · Statewide General Election

Lawndale City Council

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

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

On the ballot

This person holds one of two at-large seats up this cycle on Lawndale's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. A 4-year term.

Two candidates are running for Lawndale's two at-large City Council seats: incumbents Bernadette Suarez and Pat Kearney. With exactly two candidates for two seats, both are effectively elected outright on November 3, 2026.

Council seats carry 4-year terms. The five-member council sets city ordinances, the budget, and land-use policy, with day-to-day operations run by an appointed city manager rather than any single elected official.

With no challenger in the field, the practical question is what each incumbent has done in office rather than which of the two to choose — the two seats are not competing against each other.

Bernadette Suarez

The incumbent, on the council since 2016 and first elected to city office — City Clerk — in 2014 at age 23 (per corroborating biographical sources). She chairs the board of Centinela Youth Services, a South Bay youth-services nonprofit, and is the South Bay Cities Council of Governments' immediate past chair, representing Lawndale on that regional body. She ran for Mayor in 2024 and finished second to Pullen-Miles, returning this cycle to seek another council term instead.

Strengths

A decade on the council plus two years as City Clerk before that, and leadership roles on two regional bodies spanning youth services and South Bay governance.

Trade-offs

Running unopposed alongside a fellow incumbent means neither her record nor Kearney's faces an organized counter-argument this cycle.

Keep in mind

Her 2024 run for Mayor, which she lost to Pullen-Miles, suggests she may seek the top job again; a vote here is also a vote on who has the standing to try next.

Pat Kearney

The incumbent, a lifelong Lawndale resident and councilmember of long standing — he was already an incumbent seeking re-election in 2018, per the Daily Breeze, which put his age then at 66. No detailed 2026 platform statement was found for this guide; he has endorsed, and been endorsed by, Mayor Pullen-Miles this cycle (per Pullen-Miles's campaign). Running alongside fellow incumbent Suarez, both are set to keep their seats regardless of the vote totals given the two-candidate, two-seat field.

Strengths

A lifelong Lawndale resident with a council tenure predating 2018, plus a working relationship with the mayor reflected in this cycle's mutual endorsements.

Trade-offs

No detailed platform statement for this cycle was found for this guide, so there is little public record here beyond his tenure and endorsements.

Keep in mind

Running unopposed alongside a fellow incumbent means neither his record nor Suarez's faces an organized counter-argument this cycle — the same caveat applies to both.

Source review: Very strong (90/100) · 7 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

Last updated August 31, 2026.