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County · Statewide General Election

Madera County Board of Supervisors, District 5

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 is one of five supervisors governing Madera County: the county budget, land use in the county's unincorporated communities, and county health and social-service departments. A 4-year term.

Madera County's Board of Supervisors has an open seat on the November 3, 2026 ballot: District 5 pits former State Assembly Member Frank Bigelow against Navy veteran and small-business owner Melanie "Mel" Barker. Sitting incumbent Robert "Bobby" Macaulay, the current Board Chair, is not running.

The winner serves a 4-year term as one of five supervisors governing Madera County: setting the county budget, deciding land use in the county's unincorporated communities, and overseeing county health and social-service departments.

Neither candidate reached a majority in the June 2 primary, per the Madera Tribune's own unofficial, election-night returns -- Bigelow led with 46.91% to Barker's 24.94% -- so both advance to a direct November matchup for the open seat. The choice is between two different kinds of local standing: Bigelow's return to a seat and a level of county government he already held once before, versus Barker's long local roots in real estate and mountain-community civic life but no prior elected office.

Frank Bigelow

Frank Bigelow is a Republican and a lifelong Madera County rancher who was first elected to this same Board of Supervisors in 1998, then represented the region for a decade in the California State Assembly (2012-2022) before that seat was eliminated in redistricting. He also served as president of the California State Association of Counties in 2006-2007 and has been a Madera County volunteer firefighter for more than 40 years. He was born and raised in O'Neals, where he still manages his family's multi-generational cattle ranch, and his stated Assembly-era focus was water rights, farmers, and rural infrastructure.

Strengths

Prior experience in this exact office (elected Supervisor, 1998) plus a decade in the State Assembly on rural and agricultural policy -- institutional familiarity Barker's record doesn't match.

Trade-offs

Returning to a job he already held raises the question of what's different this time; no detailed 2026 platform beyond general legislative-era priorities was found this pass.

Keep in mind

The Tribune's campaign-launch article carries no comparison to Barker or statement on District 5-specific issues; the priorities cited are from his broader Assembly district, not this seat.

Melanie "Mel" Barker

Melanie "Mel" Barker is a U.S. Navy veteran (Quartermaster aboard the USS Cape Cod) and small-business owner who has lived in eastern Madera County's mountain communities for more than 40 years, per her own campaign site. She served as 2024 President of the California Association of REALTORS (roughly 200,000 members) after 13 years as a National Association of REALTORS director, and has served on the board of the Mountain Area Youth Organization since 2011. Her stated priorities are public safety, roads and infrastructure, and cost-of-living/economic oversight.

Strengths

A long local record of civic leadership -- statewide realtor-association leadership and youth-organization board service -- plus a stated commitment to being a full-time, meeting-present supervisor.

Trade-offs

No prior elected or appointed office, unlike Bigelow's two decades in government; her bio comes from her own campaign site, not independent reporting, though it is specific and checkable.

Keep in mind

Her realtor-association leadership is organizational/advocacy experience, not specifically county budgeting or land-use administration.

Source review: Strong (81/100) · 7 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: Mel Barker for Madera County District 5 Supervisor -- her own campaign site: a U.S. Navy veteran (Quartermaster aboard the USS Cape Cod), a Yosemite High graduate who has lived in eastern Madera County's mountain communities for more than 40 years, and a small-business owner; states she was 2024 President of the California Association of REALTORS (about 200,000 members), a National Association of REALTORS director for 13 years, and a Mountain Area Youth Organization board member since 2011; names public safety, roads/infrastructure, and cost of living/economic vitality as her three campaign priorities may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

  • votemadera.com (opens in a new tab)Madera County Elections Division -- own "Contest/Candidate Proof List" for the Nov. 3, 2026 General Election (posted 8/12/2026 5:10 PM): within its exhaustive countywide contest range (3002-6013, "All Contests in Range"), the only county-section (row-office) contest is 4005, "County Supervisor District 5" (5th Supervisorial District), Vote For 1, Status ON BALLOT -- Frank Bigelow (Rancher/Businessman) and Melanie "Mel" Barker (Small Business Owner), with sitting incumbent Robert "Bobby" Macaulay listed only as "Incumbent (not running)." No Assessor, Sheriff, District Attorney, Auditor-Controller, Treasurer-Tax Collector, Public Defender, or Superior Court Judge contest appears anywhere else in the document.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia, "Madera County, California" -- its own summary of the county's Board of Supervisors: five members, each elected to staggered 4-year terms, as mandated by the California Constitution; names Robert Macaulay as the sitting District 5 member and current Board Chair, independently corroborating the county's own "incumbent not running" notation from a second source.
  • maderatribune.com (opens in a new tab)Madera Tribune -- "Statewide Direct Primary Unofficial Results (as of June 2)" (published June 10, 2026): lists the June 2, 2026 primary tally for "Supervisor, District 5" as Frank Bigelow 46.91% (3,265 votes) and Melanie Barker 24.94% (1,736 votes) -- both short of a majority, no third name under that heading in this retrieval. The two percentages don't sum to 100%, read here as an artifact of an early, unofficial election-night count rather than a complete canvass, so no primaryVotes/primaryPercent figures are asserted in the dataset from this source.
  • maderatribune.com (opens in a new tab)Madera Tribune -- "Bigelow launches supervisor campaign" (published Jan. 13, 2026): reports Frank Bigelow's candidacy announcement for Madera County Board of Supervisors District 5, describing him as "a lifelong Madera County rancher, volunteer firefighter, and dedicated public servant"; confirms he was born and raised in O'Neals, where he manages his family's multi-generational cattle ranch, and names water rights, farmers, and rural infrastructure as his State Assembly-era legislative focus. Carries no direct quote from Bigelow and does not name any opponent.
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia, "Frank Bigelow (politician)": a Republican, first elected to the Madera County Board of Supervisors in 1998; served as California State Assembly Member for the 5th Assembly District from Dec. 3, 2012 to Dec. 5, 2022 (announced in Feb. 2022 he would not seek re-election after his seat was eliminated in redistricting); president of the California State Association of Counties, 2006-2007; a rancher and Madera County volunteer firefighter of more than 40 years; briefly raced NASCAR, 1977-1979.
  • melbarkerforsupervisor.com (opens in a new tab)Mel Barker for Madera County District 5 Supervisor -- her own campaign site (melbarkerforsupervisor.com): a U.S. Navy veteran (Quartermaster aboard the USS Cape Cod), a Yosemite High graduate who has lived in eastern Madera County's mountain communities for more than 40 years, and a small-business owner; states she was 2024 President of the California Association of REALTORS (about 200,000 members), a National Association of REALTORS director for 13 years (including a 2019 federal-issues/public-policy liaison role and, per the site, more recently a regional vice president role), and a Mountain Area Youth Organization board member since 2011; names public safety, roads/infrastructure, and cost of living/economic vitality as her three campaign priorities. Candidate-published material, not independent reporting.
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Secretary of State CAL-ACCESS -- filer searches attempted for both Madera County District 5 Supervisor candidates (Frank Bigelow, Melanie Barker): every query returned only a blank/challenge response, not usable results, the same recurring access-block pattern documented elsewhere in this dataset (e.g. Chowchilla, immediately above). No Madera County-specific NetFile/eRetrieval campaign-finance portal was found linked from the county's own election pages.

Last updated September 2, 2026.