City of Orange Cove · Statewide General Election

Orange Cove 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

Jaime Casillas
Isaiah Lopez
Alex Garcia — Business Owner/Chef
Derek Greenwood — Fire Fighter

This person would hold one of Orange Cove's four at-large City Council seats: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Fresno County city of about 9,600 residents, under a council-manager form of government with an appointed City Manager. A 4-year term. Orange Cove's Mayor is also elected directly and at-large, and the city has no elected City Clerk or City Treasurer.

Four candidates are running for Orange Cove's two at-large City Council seats: Jaime Casillas, Alex Garcia, Isaiah Lopez, and Derek Greenwood.

Whichever two candidates get the most votes win -- no runoff or ranked-choice voting is used. Both seats trace to the same mid-2026 vacancy: when then-Mayor Pro Tem Gilbert Garcia was appointed Mayor in May 2026, his own council seat went empty. The Council first voted to leave it vacant until the November election, then reversed course in July and appointed Jaime Casillas to it from a field of three interviewed residents (Casillas, Alex Garcia, and Isaiah Lopez) after a resident's repeated public-comment pressure over the four-member Council's quorum problems. All three interviewees, plus a fourth candidate, Derek Greenwood, separately qualified for the November ballot. The second seat belongs to Esperanza Rodriguez, who is not seeking reelection. This dataset found no independent biographical detail for any of the four candidates beyond what's noted below, despite a genuine multi-method search (the Mid Valley Times' own site search, Ballotpedia -- no Orange Cove page exists -- and Google News).

Jaime Casillas

A Fresno police officer and former Fire Protection District volunteer. One of three residents the Council interviewed in June 2026 for Gilbert Garcia's vacant seat; the Council appointed him to it by a 3-1 vote on July 22, 2026, with Councilmember Jacob Del Bosque -- who said he "graded each candidate's responses to interview questions on a scale out of 10" -- in favor and Cassy Ortiz dissenting. He filed for the November seat under "No Ballot Designation" rather than "Appointed Incumbent," and did not file a candidate statement for this race.

Strengths

A law-enforcement career (Fresno Police Department) plus prior fire-district volunteer experience, and several months already serving on the Council by appointment as of this filing.

Trade-offs

Like Garcia, his time on the Council so far has come through appointment rather than a public vote, and one sitting Councilmember (Ortiz) voted against his appointment.

Keep in mind

See this contest's financial note below.

Alex Garcia

A local business owner; his filed occupation is "Business Owner/Chef." One of the three residents the Council interviewed in June 2026 for the vacant council seat, but not selected -- Jaime Casillas was appointed instead. He did not file a candidate statement for this race.

Strengths

A local business background (catering/food service) and direct experience going through the Council's own June vetting process as one of three finalists for the appointed seat.

Trade-offs

He was not selected for that appointment, and no independent reporting or platform statement beyond his filed occupation was found for him.

Keep in mind

See this contest's financial note below.

Isaiah Lopez

Described by the Mid Valley Times as a community volunteer and youth mentor; his filed ballot designation is "No Ballot Designation." One of the three residents the Council interviewed in June 2026 for the vacant council seat, but not selected -- Jaime Casillas was appointed instead. The county's own candidate records show he separately qualified this same cycle for a seat on the Orange Cove Police Protection District's Board of Directors, a distinct special district race not covered by this dataset. He did not file a candidate statement for this race.

Strengths

Community-volunteer and youth-mentorship background per independent local reporting, plus direct experience as one of three finalists interviewed for the appointed seat in June.

Trade-offs

He was not selected for that appointment, and no independent reporting beyond his community-volunteer background was found for him.

Keep in mind

See this contest's financial note below.

Derek Greenwood

His filed occupation is "Fire Fighter." Unlike the other three candidates, he was not one of the three residents interviewed for the June council appointment; the Mid Valley Times separately reports the Council appointed him to a 2-year term on Orange Cove's own Planning Commission on July 9, 2026, alongside three other residents chosen from eight applicants. He did not file a candidate statement for this race.

Strengths

A firefighting career plus a current appointed seat on the city's own Planning Commission, giving him direct, independently confirmed experience with city land-use decisions.

Trade-offs

No independent reporting or platform statement beyond his filed occupation and Planning Commission appointment was found for him.

Keep in mind

See this contest's financial note below.

Source review: Very strong (90/100) · 9 cited sources

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

www2.fresnocountyca.gov (opens in a new tab)Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters -- CFMR009 "Candidate List" for the Nov. 3, 2026 Consolidated Statewide General Election (printed 8/12/2026 5:37:13PM, post-filing-deadline): lists Orange Cove's two city-section contests, both On Ballot: Yes -- Mayor (5125, Vote For 1): Gilbert Garcia, qualified, filed occupation/designation "Appointed Incumbent"; and City Council (5135, Vote For 2): Jaime Casillas ("No Ballot Designation"), Alex Garcia ("Business Owner/Chef"), Isaiah Lopez ("No Ballot Designation"), and Derek Greenwood ("Fire Fighter"), each qualified with no candidate statement filed
www2.fresnocountyca.gov (opens in a new tab)Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters -- CFMR001 "Contest/Candidate Proof List," filtered to Contests on Ballot, for the Nov. 3, 2026 election (printed 8/18/2026 8:39:55AM): independently confirms both Orange Cove contests ON BALLOT with the same candidate fields, and separately records each seat's incumbent-of-record and qualifying dates -- Mayor 5125: Gilbert Garcia listed as incumbent ("Appointed to Vacancy"), qualified 7/27/2026; City Council 5135: incumbents-of-record Esperanza A Rodriguez ("Elected") and a second seat listed "Vacant / Vacated," with candidates Jaime Casillas (qualified 7/31/2026), Derek Greenwood (qualified 8/6/2026), Isaiah Lopez (qualified 8/7/2026), and Alex Garcia (qualified 8/11/2026)
en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia's Orange Cove, California article: population 9,649 (2020 census); incorporated January 20, 1948; a council-manager government with a directly, at-large elected Mayor plus a four-member, at-large City Council, one of whom the Council selects as Mayor Pro Tem
midvalleytimes.com (opens in a new tab)Mid Valley Times -- "Local candidate filing period open through Aug. 7": reports the candidate filing period for the Nov. 3, 2026 general election ran July 13 through 5 p.m. Aug. 7, extending to Aug. 12 if a qualified incumbent didn't file; confirms Orange Cove's office list directly -- "Orange Cove will have two city council seats and a mayoral position on the ballot in November 2026," listed as "At-large, 2 seats; mayor"
cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)A negative-result campaign-finance search: California's Cal-Access filer search returned no retrievable content for a direct query against each of the five Orange Cove candidates' names this session -- the same recurring Incapsula-style failure mode already documented elsewhere in this dataset. Documents the absence of a reachable financial-disclosure source for these contests, not any candidate's actual finances
midvalleytimes.com (opens in a new tab)Mid Valley Times, byline Serena Bettis -- "Orange Cove names Gilbert Garcia mayor, looks to fill vacancy": reports Mayor Diana Guerra Silva missed eight City Council meetings between Feb. 11 and May 26, 2026 for unstated "unforeseen circumstances," triggering a vacancy declaration under state law; the Council voted unanimously (4-0) on May 26, 2026 to appoint Gilbert Garcia -- then serving as Mayor Pro Tem, already handling mayoral duties during the vacancy -- to fill the remaining term, on Councilmember Jacob Del Bosque's recommendation; the Council reasoned a special election would be costly for a seat already expiring in November, and reports Garcia indicated he planned to run for the seat in November
midvalleytimes.com (opens in a new tab)Mid Valley Times, byline Serena Bettis -- "Orange Cove leaves council seat empty": reports the Council voted to leave Gilbert Garcia's now-vacant council seat unfilled until the November election rather than appoint one of three interviewed candidates -- Jaime Casillas (a Fresno police officer and former Fire Protection District volunteer), Alex Garcia (a local business owner), and Isaiah Lopez (a community volunteer and youth mentor) -- with the Council operating with four members in the meantime; independently confirms the Nov. 3 filing period ran July 13 through Aug. 7 (extendable to Aug. 12)
midvalleytimes.com (opens in a new tab)Mid Valley Times, byline Serena Bettis -- "Orange Cove reverses course, fills vacant seat": reports the Council voted 3-1 (Cassy Ortiz dissenting) on July 22, 2026 to appoint Jaime Casillas to Gilbert Garcia's former council seat, choosing from the same three residents interviewed in June (Casillas, Alex Garcia, Isaiah Lopez); states directly that two at-large council seats are up in November 2026 -- Casillas's newly filled seat and Esperanza Rodriguez's seat, as she is not seeking reelection -- alongside the mayoral race
midvalleytimes.com (opens in a new tab)Mid Valley Times, byline Serena Bettis -- "Orange Cove offers opportunities for resident input": reports the Council appointed four residents to staggered terms on Orange Cove's Planning Commission on July 9, 2026, including Derek Greenwood to a 2-year term, after eight applications were submitted for the four seats and six applicants were interviewed

Last updated September 1, 2026.