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City of Oxnard · Statewide General Election

Oxnard City Council, District 1

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 would hold one of six district seats on Oxnard's City Council, alongside a separately, directly elected Mayor: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for Ventura County's largest city, population about 202,000. A 4-year term, staggered so roughly half the six districts are up every two years -- Districts 1, 2, and 5 are up this cycle; Districts 3, 4, and 6 (last elected in 2024) are not. Oxnard's Mayor (Luis McArthur, elected November 2024) and its separately elected City Clerk and City Treasurer are also directly elected citywide, but none of the three is on this cycle's ballot -- neither the county's on-ballot nor its off-ballot Nov. 2026 candidate documents list a contest for any of them. Oxnard operates under a council-manager form of government; day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager.

Incumbent Bert Perello faces two challengers for this District 1 seat: John Barrick, a senior deputy district attorney who unsuccessfully ran for Ventura County District Attorney in 2022, and Eduardo Huerta, a former political consultant who unsuccessfully ran in Oxnard's 2021 District 2 special election.

This person would hold one of six district seats on Oxnard's City Council, alongside a separately, directly elected Mayor: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for Ventura County's largest city, about 202,000 residents. A 4-year term, staggered so roughly half the six districts are up every two years -- Districts 1, 2, and 5 are up this cycle; Districts 3, 4, and 6 (last elected in 2024) are not. Oxnard's Mayor (Luis McArthur, elected November 2024), City Clerk, and City Treasurer are also directly elected citywide, but none of the three is on this cycle's ballot -- neither the county's on-ballot nor its off-ballot Nov. 2026 candidate documents list a contest for any of them. Oxnard operates under a council-manager form of government; day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager.

Perello has represented District 1 since December 2018, one of Oxnard's first two district-elected councilmembers when the body expanded from five to seven seats. District 1 covers North Oxnard; a small piece of its boundary (the South Bank neighborhood) was redrawn in the city's 2022 redistricting.

John Barrick

A senior deputy district attorney who grew up in Oxnard in a tight-money household where college was never discussed. He put himself through Cal State Northridge, earning a degree in TV and film production, then spent nearly a decade writing closed captions before starting law school at 31 and joining the Ventura County District Attorney's office. In 2022 he challenged incumbent DA Erik Nasarenko -- the first contested DA election after Nasarenko's 2021 appointment -- and lost the June primary outright, 58% to 42%.

Strengths

Nearly two decades of prosecutorial and public-facing legal experience -- as of his 2022 DA run, seven years specifically prosecuting homicide cases -- plus a countywide campaign already run.

Trade-offs

That campaign was a wide-margin loss in a countywide race; no coverage found this session ties him to Oxnard city government specifically beyond having grown up there.

Keep in mind

This dataset found no coverage of his 2026 City Council platform specifically -- his ballot designation (Deputy District Attorney) and 2022 DA-race coverage are the only sourced material found this session.

Bert Perello

The incumbent, on Oxnard's City Council since December 2018 as one of its first two district-elected members when the body expanded from five to seven seats. He filed for this cycle under the ballot designation 'Oxnard City Councilmember District 1.'

Strengths

Roughly eight years of incumbency and direct experience with the council's district-based structure since its creation.

Trade-offs

No independent 2026-specific reporting on his campaign platform or council votes was found this session beyond his ballot filing.

Keep in mind

Check City Council meeting minutes directly if his specific votes matter to your decision -- this dataset did not find independent evaluative coverage of his record this pass.

Eduardo Huerta

A former political consultant who, per his own 2021 candidate statement, worked in the California State Assembly Speaker's Office of Member Services under Fabian Núñez and Karen Bass, and had been politically involved since age 16. He ran unsuccessfully in Oxnard's November 2021 special election for a different seat, District 2, finishing behind winner Gabe Teran. His occupation has since changed -- his ballot designation for this race is Home Health Caregiver.

Strengths

Over a decade of political and policy-adjacent experience, including direct legislative-office work, plus a prior council campaign already run.

Trade-offs

That prior campaign was a loss, for a different district than this one (District 2 in 2021 vs. District 1 now); no 2026-specific platform coverage was found.

Keep in mind

A 2021 Star correction noted an inaccurate statement he made about a nonprofit's role in that campaign, which the nonprofit denied -- context for his public statements.

Source review: Very strong (90/100) · 11 cited sources

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

  • clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Ventura County Clerk-Recorder/Registrar of Voters -- November 3, 2026 General Election Contest/Candidate Proof List (filtered to on-ballot contests): the City of Oxnard section carries exactly three contests -- District 1 (three qualified candidates: John Barrick, incumbent Bert E. Perello, Eduardo Huerta), District 2 (three filers shown but only two qualified: Lizanne Nañez, incumbent Gabriel "Gabe" Teran), and District 5 (two qualified candidates: Noemi Corpuz, incumbent Gabriela Basua) -- with each candidate's self-filed ballot designation
  • clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Ventura County Clerk-Recorder/Registrar of Voters -- November 3, 2026 General Election Contest/Candidate Proof List, off-ballot companion document (single-filer and appointed-in-lieu contests under Elections Code Section 10229): carries no City of Oxnard entry of any kind -- corroborating, by absence, that Oxnard's Mayor, City Clerk, and City Treasurer seats are simply not up this cycle rather than quietly decided by a single filer
  • vcstar.com (opens in a new tab)Ventura County Star -- "Who's running for city council, mayor this November? Here's the lineup" (Cheri Carlson, Aug. 17, 2026): independently lists the same seven Oxnard candidates across the same three districts as the county's own document, and lists no Oxnard mayoral race among any city in the county
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- Oxnard, California: infobox government section -- council-manager government type, Mayor Luis McArthur, Mayor Pro Tempore Gabe Teran, City Council (Gabriela Basua, Bert Perello, Michaela Perez, Gabriela Rodriguez, Aaron Starr), City Treasurer Phil Molina, City Clerk Luly Lopez, and the 2020 Census population of 202,063
  • vcstar.com (opens in a new tab)Ventura County Star -- "Some Oxnard neighborhoods are in line for new City Council members. Here's the breakdown" (Brian J. Varela, March 2, 2022): confirms Oxnard has six council districts and, as of that redistricting cycle, that Gabe Teran represented District 2, Bert Perello District 1, and Gabriela Basua District 5 -- the same three seats and, for two of the three, the same incumbents on this cycle's ballot
  • cal-access.sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)A negative-result campaign-finance check (Cal-Access covers state-level contests only; no filer found for any of the seven District 1/2/5 candidates in this dataset's cached statewide snapshot)
  • public.netfile.com (opens in a new tab)A negative-result local campaign-finance check: Ventura County's own NetFile public portal (public.netfile.com/pub2/?AID=VCO), linked from the county's own campaign-finance-reports-by-city page, is a client-rendered single-page app with no static content and no reachable public API endpoint found this session; Oxnard's own city-clerk campaign-disclosure page (oxnard.gov/city-clerks-office/election-information/campaign-disclosure-statements) returned a bare Cloudflare 403 on every automated attempt, browser User-Agent included
  • vcstar.com (opens in a new tab)Ventura County Star -- "With Basua and Lopez, Oxnard City Council grows to a seven-member board" (Wendy Leung, Dec. 10, 2018): Gabriela Basua and Vianey Lopez sworn in Dec. 11, 2018 as Oxnard's first two district-elected councilmembers, expanding the body from 5 to 7 seats (Mayor plus six district seats); Basua elected to a full 4-year term representing District 5, alongside sitting councilmember Bert Perello
  • vcreporter.com (opens in a new tab)VC Reporter -- "June 7 Election Spotlight: District Attorney | Barrick to challenge Nasarenko" (Alex Wilson, May 4, 2022): John Barrick's biography -- grew up in Oxnard in a tight-money household, CSU Northridge degree in TV/film production, nearly a decade writing closed captions before starting law school at 31, applied for the 2021 DA appointment that went to Erik Nasarenko, and ran against him in the June 2022 primary as a senior deputy district attorney with seven years prosecuting homicide cases
  • vcstar.com (opens in a new tab)Ventura County Star -- "District attorney's race: Incumbent Nasarenko carries strong lead" (Jeremy Childs, June 7, 2022, election-night results): incumbent Erik Nasarenko defeats John Barrick outright in the June 2022 primary, 58%-42%; identifies Barrick, 52, as a senior deputy DA working under Nasarenko
  • vcstar.com (opens in a new tab)Ventura County Star -- "Oxnard City Council District 2 candidates lay out priorities ahead of special election" (Brian J. Varela, Oct. 23, 2021): the actual Nov. 2, 2021 special election field was three candidates -- incumbent Gabe Teran, Tai Hartley, and Eduardo Q. Huerta (a then-Assembly Speaker's-office-adjacent consultant, age 40) -- with no Lizanne Nañez on the ballot despite her stated intent in Feb. 2021; Q&A responses give Teran's master's degree and 18 years of youth/health-services work and Huerta's political-consulting background

Last updated September 1, 2026.