# Oxnard City Council, District 1

Compare records and positions simply between Eduardo Huerta, Bert Perello, or John Barrick for Oxnard City Council, District 1 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of six district seats on Oxnard's City Council. Oxnard also has a separately, directly elected Mayor. Council members vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. Oxnard is Ventura County's largest city, with about 202,000 people. Council terms are four years and staggered. Districts 1, 2, and 5 are up this cycle. Districts 3, 4, and 6 were last elected in 2024 and aren't up now. Mayor Luis McArthur was elected in November 2024. The City Clerk and City Treasurer are also directly elected, but not this cycle. Oxnard runs under a council-manager government with an appointed city manager.

- Jurisdiction: City of Oxnard
- Election: November 3, 2026 California general election
- Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements.
- Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/oxnard-council-1
- 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: October 7, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 89 out of 100 (Strong), across 12 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Eduardo Huerta** — Home Health Caregiver
- **Bert Perello** — Oxnard City Councilmember District 1 · Incumbent
- **John Barrick** — Deputy District Attorney

A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot.

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

This person would hold one of six district seats on Oxnard's City Council, alongside a separately, directly elected Mayor. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use for Ventura County's largest city, about 202,000 residents. Terms are four years, 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. Money was tight at home and college was never discussed. He put himself through Cal State Northridge and earned a degree in TV and film production. He then spent nearly a decade writing closed captions. He started law school at 31 and joined the Ventura County District Attorney's office. In 2022 he challenged incumbent DA Erik Nasarenko. It was the first contested DA election after Nasarenko's 2021 appointment. Barrick lost the June primary outright, 58% to 42%. In his Vote411 questionnaire he describes attending Oxnard schools, graduating from the old Oxnard High School in 1987, and working as a prosecutor since 2005, with nearly 12 of those years on homicide cases. He says he belongs to the Ventura County Taxpayers' Association and became a candidate after raising questions at a council meeting about a city street-sweeping contract and the reasons the city gave for signing it.

His three stated priorities are public safety; more careful management of city finances; and "real transparency." That priorities answer is a single line. His fuller answer on the street-sweeping contract says the city's stated reason for signing it was untrue, and it ends mid-sentence.

**Strengths:** Prosecutor since 2005, with nearly 12 years on homicide cases by his own account, and a record of questioning a city contract in public comment.

**Trade-offs:** His platform is a one-line list of public safety, finances and transparency, and his sourced record is in county law rather than city government.

**Keep in mind:** His account of the street-sweeping contract, including that the city's stated reason was untrue, is his own and was not independently verified. His third answer ends mid-sentence.

## Bert Perello

The incumbent has been on Oxnard's City Council since December 2018. They were one of its first two district-elected members. That is when the body grew from five to seven seats. They filed for this cycle under the ballot designation 'Oxnard City Councilmember District 1.' In Perello's Vote411 questionnaire they describe moving to Oxnard at age nine, helping lead a Southbank neighborhood effort in 1998, and chairing both the South Bank Neighborhood Council and the citywide Inter-Neighborhood Council Forum. Leading the Flood Zone Justice Association as president, they say, they led an push that led FEMA to pull back a flawed flood map. They say they chair the Council's Public Works Committee and serve on the Channel Islands Harbor Task Force.

Their three stated priorities are public safety, where they want to build on police and fire investments such as a rebuilt Neighborhood Policing Team, drones for emergency response, a Park Ranger program and a fire academy; the city's financial stability, which they say is shown by balanced budgets, rebuilt reserves and S&P credit rating upgrades; and infrastructure, including streets, storm drains, flood protection and the Harbor. They also say homelessness and several categories of crime fell in recent years, and that they helped negotiate a 50/50 cost share for the Mandalay Bay seawall.

**Strengths:** Incumbent since 2018 and Public Works Committee chair by their own account, with the most detailed priorities answer of the three, covering police, fire, finances and infrastructure.

**Trade-offs:** As the incumbent Perello shares responsibility for the Council record they cite, a cost if you want a different direction on city finances or infrastructure.

**Keep in mind:** Their results, such as balanced budgets, credit upgrades and lower crime and homelessness counts, are their own account in a candidate questionnaire, not independently verified. Check Council minutes if their specific votes matter.

## Eduardo Huerta

A former political consultant. Per his own 2021 candidate statement, he worked in the California State Assembly Speaker's Office of Member Services. He served there under Fabian Núñez and Karen Bass. The same statement says he had been politically involved since age 16. He ran in Oxnard's November 2021 special election for a different seat, District 2. He lost, finishing behind winner Gabe Teran. His occupation has since changed. His ballot designation for this race is Home Health Caregiver. In his Vote411 questionnaire he describes work as a consultant to an Assembly member, and says his values were shaped in a union household where his mother, a school-district janitor, advocated for labor and disability protections.

His priorities answer lists four rather than three: community advocacy and listening to residents; accountability and transparency in decisions; bringing available resources to Oxnard; and public health and safety. He also proposes a housing program, drawing on his own experience with the permit process, in which the city would work with homeowners to offer accessory dwelling units as affordable housing. His third answer is an unfinished template with bracketed placeholders where priorities would go.

**Strengths:** Assembly-office experience by his own account, and a union-household background he ties to a focus on working families, housing and city resources.

**Trade-offs:** His priorities are stated in general terms and one answer is an unfinished template, so there is less specific plan to weigh than for the other two.

**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. His housing program is a proposal, not a record.

## Sources

1. [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](https://clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/08/cfmcfmr001_contcanddataproof_08-18-2026-on-ballot-alpha-order-applied.pdf)
2. [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](https://clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/cfmcfmr001_contcanddataproof_08-17-2026-off-ballot.pdf)
3. [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](https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/08/17/whos-running-for-city-council-mayor-in-ventura-county-this-november/91274941007/)
4. [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](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxnard,_California)
5. [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](https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/2022/03/02/some-oxnard-neighborhoods-line-new-city-council-members-district-map/6976214001/)
6. [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)](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Candidates/)
7. [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](https://public.netfile.com/pub2/?AID=VCO)
8. [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](https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/2018/12/10/gabriela-basua-vianey-lopez-oxnard-city-council-seven-member-board/2209563002/)
9. [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](https://www.vcreporter.com/news/june-7-election-spotlight-district-attorney-barrick-to-challenge-nasarenko/article_a0ac21a4-3d9e-5f74-868e-bf0cfe8b4d7a.html)
10. [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](https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/politics/elections/2022/06/07/ventura-county-district-attorneys-race-election-night-results/7532415001/)
11. [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](https://www.vcstar.com/story/news/2021/10/23/oxnard-city-council-district-2-candidates-lay-out-priorities/6119604001/)
12. [League of Women Voters -- Vote411 voter guide, 'City of Oxnard City Council Member, District 1' race (statewide All Races list): each candidate's self-submitted ballot designation and campaign contacts, plus answers to the League's questions -- If elected, what are your top 3 priorities?; What background, experience and/or education qualify you for this elected office?; Is there anything else you'd like voters to know? Answers on file from Eduardo Huerta, Bert Perello, John Barrick. Capture in data/nov-2026/sources/vote411/oxnard-council-1.json.](https://www.vote411.org/plan-your-vote)

## The rest of the ballot

Oxnard City Council, District 1 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, "Oxnard City Council, District 1 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/oxnard-council-1 (sources last retrieved October 7, 2026).

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