Skip to main content

City of Palm Desert · Statewide General Election

Palm Desert City Council, District 4

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 your district's seat on Palm Desert's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Coachella Valley city. A 4-year term. Palm Desert has no separately elected Mayor -- the council selects one of its own members Mayor each year (this cycle, District 4 candidate Evan Trubee is the sitting Mayor); day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager. This is the final round of the city's phase-in from an all at-large council to five single-member districts: Districts 1, 2, and 3 elected their representatives in November 2024, and this November's Districts 4 and 5 races complete the transition.

Incumbent Evan Trubee, the city's current Mayor, is seeking a second full term against challenger Jonathon Polly for Palm Desert's District 4 City Council seat on the November 3, 2026 ballot. Whoever gets the most votes wins outright -- there is no primary or runoff.

This person would hold your district's seat on Palm Desert's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Coachella Valley city. A 4-year term. Palm Desert has no separately elected Mayor -- the council selects one of its own members Mayor each year (this cycle, Trubee is the sitting Mayor); day-to-day operations run through an appointed city manager. This is the final round of the city's phase-in from an all at-large council to five single-member districts: Districts 1, 2, and 3 elected their representatives in November 2024, and this November's Districts 4 and 5 races complete the transition.

Trubee first won this seat in 2022, before the district system existed (his current term is listed by the city as "At-Large"); he lives in District 4 and is running there to complete the transition. His challenger, Jonathon Polly, has not previously held office. Trubee's campaign is conventionally well-funded for a Palm Desert council race; Polly's is not -- his own state filing reported no money raised through the midyear filing deadline.

Jonathon Polly

Jonathon Polly is a challenger for Palm Desert's District 4 seat. He is a geoscientist who currently works as a technical manager and a sustainability auditor, per The Desert Sun's own reporting. His own state campaign filing reported $0 in monetary contributions and $0 cash on hand through June 30, 2026; a later filing in August adds two small in-kind photography contributions.

Strengths

A professional background in geoscience and sustainability auditing -- directly relevant technical expertise for a city that runs its own environmental and desert-landscaping programs.

Trade-offs

A minimal campaign -- his own Form 460 reported no money raised and no cash on hand through June 30, plus two small in-kind photography contributions in August; no independent biography was found.

Keep in mind

Running against a sitting Mayor with a much larger campaign war chest is a real structural disadvantage this dataset can document but not resolve for you.

Evan Trubee

Evan Trubee is the incumbent and the council's current Mayor (selected annually by his council colleagues), seeking a second full term after first winning this seat in 2022. He owns Big Wheel Tours, a 12-employee bike, hiking, and travel-tour business, and previously served on the city's Resource Preservation and Enhancement Committee and Public Safety Commission.

Strengths

A full term already served, plus the current Mayor title chosen by his colleagues; a well-funded campaign -- over $27,000 raised and over $10,000 in loans -- with broad local support.

Trade-offs

No independent (non-city, non-campaign) reporting on his time in office beyond his own campaign materials and the city's own published biography was found in this research pass.

Keep in mind

His campaign has also drawn contributions from real-estate and development-linked donors (Pulte Group, Johnson Commercial Real Estate) active in the Coachella Valley, alongside many small local donors -- noted here as context, not as a claim of impropriety.

Source review: Strong (89/100) · 7 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

  • voteinfo.net (opens in a new tab)Riverside County Registrar of Voters — 2026 Annual Election Calendar (lists every November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election office by city, including "City of Cathedral City: City Council District 3 / District 4 / District 5 / City Treasurer")
  • web.archive.org (opens in a new tab)City of Palm Desert -- City Clerk's Office "November 3, 2026 General Municipal Election" page (captured via the Wayback Machine, 2026-08-13, after the palmdesert.gov live site returned HTTP 403 on every direct fetch attempt): states directly "Offices on the Ballot: City Council Districts 4 and 5" and "This election completes the City's transition to five single-member council districts"; its own live Candidate Roster table names all four qualified, "Nomination Verified" candidates by district -- District 4: Jonathon Polly, Evan Trubee; District 5: John Greenwood, Ralph Perry.
  • web.archive.org (opens in a new tab)City of Palm Desert -- "City Council" page (captured via the Wayback Machine, 2026-08-13): states the Council "consist[s] of five members elected to four-year terms. Each year, the Mayor is selected from among the Council to serve a one-year term" and names Evan Trubee as the sitting Mayor; confirms Ordinance No. 1406 (adopted 2024-01-25) established five single-member districts, phased in over two cycles, and lists each current councilmember's term and district -- Karina Moreno (District 1, term 2024-2028), Joe Pradetto (District 2, term 2024-2028), Gina Nestande (District 3, term 2024-2028), Evan Trubee (At-Large, term 2022-2026), and Jan Harnik (At Large, term 2022-2026) -- the last two being the seats this cycle's District 4 and 5 races complete the transition for.
  • desertsun.com (opens in a new tab)The Desert Sun — "See who's running for mayor and city council in Coachella Valley" (Tom Coulter and Sam Morgen, Aug. 13, 2026; names every qualified candidate in each Cathedral City council/treasurer race with a one-line occupation/background note)
  • ssl.netfile.com (opens in a new tab)Evan Trubee's own filed FPPC Form 460 (Recipient Committee Campaign Statement, semi-annual, covering 01/01/2026-06/30/2026, e-filed 07/31/2026, Filing ID 217121531) via the City of Palm Desert's own NetFile public campaign-finance portal: reports $17,598 in itemized monetary contributions plus $10,000 in loans ($5,000 each from Trubee himself and his business, Big Wheel Tours, Inc.), $27,598 total contributions, $6,535.21 in expenditures, and a $54,215.43 ending cash balance; itemized donors include the Riverside Sheriffs' Association Public Education Fund, Edison International's Civic Action Committee, and a $150 contribution from D5 candidate John Greenwood.
  • ssl.netfile.com (opens in a new tab)Jonathon Polly's own filed FPPC Form 460 (Recipient Committee Campaign Statement, semi-annual, covering 01/01/2026-06/30/2026, e-filed 08/05/2026, Filing ID 217164420) via the City of Palm Desert's own NetFile public campaign-finance portal: reports $0 in monetary contributions, $0 cash on hand, and only $85.80 in an accrued unpaid bill for the period -- a minimal campaign footprint through the June 30, 2026 filing deadline.
  • ssl.netfile.com (opens in a new tab)Jonathon Polly's own filed FPPC Form 497 (24-Hour/Late Contribution Report, e-filed 08/24/2026, Filing ID 217277938) via the City of Palm Desert's own NetFile public campaign-finance portal: reports two $500 in-kind photography contributions from Michael Smith Photography (Hemet), dated 08/12/2026 and 08/20/2026.

Last updated August 31, 2026.