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City of Palm Desert · Statewide General Election

Palm Desert City Council, District 5

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.

This is an open seat: John Greenwood and Ralph Perry are competing for Palm Desert's District 5 City Council seat on the November 3, 2026 ballot, the last seat to change hands as the city completes its shift to single-member districts. Incumbent Councilmember Jan Harnik, whose 16 years on the council trace to an at-large seat, is not seeking reelection -- she doesn't live in either district up this cycle, per The Desert Sun. 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; 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.

Neither District 5 candidate currently holds elected office, though both serve on city resident committees: Greenwood on the Planning Commission, Perry on the Library Advisory Committee. (The Desert Sun additionally describes Perry as serving on the Parks and Recreation Committee and as a library-committee alternate; the city's own committee roster does not fully bear that out -- see the sourcing note below.) The two campaigns are financed very differently: Greenwood's is conventionally well-funded, while Perry's own sworn state filing declares he expects to raise and spend less than $2,000 for all of 2026.

John Greenwood

John Greenwood is a local architect -- a principal at Prest Vuksic Greenwood Architects, per multiple of his own campaign donors' listed employers -- and currently serves on the city's Planning Commission (Seat 1, term through June 2027), per the city's own committee roster.

Strengths

Direct land-use experience from his Planning Commission service; a well-funded campaign -- over $29,000 raised, plus a hired consultant and polling -- with support from a sitting councilmember.

Trade-offs

No independent (non-city, non-campaign) reporting on his Planning Commission record or professional work was found in this research pass.

Keep in mind

A sitting committee member seeking a council seat is common in small cities; his Planning Commission votes on land use are worth weighing directly, not just through this campaign's own messaging, which this dataset could not independently research further.

Ralph Perry

Ralph Perry currently serves on the city's Library Advisory Committee (Seat 5, term through June 2028), per the city's own committee roster. The Desert Sun additionally describes him as serving on the city's Parks and Recreation Committee and as a library-committee alternate, but the city's own Aug. 2026 roster lists him only under the Library Advisory Committee as a full member, not among the Parks and Recreation Committee's seven current members -- a discrepancy this dataset flags rather than resolves.

Strengths

Existing city committee service, giving some familiarity with how city government works.

Trade-offs

A minimal campaign -- his own sworn FPPC Form 470 states he expects to raise and spend less than $2,000 in 2026, so little paid outreach should be expected; no independent biography was found.

Keep in mind

The Desert Sun's and the city's own records disagree on exactly which committees he currently serves on -- a small but real inconsistency in the public record, not this dataset's error.

Source review: Very strong (90/100) · 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)
  • web.archive.org (opens in a new tab)City of Palm Desert -- "Committee" page, current resident-committee rosters (captured via the Wayback Machine, 2026-08-13): lists John Greenwood as Planning Commission Seat 1 (term through June 30, 2027) and Ralph Perry as Library Advisory Committee Seat 5 (term through June 30, 2028, listed as a full member, not an alternate) -- but does not list Perry among the Parks and Recreation Committee's seven current seated members, which does not fully corroborate the Desert Sun's description of him as serving on that committee and as a library-committee alternate.
  • ssl.netfile.com (opens in a new tab)John Greenwood's own filed FPPC Form 460 (Recipient Committee Campaign Statement, semi-annual, covering 01/01/2026-06/30/2026, e-filed 07/29/2026, Filing ID 217093753) via the City of Palm Desert's own NetFile public campaign-finance portal: reports $26,094 in itemized monetary contributions plus a $3,000 in-kind BBQ-catered fundraising event at Desert Willow Golf Resort, $29,094 total contributions, $13,061.04 in expenditures (including a hired campaign consultant, Pacific Campaign Solutions, and a small polling payment to Remington Research), and a $22,925.66 ending cash balance; itemized donors include a $150 contribution from sitting Councilmember Gina Nestande and several donors whose listed employer is "Prest Vuksic Greenwood Architects," corroborating Greenwood's own architecture practice.
  • ssl.netfile.com (opens in a new tab)Ralph E. Perry's own sworn FPPC Form 470 (Officeholder and Candidate Campaign Statement -- Short Form, amendment, e-filed 07/24/2026) via the City of Palm Desert's own NetFile public campaign-finance portal: declares under penalty of perjury "that I anticipate that I will receive less than $2,000 and that I will spend less than $2,000 during the calendar year" 2026 for City Council, City of Palm Desert, District 5 -- filed as an amendment closing an earlier committee registration, "Committee to Elect Ralph Perry."

Last updated August 31, 2026.