# Palm Desert City Council, District 5

Compare records and positions simply between Ralph Perry or John Greenwood for Palm Desert City Council, District 5 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold your district's seat on Palm Desert's five-member City Council. They vote on city laws, the budget, and land use. Palm Desert is a Coachella Valley city. The term is four years. Palm Desert has no separately elected Mayor. The council picks one of its own members as Mayor each year. This cycle, District 4 candidate Evan Trubee is the sitting Mayor. An appointed city manager runs day-to-day operations. This is the final round of the city's move to single-member districts. Districts 1, 2, and 3 elected their members in November 2024. This November's Districts 4 and 5 races complete the change.

- Jurisdiction: City of Palm Desert
- 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/palm-desert-council-5
- 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: August 31, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 90 out of 100 (Very strong), across 7 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Ralph Perry**
- **John Greenwood**

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

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. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Coachella Valley city. The term is four years. 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 they expect 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 Greenwood's 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 their 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 their 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; their 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 them 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 them 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 -- their own sworn FPPC Form 470 states they expect 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 they currently serve on -- a small but real inconsistency in the public record, not this dataset's error.

## Sources

1. [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")](https://voteinfo.net/sites/g/files/aldnop371/files/2026-02/Annual%20Election%20Calendar%202026.pdf)
2. [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.](https://web.archive.org/web/20260813090745/https://www.palmdesert.gov/government/elections)
3. [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.](https://web.archive.org/web/20260813090633/https://www.palmdesert.gov/government/city-council)
4. [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)](https://www.desertsun.com/story/news/politics/elections/2026/08/13/election-2026-whos-running-for-mayor-city-council-palm-springs-area/91221615007/)
5. [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.](https://web.archive.org/web/20260813090753/https://www.palmdesert.gov/government/committee)
6. [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.](https://ssl.netfile.com/pub2/RequestPDF.aspx?id=R0RuTFhUc3hVR1QycVlYLzhLZEo4Zz09&aid=PALM)
7. [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."](https://ssl.netfile.com/pub2/RequestPDF.aspx?id=ak1KdWVWd1lzVmUzaWcvMnNkU0JNdz09&aid=PALM)

## The rest of the ballot

Palm Desert City Council, District 5 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, "Palm Desert City Council, District 5 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/palm-desert-council-5 (sources last retrieved August 31, 2026).

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