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City of Palmdale · Statewide General Election

Palmdale City Council, District 3

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 holds your district's seat on Palmdale's 5-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use. A 4-year term.

Five candidates are running for the District 3 seat on Palmdale's City Council: incumbent Laura Bettencourt against four challengers — Carlos Cordero, Jeremiah Farrell, Franzelle Johnson Jr. and Anain Robles. Palmdale elects its council by district directly each November; there is no primary for these seats.

Council seats carry 4-year terms. The winner joins four other district representatives as one of five votes on city ordinances, the budget, and land use, with day-to-day operations run by an appointed city manager rather than any single elected official.

With an incumbent on the ballot, the practical choice is whether Bettencourt's 17-year record on the council outweighs what a challenger specifically offers. That varies a lot by challenger here: Johnson has published a detailed platform, Robles names a few themes, and two of the four challengers have no public record at all to weigh.

Laura Bettencourt

The incumbent, first elected in 2009 and reelected several times since (most recently in 2018); the council designated her Mayor Pro Tem on January 1, 2025. A 22-year crime and intelligence analyst with the LA County Sheriff's Department, she has also taught criminal justice as an adjunct instructor at Antelope Valley College for two decades (per the city's official bio). She sits on the city's Audit Committee, Airport Authority and Housing Authority, among other boards.

Strengths

17 years on the council, the Mayor Pro Tem post since January 2025, and two decades teaching criminal justice at Antelope Valley College.

Trade-offs

A long incumbency is a lot of record for a voter to weigh against what any single challenger specifically offers this cycle.

Keep in mind

Her career — a sheriff's-department analyst and law-enforcement instructor — gives her background a public-safety lean; ask her directly about other issue areas.

Franzelle Johnson Jr.

A local small-business owner and 12-year Palmdale resident, challenging the incumbent. He proposes a hiring requirement for subsidized developers, rent stabilization for older housing, and redirecting a portion of sheriff's-overtime spending into youth and mental-health programs (per his campaign site). His is the most detailed published platform of any District 3 candidate, incumbent included.

Strengths

A specific, multi-part platform — developer hiring rules, rent stabilization, and a youth fund — the most detailed platform in this race.

Trade-offs

No elected or appointed government experience; his platform is untested against the budget and land-use work the seat actually does.

Keep in mind

His rent-stabilization and youth-fund proposals would need votes from colleagues he doesn't have yet; ask what he'd trade to pass them.

Anain Robles

A small-business owner and founder of Almas Mexicanas, a local community organization, also challenging the incumbent. Her campaign names supporting local businesses, investing in youth, and community events as her focus (per her campaign's Facebook page); she has not published a detailed policy platform. No independent news coverage of her campaign has surfaced as of this writing.

Strengths

Founded a local community organization (Almas Mexicanas) and runs a small business — direct community involvement in the district.

Trade-offs

No elected or appointed government experience, and no platform beyond a few stated themes on her campaign's Facebook page.

Keep in mind

No independent news coverage has surfaced to corroborate or add detail to her own campaign material.

Carlos Cordero

One of five candidates on the District 3 ballot, challenging the incumbent. No campaign platform or biography has surfaced in the city's records or in local press coverage as of Aug. 31, 2026. He filed his nomination papers Aug. 6, 2026, one day before the deadline, according to the Antelope Valley Press.

Strengths

None documented from official sources or local coverage as of this writing.

Trade-offs

No public record exists to weigh him against the incumbent or the other challengers.

Keep in mind

He filed his nomination papers Aug. 6, 2026 — one day before the deadline — per the Antelope Valley Press; no other detail about his candidacy has surfaced.

Jeremiah Farrell

One of five candidates on the District 3 ballot, challenging the incumbent. No campaign platform or biography has surfaced in the city's records or in local press coverage as of Aug. 31, 2026. He filed his nomination papers Aug. 3, 2026, the earliest of the four District 3 challengers, according to the Antelope Valley Press.

Strengths

None documented from official sources or local coverage as of this writing.

Trade-offs

No public record exists to weigh him against the incumbent or the other challengers.

Keep in mind

He filed his nomination papers Aug. 3, 2026 — the earliest of the four District 3 challengers — per the Antelope Valley Press; no other detail has surfaced.

Source review: Strong (82/100) · 7 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context; advocacy or endorsement sources are treated as attributed perspective.

Review note: Anain Robles for Palmdale City Council and Franzelle Johnson Jr. for Palmdale City Council District 3 may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

Last updated August 31, 2026.