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City of Santa Paula · Statewide General Election

Santa Paula City Council, District 2

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 one of five district seats on Santa Paula's City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Ventura County city of about 30,657 residents. The Council appoints a City Manager (Dan Singer as of this cycle) to run day-to-day operations. A 4-year term. Santa Paula has no separately, directly elected Mayor -- the Council selects one of its own members each December to hold the largely ceremonial title for a one-year term and preside over meetings; Carlos Juarez currently holds it, selected by his colleagues in December 2025, with Jenny Crosswhite as Vice-Mayor. Santa Paula is transitioning from at-large to district elections: Districts 1 (Gabby Ornelas) and 5 (Leslie Cornejo) were first elected by district in November 2024 and aren't up again until 2028. Districts 2, 3, and 4 are up this cycle.

Incumbent Jenny Crosswhite, a pastor first elected in 2014 and now serving her third term, faces challenger Jenny Yarbrough, a small-business owner whose campaign has disclosed a $1,000 contribution.

This person would hold one of five district seats on Santa Paula's City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use for this Ventura County city of about 30,657 residents. The Council appoints a City Manager (Dan Singer as of this cycle) to run day-to-day operations. A 4-year term. Santa Paula has no separately, directly elected Mayor -- the Council selects one of its own members each December to hold the largely ceremonial title for a one-year term and preside over meetings. Carlos Juarez currently holds it, selected by his colleagues in December 2025; Crosswhite herself is the current Vice-Mayor.

Santa Paula is transitioning from at-large to district elections: Districts 1 and 5 were first elected by district in November 2024 and aren't up again until 2028. District 2 is one of three districts up this cycle, alongside Districts 3 and 4.

Jenny Crosswhite

The incumbent and current Vice-Mayor, first elected in 2014. She is pastor of First Christian Church of Santa Paula and an event coordinator for the Pacific Southwest Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), with 28 years of graphic-design experience.

Strengths

Over a decade of Council experience, current Vice-Mayor standing, and active regional-board service, including the Southern California Association of Governments.

Trade-offs

A long incumbency means her record is the most reviewable of the two candidates -- but no independent, non-official evaluation of her specific votes was found this session.

Keep in mind

Her filed FPPC Form 410 shows a campaign committee is organized, but she has not yet filed an itemized Form 460 -- so no contribution or expenditure total is available for her, only Yarbrough's single disclosed contribution.

Jenny Yarbrough

Her ballot designation reads "Business Owner/Mother." Her campaign has disclosed one contribution: $1,000 from an individual donor, Vicki Ponto, received Aug. 19, 2026.

Strengths

A formed campaign committee (FPPC Form 410) and at least one disclosed, itemized contribution -- more concrete financial activity on record than most challengers in this dataset.

Trade-offs

No independent biography, career detail beyond her ballot designation, or stated platform was found this session.

Keep in mind

A single $1,000 contribution is a real, sourced data point, but it's only a partial picture -- no itemized Form 460 has been filed by either candidate, so it isn't a total for her campaign, just the one contribution reported so far.

Source review: Very strong (92/100) · 10 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with several source types checked for context.

  • clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Ventura County Clerk-Recorder/Registrar of Voters -- "Contest/Candidate Proof List" (report CFMR001, dated Aug. 18, 2026, on-ballot contests only): confirms Santa Paula's three November 2026 city contests -- City Council District 2 (incumbent Jenny Crosswhite, "Councilmember"; challenger Jenny Yarbrough, "Business Owner/Mother"; a third filer shown but not qualified), District 3 (incumbent Pedro A. Chavez, "Councilmember/Executive Director," unopposed), and District 4 (Merisa M. Garcia, "Human Resources Director"; Angel Garza, "Analyst"; Nancy L. Grass, "Business Owner/Educator"; John Marquez, "Community Volunteer") -- and no District 1 or District 5 contest
  • clerkrecorder.venturacounty.gov (opens in a new tab)Ventura County Clerk-Recorder/Registrar of Voters -- Contest/Candidate Proof List, off-ballot companion document (single-filer and Elections Code Section 10229 contests): carries no District 2, 3, or 4 entry for the City of Santa Paula -- corroborating by absence that none of the three, including District 3's single-candidate race, was cancelled or moved off-ballot; its one Santa Paula-adjacent entry is a non-districted, zero-filer legacy contest code listing Pedro Chavez, Carlos Juarez, and Jenny Crosswhite as the city's current incumbents, consistent with the city's own roster but not itself a live 2026 contest
  • spcity.org (opens in a new tab)City of Santa Paula -- "Election Information" page: independently republishes the same three-district, same-candidate Nov. 2026 roster as the county's own document, states the general municipal election is Nov. 3, 2026, and describes the district-based voting structure
  • spcity.org (opens in a new tab)City of Santa Paula -- "City Council" department page: a 5-member council, historically elected at-large, transitioning to by-district elections beginning with the Nov. 2024 election; the Council selects a Mayor (Carlos Juarez, current) and Vice-Mayor (Jenny Crosswhite, current) from among its own members each December for a one-year term; names the full 5-member roster (Juarez, Crosswhite, Leslie Cornejo/District 5, Pedro Chavez, Gabby Ornelas/District 1) and links each member's bio page; states the Council appoints the City Manager and City Attorney
  • spcity.org (opens in a new tab)City of Santa Paula City Clerk -- "Fair Political Practices Reporting" page: indexes each 2026 candidate's actual filed FPPC forms as scanned PDFs by district -- Forms 501/700 for all seven candidates, Form 410 (campaign-committee formation) for Crosswhite, Yarbrough, Garza, Marquez, Garcia, and Grass but not Chavez, and a Form 497 24-hour contribution report for Yarbrough
  • vcstar.com (opens in a new tab)Ventura County Star -- "Who's running for city council, mayor this November? Here's the lineup" (Cheri Carlson, Aug. 17, 2026): independently lists the identical Santa Paula roster -- District 2 (Crosswhite, Yarbrough), District 3 (Chavez), District 4 (Garcia, Garza, Grass, Marquez) -- corroborating both the county document and the city's own site
  • en.wikipedia.org (opens in a new tab)Wikipedia -- "Santa Paula, California": used in this shard only for its 2020 Census population figure (30,657); its infobox Mayor claim (Pedro Chavez) is stale relative to the city's own current roster page (which names Carlos Juarez, selected Dec. 2025) and is not used
  • santapaulatimes.com (opens in a new tab)Santa Paula Times -- homepage headline referencing "City Manager Dan Singer's contract" discussions (as of Sept. 1, 2026): independent local-press confirmation of the current City Manager's name
  • spcity.org (opens in a new tab)Jenny Yarbrough's filed FPPC Form 497 (24-Hour Contribution Report), received by the Santa Paula City Clerk Aug. 26, 2026: a scanned original recording a single $1,000 contribution from an individual, Vicki Ponto, received Aug. 19, 2026 -- the one dollar figure found for any 2026 Santa Paula council candidate
  • spcity.org (opens in a new tab)City of Santa Paula -- Councilmember Jenny Crosswhite's official bio page: pastor of First Christian Church of Santa Paula and event coordinator for the Pacific Southwest Region of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ); 28 years of graphic-design experience; first elected in 2014, now serving her third term; current Vice-Mayor; serves on the Southern California Association of Governments (Second Vice Chair as of May 2025), Ventura County Transportation Commission, and other regional boards

Last updated September 1, 2026.