# Taft City Council Compare records and positions simply between Ron Waldrop, Bob Leikam, Dennis Schertz, Josh Bryant, or Jeremy Gregory for Taft City Council at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person would hold one of three seats up this cycle on Taft's five-member City Council, elected at-large in this Kern County city of roughly 8,500 residents. They vote on city ordinances, the budget, and land use. The term is four years. The other two seats -- Mayor Dave Noerr and Councilmember Orchel Krier -- aren't up until 2028. - Jurisdiction: City of Taft - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Seats: 3 - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/taft-council - 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: September 1, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 87 out of 100 (Strong), across 5 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Ron Waldrop** — Incumbent - **Bob Leikam** - **Dennis Schertz** - **Josh Bryant** — Incumbent - **Jeremy Gregory** A nonpartisan office: candidates do not run as Democrats or Republicans, and no party appears on the ballot. Five candidates are running for three at-large seats on Taft's City Council. Incumbents Josh Bryant and Ron Waldrop face challengers Bob Leikam, Jeremy Gregory, and Dennis Schertz. Vote for up to three. There is no primary. Council seats carry 4-year terms. Winners join two seats not up this cycle -- Mayor Dave Noerr and Councilmember Orchel Krier, whose terms run through 2028 -- to make Taft's five-member City Council: city ordinances, the budget, and land use, in this Kern County city of roughly 8,500 residents. A third incumbent, Carlos Chavira, held one of the three seats up this cycle but chose not to seek a second term, leaving it open to challengers. With two incumbents and three challengers competing for three at-large seats, the practical choice is less which incumbent to keep -- neither faces a direct threat to their own seat, since Chavira's open seat guarantees at least one new member either way -- and more which of the three challengers, all current or former city Planning Commission or school/community-college board members, should fill it. This dataset found no candidate statements, campaign platforms, or comparative news coverage beyond the Taft Midway Driller's biographical reporting: no campaign websites or social-media pages were found for any of the five, and Kern County's own candidate-statement documents (which would carry each candidate's own stated platform) were unreachable behind kernvote.com's bot-blocking WAF. ## Josh Bryant The incumbent mayor pro tem, seeking a fourth term. He was first elected in 2014. He is a business owner. He also serves as chief business officer at Taft Union High School, per the Taft Midway Driller. **Strengths:** A dozen years on the council, first elected in 2014 and currently mayor pro tem. His day job in school-district finance could bring budget experience to the table. **Trade-offs:** No independent reporting evaluating his record in office was found beyond his stated intent to run again. The Driller's coverage is biographical, not evaluative. **Keep in mind:** He confirmed his candidacy early, in the Jul. 27 filing-period article. He was never among the incumbents in doubt about running, unlike Waldrop and Chavira. ## Ron Waldrop An incumbent seeking a fourth term. He is a business owner who has served on the council across three separate stints. Those ran from 1998 to 2002 and from 2010 to 2014, per the Taft Midway Driller. He returned after being elected to a third term in 2022. **Strengths:** The longest, most intermittent council tenure in this field, spanning three stints back to 1998. That is either sustained community trust or a pattern of stepping away and back. **Trade-offs:** He was still only "considering" reelection as late as Aug. 3, a week before the deadline. That is later than either other incumbent. No reporting on why was found. **Keep in mind:** His service was non-consecutive, running 1998 to 2002, then 2010 to 2014, then 2022 to now, with gaps between. That is distinct from Bryant's continuous tenure since 2014. Both now seek a fourth term. ## Bob Leikam A challenger and retired business owner who previously served on the Taft Planning Commission, per the Taft Midway Driller. No further independent biographical detail or platform for Leikam was found. **Strengths:** Prior appointed service on the Planning Commission gives them some city-government experience. When they served, and for how long, could not be confirmed. **Trade-offs:** Leikam is a retired business owner with no current city role. They lack the currently-serving board experience the other two challengers have. Schertz has it now, and Gregory did until recently. **Keep in mind:** No campaign statement, website, or news coverage was found beyond their name and background in the Driller's race-preview reporting. They have never held elected office. ## Jeremy Gregory A challenger and retired law enforcement officer. They have served on the Taft Union High School District board. More recently they served on the West Kern Community College District board, per the Taft Midway Driller. They resigned their West Kern Community College District board seat in mid-2026. The city's Aug. 3 election-update coverage names an appointee expected to fill that vacancy. **Strengths:** Service on two different local boards gives them more governance experience than the other challengers. Those are the Taft Union High School District, then West Kern Community College. **Trade-offs:** They resigned their community-college board seat mid-term in 2026. No reporting stating their reason was found. So whether it was tied to this council run or unrelated cannot be confirmed. **Keep in mind:** A retired law-enforcement background is distinct from the other four candidates' business or planning-commission backgrounds. It could shape how they weigh public-safety issues on the council. No independent reporting evaluates that record here. ## Dennis Schertz A challenger, business owner, and currently a member of the Taft Planning Commission, per the Taft Midway Driller. No further independent biographical detail or platform for Schertz was found. **Strengths:** Currently serving on the Planning Commission, unlike Leikam, a past member. That is the most recent appointed-government experience of the three challengers. **Trade-offs:** No campaign statement, website, or news coverage was found beyond their name and background in the Driller's race-preview reporting. They have never held elected office. **Keep in mind:** No reporting was found on how long they have served on the Planning Commission. None was found on what they have done in that role. ## Sources 1. [Taft Midway Driller -- "Filing period open for Taft City Council election" (Jul. 27, 2026): three Councilmen -- Josh Bryant, Carlos Chavira, and Ron Waldrop -- have 4-year terms expiring this year; Bryant (mayor pro tem, first elected 2014, in his third term) confirms he is running again, Chavira (first elected 2022, one term) did not respond, and Waldrop (on the council 1998-2002 and 2010-2014, in his third term) says he is "considering" reelection. Confirms Mayor Dave Noerr and Councilman Orchel Krier's terms don't end until 2028](https://www.taftmidwaydriller.com/news/filing-period-open-for-taft-city-council-election/article_bf365782-8453-4d6d-b6fd-e8e028c0b796.html) 2. [Taft Midway Driller -- "Local election update: Some incumbents may run unopposed" (Aug. 3, 2026): a week before the filing deadline, Bryant confirms he's running again, Chavira confirms he will not seek a second term, and Waldrop remains "considering" reelection](https://www.taftmidwaydriller.com/news/local-election-update-some-incumbents-may-run-unopposed/article_c03cc8fa-754b-4029-bdb3-fa0f87b509cf.html) 3. [Taft Midway Driller -- "Crowded city council races in Taft, Maricopa" (Aug. 10, 2026), about 48 hours before the filing deadline: two incumbents (Bryant, Waldrop) and three challengers -- Dennis Schertz (Taft Planning Commission member), Bob Leikam (a past Planning Commission member), and Jeremy Gregory (served on the Taft Union High School District board and, more recently, the West Kern Community College District board) -- are in the running for three seats; states "the top 3 vote getters on Nov. 3 will be elected" and that Chavira decided not to seek a second term](https://www.taftmidwaydriller.com/news/crowded-city-council-races-in-taft-maricopa/article_52976f06-3efd-4538-be81-22b1cb6a1cb0.html) 4. [Taft Midway Driller -- "Five candidates running for three council seats" (Aug. 17, 2026), sourced to "the final candidates lineup ... released by the City of Taft last week after the deadline to file passed at 5 p.m. Wednesday": confirms the final field -- incumbents Josh Bryant (business owner, chief business officer at Taft Union High School, seeking a fourth term) and Ron Waldrop (business owner, seeking a fourth term) against challengers Bob Leikam (retired business owner, past Taft Planning Commission member), Jeremy Gregory (retired law enforcement officer, served on the West Kern Community College District and Taft Union High School District boards), and Dennis Schertz (business owner, currently a Taft Planning Commission member); "the election will be held on Nov. 3"](https://www.taftmidwaydriller.com/news/five-candidates-running-for-three-council-seats/article_947e007f-770e-4041-b9c2-9c922d63fbf9.html) 5. [A negative-result campaign-finance search: California's Cal-Access campaign-finance search (cal-access.sos.ca.gov) returned only an empty, unrenderable page for a direct query this session, the same recurring bot-detection failure mode already documented elsewhere in this dataset. Cal-Access covers only state-level committees in any case, not local city-council candidates](https://cal-access.sos.ca.gov/Campaign/Candidates/list.aspx) ## The rest of the ballot Taft City Council 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, "Taft City Council — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/taft-council (sources last retrieved September 1, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.