In the recent Assembly District 36 Primary Election, a close contest has unfolded. The race to replace long-time Democratic Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia has become a heated competition, with Republican Jeff Gonzalez taking an early lead. However, several Democratic candidates are still in the running, making the final outcome uncertain.
According to the early returns posted on the California Secretary of State’s website, Gonzalez was leading with 9,034 votes, which is 32.7% of more than 27,000 votes cast in the race. Assembly District 36, which Gonzalez is vying to represent, covers the eastern Coachella Valley.
Despite Gonzalez’s lead, several Democratic candidates remain in the mix for the next spot to advance to the November election. Jose “Joey” Acuña Jr. was in second place with 5,143 votes, or 18.6%, while Edgard Garcia was close behind him with 4,584 votes or 16.6%. In total, the five Democratic candidates were getting 57% of the votes to the two Republicans’ 43%.
The race became crowded after Garcia, a Democrat from Coachella who was first elected to the California Legislature in 2014, confirmed late last year that he would not seek re-election.
He cited a desire to spend more time with his children after many years of commuting to Sacramento as his reason for stepping down. His announcement came days after the deadline passed for incumbents to file for re-election.
Assembly District 36, which Garcia has represented since California’s latest round of redistricting, includes Coachella, Indio, the rest of the eastern Coachella Valley, and beyond that, eastern Riverside County all the way to the Arizona line.
The sprawling district also includes all of Imperial County and a sliver of eastern San Bernardino County. In 2022, Garcia won re-election against Republican Ian Weeks, who’s a candidate in the 25th Congressional District this year, with 53.4% of the vote.
Seven candidates in total — five Democrats and two Republicans — ran in the primary. Under California’s voting system, the top two finishers in the primary, regardless of party, will advance to the November general election.
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Among the candidates, Acuña, a Democrat who’s served as a trustee on the Coachella Valley Unified School District Board of Education since 2014, has received Garcia’s backing. Several other Riverside County elected officials, including Supervisor V. Manuel Perez and Coachella Mayor Steven Hernandez, have endorsed Acuña.
Another candidate from the valley is Democrat Waymond Fermon, who has been a member of the Indio City Council since 2018. In 2022, he served as Indio’s first Black mayor during the city’s annual leadership rotations.
Fermon also works as a correctional officer at the Calipatria State Prison in Imperial County. Initial returns Tuesday night showed Fermon with 2,363 votes, or 8.5%.
Among the two Republican candidates for the Assembly seat, Gonzalez, a business owner and former Marine who lives in Indio, has gained the most noteworthy endorsements from conservatives, including U.S. Rep. Ken Calvert, R-Corona; several Republican members of the California Legislature; and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.
Gonzalez previously challenged Garcia in 2018 to represent Assembly District 56, the area’s district prior to the latest round of redistricting. He advanced to the general election but lost by a wide margin, winning 35.2% of the vote compared to 64.8% for Garcia.
The general election is set for November 5, and with the primary results indicating a close race, it promises to be a highly contested battle for Assembly District 36.
