This story will be updated with results after polls close at 8 p.m. on June 2.
Republican Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez is facing three Democratic challengers in the primary race to represent a mostly rural district in the California State Assembly that flipped to the GOP in the 2024 election.
Assembly District 36 includes Indio, Coachella and unincorporated east Coachella Valley communities extending to the Salton Sea, along with all of Imperial County and a swath of the rural easternmost portions of Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Gonzalez is seeking a second two-year term in the Assembly, after he was first elected to the seat in 2024 against Coachella Valley Unified School District board member Joey Acuña Jr. The victory marked a win for local GOP officials, as the district had been represented by Democrats since 2008.
The predominantly Latino district still has a larger share of registered Democrats (40.8% of the electorate) than Republicans (28.9%), with third-party and independent voters comprising the rest of registered voters (about 30.3%), according to voter registration statistics from April.
Gonzalez, a business owner and former Marine who lives in Indio, emphasized his bipartisan approach to lawmaking, telling The Desert Sun he “will continue working with anyone, Republican or Democrat, if it benefits our district and delivers real results for the people we represent.”
Gonzalez is being challenged by local elected officials from both the Coachella and Imperial valleys: Imperial Mayor Ida Obeso-Martinez, former El Centro City Councilmember Tomás Oliva and Indio Councilmember Oscar Ortiz.
Obeso-Martinez, who’s also a cardiovascular nurse practitioner, has gained endorsements from U.S. Rep. Raul Ruiz, whose congressional district partly overlaps with the Assembly district, as well roughly 15 state lawmakers, including Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas.
“As Mayor of the City of Imperial and a Doctor of Nursing Practice, I have worked directly with families facing rising healthcare costs, housing insecurity, and economic hardship, and I know our communities need a strong advocate at the State Capitol,” Obeso-Martinez said.
Oliva teaches at Imperial Valley College, and he served on the El Centro City Council from 2018 to 2025. Oliva also ran for the 36th Assembly District in 2024, but did not advance past the primary.
“As our next Assemblymember, I will fight in Sacramento to bring home the resources our region deserves and deliver real improvements in housing, healthcare, affordability, and (everyday) public services so families finally receive the support and opportunities they have long been denied,” Oliva said.
Ortiz, who’s been on the Indio City Council since he was first elected to his seat at the age of 28 in 2018, ran for the U.S. House seat held by Ruiz last year, coming in fourth in the primary election. Ortiz told The Desert Sun he’s running for the Assembly seat to focus on issues effecting working-class people across the district.
“In District 36, our families are struggling with the need for improvements in education, access to affordable healthcare, and the need for better paying jobs to endure these tough economic times,” Ortiz said.
“I have spent the past 8 years working to bring better opportunities for working families in the City of Indio, where we have transformed the city to better serve our local families and small businesses,” he added.
None of the three Democratic candidates vying for the seat received the threshold of support necessary to win the endorsement of the California Democratic Party earlier this year. Ortiz finished with 45.2% of the caucus vote, followed by Obeso-Martinez with 38.7% and Oliva with 12.9%.
Tom Coulter covers local government and politics for The Desert Sun. Reach him at tcoulter@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Election results for California’s 36th Assembly District
Reporting by Tom Coulter, Palm Springs Desert Sun / Palm Springs Desert Sun
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