Editor’s Note: The 2024 Presidential Election will be Tuesday, November 5. Besides the races for President and the U.S. Senate, to succeed Diane Feinstein, there are many local races which will determine who represents the Hill in the State Assembly and the U.S. Congress.

The Town Crier will be writing about the races for the U.S. Congressional District 41, California Assembly Districts 36 and 47, and the Idyllwild Water District.

The two candidates for the AD 36 seat are Democrat Joey Acuna and Republican Jeff Gonzalez.

Eduardo Garcia, the incumbent Assembly member for AD 36, announced in December 2023 that he would not seek reelection and would support the candidacy of Joey Acuna (Coachella City).

Assembly District 36 spans across three counties – Imperial, San Bernardino, and Riverside. Lake Hemet and all of Garner Valley to the west of Highway 74 and much of the southern portion of Garner Valley, Anza and Sage are included in AD 36. Going further west, it includes portions of Hemet and Winchester.

Although all of Imperial County is in AD 36, its 88,700 registered voters represent about one-third of the District’s total voters. Nearly 150,000 Riverside County residents are within AD 36, comprising 62 % of the District’s voters. The San Bernardino County portion is merely 1 % of the District.

Joey Acuna, 62 years, lives in Coachella City. He has worked in construction, education and is now in health care. At a local clinic, he does their data management, grant writing, and outreach. He also writes grants for one of the local tribes.

“I am very passionate about education,” he stated. “And I work in healthcare. This district is very rural and much of it is unincorporated status and needs a lot of help with infrastructure.”

Acuna has been involved in elected politics for more than 30 years. He is currently the President of the Coachella Valley Unified School District Board of Directors and is serving his fifth term. He was a member from 1992 until 2000 and elected again in 2014. Subsequently, he was re-elected in 2018 and 2022.

The gap was the result of seeking election to the State Assembly. He was the Democratic candidate in 2000 and 2002 but lost two close races. When he ran for the Assembly, he did not seek re-election to the CVUSD board.

In the March Primary for this seat, there were seven candidates – five Republicans and two Democrats. Acuna was the top Democrat, but Jeff Gonzalez, who won the Republican Primary, garnered 35% of the total Primary votes compared to Acuna’s 20%.

November will be different Acuna states. He points out that the Democratic Primary had five candidates. Further, the total votes cast for the Democratic candidates were nearly 6% greater than the two Republicans earned.

“We’ll consolidate the Democrats and get some non-party preference voters, too,” he affirmed. “We’ll get the people out to vote. Everybody says the Republican won the primary, but sort of.”

Acuna discussed his views on several major issues, which he believes will aid his consolidation of the vote next month.

Homelessness needs to be addressed through housing and mental health programs, Acuna argues. But also acknowledges that Proposition 1 (approved in March) and a group of bills, which Gov. Gavin Newsom signed in September will do much to improve the availability of new housing.

“In our region, we need to streamline construction,” Acuna asserted. “A lot of our problems are our ability to build. Some of the local jurisdictions are doing things to make construction more attainable. Good planning helps, but you can’t grow a community without infrastructure.”

The Salton Sea environment and the lithium mining are unique to AD 36. While these two large projects are related in geography, they also involve separate issues. Acuna is aware that the mining would benefit everyone. “It’s another economic tool for the County,” he noted. “It’s a great benefit, but people have to do it right.”

Protecting the Salton Sea needs a viable plan, which Acuna laments has been long delayed. “The water levels are not coming back, we have to accept that,” he emphasized. We can improve it. But a local decision is needed — involving locals, elected officials, and local tribes.”

Helping families with increasing costs is one of the issues on his platform. The State legislature has much influence over these issues. While he is not currently in the Assembly sitting at the table while special legislation on oil and gas prices and supplies is being debated, he is glad this is happening.

The gas pump price spikes frustrate him as much as it is a problem for the voters. “There are spikes for no apparent reason. We need some safeguards to keep prices stable,” he stressed.

The state budget gyrations are an issue for which he feels particularly prepared. His experiences serving on the CVUSD Board are only different in scale, not in the decision-making process. A lot of the COVID special funding is expiring and school districts must find ways to raise new revenue or to modify programs.

“I’m used to making decisions to do what’s right for the bigger goal and that means the economy and the State,” Acuna said. “I’m not shy about making tough decisions.”

Public safety is an issue every year in every campaign. Acuna supports Proposition 36 with qualifications. “I have no problem holding people accountable,” he affirmed and referred to some of his family in the retail industry.

However, there are valuable sections in Prop 47 and he does not want to abandon everything to gain some improvement. For example, he is less concerned about the value of stolen goods setting the line between a misdemeanor or felony charge than he is about the circumstances of the thief.

“What did they steal, how was it stolen, and how many times have they done this?” are important, he declared.

He noted it is difficult to campaign door-to-door in the Hill communities. But he knows and understands the unique issues here, such as wildfires and planning prevention and ensuring the roads, power lines, and other infrastructure are sturdy enough to withstand these natural emergencies.

One major issue that highlights Acuna’s care for his communities is his desire to obtain another community college for the area. One possibility is a campus from California State, San Bernardino. But he would also explore the possibility of a San Diego school opening a second campus here.

Campaign finances

He has no worry about getting contributions. While his fund had only $67,000 in cash as of Sept. 21. His expenses totaled more than $630,000 between July 1 and September and he had raised nearly $550,000 since July 1. Between Sept. 21 and Oct. 3, more than $165,000 has been donated to his campaign.

“We spend faster than we raise, but we’ll have whatever resources are needed,” Acuna said with assurance. “We will not lose the seat.”