Republican Jeff Gonzalez Plans to Flip Assembly District 36 Red

Assembly candidate Jeff Gonzalez just returned from a 6-hour round trip to Needles, CA, when we talked, which residents told him they hadn’t seen their elected Assembly representative for 10 years.

Jeff Gonzalez lives in Indio, 167 miles away. Gonzalez is a combat veteran, a first-generation American, small business owner, pastor, community leader, and father. He is a now-retired Marine, but still and always a Marine.

Gonzalez is running for California Assembly District 36, currently represented by Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella), who announced after the filing deadline that he is not seeking reelection – one of 15 Assembly members not running for reelection in 2024.

California Assembly District 36 is one of California’s oddly shaped districts inland, at the state’s Southern-most border. The Assembly District has 494,709 residents and includes Imperial, Riverside, and San Bernardino counties.

In a crowded field of primary candidates vying to replace long-time Garcia,  Republican Jeff Gonzalez led the pack, with 34.5% of more than 30,000 votes cast in the race.

In a Globe interview, Gonzalez said access to healthcare is one of the biggest issues in AD36. The district lacks resources, manpower and has an affordability issue along with most of California.

“For people who have a business in California, it doesn’t pay to have a business in California,” Gonzalez said. If you need a plumber and live in Needles, the closest plumber is across the border in Arizona, but because there is no reciprocity, for border towns, your plumber has to drive hours… if you can get one. “There is an affordability and access issue.” In order to do any work in California, Arizona plumbers also need to be licensed in California.

Public safety is a problem, as well, and especially with the state’s push to electric vehicles. Gonzalez described a nearby town which has two 30-year-old firetrucks. They can’t afford to replace them, and they don’t have the proper training to deal with the relatively new issue of lithium fires from electric vehicles.

The California Legislature’s one-size-fits-all doesn’t work for most of California – what may work in big urban cities doesn’t work in agriculture towns. “It has to be geographic specific,” Gonzalez said. Laws, regulations in many cases need to be regional or local.

Gonzalez said there are schools in his district that are over 100 years old and need repairs and updating. But the state takes care of the wealthier school districts rather than rural. “There is a visual sign of the difference in how money is funneled or not funneled” Gonzalez said. “It should be ‘Is it fair?’ to all who are covered,'” he said.

Gonzalez said he has traveled the entire district talking to voters and residents about the concerns of hard-working people across the district. He said the issues are clear: the cost of living is too high; criminals aren’t held accountable, and healthcare has to be more accessible and affordable.

We discussed the agriculture in AD 36. “Our Carrots feed the nation,” Gonzalez said. “Dates, onions, alfalfa – generations of farmers and growers have been helping feed America. But many are leaving – it’s just not tenable any longer,” with the state withholding water.

We discussed how many agricultural products are imported into the state, when we grow it all.

“Fire, food, water and shelter,” Gonzalez said are the four basic needs of everyone. “If you ‘mistreat’ the food, it becomes cheaper to bring in avocados or grapes from other countries, rather than our own.”

“Imagine if the Legislature and governor would actually prioritize farmers and the ag community. It would help the world. We need to get back to taking care of California.”

“Make California Great again,” came to mind.

“Across the board, water issues don’t make sense when we are letting water flow out to the ocean,” Gonzalez said.

“We need to approach this like a business… How do we prosper?”

“As a new person coming in I get to see a little behind the curtain and the lack of common sense and know-how. It’s so silly.”

A 21-year Marine, Gonzalez had four combat tours – 2 in Iraq and 2 in Afghanistan. Injured in combat, he retired in 2011.

Gonzalez said his faith got him through his combat missions. So when he made it home, he put his faith to work and became a pastor. He also created a staffing company which serves the Coachella Valley, Temecula Valley and Riverside.

With a full time job and campaigning, he cut back on pastoring, but can still “marry and bury,” and does fill-in pastoring for vacationing pastors.

His bipartisan list of endorsements is impressive, and includes State Senator Scott Wilk, Republican Assembly Leader James Gallagher, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, Imperial County Sheriff Fred Miramontes, Congressman Ken Calvert, and Former Imperial County Democratic Central Committee Chair Tony Gallegos, among many more.

Gonzalez and his wife Christine have four children, the oldest of which is a 31-year-old son with Cerebral Palsy and requires 24-hour care. Gonzalez and his wife know first-hand the enormity of dealing with the government for their special needs adult-child. He said recently his wife was on the phone for 8 hours with a government agency trying to convince them that their son still has Cerebral Palsy. “Hundreds of people say the same thing,” ha said when he talks to the residents of his district. “”Why do we have to continually prove the disability is there?’ they tell me.”

“We needed a new bath chair for our fully-grown disabled son as he outgrew his old one, and were told that it is ‘a luxury item,’ and ‘he doesn’t really need that’,” Gonzalez said. “‘But we will approve a commode,’ they said.”

“I asked her ‘Have you ever taken a bath or shower in your toilet?’ She said ‘no.’ And it was nine months later they finally covered the bath chair.”

“We have a voice, but 99% of Californians don’t,” Gonzalez said.

That voice is what Gonzalez plans to bring to Assembly District 36. “I want to be a voice and a representative.”