Local Government Elections Will Include Mix of Familiar Names, Faces as Well as New Names and Faces

COACHELLA VALLEY — Local government touches the lives of everyday people, which makes it so titillating, especially during election season.

With the filing deadline now passed, races are quickly taking shape.  There is at least one race in which none of the incumbents are being challenged. What message does that send to the community? There is another race in which a resident is making a third attempt at securing a city council seat.

We have pestered the Riverside County Registrar’s Office to help us sort through the multitude of races and manes. In a nutshell, here are the Valley races and who is running  (or not) to fill the seats.

Their nomination papers have been filed. Some campaigns have already started. The candidates for mayoral and city council races across the Coachella Valley have been set.

In the coming weeks we hope to introduce you to most, if not all, of these candidates. So, stay tuned.

Palm Springs

There are three open grabs in Palm Springs, each with an incumbent seeking reelection. Although recent debate has centered 0n creating a citywide mayoral position, Palm Springs currently has district-based elections for all council seats. That means each resident only directly votes for one member of the council.

In District 1, Councilmember Grace Garner is seeking reelection. Donald J. Soja, the former vice chair of the Palm Springs Human Rights Commission, is challenging her,

Councilmember Jeffrey Bernstein seeks reelection in District 2. He is unopposed.

District 3 has incumbent Ron deHarte in a contest with Charles A. Brown, an activist and entertainer.

Desert Hot Springs?
Two districts are up for election, each with an incumbent seeking reelection..

In District 1, Councilmember Gary Gardner will face a challenge from Edouard Boumendil. No contact information was available.

Mayor Pro Tem Jan Pye is also seeking reelection in District 3. She is being challenged by Joseph Erndt, whose contact information was also not yet available.

Cathedral City?
In District 3, incumbent Christina Gordon will seek full term. She will be challenged by Cathedral City police Sgt. Alberto Ruiz.

Councilmember Ernesto Gutierrez will seek reelection in District 4. He will face off against retired art gallery owner David Koslow and Rick Saldivar, program specialist for College of the Desert’s Rising Scholar’s program.

District 5 incumbent Raymond Gregory is not seeking reelection. The two candidates will be Antonio Baciu, former vice chair of the Parks and Community Events Commission, and Planning Commission Chair Danielle Mead.

City Treasurer Greg Jackson is facing a challenge from Shelley Kaplan, former city councilmember and chair of the board for the Cathedral City Senior Center.

Indio
Three districts are in play this year, with two featuring incumbents.

Waymond Fermon is seeking reelection in District 2. He is facing off against Gloria Hernandez, whose contact information was not readily available.

Mayor Elaine Holmes will also seek a new term in District 3. She is going up against Andrea Bouchard, a criminal defense lawyer.

District 4 incumbent Oscar Ortiz is not seeking reelection. To fill his seat, Indio Planning Commission Vice Chair Felipe Ortiz and Jonathan Becerra, founder and CEO of Palma City Productions, an events company are facing each other. Becerra ran for a council seat in 2022 and lost to Holmes.

Rancho Mirage
Three at-large seats on the council are up for grabs in Rancho Mirage, and only the three incumbents are vying for them.

Steve Downs, a former real estate agent and city planning commissioner who was appointed to the council in 2021 then elected to a full term the next year, will get a second, four-year term on the council.

Lynn Mallotto, a former city employee in Cathedral City who currently works as a local Realtor, will also get a second full term on the council. She was first elected in 2022.

Eve Fromberg Edelstein, a local attorney who was appointed to the council in November 2024, is now seeking her first full term on the council.

Palm Desert

Palm Desert will complete its transition to a five-district council with this year’s election. Districts 4 and 5 will get their first representatives on the council. Incumbent Councilwoman Jan Harnik, who doesn’t live in either district, has not filed to run for reelection, capping her 16 years of service on the council.

In District 4, Evan Trubee, the owner of Big Wheel Tours who was first elected in 2022, is vying for a second full term on the council. Jonathan Polly, a geoscientist who currently works as a technical manager and a sustainability auditor, is running against him.

In District 5, John Greenwood, a local architect who serves on the city’s planning commission, is running against Ralph Perry, who currently serves on the city’s parks and recreation committee and as an alternate on the city’s library advisory committee.

Coachella City Council

Former Mayor Steven Hernandez, won’t be on the ballot after he pleaded guilty to a felony conflict-of-interest charge earlier this year and resigned from his post. But the newly appointed mayor, Frank Figueroa, is running for a full term.

The city also has two other at-large seats on the council up for grabs, with those members elected to four-year terms. One of the incumbents on the council, Stephanie Virgen, did not file to run for another term.

Simultaneously, a recall effort is underway against two current council members due to voting in favor of a data center project that the council has since rejected. Both of the recall organizers, who have started gathering signatures to get the recall on the ballot, are running for seats on the council themselves.

Candidates for Coachella mayor
Denise Delgado, an educator first elected to the Coachella City Council in 2020 whose current term expires in 2028, is one of two council members being targeted by the attempted recall, which she has criticized as a power grab.

Frank Figueroa, an academic resources manager at UC Riverside who was first elected to the council in 2022, was appointed by the council to the mayoral position earlier this year after Hernandez resigned. He is now vying for a full term as mayor.

Jesus Ahkin Gonzalez, the co-leader of an attempt to recall Delgado and Councilmember Yadira Perez, has worked as a political consultant, including for Hernandez, and is the son of former Coachella Mayor Jesus Gonzalez.

Francisco Molina, a community activist whose background spans construction, business strategy and consumer research, has also joined the field of mayoral candidates.

Coachella City Council candidates
Five people are vying for two seats.

Ambar De La Herran, a professional mixed martial arts fighter who’s competed in local and regional competitions.

Andrew Gallegos, a member of the city’s parks and recreation commission who has volunteered for local nonprofit groups.

Juan Martinez, a local real estate broker who was appointed to the council in June, filling the vacancy created when Figueroa stepped into the mayoral position, is now seeking a full term.

Vicente Zamora, the co-leader of the recall effort against Delgado and Perez who, along with Gonzalez, has criticized the city’s initial approval of a data center project earlier this year.

Yavonne Zapata, a financial aid specialist with College of the Desert, has entered the crowded field.

La Quinta?
Like Coachella, La Quinta elects its mayor every two years, while its at-large council members are elected to four-year terms. All three incumbents are seeking reelection.

Mayoral candidates

  • Linda Evans, chief strategy officer of community advocacy for Desert Care Network who has served as La Quinta’s mayor since 2014.
  • Lynne Langdon, a real estate agent who has criticized the city for what she describes as unfair code enforcement regarding a trellis on her property.
  • Suzanne Espinoza-Jimenez. No information was immediately available on her candidacy

At-large La Quinta City Council candidates
Four people are running for two seats.

  • Deborah McGarrey, a public affairs manager for Southern California Gas Company who was first elected to the council in 2022, is seeking another term.
  • John Peña, a local consultant owner who has served for multiple stints on the La Quinta City Council, including as mayor, first winning election to a council seat in 1984. He’s served on the council continuously since 2014.
  • Carene Hensley, a home care provider
  • Julian Herrera

No information was immediately available on his candidacy.

Indian Wells
Two seats are up for grabs in Indian Wells, which elects its members at large and annually rotates its mayoral position among its five council members. Bruce Whitman, who was first elected to the council in 2022, is not seeking reelection. Longtime Councilor Dana Reed is also noy seeking re-election.

Three candidates are competing for the two open seats on the council.

  • Michael Hazelton, a local real estate agent.
  • Karlyn Neel, a designer and historical preservation advocate who owns a William Cody-designed home in Indian Wells.
  • Rob Zwemmer, president of a local realty group who is also the co-owner of the Coachella Valley Scorpions, a local professional pickleball team.

 

 

Image Sources

  • Local Election 2026: Shutterstock