When is an incumbent not an incumbent?
Technically, the state Senate’s 29th District primary election on March 5 is an open one, with no incumbent state senator on the ballot. In fact, the district has had no representative — it was created in 2021 when legislative district boundaries were redrawn.
But Assemblymember Eloise Gomez Reyes, D-San Bernardino, has thrown her hat in the ring, after four two-year terms in the Assembly, including a stint as majority leader. She brings name recognition and a hefty war chest to the race, and has previously won the votes of many in the state Senate’s 29th District, which includes Rialto, San Bernardino and parts of Colton, Fontana, Grand Terrace, Highland, Rancho Cucamonga, Redlands and Upland.
If elected, she won’t be new to Sacramento, but she would be new to the Senate. And she would be limited to one four-year term there due to state law that restricts elected officials to a total of 12 years in either legislative house.
So voters in the 29th District have a choice between a one-term Democrat with experience in Sacramento or the prospect of sending someone who could potentially spend 12 years representing them in the state capital. The primary ballot includes another Democrat and two Republicans.
The top two vote getters in the primary will face off in the Nov. 5 general election.
Carlos Garcia
Republican Garcia has served on the Upland City Council for three years. He said, originally, he never intended to seek higher office.
“I feel that we can take things to the next level. We can make changes for the cities in District 29,” he said. “It’s not that I’m running as a ‘politician.’ I’m a servant/leader. And that’s the way I’ve always approached it. I’m here to serve, and how can I help? Whether it’s a city, whether it’s a department, whatever it is, I’ve always been brought up to help those in need.”
If elected, Garcia would focus on public safety, he said, pushing back on legislation that he says makes things harder on law enforcement.
“Bottom line, if a criminal does the crime, they have to do the time,” he said. “We have to get back to common sense in dealing with that, so that families, communities feel safer.”
The CEO and chief technology officer of an IT and social media marketing company, Garcia says he wants to provide more resources to help Californians start their own businesses and support them once they do, including more support for career pathway programs in public high schools.
Garcia also would like to see California do more to support military veterans, including prioritizing helping homeless veterans get off the streets, as well as connecting veterans with other state resources.
As of Jan. 29, the Garcia for State Senate committee has received $21,084 in political contributions, according to the California Secretary of State’s office, including $5,500 from Phil Cothran Sr., chairman of the San Bernardino GOP; $5,500 from Phil Cothran Jr., a Fontana City Council member; and $5,000 from Moore United Construction.
For more information, visit Carlos4CASenate.com.
Kathleen Torres Hazleton
Hazleton, the other Republican in the race, moved to the Inland Empire after retiring from the Air Force.
Not seeing Republicans candidates vying for the Legislature locally, she ran for state Senate District 25 in November 2020.
She won 48.35% of the vote — twice the proportion of registered Republicans in the district at the time — but ultimately lost to Sen. Anthony Portantino, D-Glendale, who picked up 51.65% of the vote.
Hazleton has a one-word plan, should she be elected: “No.”
“I just need to vote no,” she said. In her mind, the things being passed by the California Legislature, currently in the grip of a Democratic super-majority, simply need to be given the thumbs down.
That isn’t to say there aren’t things she’d like to see passed, in another world, like tax cuts, cutting back on benefits enjoyed by undocumented immigrants and measures to save more of California’s fresh water in reservoirs. But she doesn’t believe there are enough legislators in Sacramento to make anything like that happen right now.
“I’m going to have to vote no, until I can get more people up there,” Hazleton said. “There are people who go ‘I’m going to fight for you, and we’re really going to change things.’ You have to be realistic. … Put more people up there that vote the way I do. That’s what’s going to have to happen” before conservative priorities will be able to pass the California Legislature.
As of Jan. 29, the California Secretary of State’s website has no donations listed for Hazleton’s campaign.
A born-again Christian, Hazleton says she’s got something better than funding.
“I have a power higher than that,” she said.
For more information, visit KathleenHazelton.com.
Jason O’Brien
O’Brien, a Democrat, is a former member of the Fontana Unified School District board and the co-founder of Children’s Resources Inc., a San Bernardino-based nonprofit that supports students’ educational success.
O’Brien declined to be interviewed for this story.
As of Jan. 29, the California Secretary of State’s website has no donations listed for O’Brien’s campaign.
The O’Brien for Senate campaign does not appear to have a website, as of Jan. 29.
Eloise Gomez Reyes
No longer in the Democratic leadership in the Assembly, the Colton-based lawyer is ready to bring her experience to the state Senate.
“I’ve represented two-thirds of this district with the Assembly and I’m excited to continue to serve,” Reyes said.
“Every relationship I have with the Assembly will continue, because all of my bills have to go from the Senate to the Assembly. I’m not going in there as a newly elected newbie,” she said. “I’m going in there as someone who has been a partner with many of the senators with their bills and they’ve been a partner on my bills.”
Among those issues she wants to tackle in the Senate are what she calls the “crisis” of cost-of-living increases, bringing “livable wage” jobs to the Inland Empire, homelessness and public safety.
They’re issues she says she’s tackled before and will continue to take on, should voters send her back to Sacramento.
At the top of the list is making sure the logistics industry doesn’t harm the communities where warehouses are located, she said.
“I want to make sure we prioritize the health of our communities and do whatever we need to do to make sure the health of the community is put first, rather than the profits of the corporations,” Reyes said.
As of Jan. 29, the Eloise Reyes for Senate 2024 committee has raised $706,567, according to the the California Secretary of State’s office. The largest contributors to her 2024 campaign committee include donations from the Southern California Pipe Trades District Council No. 16 PAC Small Contributor Committee for $5,000; Rancho Cucamonga Professional Firefighters Association – IAFF Local 2274 PAC for $5,500; Sheet Metal, Air, Rail, Transportation Workers (SMART) Local Union 105 PAC Small Contributor Committee for $5,400 and $5,600; and Service Employees International Union Local 1000 Candidate PAC Small Contributor Committee for $10,900.
For more information, visit EloiseForSenate.com.
More on the March 2024 primary election
