Andrae Gonzales
Andrae Gonzales has served on the Bakersfield City Council since 2016 and runs a local nonprofit. He ran for this seat in 2024 and brings the lessons of that campaign into this one. In Sacramento, his priorities are reducing housing costs for Kern County families, investing in public schools, and improving public safety through a combination of enforcement, prevention, and reentry programs.
Why We Endorsed: Andrae Gonzales is a Bakersfield City Councilmember and nonprofit director with deep Kern County roots and a substantive record on housing, education, and public safety.
Alignment With NCC Priorities: Andrae has spent a decade on the Bakersfield City Council, the body that approves every housing project inside the city. That experience gives him a working knowledge of the entitlement and approval bottlenecks that NCC's pro-housing agenda is designed to clear. Kern County sits at the center of California's water and energy debates, and Andrae has been clear that the region needs reliable water supply and stable energy jobs to keep its families housed and fed. His campaign reflects the kind of grounded, solutions-oriented pragmatism we need more of in Sacramento.
Learn More: andraegonzales.com
Assembly District
35
The Race
District 35 is based in Kern County and covers Arvin, Delano, McFarland, Shafter, and parts of Bakersfield. The seat is open because Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains is running for Congress, and Republicans have identified it as a flip opportunity. Gonzales faces fellow Democrat Ana Palacio, an emergency room nurse, and Republican Saul Ayon, the Mayor of McFarland. The district is Latino-majority, with nearly twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans, but it has shifted rightward in recent cycles. The race is considered competitive.
A New California Starts With This Slate
Together, these fourteen candidates are the slate NCC believes can move California forward in 2026. They come from cities and counties up and down the state, from different backgrounds and different parties, and from different chapters of California's story. What they share is a commitment to getting things done: finding solutions to homelessness, building the housing, securing the water and energy, and growing the middle class jobs that working Californians need now. NCC stands behind each of them, and we are asking voters in their districts to join us. The California Dream is worth fighting for, and these are the leaders who will help us bring it back within reach.
June 2026 NCC Races: the map highlights Senate Districts 12, 14, 22, 26, and 34, and Assembly Districts 12, 31, 34, 35, 47, 65, 66, 67, and 68