Michelle Paradise, who will be retiring soon as assistant county executive officer for public safety, will be in the running for Judicial Seat No. 10 on the Riverside County Superior Court bench in the June 2 primary election.

It is a countywide race.

The other two contenders are San Bernardino County Deputy Public Defender Andrea Garcia and regional defense attorney Jennifer Loflin.

Paradise’s campaign kickoff is slated for Wednesday evening at an undisclosed private residence on the south end of Jurupa Valley, where District Attorney Mike Hestrin will be making remarks in the manner of a public endorsement for his longtime colleague.

“My decision to run for judge comes after a lifetime of public service and a deep belief in the justice system,” Paradise told City News Service. “I grew up facing significant challenges and learned early on how important fairness, opportunity and accountability are in people’s lives.”

Since 2023, the candidate has worked as assistant county EO overseeing public safety agencies.

“By working closely with the sheriff, district attorney, public defender, probation office, fire department and Emergency Management Department, I’ve helped ensure our system operates effectively, responsibly and with the resources needed to protect the public,” Paradise said.

Prior to her stint at the Executive Office, Paradise served for seven years as assistant DA, preceded by a yearlong role as chief deputy district attorney and 18 years as a line prosecutor. During her tenure, she was assigned or accepted a wide variety of cases, from murders to sexual assaults.

“I spent more than two decades handling and trying the most serious and egregious cases and standing up for the rule of law,” she said. “One of the most meaningful parts of my career as a deputy district attorney was prosecuting child abuse cases. Protecting vulnerable children and ensuring their voices were heard … was incredibly important to me. I’ve seen the justice system from every angle. I still have a lot to give, and serving on the bench feels like the most meaningful way I can continue to give back.”

The mother of two adult daughters is seeking to fill the vacancy opening due to the retirement of Judge Harold Hopp at the Riverside Historic Courthouse.

Garcia and Loflin have not yet announced campaign-related events.

In election literature, Garcia emphasized her goal of enhancing “the public trust in the judicial system,” citing close to “20 years of experience … defending vulnerable individuals and promoting equal justice” as key attributes.

“(I) will work tirelessly to deliver impactful messages that resonate with our community and foster positive change,” the attorney said.

Garcia vowed to apply her “legal expertise to inspire trust and confidence in the judicial system, ensuring that everyone feels heard and supported.”

The candidate noted some of her most rewarding career experiences included immigration law cases, “advocating for those facing deportation.”

In her campaign literature, Loflin expressed a belief in “fair and impartial decision-making” and “respect for every person.”

“Justice works best when it is guided by integrity, accountability and respect for every person who enters the courtroom,” she said. “My approach to the bench is grounded in public service, constitutional principles and nearly two decades of real courtroom experience in Riverside County.”

She subscribes to the philosophy of an arbiter who does not “advance personal views or political agendas — but applies the law fairly, thoughtfully and consistently.”

Paradise’s campaign portal can be found at paradiseforjudge.com.

Garcia’s campaign portal can be found at garciaforjudge2026.com.

Loflin’s campaign portal can be found at jenloflin4judge.com/judicial-philosophy.

The post Meet The 3 Judicial Candidates For RivCo Judge In Upcoming Election appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Our region has been under attack. Immigrant families and US Citizens in his district, his direct constituents, have been shot at by supposed federal agents. Others have been chased into medical clinics, harassed, and detained in broad daylight. These aren’t distant headlines, these are the streets, homes, and workplaces of the very people who elected Congressman Pete Aguilar to represent them.

When violence strikes our communities – we need leadership. We need a congressman who will use his power to demand accountability from federal agencies that act with impunity. We need a leader who will use his platform to say clearly: our communities should not be hunted, shot at, or harassed in the United States of America.

At the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, we don’t have the luxury of silence or delay. Every day, we are on the frontlines, informing people of their rights, running our immigrant defense hotline, providing legal support, and hosting community workshops. We are doing our part to protect our neighbors. But we need our representatives, especially one with Pete Aguilar’s influence, to do theirs.

Congressman Aguilar has the opportunity right now to use his position to set an agenda that will protect immigrant communities, demand accountability for federal agents who operate in our region, and to ensure transparency and justice for all. While Congressman Aguilar’s recent remarks at the Chicago Press conference were significant, his constituency now requires his commitment to three crucial actions:

Cease unconstitutional arrests and the use of force against all civilians.
Reverse the appropriations of the “Big Beautiful Bill” that contribute to raids, deportations, and family separations.

Terminate all funding for private prison companies such as GEO Group and CoreCivic.

For too long, immigrant communities have been told to be patient, to be grateful, to stay quiet. But silence has never saved us. What we need now are leaders who will fight for safety and dignity, not just when it’s politically convenient, but when it truly matters.

Congressman Aguilar, this is your moment.

Will you step up?

The post Will Congressman Pete Aguilar Step Up? appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

Maps for new House of Representatives districts going before California voters Nov. 4 would dilute — if not outright erase — GOP voters’ influence in Riverside County by splitting up red cities that form a backbone of support for Republicans Ken Calvert of Corona and Darrell Issa of San Diego County.

If approved by voters, Proposition 50, also known as the Election Rigging Response Act, would obliterate Calvert’s purple district, potentially jeopardizing his three-decade run on Capitol Hill. Issa would go from a safe red district to one with a plurality of Democratic voters.

The new maps drawn by Democrats leave existing districts in San Bernardino County and eastern Los Angeles County relatively untouched, letting incumbents of both parties run for safe seats.

The shifting lines also spare Reps. Mark Takano, D-Riverside and Raul Ruiz, D-Palm Desert, whose districts include much of Riverside County.

Not surprisingly, California Republicans are seething over the overtly partisan mapmaking.

Republican Party of Riverside County Chairwoman Lori Stone called the new maps “nothing short of a blatant power grab” by Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“Inland Californians have already been heavily disenfranchised through gerrymandering and now he is openly talking about erasing our voice altogether,” Stone, a Murrieta city councilmember, said via email.

California Democratic leaders, who used their supermajority to zip Prop. 50 through the legislature, argue the new maps wouldn’t be needed if Texas’ Republican majority, prompted by President Donald Trump, hadn’t redrawn the Lone Star State’s House districts to add more red seats ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

“Californians believe in democracy and freedom, and we will not stand by while the House is hijacked by authoritarianism,” Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, D-Salinas, said after Newsom signed legislation authorizing the November special election.

Currently, the GOP holds a narrow House majority. A few flipped seats — or gerrymandered districts — could decide control of the chamber for the remainder of Trump’s term, effectively empowering or blunting his agenda.

Historically, the president’s party loses congressional seats in midterms. And recent polls show Democrats in good position to win back the House after losing it in 2024.

Political redistricting in California normally happens 10 years after the census. An independent commission, legally obligated to exclude partisanship from mapmaking, draws the lines with public input.

Prop. 50 asks voters to use the new maps — drawn without public feedback — for the 2026, 2028 and 2030 elections, after which the commission would take back the mapmaking pen.

The new maps for California’s 52 House districts would not affect boundaries for state legislative districts. Nor does Prop. 50 ask voters to elect anyone.

Prop. 50 comes as Inland Republicans, after watching local Democrats gain voters and rack up a string of wins in competitive races since 2012, enjoyed a fruitful 2024 election cycle.

Trump became the first GOP presidential candidate in 20 years to win Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Underdog Republicans won two Assembly seats in Riverside County. And since 2020, the GOP has outpaced Democrats in voter registration in more than 30 Inland cities.

Inland Republicans also are making their mark statewide.

Former Inland GOP Assemblymember Bill Essayli is now U.S. attorney for much of Southern California. Republican and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is running for governor. And conservative Chino Hills school board President Sonja Shaw hopes to become the new state superintendent of public instruction.

Currently, five Democrats and four Republicans represent Riverside and San Bernardino counties in the House. Most have a clear path to reelection with the new maps, including Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia.

If voters approve redistricting, Obernolte likely would run in the new version of his 23rd Congressional District, which includes communities he now represents in San Bernardino County’s High Desert and the San Bernardino mountains. The new 23rd would expand south to include Blythe in far eastern Riverside County.

Like Obernolte’s current district, the redrawn 23rd has a plurality of GOP voters. Ruiz, Takano and Reps. Pete Aguilar, D-San Bernardino, and Norma Torres, D-Ontario, would likely run in blue districts encompassing much of the same turf they represent now.

Not all cities would stay in the same district if the new maps are approved.

Claremont, for example, would go from a seat held by Rep. Judy Chu, D-Pasadena to the district where Torres would likely run in 2026. Chino Hills, Eastvale, Norco — a GOP stronghold — and north Corona also would go into a district where 43% of registered voters are Democrats compared to 26% for Republicans.

In an emailed statement, Norco Mayor Greg Newton said he’s concerned Norco “will not receive the same level of advocacy or support in a (new) district that crosses county lines, with much larger cities who have different needs than Norco.”

“We had a redistricting commission, who was conscientious about fair representation,” Newton added. “I don’t believe the time spent doing that work should be dismissed. Redistricting should be done by the people, not the politicians.”

Temecula Mayor Brenden Kalfus noted that his city, founded in 1989, has always been represented by Republicans in the House and has “benefitted greatly” by getting tens of millions of federal dollars for infrastructure.

Kalfus said the city will work with whoever represents it.

“I respect the will of the voters,” he said via email. “I respected the previous will of the voters to have an independent redistricting commission redraw the congressional lines … and I will also respect the will of the voters in November 2025, should they decide to adopt redrawn lines mid-cycle.”

Right now, Rep. Young Kim, R-Anaheim Hills, represents the 40th Congressional District, which includes parts of Orange County along with parts of Chino Hills and Corona.

Redistricting likely would put Kim, a top 2026 Democratic target, in a red district with a bigger slice of the Inland Empire. The redrawn 40th would merge parts of Orange County with Canyon Lake, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Temescal Valley, Wildomar and south Corona.

Marcia Godwin, a professor of public administration at the University of La Verne, said via email that the proposed 40th’s shape “seems to be related to Voting Rights Act compliance along with the need for Republicans in Calvert’s district to be relocated.”

“It may be incidental that Kim has been rated as one of the more effective representatives and has cosponsored bills in Democrats more than the typical Republican members,” Godwin added.

The 40th’s proposed redesign goes to the heart of Democrats’ strategy to boost their prospects by splitting up Riverside County’s red cities. Issa, for example, would lose GOP-friendly Murrieta to the redrawn 40th.

Instead, Issa’s 48th Congressional District would inherit deep blue Palm Springs. That district, which would include northeast San Diego County, would go from red — 48% Republican, 29% Democratic — to slightly blue, with 37% of voters being Democrats compared to 33% for Republicans.

The new 48th “may be more competitive than has been portrayed,” Godwin said.

“If you look just at the 2024 presidential vote, it looks like the gerrymander will be successful. If you look at several election cycles, it appears to be more evenly divided. It appears that the Democratic Party is counting on a boost in turnout from Democratic voters.”

It could be even worse for Calvert, who would lose his 41st Congressional District entirely. The new 41st would be outside the Inland Empire, potentially forcing Calvert, who’s on Democrats’ target list, to either run in a blue district or compete with fellow Republican Kim in the new 40th.

The current 41st’s demise would upend the campaigns of the half dozen or so Democrats who plan to challenge Calvert in 2026.

One, Jason Byors, recently announced plans to run for Assembly. At least two others — Anuj Dixit and Brandon Riker — plan to run in the new 48th.

“Palm Springs is my home,” Riker said via email. “While the district lines may change, my mission stays the same: to fight for this community every single day.”

Most people dislike gerrymandering and want independent commissions to draw political districts, Shaun Bowler, a UC Riverside political science professor, said via email.

He noted that the U.S. Supreme Court in 2019 allowed partisan mapmaking by refusing to overturn a GOP gerrymander in North Carolina. It’s unclear, he added, whether the high court’s conservative majority “will stand by its own precedent or overturn what California is doing because this time it is the Democrats” doing it.

“Starting down this road of gerrymandering and partisan courts means that institutions are undermined because people don’t  see them as legitimate,” Bowler said.

“There may be short-term partisan gains … but with serious longer-term costs as public support erodes. It’s why many of the people who study politics and history are really quite nervous.”

The post How California redistricting would affect the Inland Empire appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

The redrawn maps, unveiled Friday afternoon, Aug. 15, would radically reshape the Inland Empire’s political landscape and put Calvert, R-Corona, and Issa, a San Diego Republican who represents southwest Riverside County, in hostile territories compared to their current districts.

As for Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia, a proposed district would be similar to the one he currently represents.

“We strongly believe that this map serves the best interest of California voters, while also attempting to push back against the corrupt scheme occurring in Texas and other Republican-majority states where Republicans — doing the bidding of their DC party bosses — are considering adopting a clearly racially gerrymandered, partisan map at the expense of their voters,” Julie Merz, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee executive director, said in a letter attached to the proposed maps.

Calvert took to social media Friday to denounce the redrawn districts.

“I’m committed to defeating Newsom’s power grab in this special election,” the congressmember posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Voters decided to give redistricting powers to the Independent Citizens Redistricting Commission and take it away from politicians drawing their own districts.”

“The gerrymandered maps released today are exactly why voters don’t trust Sacramento politicians. I will fight to keep redistricting power with our citizens.”

Calvert currently represents a district that includes Calimesa, Canyon Lake, Indian Wells, Lake Elsinore, La Quinta, Menifee, Norco, Palm Desert, Palm Springs, Rancho Mirage, Wildomar and parts of Corona, Eastvale and Riverside. Issa’s current district includes Murrieta and Temecula, along with much of San Diego County.

The new districts would split up Norco and Canyon Lake — both solidly red cities — and replace them with bluer communities. Murrieta and part of Temecula — both GOP bastions — would be stripped from Issa’s district.

Calvert narrowly won reelection in 2022 and 2024 in a purple district. Giving him more Democratic voters would make it harder to extend a congressional career that started in the 1990s. Similarly, adding deep blue Palm Springs to what’s essentially Issa’s current district would pose a challenge for him.

Gov. Gavin Newsom on Thursday, Aug. 14, launched California’s campaign to redraw congressional boundary lines, a partisan effort meant to favor Democrats in the state as a counter to similar, Republican-led plans elsewhere in the country in the battle for which party controls the U.S. House of Representatives.

California’s redistricting efforts would only apply to congressional boundary lines, and the changes, should voters approve them, would only be implemented if Republican-led states also move forward with partisan redistricting at the behest of President Donald Trump for the 2026 midterm elections, Newsom said.

These new congressional lines would be in place for elections in 2026, 2028, and 2030, and then the state would revert to having an independent commission decide congressional district boundaries.

The draft maps still need to be approved by the California Legislature, and with a Democratic majority in the statehouse, that’s expected to happen. Both the state Senate and Assembly elections committees have hearings scheduled for Tuesday, Aug. 19.

Voters would then need to give final approval to the maps in a special election on Nov. 4.

California Republicans have largely decried efforts to redo California’s congressional maps mid-cycle. Redistricting is typically done every 10 years, consistent with new census data, and boundary lines are decided by an independent group.

Merz, though, said the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee’s proposal for California keeps communities together better than what has been proposed in Texas, where Republicans are hoping to shore up extra House seats in 2026.

“Our proposed map was created using traditional redistricting criteria, consistent with guidelines laid out by the California’s Citizen Redistricting Commission,” Merz said.

“It allows for more compact districts than in the current Commission-drawn map, keeps more communities and neighborhoods together, splits fewer cities and makes minimal disruptions to the Commission-drawn map so as to impact as few residents as possible.”

Here’s a look at the proposed maps for Riverside and San Bernardino counties:

23rd Congressional District: Big Bear City and Yucaipa would be part of a sprawling district stretching north of Barstow and out to Blythe. It’s similar to Hesperia Republican Jay Obernolte’s current district.

Thirty-eight percent of the district’s voters would be registered Republicans, compared to 32% for Democrats and 29% for no-party-preference and third-party voters.

25th Congressional District: San Jacinto and much of the Coachella Valley would become part of this district. Roughly 4 in 10 voters in this district are registered Democrats, 28% are Republicans and 28% are no party preference/third party.

28th Congressional District: Part of Rancho Cucamonga would be merged into a district stretching north to Wrightwood and east to include Pasadena, Altadena, Arcadia, San Gabriel, Rosemead and Monterey Park. The voter registration breakdown is 45% Democrat, 31% no party preference/third party and 23% Republican.

31st Congressional District: Chino, San Dimas, Montclair and La Verne would be part of a district stretching to Monrovia and West Covina. Forty-four% of its voters would be Democrats, compared to 25% for Republicans and 28% for no-party-preference and third-party voters.

33rd Congressional District: This district would encompass San Bernardino, Rialto, Highland, Colton, Redlands and part of Rancho Cucamonga. Its voter registration would be 44% Democratic, 30% no party preference/third party and 25% Republican.

35th Congressional District: Claremont, Upland, Ontario, Fontana, Chino Hills, Eastvale, Norco and part of Corona would be in this district. Its voter registration would be 43% Democratic, 29% no party preference/third party and 26% Republican.

39th Congressional District: Jurupa Valley, Riverside, Moreno Valley and Perris would be included in a district similar to the current 39th, which is represented by Riverside Democrat Mark Takano. It’s a blue district with 44% of voters being Democrats, 29% registered as no party preference/third party and 25% registered as Republicans.

40th Congressional District: Rancho Santa Margarita and Villa Park would be included in this district that would stretch east into the Inland Empire, picking up the Temescal Valley, Lake Elsinore, Menifee and Murrieta.

Registered Republicans would have the advantage, making up 40% of the proposed district, compared to 31% Democratic and 27% no party preference/other.

48th Congressional District: Hemet, Palm Springs and part of Temecula would join a district stretching into northern San Diego County. The district would be 37% Democratic, 33% Republican and 29% no party preference/third party.

The post Proposed changes to Inland Empire’s congressional districts emerge appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

The Inland Empire is changing—and fast. New voter registration data shows Republican registration outpacing Democrats in over 30 local cities since 2020, with Perris reporting a 49% GOP surge as of June 2025. Meanwhile, San Bernardino and Riverside counties flipped in the recent presidential contest. The numbers are clear—but more than data, they reflect a community seeking stability, good-paying jobs, quality schools, and safer neighborhoods. 

Growing up poor on the reservation, I built my life on the same values that bind Inland Empire families: faith, hard work, and community. As a conservative Democrat known for putting family first, I’ve spent three decades delivering on what truly matters: recruiting good jobs, strengthening schools, and working alongside law enforcement to keep our neighborhoods safe. I walk the walk—earned an MBA from the University of Redlands, worked in the private sector, and built a record of getting things done, often running unopposed because my constituents trust that I stand for them.

Our region’s shifting registration isn’t a political swing—it’s the statistics finally catching up to what people here have known all along. In the Inland Empire, the values of faith, family, safety, education, and opportunity have never changed. As the backbone of California, it is time for our views to be heard—loud and clear. What’s different now is that more people are paying attention—and choosing leaders who reflect those priorities. People here want to work hard, raise their children with dignity, and build a better life for their loved ones. They’re not asking for handouts—they’re asking for a fair chance, and for government to do its part with clarity, compassion, and accountability.

It doesn’t matter where you come from or what party you belong to—if you believe in building strong families, safe communities, and a better tomorrow, you’re part of the Inland Empire’s story.

It also means tackling the issues that touch every family—whether they speak openly about them or not. That includes the growing crisis of homelessness, and the deepening challenges of mental health. These are not fringe issues. They are central to family development, community stability, and building a future where everyone has a fair shot. We need real solutions that treat people with dignity while restoring neighborhoods and public trust.

Whether it was helping fund regional mental health programs, bringing job training to underserved communities, expanding access to education, or supporting local law enforcement, my focus has always been action.

I’m proud that my ability to work across party lines, think like a businessperson, and legislate like a neighbor has kept me in office—and kept me in tune with the people—regardless of trends. My focus isn’t on tracking party shifts; it’s on meeting needs: fixing potholes, building schools, funding community centers, and delivering public safety through boots-on-the-ground and meaningful prevention programs. 

This moment isn’t a call to abandon what we stand for—it’s a call to honor it. We must listen to why people are registering differently. We must answer with programs that help people rise, heal, learn, and thrive. That hasn’t changed—and we must prove it with action every day.

The Inland Empire deserves leadership that reflects both its past and its promise. I’ve always believed that leadership is less about labels and more about lifts—lifts in opportunity, lifts in safety, lifts in hope. This change in registration isn’t about who wins—it’s about who listens, who delivers, and who leads by example.

The values we fight for in the Inland Empire are the values Californians across this state are calling for. And I intend to keep answering that call—wherever it leads.

That’s my commitment. Because leadership here isn’t something you take—it’s something you earn every day.

James Ramos represents California’s 45th Assembly District.

The post James Ramos: What the stats miss about the Inland Empire appeared first on The Hemet & San Jacinto Chronicle.

But while residents in the heavily Latino city stay home to avoid U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, more of them are opening their doors to the Republican Party, according to recent voter registration numbers.

Between October 2020 and June 2025, GOP voter registration in Perris surged 49% while the number of registered Democrats in the city grew just 8%. During that time, Republicans outpaced Democrats in registering voters in more than 30 Inland Empire cities, an analysis of voter registration data shows.

While Democrats continue to make up a solid plurality of Inland voters, the trend is encouraging to local Republicans who enjoyed broad success in the 2024 elections.

“Voters are turning to Republicans because Democrats turned their backs on us,” Riverside County GOP Chair and Murrieta City Councilmember Lori Stone said via email.

Republicans are gaining voters because “we’re focused on what matters, safe neighborhoods, lower costs, and accountable leadership,” Stone said.

“Democrats have had total control for years and failed at every level. The red wave isn’t coming. It’s already crashing through Riverside County and Democrats have no one to blame but themselves.”

Stone’s counterpart in the San Bernardino County Democratic Party said that, while the GOP surge is “slight, we see enough shifts there to take those changes seriously.”

“We’re not sure if these are temporary or not, but we’re taking countermeasures just to be sure,” Kristin Washington said via email.

Marcia Godwin, a professor of public administration at the University of La Verne, wonders what effect the 2024 elections had on registration.

“There is consensus that Trump voters were more energized for the 2024 election cycle,” she said via email. “The Republican Party has a more closed presidential primary system that may have attracted some new party members.”

The California GOP, she added, “has been more organized in recent years. There is also good evidence that the Trump campaign had success in micro-targeting male voters who had been previously disengaged from politics. Democratic voter registration efforts were not as visible.”

Inland Democrats were on a roll for most of the 21st century.

They swept races for several open legislative and House seats in 2012 and four years later, Democrats overtook the GOP in Riverside County’s voter registration.

The blue winning streak ended with a thud last year.

Trump became the first Republican presidential candidate in 20 years to win Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Also, the GOP scored upset wins in two Inland Assembly districts and saw several Inland incumbents — Rep. Ken Calvert, state Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh and Assemblymember Greg Wallis — win reelection against well-financed challengers.

In cities from southern San Bernardino County to mid-Riverside County, the number of GOP-registered voters since 2020 grew 16.6% compared to 6.09% for Democrats.

Republicans’ biggest gains were in Chino, Colton, Fontana, Jurupa Valley, Lake Elsinore, Montclair, Moreno Valley, Ontario, Perris, Pomona, Rialto and San Jacinto. In those cities, Republican voter ranks swelled by at least 23%.

Overall, Republican voter registration outpaced Democrats in 24 Inland cities, including large cities such as Riverside, Corona, San Bernardino and Rancho Cucamonga.

For the most part, the GOP’s biggest gains came in cities with sizable Latino populations. With the exception of Chino and Lake Elsinore, Latinos accounted for roughly two-thirds of residents in cities where Republican voter registration grew by at least 22%.

This tracks with 2024 gains Republicans and Trump made with Latino voters nationwide. While Joe Biden won the Latino vote by 25 percentage points in 2020, Kamala Harris won it by just 3 percentage points four years later, according to the Pew Research Center.

Most Latinos are about “God and family and the Democrat Party is not necessarily the best platform regarding family values,” said Riverside County Republican Central Committee member Daniel Silvas of Jurupa Valley.

“In the last couple of years, the school boards and a lot of these Democrats have been infringing on parental rights, family rights and also taking away rights from our own kids at public schools,” said Silvas, a 34-year-old father of three and the son of Mexican immigrants.

“Being a parent, I’m really upset with that.”

In talking with local voters, Silvas said Republicans will tell them about a “no-name” political party that’s “voting for that bill and voting for this.”

“(They say) ‘Oh, that’s horrible. Why are they passing this? Who’s passing this?’ Well, the Democrats are passing this. Do you still see yourself (as a) Democrat?”

Mike Madrid, a political strategist and expert on Latino voting behavior, said Latinos are both an ethnic voting bloc and a populist economic voter bloc.

“When the economy is doing really poorly and affordability is off the charts, they’re an economic voter and rejecting Biden/Harris,” said Madrid, a co-founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project.

“When there’s ICE and immigration crackdowns and constitutional violations and federal overreach and elimination of due process, they’re an ethnic voting block.”

He added: “It’s not a swing voter. It’s a spurned voter … These voters are basically saying: ‘You’re racist (and) you’re nativist Republicans, you’re a failure on the economy and education Democrats. I’m going to punish whoever is in there and isn’t doing what they should be doing.’”

Despite outpacing Democrats, Republicans have a long way to go before turning the Inland Empire red.

Democrats make up close to 40% of voters in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Meanwhile, the percentage of GOP voters has stayed relatively flat since 2020 — 32% in San Bernardino County and 31% in Riverside County.

Most cities where Republicans made the biggest gains remain solidly Democratic. In Perris, where GOP voter registration went up 49%, roughly 49% of voters are Democrats compared to 19% who are registered Republicans as of June.

In eight Inland cities — Claremont, Hemet, La Verne, Menifee, Murrieta, Redlands, Temecula and Wildomar — Democrats registered voters at a greater clip than Republicans between October 2020 and June 2025.

Democrats tend to do well with White, college-educated voters, a trend reflected in the party’s Inland gains. Claremont, La Verne, Murrieta, Redlands and Temecula have more White residents than Latinos, and at least four in 10 residents in those cities hold a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Washington, the San Bernardino Democratic Party chair, said voters “never thought the world would change if they didn’t (vote).

Now, she said, “the world is changing” because of immigration raids and the GOP’s tax cuts for the rich and social services cuts, among other recent events.

“That type of eye-opening realization is how we are combating efforts to drive up Republican voter registration around the county,” Washington said.

Sky Allen, executive director of the progressive group Inland Empire United, noted 2024 Inland voter turnout was low compared to 2020. She hopes public anger about the Trump administration changes that, regardless of voters’ party affiliation.

“I think there’s lots of ways that we’re hearing from the community that they don’t appreciate what’s happening regardless of who they voted for,” Allen said.

“And I think that our priority as an organization is to try to capture that … If you’re angry enough to take time out of your weekend to go to a protest, then you should be submitting a ballot that reflects your values and ideals in June of next year and November of next year as well as 2028.”

Madrid said that “it may be enough to be anti-Republican in this climate … my caution to Democrats is that in 2018 … Latinos had the highest midterm turnout in history, and it was the most anti-Republican.”

“But after that, the next three election cycles have the biggest rightward shift in American history. Democrats continue to think that just being anti-Republican or that anti-Republican sentiment is enough.”

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