Joaquin Arambula, a long-time emergency room doctor in Selma, but also scion of a politically active local family, this week officially announced that he would seek the 31st Assembly District seat.
It’s the same seat that was held by his father, Juan, from 2004-10. He stood by his son as he made his announcement, as did Henry T. Perea, a Fresno Democrat who currently holds the seat. Perea will reach his term limit next year.
“I’m jumping in and it was nice to tell everyone I’m serious,” Arambula said later in the week. He made his official announcement on Monday.
Arambula, 37, recently moved from Clovis to Kingsburg and registered as a Democrat. He had been registered with no political party.
Over the last several months, Arambula said, he has started talking to people around the central San Joaquin Valley, “taking off my doctor’s hat to interview them about what life is like… I want to be their voice for the Valley.”
Arambula is the first person to enter the race, and he will likely benefit from the 31st District’s Democratic Party registration advantage. The most recent voter-registration statistics show Democrats at 48.8% of voters and Republicans 28.3%. Around 18.6% are members of no political party. The district covers a huge part of southern Fresno County as well as its western half.
One potential Arambula opponent is Fresno City Council Member Clint Olivier, a Republican. But another is a Democrat — Luis Chavez, a Fresno Unified trustee who last year unsuccessfully ran against incumbent state Sen. Andy Vidak, a Hanford Republican.
http://www.fresnobee.com/2015/05/15/4526975_arambula-officially-announces.html?sp=/99/406/263/&rh=1