Election 2024: Newcomer challenges Karina Quintanilla for Palm Desert council seat

With several months left until the official nomination period for Palm Desert’s city council elections, a pair of candidates — incumbent Councilmember Karina Quintanilla and political newcomer Ron De Luna — have already confirmed their intention to run in District 1.

More candidates could emerge in the coming months to run in District 1, which covers Civic Center Park and some surrounding areas along Fred Waring Drive and north of Highway 111. So far, just Quintanilla and De Luna have filed candidate intention statements with the city clerk.

The election will be Palm Desert’s first with five voting districts, after the council approved a final map in January, following several months of public hearings and workshops. The city had long elected council members at large, but that changed following a 2019 voting rights lawsuit that argued the system diluted the voting power of Latino residents. In the 2020 and 2022 election cycles, the council deployed a unique two-district setup that included District 1, whose boundaries were unchanged by the recent shift to five districts. The council also agreed to get rid of ranked-choice voting as part of the transition.

The official nomination period for candidates opens July 15 and closes Aug. 9. To figure out which district they live in, residents can visit the city clerk's page on PalmDesert.gov and click on the blue box labeled “Locate Your Voting District,” which links to an interactive map of the five districts.

Quintanilla seeks second term on council

Quintanilla, a former graduate affairs officer at UC Riverside’s School of Medicine who still does some consulting work, was one of two plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed against the city in 2019 that led to the two-district compromise. She then won election in District 1 after it was created in 2020, becoming the city’s first Latina mayor during the position’s annual rotation in December.

Quintanilla said in an interview that getting the city to transition to a five-district system was one of her priorities in her first term, a process she said involved open community engagement. She also noted residents’ support for the move in a 2022 ballot measure, when roughly 53% of voters backed the move.

One of the arguments for the change to five districts was that the two-district system gave some voters more representation than others. Those in District 1 had one council member, while those in the former District 2 — the rest of the city — chose the other four.

“This is what the community wanted, the community supported, and not just people in District 1 wanted this to happen,” Quintanilla said, later adding she considers herself a servant for all Palm Desert residents, not just those in her district.

If re-elected, Quintanilla said there are certain issues “we can all agree on” that she would prioritize — specifically, continuing efforts for a standalone university at California State University, San Bernardino’s satellite Palm Desert campus, and pushing for Palm Desert to get a rail station for a daily passenger train planned from Los Angeles to the Coachella Valley.

Quintanilla added she frequently hears from business owners and residents about homelessness, saying she’s proud that Palm Desert has specific initiatives focused on the issue, with the city partnering with CityNet on outreach efforts. She noted the city has also hired a homeless and support services manager, with more plans in the work.

“We're looking right now at the possibility of an assisted living facility that has plenty of spaces to see if there could be a partnership achieved (for) seniors at risk of losing housing, that have medical conditions or those that are on the street because of those medical conditions,” Quintanilla said.

Quintanilla said she also hopes to continue the council’s work on providing a variety of “labor force” housing. She also said the growth of housing in University Park in the city’s north end is crucial to boost the city’s aspirations for a standalone college, offering more housing for students and faculty.

“We need to understand that across all income levels, there is housing insecurity, and there is a lack of affordability,” Quintanilla said. “Whether it's apartments or gated communities, there are very different needs within each of them.”

Quintanilla said she’s also pushed to make the city’s website more accessible for residents during her first term by making the fonts larger and easier to read.

De Luna focused on transparency, resident engagement

De Luna, a long-time valley resident, is retired after working in hospitality as a chef, a concierge and a shuttle driver, as well as a stint as a canyon foreman for the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians. He's lived in Palm Desert for the past 15 years and readily acknowledges that he’s “not a person with experience in politics.” Rather, his council campaign is largely focused on promoting transparency within city government.

“I want to know, and I believe the voters have a right to know, what the council knows and when they know it. And that to me does not occur under the current format,” De Luna said in an interview.

De Luna said he thinks some projects are already “a done deal” by the time they get on the radar of residents, though he added that he’s “not saying that anything has been done under the table.”

Specifically, De Luna said he wants to see the council do away with its closed sessions, which are held for a variety of reasons, including legal discussions, prospective land deals and employment evaluations. He said he’s heard feedback that getting rid of closed sessions would hurt the city’s ability to do business, but he remains skeptical of their necessity.

“What are we hiding from? The outcome will be what the outcome is,” De Luna said. “I would like to see more physical, live interaction with people that choose to show up in council — more debate, more dialogue.”

De Luna said he doesn’t have campaign advisors or support from any political groups for his run in District 1, and he doesn’t plan to take contributions via a campaign committee.

De Luna also mentioned the city’s finances, noting there’s still a possibility of a 2024 ballot measure to increase Palm Desert’s sales tax by a full percentage point. He declined to say whether he would support the measure, while noting many cities have approved the higher sales tax rate.

On the topic of housing, De Luna said he would use his perspective as a lifelong renter, as well as from living on a fixed income, to guide his decisions if elected to the council. He added he would like to see cutting-edge designs on new developments that use solar-powered batteries during power outages.

“It's going to take a collective effort,” De Luna said. “Everybody should be at the table. Everybody should be having a voice.”

The general election, including Palm Desert’s council races, is set for Nov. 5.

Tom Coulter covers the cities of Palm Desert, La Quinta, Rancho Mirage and Indian Wells. Reach him at thomas.coulter@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Election 2024: Newcomer challenges Quintanilla for Palm Desert council