While candidates and their supporters in Palm Springs nervously await the final results of the Nov. 8 election, a City Council seat that wasn’t on the ballot could also need to be filled.
District 4 City Councilmember Christy Holstege is in a tight race for State Assembly in the 47th District over challenger Greg Wallis. If she departs the City Council it would leave an open seat that will be filled by either appointment or special election.
There are four people who have stepped up to say they want the District 4 seat, should it open.
Joe Jackson, a former chair of the city’s Sustainability Commission, filed paperwork earlier this year indicating he intended to seek the District 4 seat if it were up for election. Last month, Ernest Cecena — chairman of the Tahquitz Creek Golf Neighborhood Organization – also filed the paperwork, as did David Rios, a realtor and interior designer who serves on the local Board of Realtors and is an ambassador with the city’s Chamber of Commerce.
Earlier this month, Naomi Soto, chair of the city’s Measure J Oversight Commission and chair-elect of Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest, said she is also interested in the seat, should it become available.
District 4 is bordered by almost all of the other districts in the city and contains all or part of the neighborhoods of Sonora Sunrise, Gateway, Los Compadres, Rimrock, and others. During the redistricting process earlier this year, a pair of streets in the Lawrence Crossley neighborhood shifted from District 4 to District 1.
- You can check whether you live in District 4 via this interactive map.