Meet your candidate: Patricia Lizarraga runs for Imperial County Board of Supervisors District 5
IMPERIAL COUNTY, Calif (KYMA) — With less than a week remaining until Election Day, the race for Imperial County’s District Five Board of Supervisors seat is entering its final, decisive stretch. As candidates put the finishing touches on their months-long campaigns, voters are preparing to head to the polls next Tuesday, June 2, to decide who will lead the county's largest geographical territory.
Three candidates are locked in a competitive battle for the open seat: Patricia Lizarraga, John Hawk, and Lorena Minor-Montes. Under county election rules, a candidate must secure a strict majority of 50 percent plus one of the total vote to win the seat outright. If no single candidate reaches that threshold next Tuesday, the top two vote-getters will advance to a head-to-head runoff in the November general election.
Patricia Lizarraga is anchoring her campaign on her professional background in finance. She argues that the Board of Supervisors deeply needs an experienced, analytical perspective to evaluate how county dollars are being allocated and spent.
“I’m very good with numbers, and I would like to see how is this benefiting my community,” Lizarraga said, framing her candidacy around transparency and fiscal accountability.
Infrastructure development in the Imperial Valley routinely encounters severe financial pushback and budget constraints. Lizarraga insists that vital community spaces cannot be left to deteriorate due to lack of local funds. She pledges to aggressively target external revenue to fix the district's aging public assets.
“Roads, parks, public spaces… I will make sure that we secure funds for those priorities,” Lizarraga promised.
Lizarraga plans to apply that same dollar-driven, aggressive pursuit of revenue to the regional homelessness crisis. Rather than attempting to build entirely new systems from scratch, she wants to reinforce and expand successful processes that have already been initiated within the City of Calexico. The primary obstacle holding these local programs back, she notes, is a lack of sustainable cash flow.
“I will make sure that I can seek state and federal funding so we can fund and continue to serve those programs that already exist," Lizarraga explained. "It’s just that they haven’t been funded yet.”
While economic development is a major talking point in the race, Lizarraga issued a sharp warning regarding how current commercial ventures are being managed. Specifically, she expressed deep skepticism about the county's current trajectory regarding proposed desert data centers.
“I’m opposed totally [to] the way it’s being handled right now," Lizarraga stated firmly. "I’m not against economic development, but it has to be responsible.”
For Lizarraga, a core pillar of "responsible development" means guaranteeing that any tech or industrial boom directly benefits the local workforce. She asserts that outside companies looking to build in the desert must prioritize Imperial Valley residents over out-of-town commuters.
“Any new company that will come has to hire local people first,” she said.
Beyond jobs and local infrastructure, the next District Five supervisor will face immediate and continuous pressure regarding immigration enforcement, including the operations of regional Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers.
Lizarraga argues that the county needs to take a step back and thoroughly audit its relationship with federal authorities and private contractors running these facilities.
“Go back and analyze our contracts or negotiations and review what is being done and what is expected,” Lizarraga said.
Election Day takes place next Tuesday, June 2. Local residents can learn more about the candidates, look up their specific polling places, and find out how to cast their ballots by visiting ImperialCounty.org.
