Modesto holds contentious California Senate District 4 debate
Candidates for state Senate District 4 answered substantive questions and traded barbs during a debate in downtown Modesto last week. The April 9 gathering of the three candidates was hosted by the Maddy Institute and the Stanislaus Taxpayers Association.
Marie Alvarado-Gil is defending her seat against fellow Republican Alexandra Duarte and Democrat Jaron Brandon. The Senate district includes all or parts of 12 Central Valley and foothills counties: Alpine, Amador, Calaveras, El Dorado, Inyo, Madera, Mariposa, Merced, Mono, Nevada, Placer, Stanislaus and Tuolumne.
The Century event center was packed for the debate, with many in the audience wearing campaign T-shirts.
Voters’ hopes and reactions
Barbara Lewis Jensen wore a red Duarte T-shirt, American flag pants and a headband with two bobbling America-flag printed stars.
“I just think that Marie Alvarado-Gil has too much baggage to continue in this position,” Jensen said. “She appears knowledgeable because she’s in it, but she’s got too much baggage.”
Debbie Martinez, founder of the parent advocacy group We R La Raza, wore a white Alvarado-Gil shirt. “I’d like to see one of these candidates take public education seriously,” she said. “Miss Alvarado-Gil is on board with diminishing the school-to-prison pipeline.”
Ruthann White, who drove from Calaveras County, said she supports Brandon because she appreciates his drive, passion, and that he isn’t accepting corporate money. She wore a yellow “Let’s go Jaron Brandon” shirt.
“I’d like to hear the candidates talk about local, meaning this district’s, issues,” White said prior to the debate. “I’d like to know how they feel about some national issues, but I don’t know if we have time for that.”
Candidate positions
Duarte focused on deregulation and promises to bring President Donald Trump’s policies to the district.
“I am going to expose the fraud and abuse that is up there, and we’re going to make California great again,” Duarte said.
Six times during the debate, she referenced the trans community, saying at one point, “I am running because we have an incumbent that voted for a nuisance budget three times $6 billion that went to illegal immigrants getting welfare funding for transgender sex changes on the taxpayer dollar.”
Twice, she compared state-run programs as examples of communism, including the housing mandates and regulations like CEQA, which she said needed reform. Each time she did, it elicited a loud and mixed reaction from the crowd.
Alvarado-Gil defended her record and vowed to rebalance the Democratic supermajority by increasing Republican presence in Sacramento. In 2024, she switched her party from Democrat to Republican.
“California is controlled by a supermajority Democratic Party,” Alvarado-Gil said. “We are not able to make any fiscal decisions currently.”
Brandon drew from his experience as a Tuolumne County supervisor and said he would focus on the issues rather than partisan grandstanding. “I am not a status quo candidate,’ Brandon said. “I am something different, and my promises aren’t empty. ”
On education, Duarte focused on increasing parental rights and Brandon said he is interested in looking at ways to more efficiently distribute school funding from Proposition 98 by taking recommendations from the Legislative Analyst’s Office.
For community colleges and CSUs in the area, Brandon said more funding and focus should be put into career technical education.
“It is not just a two-year transfer degree to get a four-year liberal arts education,” Brandon said. “It is ultimately the place that people go to get a job that they will spend the rest of their life in and graduate with good benefits, good pay and be able to raise a family on.”
Duarte emphasized that education is important to her and that community colleges could work with local businesses to ensure their education is relevant.
Alvarado-Gil said she believes college is a way to break the school-to-prison pipeline and there should be technical training for students to encourage more teachers and first responders.
Candidates weigh in on water
Candidates also discussed water rights. Duarte praised MID, TID and OID and said more support needs to be provided by the state and federal government to those districts.
She suggested dredging canals and increasing reservoir capacity. As an example, she said that this would help the city of Waterford get connected to surface waters to provide better water quality.
“We can have farming, we can have manufacturing, and we can still have some water for the salmon,” Duarte said.
Alvarado-Gil said she plans to protect water rights for Central Valley farmers. She then accused Duarte of trying to use the position of California senator to ingratiate herself as a member of the Duarte Nursery business.
“What I’m not in support of is manipulating the laws and evading $7 million of penalties for contaminating our waters here in California,” Alvarado-Gil said.
The Duarte Nursery settled a lawsuit with the Army Corps of Engineers after it accused the nursery of violating the Clean Water Act.
Brandon said he wants project oversight to provide accountability to funds already approved for water projects, like those approved through Proposition 1 that funded water infrastructure. He also said contracts between the Bay Area and Los Angeles need to be reviewed because they are “fundamentally unfair.”
The candidates were asked about how they would help make the state budget more predictable.
Duarte said there is enough money for the state to meet residents’ needs if it removes funding for “teaching kids about different genders” and “illegal immigrants.”
Alvarado-Gil said she supports outcome-based policymaking and her priority is first responders and core government functions.
Brandon suggested that to stem the boom-or-bust cycle of the state’s budget, there should be a ballot measure to ensure that during surplus years, extra funds could be used only for clearly defined one-time projects.
The drama
After Brandon referred to his two fellow candidates being in a “butt-kissing contest” with Trump, Alvarado-Gil stood up and claimed he was accusing her of sexual misconduct.
“I’m not going to let any man accuse me of sexual misconduct ever,” Alvarado-Gil said, standing up and pointing at Brandon. “So you take that back. I will stand up to every allegation.”
In an interview with The Bee afterward, Brandon said he was confused by her statement and wasn’t in any way accusing her of sexual misconduct. “That that was somehow misconstrued as not, you know, a saying, but a physical action – that’s just, I think, a very silly take by a very sensitive person,” Brandon said.
Twice after Brandon’s remarks, Duarte referenced the ongoing lawsuit alleging sexual harassment by Alvarado-Gil. “If we’re going to talk about shame, the incumbent has a current lawsuit when she’s sitting senator against her, an employee on company time, and she said — and this is in the lawsuit — ‘Kiss it and prove your loyalty,’” Duarte said. Alvarado-Gil defended herself by stating the state Senate stood behind her after a thorough investigation and “exonerated” her.
Additionally, after Duarte repeatedly brought up the trans community as a stand-in for waste, fraud and abuse, Brandon said in response, “Shut up about trans kids and shut up about all these partisan politics.”
California is an open primary, meaning the top two vote-getters on June 2, regardless of party, will advance to the general election on Nov. 3.
This story was originally published April 13, 2026 at 3:26 PM.
