California Senate District 4 is the largest in the state, hugging the Nevada border from Lake Tahoe in the north to Death Valley in the south, and jutting as far west as Del Puerto Canyon in Stanislaus County.

Home to about 625,000 registered voters, District 4 is a conservative stronghold, ranking fourth among California’s 40 senate districts for most registered Republicans.

Needless to say, Democrat Jaron Brandon knows what he’s in for as he launches his bid to unseat incumbent Sen. Marie Alvarado-Gil (R-Jackson).

“It’s a big district, and I'm making my way around,” said Brandon, who graduated from UC Merced in 2015 with a degree in political science. “I like to go meet everybody, and I like to attend the group meetings and have people ask questions. So, I am spending most of my early time on the phone or at events with people so they can meet me and ask questions.”

The 33-year-old Brandon, currently serving his second term as Tuolumne County’s District 5 Supervisor, knows what it’s like to run as a liberal in conservative territory.

Tuolumne County, where conservatives outnumber liberals by about 2-to-1, ranks ninth among California’s 58 counties for most registered Republicans. Still, Brandon won the 2020 general election with 59.4 percent of the vote, and decided matters early when he drew 57.5 percent of the vote in the 2024 primary.

Now he’s ready to take on Alvarado-Gil and Republican Jeramy Young, the former mayor of Hughson and current police chief in Livermore, in the June 2, 2026, primary.

“I think a lot of the time people overthink running for office,” said Brandon. “They feel like it’s  too complicated, it's too mean, it's too political, or it’s too large of a district. Really, it’s just a matter of putting in the time. Whether people like me or not is up to them. But so far, it's been very positive. I just tell them, ‘Here’s what I’m about.’”

In 2022, six Republicans — including well-known former Congressman George Radanovich — ran for the seat and split the vote enough that the two Democrats candidates were the top vote recipients and slipped through to the General Election. There, Alvarado-Gil defeated Tim Robertson by 5 percentage points to take the seat. However, last summer, Alvarado-Gil made an unexpected switch to the Republican Party. That potentially opens a path for Brandon, who said he entered the race to be a voice in Sacramento for the unheard — the same reason he sought a supervisorial seat.

“I was hoping to find somebody who might make a change,” said Brandon. “Somebody asked me squarely, ‘Are you waiting for somebody else to do all the work, or are you willing to do it yourself?’ And that was basically the moment …

“We needed somebody that cared about the issues I care about, like housing, and job opportunities. We needed somebody that could win. We needed somebody willing to put in the time, and who was in it for the right reasons. Yeah, who was I looking for? I was very green, but I wanted to help people.”