Your guide to CA Assembly 33rd District primary. Seat includes Fresno, Tulare, Kings
The state Assembly’s 33rd District that represents large portions of Kings and Tulare counties, and a relatively small piece of Fresno County, has drawn a face off between the incumbent and a former mayor.
The district stretches from Reedley on the north end and covers portions of Kingsburg and Selma as it reaches down through Hanford and Lemoore to Avenal in the west and Porterville to the east. It also includes several unincorporated areas such as Allensworth and Pixley, but skirts around a significant part of Visalia and all of Exeter.
Incumbent Assemblywoman Alexandra “Ali” Macedo (R-Tulare) has drawn a challenger in Hipolito Angel Cerros, the former mayor of Lindsay.
What to know about the 33rd District
The San Joaquin Valley district has a fairly even split of the 218,770 registered voters between the two major parties. Republicans have an edge with 36.4% (79,596) of the registered electorate while Democrats make up 32.9% (72,045) of voters in the district.
Registered voters by county in the district include 137,589 in Tulare, 59,478 in Kings and 21,703 in Fresno.
Who are the candidates?
Macedo won election in 2024 after the retirement of Republican Devon Mathis, who served a decade in office. A Portuguese-American, Macedo is a small business owner with roots in agriculture.
After college, Macedo joined the family business with Macedo Engineering & Consulting Inc., which works with crop and dairy farmers for “environmental compliance assistance and consulting along with agricultural design and project management,” according to her website.
She has touted endorsements from Republican leadership in the state Senate as well as law enforcement leaders, including Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp, Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni and Tulare County Sheriff Mike Boudreaux.
Cerros was the youngest-ever person elected to office in Lindsay in 2022, when his fellow council members voted him to be mayor at age 24. He previously joined the Lindsay City Council in 2020 after graduating from UC Davis.
Lindsay has what’s commonly referred to as a weak mayor system, in which the mayor is not elected independently by voters but rather is chosen by a vote among council members. Clovis, for example, uses that kind of system, which differs from the strong mayor system in Fresno.
The members of the council also voted to remove Cerros from the mayor’s role in 2024, according to reporting by the Sun Gazette. He previously pulled papers to run in the 33rd District but dropped out of the race that Macedo ultimately won.
Campaign money
Macedo has this year gathered $91,727 and spent $126,913, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office. She also reported having an ending cash balance of $541,083.
Cerros did not have any campaign contributions paperwork listed on the Secretary of State’s website.
