# United States Representative, District 25 Compare records and positions simply between Raul Ruiz or Joe Males for United States Representative, District 25 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives (2-year term). - Jurisdiction: Federal - Election: November 3, 2026 California general election - Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements. - Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-25 - Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/ - Sources last retrieved: September 24, 2026 - Source-objectivity score: 89 out of 100 (Strong), across 12 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Raul Ruiz** — Emergency Physician/Congressman · Democratic - **Joe Males** — Mayor Pro Tem · Republican Representative Raul Ruiz took 60.0% of the June 2 vote and Republican Joe Males took 18.9% to claim the second slot — though Males raised $936,496, an unusually large sum for a candidate finishing that far back. The district covers the Coachella Valley and eastern Riverside County. The winner holds one of 435 seats in the U.S. House for a two-year term. A member introduces bills, sits on committees that shape federal legislation, votes on the federal budget and on war powers, and handles casework between constituents and federal agencies. Seniority governs committee standing, so a longer-serving member carries influence a newcomer cannot. The incumbent has one of the stronger enacted records in the delegation at 4 career laws. His challenger raised nearly a million dollars, almost entirely from individuals, and still finished 41 points back — a reminder that money and votes are separate measures. Weigh federal seniority against a well-funded but distant challenge. ## Raul Ruiz Raul Ruiz, an emergency physician, has represented this Coachella Valley district in Congress since 2013. "The son of hardworking farmworkers," he grew up in Coachella and, in the summer of 1990, "walked in the desert heat from business to business... asking them to invest in their community" toward his college education, promising to return and serve as a physician (campaign site). He went on to become "the first Latino to earn three graduate degrees" from Harvard, working abroad with Partners in Health and on earthquake relief in Haiti. He then returned home to found the Coachella Valley Healthcare Initiative (campaign site). "In the ER, I learned that life-and-death situations require working as a team," Ruiz says. "We treat the patient and solve the problems. That’s the same approach I’ve brought to Congress" (campaign site). In May 2026 he called the Trump administration "the most corrupt administration in the history of the United States" and said he was drafting a "No Profits for Pardons Act." The bill would require anyone who financially benefited from a presidential pardon to repay the money and, if wrongdoing is proven, serve out their sentence (NBC Palm Springs). The bill had not received a vote as of this writing. Ruiz says his priorities are protecting Medicare and Social Security and cutting the cost of prescription drugs (campaign site). He points to his work securing funding for Salton Sea cleanup and Lithium Valley development. He says that as "an emergency room physician," not "a career politician," he is focused on "lowering out-of-pocket costs" for families (OC Register). **Strengths:** More than a decade of federal seniority, an Energy and Commerce Committee seat, and a documented record of proposed legislation on pardons and health costs. **Trade-offs:** A safe seat means his record has mostly been tested in low-competition primaries rather than close general elections. **Keep in mind:** His corruption accusation against the Trump administration is a public charge tied to a bill he says he is drafting, not yet a completed legislative record. ## Joe Males Joe Males, Hemet’s Mayor Pro Tem, is "a Marine Veteran, small business-owner, city council member, and most importantly, a father" (campaign site). He enlisted in the Marine Corps after turning 18, trained at Camp Pendleton, and served overseas in the Philippines and Guam before an honorable discharge as a sergeant. He then built a computer networking business "from the ground up" starting in 1996 (campaign site). "After his son, a Marine who followed in his footsteps, was tragically murdered back home, Joe vowed that no parent should have to endure such a loss," his campaign says, and he ran for Hemet City Council (campaign site). "That moment changed my life, and I vowed to fight for safer communities, uphold the rule of law, and prevent other families from facing such heartbreak," he said. "Public safety is not just a talking point for me" (Press Enterprise). In 2021, a Riverside County Superior Court judge annulled Males’s 2020 election to the council, ruling he had not yet moved into the district he was elected to represent when he filed to run (Valley News). Males went on to win a later election to the same District 4 seat. Males says the top issues are "the cost of living, public safety and immigration policy, and government accountability" (OC Register). He supports "stronger border security, consistent enforcement of the law, and better coordination," along with a functioning legal immigration system. He also says members of Congress should be barred from trading individual stocks and required to use blind trusts (OC Register). **Strengths:** A Marine Corps and small-business background, plus six years on the Hemet council including infrastructure and public safety work. **Trade-offs:** A court annulled his first council election over a residency violation, though he later won the seat back in a subsequent election. **Keep in mind:** He says his son's murder is why he entered politics; how much weight to give a personal motivation like that is a call this profile leaves to you. ## Record in office Raul Ruiz (Democratic) has served in the U.S. House since 2013 and has sponsored 35 bills in the 119th Congress; 4 of their career bills have become law. Joe Males has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Per Congress.gov and the public-domain congress-legislators roster, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Record details Ruiz — Committees: Energy and Commerce Ruiz — HR 8641 (2025): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 401 Main Street in Brawley, California, as the "Walter Francis Ulloa Memorial Post Office Building". Ruiz — HR 897 (2023): Agua Caliente Land Exchange Fee to Trust Confirmation Act Ruiz — HR 7925 (2022): To designate the Department of Veterans Affairs community-based outpatient clinic located in Palm Desert, California, as the "Sy Kaplan VA Clinic". Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Raul Ruiz** — $2,093,907 raised (Individuals: $1,107,924; PACs & committees: $969,251) - **Joe Males** — $936,496 raised (Individuals: $880,028; PACs & committees: $450) Total raised is all receipts for the 2026 cycle; the breakdown lists direct contributions, so the pieces can sum below the total. Figures are FEC filings through June 30, 2026, per the FEC bulk campaign-finance summaries, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Review notes - Joe Males for Congress and Dr. Raul Ruiz for Congress may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources. ## Sources 1. [CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-07-10)](https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/primary-election-june-2-2026/statement-vote) 2. [Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary](https://ballotpedia.org) 3. [Dr. Raul Ruiz for Congress — campaign site (About/Meet Dr. Ruiz)](https://drraulruiz.com/about/) 4. [NBC Palm Springs — Congressman Raul Ruiz Accuses Trump Administration of Corruption, Proposes ‘No Profits for Pardons Act’](https://www.nbcpalmsprings.com/2026/05/07/congressman-raul-ruiz-accuses-trump-administration-of-corruption-proposes-no-profits-for-pardons-act/) 5. [Orange County Register — Raul Ruiz, CA-25 candidate, 2026 primary election questionnaire](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/05/05/raul-ruiz-ca-25-candidate-2026-primary-election-questionnaire/) 6. [Joe Males for Congress — campaign site (About Joe)](https://joemalesca.com/) 7. [The Press-Enterprise — Hemet Councilmember Joe Males plans to run for Congress in 2026](https://www.pressenterprise.com/2025/04/10/hemet-councilmember-joe-males-plans-to-run-for-congress-in-2026/) 8. [Valley News — Court rules Hemet City Council seat once held by Joe Males annulled](https://myvalleynews.com/court-rules-hemet-city-council-seat-once-held-by-joe-males-annulled/) 9. [Orange County Register — Joe Males, CA-25 candidate, 2026 primary election questionnaire](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/05/05/joe-males-ca-25-candidate-2026-primary-election-questionnaire/) 10. [congress-legislators — current members of Congress (unitedstates project)](https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-current.json) 11. [Congress.gov — member sponsored legislation (Library of Congress)](https://api.congress.gov/) 12. [FEC — 2026 House & Senate current-campaign financial summaries (bulk data)](https://www.fec.gov/files/bulk-downloads/2026/webl26.zip) ## The rest of the ballot United States Representative, District 25 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/ ## How to cite this page Vote or Else, "United States Representative, District 25 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-25 (sources last retrieved September 24, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.