City of San Jacinto
The Southwest Riverside County Biz PAC sent every candidate the following candidate questionnaire. The intent was to cover as many business issues as possible to get to know the candidate better. We recognize that some response choices may not fully reflect the candidate’s position, but we acknowledged that and asked them to submit the option that most closely reflects their view.
Meet the Candidates
Office Sought
City Council of San Jacinto
Brian E. Hawkins
1. In 100 words or less, why are you running for office?
I'm running because San Jacinto keeps getting promises instead of progress. I've watched roads crumble in neighborhoods without political connections, watched the Vosberg Hotel sit empty for a decade, watched a funded Boys & Girls Club never get built, and watched our seniors and veterans get priced out of the city they helped build. I didn't start in politics — I started by listening to my neighbors, at the pews and the porches. My faith calls me to serve, not perform. This campaign is about turning red tape into results: safer streets through opportunity, real infrastructure, and a city that finally finishes what it starts.
2. What impact will you have on this community if you don't win this election?
Losing an election doesn't end the work — it just means doing it without a title. I'll keep showing up the way I always have: organizing the community petition on neglected roads, advocating before the council on data privacy and the Real Time Crime Center, and pushing directly for the Vosberg Hotel revitalization and the Boys & Girls Club the city already promised. My commitment to San Jacinto's seniors, veterans, and small businesses isn't contingent on winning a seat — it's rooted in faith and in years of service that predate this campaign. If I don't win, I'll still be at every council meeting holding City Hall accountable, because this was never about the title. It was always about the city.
3. Tell us about a time you were convinced of a position on an issue, then learned more and changed your mind.
I registered as a Republican because I believed in what I called the Frederick Douglass Republican tradition — the party of Lincoln and abolition, where conservative values like personal responsibility and community investment weren't at odds with Black liberation. I was convinced I could change the party from the inside. Then I watched what I was actually being asked to represent: mediating a school board pushing book bans in Temecula, standing in rooms in Georgia during the Herschel Walker runoff watching Black Republicans used for optics rather than power. I came home and left the party. I was wrong about how much I could change from the inside — not about the underlying belief that my community deserves better than either party offers. I registered Independent. Not a retreat. An act of integrity.