Rooted in Banning. Ready to Govern.

Chris Castorena is running for Banning City Council in District 5 because this city belongs to the people who live here, not the people who profit off of it. For too long, Banning residents have been left to live with rising costs, truck traffic, weak infrastructure, and decisions made behind closed doors while somebody else walks away with the benefit. Chris is running to change that.

Rooted here

Before graduating from Banning High, Chris moved 10 times, but he never left Banning. He stayed in Banning Unified, was part of only the second class to complete the district’s dual immersion program, and grew up playing in the City basketball league. Like a lot of people here, he was taught that success meant leaving. He left for school, got more education, and saw more of the world. But the farther he got, the more he missed the city that raised him, and the more wrong it felt that people here were taught to treat leaving like the only serious plan.

Chris is a first-generation college graduate with two bachelor’s degrees and a Master of Public Policy from UC Riverside. He did not get that education to stay away. He got it to come back sharper, more prepared, and more committed to making sure Banning residents stop paying the price for decisions made without them.

Built and organized here

Chris co-founded A Better Banning and helped organize real support during the pandemic, including rental relief, housing assistance, and direct mutual aid for unhoused neighbors when the usual systems weren’t enough. He also helped lead the Banning Future Fellowship, which hosted the city’s first-ever youth-led community summit and paid young people a living wage for their work. That effort took local youth seriously and produced a 50-page report with 30 local solutions for Banning.

His commitment to this area didn’t start with this campaign, and it didn’t stop there. He has spent years serving across the San Gorgonio Pass through schools, service clubs, housing work, community organizing, and civic life, including leadership with the San Gorgonio Education Foundation, the San Gorgonio Pass Rotary Club, Pass Kiwanis, Pass Community Foundation, Faith in Action of the San Gorgonio Pass, Banning Housing & Homelessness Solutions, Pass Young Democrats, Banning Chamber of Commerce, Beaumont Chamber of Commerce, and Pass Civics. Pass Civics started as a class he taught at the Banning Community Center through the City’s Parks and Recreation Department, and it has since grown into a Pass Community Foundation program, where he’ll serve as lead facilitator for Pass Civics Academy.

For Chris, service has never been about titles. It’s been about showing up for our people and putting down roots deep enough to fight for this place over the long haul.

Fought for residents

Chris serves on the Banning Planning Commission, where he reviews major development proposals and asks the questions too many people in power would rather rush past. He has voted no on projects tied to warehouse sprawl, truck traffic, and more pollution when they didn’t come with real, enforceable benefits for residents.

His standard is simple: if a project is going to make money off Banning, the people who live here shouldn’t be left with the damage.

Chris is also a caregiver for his dad, a Vietnam veteran who now needs full-time care. That leaves very little patience for excuses. When you’re helping someone you love get through the day, you learn fast that every delay matters, every extra cost matters, and every broken system lands somewhere real.

Ready to govern

Professionally, Chris has worked at the state and regional level in economic development, helping steward nearly $30 million in public investment aimed at expanding opportunity for working-class residents. He knows how public money moves, where it gets stuck, and how often places like Banning are told to wait while other people cash in.

He’s running on three priorities: lowering the cost of living, building good local jobs, and creating healthier neighborhoods. He believes Banning can grow without selling out the people who already live here, and that residents deserve a local government that tells the truth, does the work, and remembers who this city is supposed to serve.

Because the people who live here should have more power than the people who profit off this city.