V. Manuel Perez
Appointed January 2023 by Governor Gavin Newsom
Term ends December 31, 2028
Victor Manuel Perez was appointed by Gov. Edmund G. Brown, Jr., to the Riverside County Board of Supervisors in 2017, representing the county’s 4th District, and was subsequently elected to a four-year term the following year. The largest district in the county geographically, the 4th District covers eastern Riverside County from Whitewater, stretching across the entire Coachella Valley south to the Salton Sea, up Highway 74 to Idyllwild and the mountain communities, and heading east of the Coachella Valley to Blythe and the Colorado River.
Born and raised in the Coachella Valley, Manuel is the son of immigrant farmworkers and attended local public schools. He graduated from the University of California, Riverside and began teaching at a local middle school. Manuel went on to earn a Master of Education degree in Administration, Planning and Social Policy from Harvard University.
He worked as a youth advocate and director of community health and advocacy for Santa Rosa Del Valle-Borrego Health at Centro Medico Coachella and Centro Medico Oasis. From 2004 to 2008, Manuel served on the Coachella Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees where he led the passage of a $250 million bond to construct and renovate schools in the eastern Coachella Valley.
In 2008, Manuel was elected to the California State Assembly, representing eastern Riverside County and Imperial County. Entering office during the great recession, he worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle and the Governor’s Office to bring forth fiscal accountability, health care reform, renewable energy growth and job creation legislation.
A champion for eastern Riverside County, Manuel had more than 60 pieces of legislation signed into law to help create jobs, jumpstart the local renewable energy industry and make neighborhoods safer. His legislation focused on jobs, economic development, small business, education, health care access, infrastructure, renewable energy, transportation, air quality, environment, public safety, parks, technology, agriculture, water and the Salton Sea.
In the Assembly, Manuel became majority leader and worked closely with the assembly speaker on the day-to-day functions of the statehouse. He served as the chairman of the Jobs and Economic Development Committee, founding vice chair of the Select Committee for the Status of Boys and Men of Color as well as chair of Stimulus, Economic Recovery and Jobs (SERJ).
Manuel served three terms in the State Assembly and then continued his public service with election to the Coachella City Council. He also served as chief Government and Public Affairs Officer for Borrego Health, a federally qualified health center helping the underserved in San Diego, Riverside and San Bernardino counties prior to his current appointment with the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.
Manuel resides in his native city of Coachella with Gladis, his wife of 25 years. They have two sons, Ruben, who graduated from UC Davis and Alejandro, from UC Santa Barbara.