He served as the municipal president of Hermosillo from 2009 to 2012 and was the PAN nominee in the 2015 Sonora gubernatorial election, where he was defeated by Claudia Pavlovich.
[1] He graduated from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM) with a degree in business administration.
[3] Gándara Magaña failed to attend a debate with the PRI nominee, Claudia Pavlovich, the following month.
[7] In 1991 Gándara Magaña and his wife Marcela Fernández de Gándara, created a program called "One Step at a Time", the first program of the Ganfer Foundation, a private organisation that supports young people and the prevention of alcohol and drug addiction, support for women, youngsters and girls for their overall development.
Programs include "Ganfer Fleamarket" (El Mercadito Ganfer), offer subsidized commodities in places where impoverished families live and "Entrepreneur Challenge" (Desafío Emprendedor), a competitive program to promote Sonoran entrepreneurial talent together with Angel Ventures of México.