State Assembly
Voters will choose their representatives in all 80 state Assembly districts. Many will be new due to retirements and term limits, but how many challengers oust incumbents? And how many will flip from one party to the other?
Jump to section
Find your local races
Enter your address to get a preview of ballot measures and races that directly impact your local community. →
What to Know
What does a state Assemblymember do?
- Cast as many as 3,000 votes a year — and in theory a way most of your constituents want.
- Pass a state spending plan when there’s likely to be a deficit and an uncertain financial picture.
- Sit through long meetings, unless you get a spot on the powerful Appropriations Committee, where you’ll decide behind closed doors and then pass or kill all the bills at once.
Background
The Assembly experienced a “Great Resignation” in 2022 with 25 members taking other jobs or announcing their retirement. And there was more turnover in the 2022 election.
Duties can depend on party affiliation. Democrats — who control 62 of the 80 seats now and want to keep a supermajority — should be prepared to craft important legislation. Republicans should be prepared to spend a lot of time criticizing Democrats and complaining about being frozen out of decisions.
But not all Democrats are alike. They often disagree — about health care, housing, environmental regulation, taxes and labor law. In Democratic-leaning districts, expect unions, left-leaning activists and deep-pocketed business interests to aggressively push the Democrat of their choice.
Rank-and-file Assemblymembers are paid $128,215 a year, plus $214 a day for expenses when the Legislature is in session. Party leaders get higher pay.
The top two finishers in March, regardless of party, moved on to the November general election. There are eight Democrat vs. Democrat races and four Republican vs. Republican. Two American Independent Party candidates also advanced. And six Assemblymembers are uncontested, barring write-in challengers.
Key Races
Click on a district to learn more about some key state Assembly races in California
District 7
Candidates
The District
The eastern suburbs of Sacramento are a perpetual political battleground, encompassing some of the region’s wealthiest communities, as well as diverse, working-class commuter cities that built up around the former Mather Air Force Base.
Voter registration: 37.6% Democratic, 33.0% Republican, 20.7% no party preference
The Scoop
Primary results: Josh Hoover: 52.7%, Porsche Middleton: 29.3%
Democrats are looking for revenge here, after Assemblymember Josh Hoover, a Republican from Folsom, narrowly defeated the longtime Democratic incumbent in 2022. Porsche Middleton, who owns a housing development consulting firm and is a member of the Citrus Heights city council, emerged from the March primary to challenge Hoover. Hoover won a majority in March, despite the Democratic registration advantage in the district, but presidential elections often bring out a more liberal electorate in California. Amid a legislative focus on homelessness and fentanyl in his first term, Hoover has also been advocating against a return-to-office mandate for state government workers, who make up a large portion of the district’s voters.
Fundraising
Key Endorsements
Porsche Middleton
- California Labor Federation
- Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte
- California Legislative Black Caucus
- California Democratic Party
- Sacramento Bee
Josh Hoover
- California Police Chiefs Association
- Peace Officers Research Association of California
- California Rifle & Pistol Association
- California Republican Party
Related News
District 26
Candidates
The District
This safely Democratic seat in the South Bay — representing a chunk of San Jose plus tech-heavy suburbs Cupertino, Santa Clara and Sunnyvale — is the rare legislative district in California with a plurality of Asian Americans.
Party registration: 51.7% Democratic, 14.7% Republican, 29.2% no party preference
The Scoop
Primary results: Patrick Ahrens: 34.4%, Tara Sreekrishnan: 26.9%
The profiles for Patrick Ahrens and Tara Sreekrishnan are similar in many ways. Both are Democrats. Both are in their early 30s. Both work for state legislators (Ahrens is the district director for Assemblymember Evan Low, Sreekrishnan is the deputy chief of staff and legislative director for Sen. Dave Cortese) and serve in local elected office (the Foothill-De Anza Community College District Board and the Santa Clara County Board of Education, respectively). Yet this race is going to be a slugfest — and potentially one of these most expensive campaigns of the fall — as business and labor engage in another proxy war to gain another sliver of advantage at the Capitol. Outside interests poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into the primary, with Uber, PG&E and the California Apartment Association spending big to boost Ahrens, while state employee unions, charter school advocates and the soda industry backed Sreekrishnan.
Fundraising
Key Endorsements
Patrick Ahrens
- California Democratic Party
- Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte
- Equality California
- California Labor Federation
- Peace Officers Research Association of California
- Mercury News
Tara Sreekrishnan
- Sierra Club California
- California Environmental Voters
- California Labor Federation
- Everytown for Gun Safety
Related News
District 27
Candidates
The District
This majority Latino district runs along Highway 99 from Merced to Fresno and then down to Coalinga. Like other heavily agricultural areas in the Central Valley, voters lean more conservative than the party registration would suggest.
Party registration: 41.2% Democratic, 28.5% Republican, 22.5% no party preference
The Scoop
Primary results: Joanna Garcia Rose: 50.9%, Esmerelda Soria: 49.1%
First-term Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria, a Merced Democrat, got the scare of her political life in the primary, when she finished behind Republican Joanna Garcia Rose, a tax auditor who had raised less than $50,000 at that point. Now the GOP senses a prime opportunity to flip a seat, cutting into the Democratic supermajority in Sacramento by capitalizing on voter frustration over the economy and crime. It will be a tough task. The Democratic Party is still far better resourced in California, and it’s going to dump plenty of money and organizing power into the district to avoid a repeat of the low-turnout primary. Soria has also been shoring up her moderate credentials at the Capitol, including by bucking her party during a showdown over a controversial package of retail theft legislation.
Fundraising
Key Endorsements
Esmeralda Soria
- California Labor Federation
- California Police Chiefs Association
- Planned Parenthood Advocates Mar Monte
- California Democratic Party
- Fresno Bee/Merced Sun-Star
Joanna Garcia Rose
- Rep. John Duarte
- Rep. Tom McClintock
- Merced County Sheriff Vern Warnke
- California Republican Party
Related News
District 40
Candidates
The District
The northern suburbs of Los Angeles County, centered around Santa Clarita, are whiter and more affluent than nearby communities in the San Fernando Valley. Once solidly Republican, the area has become one of California’s fiercest political battlegrounds over the past decade.
Party registration: 41.5% Democratic, 29.8% Republican, 21.6% no party preference
The Scoop
Primary results: Pilar Schiavo: 50.2%, Patrick Lee Gipson: 49.8%
Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo, a first-term Democrat from Santa Clarita, has her work cut out for her this fall. Party control of this seat has changed hands in each of the past three elections and Republicans would like to make it four in a row. Schiavo won by just 522 votes in 2022, and she led her Republican opponent — retired sheriff’s deputy Patrick Lee Gipson, who is running on public safety and parents’ rights in schools — by a nearly identical margin in the primary. It’s certain to be a close outcome that could hinge on heavy investments from both parties in the overlapping congressional district, a target for Democrats trying to flip a Republican-held seat.
Fundraising
Key Endorsements
Pilar Schiavo
- California Labor Federation
- Los Angeles Police Protective League
- Sierra Club California
- California Democratic Party
Patrick Lee Gipson
- Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs
- Peace Officers Research Association of California
- Chino Valley Unified School District Board President Sonja Shaw
- California Republican Party
Related News
District 47
Candidates
The District
Stretching east from San Bernardino into Riverside County along Highway 10, this swing district has vast rural pockets, including Joshua Tree National Park, and a large LGBTQ community around Palm Springs.
Party registration: 39.8% Democratic, 34.0% Republican, 17.9% no party preference
The Scoop
Primary results: Greg Wallis: 48.6%, Christy Holstege: 46.4%
This is an exciting rematch from 2022, when Assemblymember Greg Wallis, a first-term Republican from Rancho Mirage, beat Democrat Christy Holstege, an attorney and Palm Springs city councilmember, by just 85 votes. The outcome was so uncertain that Holstege actually attended an orientation for new members in Sacramento before the race was called. Wallis has legislated carefully from the political center, even supporting a measure to enshrine same-sex marriage rights in the California Constitution. But Democrats are salivating at the pickup opportunity, especially after Holstege and another Democratic candidate received a majority of the vote in the primary. A hotly contested race in the overlapping congressional district, where Democrats are organizing to flip a Republican-held seat, could further reshape the landscape of the campaign.
Fundraising
Key Endorsements
Christy Holstege
- Gov. Gavin Newsom
- California Labor Federation
- Sierra Club California
- California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus
- California Democratic Party
Greg Wallis
- California Police Chiefs Association
- Peace Officers Research Association of California
- California Professional Firefighters
- California Republican Party
Related News
District 57
Candidates
The District
This safely Democratic district in South Los Angeles is a historic base of Black political representation, but the population has become overwhelmingly Latino in recent decades.
Party registration: 60.9% Democratic, 7.7% Republican, 22.9% no party preference
The Scoop
Primary results: Efren Martinez: 32.7%, Sade Elhawary: 31.1%
Though longtime Assemblymember Reggie Jones-Sawyer is termed out, there will still be a familiar name on the ballot: Efren Martinez, a business consultant who has repeatedly (and unsuccessfully) run for local office, including a 2020 challenge of Jones-Sawyer that turned very ugly when the state prison guards union got involved. Martinez, who has strong law enforcement backing again, placed first in an extremely low-turnout primary, slightly ahead of Sade Elhawary, a progressive community organizer. Ideological differences between the two Democrats may not ultimately matter as much in this race as, well, race. (Martinez is the son of Mexican immigrants, Elhawary is of Black and Guatemalan descent.) The dearth of political representation in South Los Angeles is a frustration for many Latinos, while leaders in the Black community fear losing further power — a tension that exploded into public in 2022 when an audio recording of city council members making racist remarks leaked. Elhawary and her allies criticized Martinez during the primary for attacks that they said were intended to scare Latino voters off from supporting her.
Fundraising
Key Endorsements
Sade Elhawary
- Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass
- Sen. Laphonza Butler
- California Labor Federation
- California Legislative Black Caucus
- Los Angeles Times
Efren Martinez
- Rep. Adam Schiff
- Peace Officers Research Association of California
- Los Angeles Police Protective League
Related News
District 75
Candidates
The District
This safely Republican seat represents inland San Diego County, a more rural expanse that reaches east from conservative-leaning suburbs such as Poway and Santee.
Voter registration: 29.4% Democratic, 41.5% Republican, 21.0% no party preference
The Scoop
Primary results: Carl DeMaio: 42.9%, Andrew Hayes: 18.7%
Underpinning this race to succeed termed-out Assemblymember Marie Waldron is a fight over the future of California’s fading Republican Party. Andrew Hayes, the district director for Senate GOP leader Brian Jones, who represents the area, is the choice of the California and San Diego County GOP. But he received less than half as many votes in the primary as outspoken conservative activist and talk radio host Carl DeMaio, who is pitching himself to voters as an aggressive new model to revive the Republican brand. The showdown has already roiled the county GOP, which ousted its chairperson after she unsuccessfully tried to switch the party endorsement from Hayes to DeMaio. More than a third of voters picked a Democrat in the primary, a potentially decisive block that is up for grabs.
Fundraising
Key Endorsements
Carl DeMaio
- Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
Andrew Hayes
- California Republican Party
- San Diego County Republican Party
- Peace Officers Research Association of California
- California ProLife Council
- California Labor Federation
Related News
District 76
Candidates
The District
Climbing from the northern tip of San Diego, through inland suburbs including Escondido and San Marcos, toward Camp Pendleton, this is politically moderate territory that has been steadily growing more Democratic.
Party registration: 37.6% Democratic, 30.6% Republican, 24.6% no party preference
The Scoop
Primary results: Kristie Bruce-Lane: 49.5%, Darshana Patel: 34.2%
After nearly losing his seat in the blue wave of 2018, Assemblymember Brian Maienschein defected to the Democratic Party, blaming the extreme positions and offensive conduct of then-President Donald Trump. Republicans want the district back, but were unable to dislodge Maienschein before he termed out this year. They may have a better shot now that there’s no incumbent. The GOP candidate — Kristie Bruce-Lane, who runs a nonprofit that assists homeless children who have been victims of domestic violence — lost to Maienschein by about 3 percentage points in 2022 and received nearly half the vote in the March primary. She will face Democrat Darshana Patel, a research scientist, who could benefit from growing enthusiasm among liberal voters after the Democratic Party switched presidential nominees.
Fundraising
Key Endorsements
Darshana Patel
- CA YIMBY
- Planned Parenthood Action Fund of the Pacific Southwest
- California Teachers Association
- California Labor Federation
- Sierra Club California
- California Democratic Party
Kristie Bruce-Lane
- National Federation of Independent Business California
- California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce
- Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
- California Republican Party
Related News
Free to read, but not free to produce
We’re CalMatters, a nonprofit, nonpartisan newsroom for Californians.
We’re proud that our Voter Guide, which informs millions of people each election, is free for everyone.
We need your help to continue doing critical work that informs voters.
If you can, a modest donation will help us publish quality election information now. And together, we’ll continue holding elected leaders accountable every day of the year.
Please make today the day you support quality journalism. Every donation helps.