California DSA Voter Guide

Intro/Disclaimer

As socialists, we believe that it’s important to contextualize the choices on our election ballots. Who are these candidates and how did they build power? What are the dynamics of the races they’re running in? Will their priorities build socialism, or at least help California’s working class? Now you may have noticed we’ve written… a lot for some of these races. That’s by design. We hope this guide will function as an educational tool to understand what it takes to bring working class power to the state, as well as help you fill out your ballot.

DSA’s endorsements are special. They require a chapter’s whole membership to vote to endorse a candidate, and an endorsement includes a commitment for the chapter to devote time and money to that campaign. Otherwise, candidates named in the guide are simply recommendations. The candidate might not call themselves or be a socialist, but there are planks of their platform we believe will materially benefit the working class – especially in comparison to other candidates in their race.

We’ve chosen not to make recommendations in races where no candidates are progressive. We’ve got to keep building power to take on these forces of capitalism, and we must keep on organizing to make sure these candidates have viable challengers in the future. That being said, there are some races with candidates extremely worth voting for, and in many down ballot votes, your vote and the votes of your friends and family can make a big difference in our collective lives.

Chapter-endorsed candidates

The following candidates have been endorsed by DSA chapters in California for state- and local-level races on the March primary ballot.

East Bay DSA:

Jovanka Beckles (State Senate D7)

Nikki Fortunato Bas (Alameda County Board of Supervisors D5)

DSA Los Angeles (voter guide):

Nithya Raman (Los Angeles City Council D4)

Ysabel Jurado (Los Angeles City Council D14)

Kahllid Al-Alim (LAUSD Board of Education D1)

Karla Griego (LAUSD Board of Education D5)

Sacramento DSA:

Flojaune Cofer (Sacramento Mayor)

Katie Valenzuela (Sacramento City Council D4)

Silicon Valley DSA:

Sally Lieber (Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors D5)

U.S. Senate – See below

Dianne Feinstein's retirement after a half century in political office, whose announcement preceded her death, has left Californians with only our second open Senate seat in over three decades. Three Democratic members of the House of Representatives are running, with appointed replacement Laphonza Butler opting to maintain an interim role rather than run for re-election.

Adam Schiff of Burbank, who rose to national prominence after becoming Chair of the House Intelligence Committee and lead impeachment manager in Donald Trump's first impeachment trial, rendering him a hero among Democratic voters, is both the frontrunner (he’s led nearly every poll) and the furthest right of the three major contenders. Schiff has historically maintained a fairly centrist record, although he’s attempted to pivot to the left in his bid to win over more Democrats in the Senate race, having applied to join the Congressional Progressive Caucus last year despite having never voted for any of the caucus’s proposed budgets and being a former member of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition (and current member of the centrist New Democrat Coalition). Foreign policy is where Schiff’s record is most glaring: he’s voted for every military budget increase in his career, he’s staunchly pro-Israel (tying for the third-most anti-Palestinian voting record among California Democrats), and his candidacy is endorsed by the reactionary Democratic Majority for Israel group (he’s also been endorsed by AIPAC in his congressional campaigns). But with most Democratic voters knowing him for his anti-Trump credentials rather than his problematic record, defeating him will be tough.

Katie Porter of Irvine has held her seat since 2018, when she defeated the Democratic Party establishment’s preferred candidate in the top-two primary and flipped it from Republican hands in the general election. Her whiteboard takedowns of corporate CEOs in congressional hearings catapulted her to prominence, making her both a resistance icon like Schiff and popular among progressives. An acolyte of Elizabeth Warren, Porter excels on domestic economic policy but is much more disappointing in her foreign policy stances; she’s historically taken hawkish positions on Palestine and Iran, and her ceasefire statement was lackluster. She’s no doubt better than Schiff though, and given the current state of the Senate, she’d be one of the more progressive senators; these are both low bars of course.

From her youth as a volunteer for the Black Panther Party to her over three decades of time in public office, the highlight of which was her 2001 stand as the lone opposition to the congressional vote to invade Afghanistan, Barbara Lee has an illustrious political career that she’s seeking to extend to the Senate. She’s one of the most progressive members of Congress and the most progressive in California, and she’d be among the best senators if elected. Her willingness to buck the party consensus on foreign policy has again come to the forefront amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza; she’s not only called for a ceasefire but is also the only California cosponsor of Cori Bush’s ceasefire congressional resolution. Lee’s refusal to endorse Bernie Sanders in 2020 disappointed many, but she also impressed by endorsing East Bay DSA candidate Jovanka Beckles for State Assembly in 2018 while prominent party figures from Kamala Harris to even Barack Obama endorsed Beckles’s opponent. While Lee’s record may not be perfect, and she isn’t a socialist, we rarely see better statewide candidates in the US; she’s undoubtedly the principled pick for any socialist or progressive in this race.

But despite having decades of experience, being the sole major candidate from NorCal (which has historically dominated statewide elections in California), and having the support of the Black political establishment, Lee has struggled in this race. Unable to keep up with Schiff’s and Porter’s fundraising prowess (they’ve each raised over five times as much as her) and lagging in name recognition, Lee has languished in fourth place in the polls, behind Schiff, Porter, and the main Republican candidate, Steve Garvey. Porter, on the other hand, is polling neck and neck with Garvey for the second position. The prospect of a Schiff-Garvey general election matchup—which would obviously guarantee a Schiff victory—is deeply concerning; we can’t have Feinstein replaced with another centrist. Left-wing voters who want to avoid a Schiff victory might want to consider tactically voting for Porter to help her reach the general election and hopefully defeat Schiff, while those who would prefer a principled vote regardless of strategic considerations might want to stick with Lee.

U.S. House of Representatives

CD-1 – Rose Penelope Yee

Doug LaMalfa will cruise to re-election in this deep red district, but the presence of two Democratic challengers means voters on the left have a choice to make. In California, the top-finishing Democrat in each congressional and state legislative race is guaranteed a seat on their local county party committee, meaning primary results such as these can still make a difference, even if small. Local school board member Mike Doran’s website strangely focuses almost exclusively on atmospheric weather phenomena, while Rose Penelope Yee is running on a respectable progressive platform, earning her our recommendation.

CD-2 – No recommendation

Jared Huffman is the incumbent in this North Coast district and faces no Democratic challengers, though he does have two independent opponents. Huffman is among the more progressive members of Congress, but he could be better given he represents a district with a large progressive base, and his ceasefire statement was poor. While unviable, Jolian Kangas, one of the independent candidates, is challenging him on a more progressive platform. Huffman isn’t terrible, but given he isn’t at risk of losing to a Republican, casting a protest vote here would be valid as well.

CD-3 – No recommendation

Republican incumbent Kevin Kiley only narrowly won this seat, which stretches from the Sacramento suburbs to the Sierras and even parts of the High Desert, in 2022 by a 7-point margin, and Democrats are targeting him this year with Jessica Morse. While flipping this district from the GOP would undoubtedly be a positive development, Morse’s lack of a policy platform and her background working for USAID and the State Department in Iraq are cause for concern. With the sole independent candidate, Robert Smith, describing himself as “center-right”, we cannot recommend anybody in this race.

CD-4 – Andrew Engdahl

25-year incumbent Mike Thompson has a middling voting record and is (inexplicably) one of the few remaining members of the conservative Blue Dog Coalition. His sole challenger from the left, Andrew Engdahl, doesn’t appear viable but seems to be worth supporting given his solid progressive platform.

CD-5 – No recommendation

In solidly red District 5, perennial candidate Mike Barkley is the only Democrat challenging incumbent Tom McClintock. Barkley’s extremely thorough platform is impressive but also leads us to take caution, as it is too long for us to be able to comprehensively vet. Independent candidate Steve Wozniak, not to be confused with the homonymous Apple co-founder, is running on an incongruous platform that draws from both the left and the right. We are therefore issuing no recommendation here.

CD-6 – Adam Barajas

Much like Engdahl in District 4, Adam Barajas is a longshot progressive challenger against a centrist incumbent, in this case Ami Bera, who swapped seats with Doris Matsui after redistricting in 2022 to take this northern Sacramento-based district. Green Party member Chris Richardson is also a candidate, but Barajas’s campaign seems to be more serious, leading us to recommend a vote for him.

CD-7 – David Mandel

Doris Matsui, who’s been serving in Congress since 2005, represented a district based almost entirely in Sacramento for most of her career, but redistricting split Sacramento in two and added Elk Grove and other suburbs to this district now based in the southern half of Sacramento. But while this redraw has diluted progressive power in Sacramento, District 7 still deserves better. Matsui’s voting record is fairly middle of the road among the Democratic caucus, and her record on Palestine is poor; she also hasn’t called for a ceasefire. Matsui’s recent marriage to Roger Sant, founder of global utility company AES, who has a net worth in the hundreds of millions, makes her one of the wealthiest members of Congress. David Mandel, a human rights attorney, active DSA member, California DSA delegate, and lifelong activist and organizer in the socialist and peace movements, is challenging Matsui on a platform centered on progressive policies and an human-rights-based international approach, including a ceasefire. We are glad to recommend a vote for David.

CD-8 – No recommendation

Only incumbent John Garamendi, whose voting record is fairly middling, and a Republican are running in District 8. Garamendi’s record isn’t up to our standards, so we are making no recommendation here, but we hope for a brighter future in this highly diverse, working-class district that’s home to Richmond, the only city in the United States with a DSA-endorsed city council majority.

CD-9 – No recommendation

Incumbent Josh Harder only faces Republican challengers, and his centrist record is unworthy of a recommendation. While he used to represent a swing district, he unfortunately hasn’t moved to the left despite switching to a bluer seat last cycle after redistricting. No recommendation here.

CD-10 – Mark DeSaulnier

Despite being a former Republican and representing a suburban, mostly wealthy district, Mark DeSaulnier has surprisingly established a record as one of the most progressive members of Congress. He often bucks the majority of Democrats to vote with the left on contentious issues, has cosponsored nearly a full slate of progressive initiatives, and has called for a ceasefire. Though his checkered history before his time in Congress is of concern—for example, he proposed banning BART strikes in 2013 as a state senator—he has demonstrated political growth and consistency in the years since, and with staunch centrists such as Steve Glazer and Tim Grayson representing the same area in the state legislature, it’s clear that DeSaulnier is well above replacement level for his district and is well worth voting for.

CD-11 – No to Nancy Pelosi

It should be perhaps the least surprising part of this voter guide that we don’t like Nancy Pelosi. In her two decades as the top-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, Pelosi stood firm in marginalizing progressives and their policy goals, and after finally retiring from leadership in 2022, she handed the reins to an even stronger antagonist of the left in Hakeem Jeffries. With 37 years of service in the House, Pelosi is the chamber’s fifth most senior member, but she’s nevertheless decided to seek re-election again. We do anticipate her eventual retirement with some worry; while it would be an exciting opportunity for the left, it’s also entirely possible someone worse, such as London Breed, replaces her. In the meantime, though, this race is ultimately shaping up to be a snoozefest; we certainly can’t recommend Pelosi, but none of her three Democratic challengers are serious enough to merit recommendation either—the only competitive aspect of this race is the seven-way battle for second place.

CD-12 – Lateefah Simon

District 12 and its predecessors, representing the heart of the East Bay stretching from Berkeley through Oakland to San Leandro, have a storied history of representation from some of California’s strongest progressives. Barbara Lee has been the incumbent since 1998 and was preceded by Ron Dellums, a founding member and former vice chair of DSA, who was the first non-incumbent socialist elected to Congress in the postwar era. BART Director Lateefah Simon is Lee’s anointed successor; other prominent potential candidates, who are generally to Simon’s right, thankfully declined to run and cleared the way for her. She is expected to win easily, with the only notable competition coming from professor and local Chamber of Commerce leader Jennifer Tran, who’s running from the right and will probably finish second. While unlikely to match the Squad’s voting record, Simon will probably lie somewhere around the next tier below, carrying on Lee’s legacy and making her worth voting for. Still, though, with this district being home to over a thousand DSA members, the most in California, we hope for an opportunity to elect a socialist again in the future.

CD-13 – No recommendation

District 13 was the second-closest House race in the country last year after Lauren Boebert’s, with Republican John Duarte besting Adam Gray by only 584 votes, or 0.4% of the vote. Gray is back for round two, and with a more favorable turnout environment is now probably the favorite to win. But while he’ll certainly be better than Duarte, his conservative voting record in the State Assembly and his endorsement by the Blue Dog PAC indicate he’ll likely be one of the most conservative Democrats in the House if elected. Furthermore, with only two candidates in the race, the primary result won’t impact the final outcome; Gray and Duarte will face off in the general election no matter what. As a result, we aren’t making a recommendation here.

CD-14 – No recommendation

Eric Swalwell’s national career started when he narrowly defeated progressive longtime incumbent Pete Stark in 2012 thanks to Republican and centrist votes under California’s then-new top-two system. Having maintained a party-line voting record since then, Swalwell hasn’t given the left any reason to forgive him since. He’s maintained a stable place in his seat despite bizarrely mounting a presidential campaign in 2020 that lasted three months, and he faces no non-Republican challengers. No recommendation here.

CD-15 – No recommendation

Kevin Mullin first won this seat last cycle in a surprisingly small 11-point win against progressive David Canepa, helped by $700k in funding from AIPAC, the seventh-highest total of any House Democrat in 2022 and the highest in California. This time, he only faces a Republican opponent. His voting record has been better than average in his freshman term, but not good enough to merit a recommendation, and he unsurprisingly doesn’t support a ceasefire.

CD-16 – Ahmed Mostafa

Incumbent Anna Eshoo’s retirement after over 30 years of serving this Silicon Valley district has left an open seat that’s drawn a flurry of Democrats vying for a spot in Congress. The three biggest contenders—former San Jose mayor Sam Liccardo, Assemblymember Evan Low, and Santa Clara County Supervisor Joe Simitian—all land decidedly on the centrist side of local politics. Greg Tanaka’s endorsements from Andrew Yang and numerous cryptocurrency CEOs tell you all you need to know, and Rishi Kumar, who twice challenged Eshoo, has strong ties to the Indian nationalist far-right. Julie Lythcott-Haims identifies as a progressive but her platform doesn’t go beyond liberal platitudes. Joby Bernstein promotes strong climate action, but his background in venture capital is undoubtedly cause for concern. Ahmed Mostafa is the only candidate who stands out with any progressive credentials; he explicitly supports Pramila Jayapal’s Medicare for All bill in his platform, and he vocally supports a ceasefire, both calling for one in his platform and advocating for one at Palo Alto city council meetings.

CD-17 – No recommendation

Ro Khanna is famously an enigma. In some areas, he stakes out a position as a leader on the progressive flank of American politics; other times, he rebels against the party from the right. Some of his bizarre actions can be explained by the Silicon Valley constituency he represents; for example, he’s a sharp critic of US support of Saudi Arabia, but nevertheless defends Israel partially on the basis of its “startup culture” (though he has called for a ceasefire). Overall, his voting record is fairly progressive, and he deserves credit for his strong support for Bernie Sanders in 2020, serving as a national campaign co-chair. But his vote in favor of a 2023 Republican-led resolution “denouncing the horrors of socialism”, even as nearly half of the Democratic caucus voted against it, disqualifies him from a recommendation. His two Democratic challengers are not worth supporting; Ritesh Tandon was a Republican until this cycle, and no information about Mario Ramirez seems to be available online. We are therefore issuing no recommendation in this race.

CD-18 – Luele Kifle

30-year incumbent Zoe Lofgren, who is a fairly standard Democrat, has drawn three Democratic challengers in this district that stretches from San Jose to the Salinas Valley. Charlene Nijmeh, chair of the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe, appears to the the most serious of the three, but her platform doesn’t seem clearly progressive. The other two, Luele Kifle and Lawrence Milan, are unviable, with neither even having reported any fundraising or spending. But both are running on solidly progressive platforms, so while we don’t know much about their backgrounds, they seem to be worth voting for. As Kifle appears to be the more serious of the two, judging by his platform, we are recommending a vote for him.

CD-19 – Sean Dougherty

Centrist incumbent Jimmy Panetta has no Democratic challengers but does face a Green Party opponent. Sean Dougherty is running on a progressive platform, has a respectable background, and is endorsed by Santa Cruz for Bernie. Though a third-party candidate running against both a Democrat and a Republican won’t get a significant share of the vote, we recommend a vote for Dougherty and hope he puts up as strong of a performance as possible as a sign of dissatisfaction with the two-party status quo.

CD-20 – Andy Morales

Eleven candidates have filed to replace infamous former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who is retiring. Two of those are Democrats (as well as two independents who don’t appear serious): Marisa Wood, McCarthy’s main opponent in 2022, whose platform leaves much to be desired; while Andy Morales, who supports Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and tuition-free college appears to be the best progressive choice and earns our recommendation.

CD-21 – No recommendation

Perhaps California’s most detestable Democratic officeholder, Jim Costa has not only established one of the most conservative voting records among congressional Democrats but is also notorious for being one of the architects of the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act, which significantly restricted cities’ ability to implement rent control and banned it outright for newly constructed housing. Costa only has a Republican opponent; we without a doubt cannot recommend him here.

CD-22 – No recommendation

Like Adam Gray in CD-13, Rudy Salas is a conservative former Assemblymember taking his second shot at flipping a competitive Central Valley seat. Unlike 2022, he also has a notable Democratic opponent: state senator Melissa Hurtado, who’s perhaps even more conservative than Salas based on her voting record. But Salas has retained the party establishment’s backing and is likely to be the only Democrat in the general election, where he will face off against either incumbent David Valadao or former Fresno councilmember Chris Mathys, who ran to Valadao’s right in 2022 and came very close to finishing ahead of him. Ultimately, both Democratic candidates are well too far to the right to justify a recommendation.

CD-23 – Derek Marshall

Although he unfortunately stands little chance of winning in this double-digit Republican seat, Derek Marshall is a rare example of a red district Democratic candidate who is both serious and progressive; we’re usually lucky to see a candidate tick just one of those two boxes. Marshall’s platform includes support for progressive policies such as Medicare for All, and he has earned the endorsement of the Working Families Party. We recommend a vote for Derek Marshall and hope to see him put up a strong performance against Republican incumbent Jay Obernolte to demonstrate progressives’ strength.

CD-24 – Helena Pasquarella

Helena Pasquarella, like Engdahl in District 4 and Barajas in District 6, is a longshot progressive challenger to centrist incumbent Salud Carbajal; in this case, she’s the only other candidate aside from the sole Republican. Though like the aforementioned candidates, we do not know much about her background, we are recommending a vote for her.

CD-25 – Oscar Ortiz

Incumbent Raul Ruiz, a centrist Democrat who has served in Congress for just over a decade, is facing an intra-party challenge for the first time in his career from Oscar Ortiz, mayor of Indio, the largest city in the district. Regrettably, Ortiz’s website doesn’t list policies beyond his local accomplishments, but his background demonstrates progressive politics. Ortiz served as the field organizer for the Bernie Sanders’s Coachella Valley office in 2020, and he publicly called for a ceasefire last October. We feel these indicators are enough to recommend voting for Ortiz.

CD-26 – No recommendation

Incumbent Julia Brownley is fairly centrist, perhaps unsurprising for this suburban district that’s home to the Ronald Reagan presidential library. She has a Democratic challenger, but Agoura Hills city councilmember Chris Anstead actually appears to be running to her right. We are making no recommendation here.

CD-27 – No recommendation

Mike Garcia’s three consecutive victories in this Santa Clarita and Antelope Valley based district have been cause for great frustration among Democrats, who have repeatedly narrowly failed to defeat him despite Biden carrying the district by double digits, primarily thanks to ancestrally Republican suburban voters and low POC turnout in non-presidential years. George Whitesides is hoping to put that issue to bed and flip the seat blue for good, but his business background—he’s the former CEO of Virgin Galactic—isn’t exactly inspiring to socialists, and he’s certainly not expected to be a progressive. The only other candidate is comedian Steve Hill, who’s made the news in his previous runs for his affiliation with the satirical Satanic Temple and public atheism, but he has no website, so his policy positions are unclear. We’re therefore issuing no recommendation here.

CD-28 – No recommendation

Judy Chu is expected to handily win this heavily Democratic district that covers Altadena, Pasadena, Alhambra, Monterey Park, and other parts of the West San Gabriel Valley in Los Angeles County. Chu has cleared 65% of the vote each year, both primary and general, since 2014. She’s one of the top 30 or so more progressive congresspeople, supporting Medicare for All and the Green New Deal. This year, she’s facing a moderately well-funded Republican candidate – Arcadia mayor April Verlato who wants to “restore America” and emphasizes “Creating Jobs” and “Securing Our Border” on her website. None of the other candidates have raised any money, but if you want to cast a protest vote, Peace and Freedom Party candidate William Patterson says he “represents the working class” and uses a big red flag on his campaign website. Too bad he isn’t running any real campaign – his most active social media is his instagram with 34 followers. In any case, your vote doesn’t matter here; Judy Chu will certainly win, so we’re not going to issue a recommendation. 

CD-29 – Angelica Dueñas

This San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles district includes North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Panorama City, Pacoima, San Fernando, and Sylmar. The seat has been occupied since 2013 by Tony Cárdenas. Cárdenas started his political career on the Los Angeles City Council after being a real estate broker, and then State Assemblymember, and has long been a standard pro-business Democrat, cultivating an influential political machine in the district. Each year since 2018, he’s been challenged by Angélica Dueñas, a Bernie to Jill Stein 2016 progressive activist. After losing in the primary in 2018 as a Green, Dueñas switched to the (D) line and took 42-43% against Cárdenas in 2020 and 2022, running on a Berniecrat platform that led with Medicare for All and incorporated various other left movement demands around racial justice, canceling student debt, Green New Deal, and more. It seemed like we were headed for a threepeat of Dueñas making the runoff and then losing by double-digits when Cárdenas suddenly (and conveniently, the minute it was too late for the CA Dem Party convention to endorse or run anybody else) announced he wasn’t running for re-election and was endorsing State Assemblywoman Luz Rivas. 

This race is now headed to a three-way battle between Dueñas, Rivas, and perennial Republican crank candidate Benito “Benny” Bernal. Rivas has been a fairly progressive assemblywoman spanning the standard CA Dem status quo coalition – strong support from organized labor with a helping hand from a little bit of business and real estate money. The Jarvis Taxpayers Association hates and the CA Labor Fed loves her, and if she wins the seat (as she’s likely to, given the strength of the establishment machine helping her), she’ll be a slight improvement over Cárdenas. She also took a sponsored trip to Israel in July 2023. But with Angelica Dueñas, who was quick to support Palestine and call for a Gaza ceasefire and continues to run on left movement priorities in the race, the choice is clear: vote for Angelica Dueñas.

CD-30 – Laura Friedman

This Los Angeles district covers a big swath of Central Los Angeles, including Hollywood and Silver Lake, and then stretches up to includes the eastern San Fernando Valley, Glendale, and Burbank. Centrist and liberal war hawk Senate candidate Adam Schiff has held a version of this seat since 2001. There are no fewer than 15 candidates on the ballot, so we won’t be able to give you details on all of them.

Five candidates have raised over $500,000 for this race, and safe money says that the runoff will be between two of them: State Senator Anthony Portantino, LAUSD Board member Nick Melvoin, Assemblywoman Laura Friedman, former Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer, and Boy Meets World sitcom star Ben Savage (yeah, it’s weird. We’ll get to it.). 

Anthony Portantino is seeking to move up from his State Senate seat. He’s a relatively standard LA status quo politician – endorsed by several local unions (AFSCME, CWA, CFT, SEIU), while cheerfully also scooping up support from the California Charter School Association and a grab bag of local business interests. But speaking of the privatized education lobby, Westside LA School Board member Nick Melvoin launched his career by primary campaign against the pro-union incumbent, funded by the charter industry and the Walmart-fortune Walton family to the tune of $10 million, then the most expensive school board race in history. Though he’s got a huge amount of money, he’s running with relatively few sitting politician endorsements, with massive Israel Lobby champion and DSA Derangement Syndrome Sufferer Ritchie Torres (D-NY) a notable exception. Melvoin’s generally anodyne issues page includes a call to “Stand will [sic] Israel and its people.”

OK and also speaking of enthusiastic Israel supporters, we come to the curious case of Boy Meets World star Ben Savage. He’s running a campaign self-financed by over $1 million, so it’s probably safe to say he’s not a “true” frontrunner, having previously lost a West Hollywood council race with only 7% of the vote.. But still, that’s a lot of money. He’s spent the past several months fervently supporting Israel in its assault on Gaza.

Then we get to Mike Feuer, former Los Angeles city attorney, now working part-time as John Turturro’s innie on SEVERANCE (not really, but the likeness is alarming). Feuer has a small but significant array of local endorsements including LA Mayor Karen Bass and centrist Congresswoman Julia Brownley. He’s trading hard on his City Attorney moves against the Trump Administration, which are all well and good, but a Democrat whose only positive actions are rejecting Trump? Why, that sounds a lot like Adam Schiff! Indeed, as City Attorney Feuer staunchly fought to let the city keep arrested unhoused people and is loudly and proudly supporting Israel in its war on Gaza.

Finally, Laura Friedman. Friedman has been among the most progressive California state Assemblymembers, regularly sponsoring or authoring bills for state single payer, as well as leading on public transportation, bike lanes, and other environmental issues. In the LA area, she’s considered more accessible than most sitting politicians to grassroots and non-moneyed groups, though she still has her fair share of business interest supporters. Beyond the Assembly, Friedman is endorsed by the LA Times, a handful of local unions, a bunch of Democratic Women orgs like EMILY’s List, and overlapping DSA - Los Angeles elected officials Konstantine Anthony and Hugo Soto-Martinez. 

After the five candidates, there are three more notable candidates that have raised over $100,000: West Hollywood Mayor Sepi Shyne, former State Department staffer Jirair Ratevosian, and repeat left candidate and non-binary drag queen Maebe A. Girl. Sepi Shyne, a queer Iranian woman who came to the US as a refugee, ran for West Hollywood city council with major support from UNITE HERE Local 11, the hotel workers union. She’s been a fairly progressive councilwoman and has leaned heavily into LGBTQ+ and reproductive rights as a campaign issue, but she’s not earned nearly as much traction as the frontrunners. Still, she’s one to watch in the future LA political landscape. Jirair Ratevosian, a gay Armenian-American and former policy adviser to Barbara Lee, is also leaning into LGBTQ rights (his first platform plank is “The Gay Agenda”). He’ll likely win some support from local Armenian voters, but not a huge amount else with only a quarter the cash of the frontrunners.

The final candidate to break $100k is perennial candidate and drag queen Maebe A. Girl. Maebe is a regular amongst the grassroots lefty scene in Los Angeles, and includes a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and Palestinian liberation in her platform, as she has the past two times she ran for this seat. She rejects corporate funding and is running a small-dollar campaign to be the first drag queen and first trans congressperson.

By platform and left grassroots cred alone, Maebe A. Girl would be the obvious choice. But with the wealth of the frontrunning candidates and the prospect of this diverse and progressive district being represented by another dead-eyed establishment pro-business white male Democrat for another two decades, we recommend voting for Laura Friedman, who while no socialist, would slot in among the most progressive congresspeople. 

CD-31 – No recommendation

Current representative Grace Napolitano announced her retirement from Congress, so the field is wide open in this district that covers the swaths of the San Gabriel Valley and portions of Glendora, Industry and Monrovia. This is a crowded field of a bunch of centrist to milquetoast Democrats, two Republicans, and two No Party Preference candidates with zero internet presence. Within the Democrat candidates, five stand out due to their fundraising, as well as ties to California establishment politics. We have Nancy Pelosi-backed and lottery winner Gil Cisneros, who after a two year stint representing Orange County in the House, was voted out, and has spent the last two years working for the Biden administration and living in Virginia before just moving into a district of his choosing. We have California State Senator Susan Rubio, who is one of the largest Democratic acceptors of oil money in the state legislature. We have yet another state senator, Bob Archuleta, who takes cop and oil money and is also the subject of a lawsuit from a staffer for sexual harassment and retaliation. Maybe the least bad, but still not even progressive, option here is Mary Ann Lutz, who was an advisor to the outgoing Napolitano. Lutz’s policy positions are a far cry from the Green New Deal or Medicare for All, but at least she doesn’t have a spineless state legislature voting record to show for it, like Rubio and Archuleta. While not on her campaign website, an LA Times candidate questionnaire has her in support of a ceasefire in Gaza, while simultaneously saying the US should send more military aid to Gaza, which, yes, we are confused too. This is a solidly blue district with uninspiring to downright bad options, so we can’t offer a solid recommendation here.

CD-32 – Christopher Ahuja

Brad Sherman is notorious among the left for his vigorous support for Israel; until recently, he even held the distinction of being mentioned in the third sentence of AIPAC’s Wikipedia article. He was the first congressman to accuse without evidence attendees of a DSA-cosponsored peace vigil for Palestine at the Democratic National Committee of threatening violence. His voting record on Palestine-related issues is the second worst among California Democrats, only better than Jim Costa of course, and his views on other issues are fairly bland. While he won’t be unseated—he’s targeted every cycle by longshot progressive bids that usually fail to crack double-digit vote shares—candidates will continue to try. He has four Democratic challengers: Dave Abbitt, who doesn’t seem to have a website; and Christopher Ahuja, Douglas Smith, and Trevor Witt, who all appear to be running as progressives. While none of these challengers are viable, Ahuja seems to be the most serious, so we’re recommending a vote for him.

CD-33 – No recommendation

Incumbent Pete Aguilar is one of the more centrist Democrats in Congress, which was bad enough when he was a backbencher, but his recent ascent to party leadership—he became House Democratic Caucus Vice Chair in 2021 and Chair in 2023—has served to entrench the party status quo, with the transition from the Pelosi-led leadership to Hakeem Jeffries’s cohort reflecting a generational change with no shift in ideology. Aguilar only faces a Republican opponent, so we’re making no recommendation here.

CD-34 – David Kim

Third time’s the charm? This Los Angeles district, covering Downtown LA, Koreatown, Chinatown, Northeast LA, and East Los Angeles, is among the most progressive congressional districts in the country. For the past four years, it has hosted a battle between David Kim, a grassroots leftist Korean-American attorney, and Jimmy Gomez, a staunch ally of organized labor in Los Angeles. After surprising Gomez in 2020 with a shoestring Andrew-Yang inspired left Universal Basic Income campaign that came within single digits, Kim ran again in 2022 and lost by a mere 1.5 points. Kim is a DSA member and regular in the LA grassroots progressive protest scene, describing himself as a democratic socialist and having sought DSA-LA’s endorsement in 2022, and has built a coalition of outsider leftist voters, Korean- and other Asian-Americans, and others dissatisfied with the Democratic establishment. 

Since 2020, Gomez has scrambled to shore up his left credentials going out of his way to align himself with the Squad, authoring and co-sponsoring left congressional priorities like Medicare for All, Green New Deal, eviction moratoriums, and legislation to tax the rich, even voting against the most recent proposed military budget and immigration enforcement, and claiming screentime as the founder of the “Congressional Dads Caucus”. He continues to take real estate, banking, and healthcare industry, and resisted cosponsoring Cori Bush’s Gaza ceasefire resolution, although he did eventually call for a ceasefire himself. 

The race this year also includes a Republican, Calvin Lee, as well as another DSA member running proudly as a socialist running on the Peace and Freedom Party line, Aaron Reveles. With neither having raised any money, there’s little reason to believe the runoff won’t be another Kim vs Gomez rematch. Given that, there’s not a ton of reason to believe your primary vote matters a ton here, and if you feel like a protest vote, you could do worse than Aaron Reveles on the Peace and Freedom line, but we’re ultimately recommending a vote for David Kim.

CD-35 – No recommendation

This race looks like an exact repeat of the same district election in 2022 and 2020, when incumbent Norma Torres faced off against Republican Mike Cargile. The only difference is the two un-funded candidates running unviable campaigns on the edges: Vijal Suthar, a Republican, “active member of the Hotel Owners Association, and proud legal immigrant who wants to ‘FUND OUR PROTECTORS’ and secure the border, and Melissa May, a Democrat who is running a local-issues-only campaign about investment in the (to be fair, historically drastically underinvested) Inland Valley. She’s raised less than $10,000. Anyway, for the rest of this entry, we’ll let the DSA-LA 2020 voter guide take it from here, because seriously – nothing’s changed:

Incumbent Democrat Norma Torres is seeking reelection to a fourth term in this SGV district after besting Republican challengers in 2016 and 2018. A member of the centrist New Democrat Caucus with important spots on the House Appropriations and House Rules Committees, Torres’ lowlights include voting to pass Trump’s USMCA trade deal and her rubber-stamp approvals of the yearly National Defense Authorization Act. Taking cash from the gambling, real estate, and agribusiness sectors, Torres is basically a middle-of-the-pack Dem—not openly corrupt, but she ain’t exactly Ilhan Omar, or even Ro Khanna.

Running against Torres is Republican army veteran Mike Cargile. In addition to the anti-immigrant policies proudly featured on his own website, a slapdash anti-Torres site Cargile seems to have set up features a whole page criticizing the Dem incumbent under a heading that just says “Islam.” In other words, Cargile is a nut—his own “Issues” page includes a big picture of the Soviet flag emblazoned with the word Socialism (he’s opposed), and the site he created to defame Torres claims that she “would be content with Sharia law instead of our Constitution.”

CD-36 – No recommendation

Ted Lieu has been in Congress since 2015, before that having been in the State Legislature for nine years. His opponents this year are two Republicans, and one candidate without a party preference whose campaign digital footprint is almost nonexistent. In California, he was perhaps best known for passing a ban on conversion therapy centers in the state in 2012. A centrist through and through, Lieu has consistently refused to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. Lieu is also something of an artificial intelligence (AI) apologist, known for pushing back against proposals to restrict AI technologies such as ChatGPT. That being said, Lieu is widely expected to win by default, having attracted only unfunded right-wing challengers in this heavily Democratic Westside Los Angeles district.

CD-37 – No recommendation

The 37th district includes Mid City, some of West LA, and the northern portions of South LA. Incumbent Sydney Kamlager, who’s endorsed by every center to left elected in the county and basically all of organized labor, is likely to coast to victory. Her votes during her first term in senate place her amongst the most progressive, yet she has yet to co-sponsor Rep. Cori Bush’s bill calling for a ceasefire in Gaza and willingly takes corporate money. Kamlager is facing no serious challengers in the race, so if you feel like a protest vote, you have a good option in Metro train mechanic Juan Rey. 

CD-38 – No recommendation

This is a race that pits the incumbent, Linda Sanchez, a Democrat, against three Republican candidates. She has been in Congress for over 20 years, maintaining a steady hold over her suburban, eastern Los Angeles County district. Considered one of the most influential Latina candidates in Congress, Sanchez currently chairs the Bold PAC, which is the campaign arm of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC), giving her lots of clout in determining how Latinx congressional candidates will receive support in this year’s election. Her positions are fairly standard of most congressional Democrats, including support for gun control, affirmative action, abortion access, and immigration. However, she has taken some troubling positions on foreign policy, notably her unwillingness to call for a ceasefire in Gaza (the furthest she went is calling for a humanitarian pause), as well as support for funding the war in Ukraine. As the lone Democrat running against three Republican candidates, she’s pretty unlikely to face a serious challenge. Bonus: she flipped off the GOP dugout at a congressional baseball game last year. 

CD-39 – Mark Takano

Incumbent Mark Takano, who became the first non-white gay member of Congress when he was elected in 2012 (nearly two decades after being outed in an earlier congressional campaign) was one of only two California representatives, and one of only ten in all of Congress, to endorse Bernie Sanders in his 2020 presidential campaign. And he has a record to back up his progressive bonafides; while not perfect, his voting record is among the most progressive in Congress. While this race is fairly straightforward, with only one Democrat and one Republican competing in a blue district, we feel positively enough about Takano to recommend voting for him.

CD-40 – No recommendation

Despite this district’s competitive status at the top of the ballot incumbent Republican Young Kim has built impressive crossover strength; she first flipped the district’s predecessor in 2020 even as Biden won it by 10 points, and won re-election more comfortably in the newer, redder seat (Biden won this iteration by 2 points), dispatching her opponent by a 14-point margin. But this suburban district is trending leftward, rendering Kim likely to become vulnerable down the road, especially with a solidly conservative voting record that doesn’t match the moderate image she’s cultivated. Two Democrats are vying to take her out now: retired fire captain Joe Kerr and local school board member Allyson Muñiz Damikolas. Kerr bills himself as a moderate; Muñiz Damikolas seems to be more party-line, probably to Kerr’s left but not particularly a progressive. We’ve made no recommendation as a result.

CD-41 – No recommendation

Will Rollins was one of the surprise stories in 2022; amid nationwide Democratic overperformance compared to mainstream media expectations that the elections would be a Republican landslide, Rollins performed particularly well, only losing to thirty-year incumbent Republican Ken Calvert by 5 points in a district that Trump narrowly won and that Newsom lost by 9 points. Rollins is taking a second shot at unseating Calvert, who’s the twelfth most senior member of Congress. Rollins touts his experience as a federal prosecutor in the DOJ’s National Security Division, something that may appeal to suburban moderates and other target voters but certainly not to the left. He isn’t the only Democrat in the race; nurse and perennial candidate Anna Nevenic is also running, but her candidacy doesn’t seem viable at all, and her platform isn’t particularly impressive either. Ahead of a primary that will undoubtedly produce a Calvert-Rollins rematch, we’re issuing no endorsement.

CD-42 – Nicole López

This seat covers most of the city of Long Beach as well as parts of Southeast Los Angeles County. It’s been represented since last cycle by former Long Beach city mayor Robert Garcia, who had governed as a standard establishment semi-progressive neoliberal mayor. His 2022 campaign was backed by AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel, though he did issue a statement in support of a ceasefire in mid-November last year. Mixed record aside, he’s almost certainly going to be repeating the 2022 runoff against perennial Republican candidate John Briscoe, who is self-funding his campaign to the tune of $250,000. So instead you should vote for one of the other two candidates, not because either of them have a real chance of winning (neither have raised more than $2000), but because they’re both running to his left. We recommend Nicole López, who also ran for this seat in 2022. She’s running a grassroots campaign and centering a demand for justice for Gaza, among other lefty planks.

CD-43 – Maxine Waters

Maxine Waters has held a version of this seat, which covers Inglewood, Hawthorne, and Torrance since 1991, and her influence in the South LA Democratic machine is substantial. She will have no trouble winning this election, against a Trumpy Republican and a small businesses and tax cuts Democrat, neither of whom have raised over $2K. Your vote doesn’t matter here at all, but we’ll note that Rep. Waters joined the call for an immediate (and unqualified) ceasefire in Gaza early into November last year, and is generally in the top 30 or 40 “most progressive” Congresspeople. Certainly neither of the other candidates deserve your support.

CD-44 – No recommendation

Nanette Barragán represents the district just to Waters’ East, including San Pedro and the south LA County cities of Lakewood, Carson, Lynwood, and South Gate. Barragán is somewhat similar in voting record to Waters – reasonably but not extremely progressive, having launched her political career first in the Clinton White House, then as a lawyer, then as a Hermosa Beach City Councilwoman, campaigning against the oil industry. On the other hand, she has not called for a Gaza ceasefire as of this writing and she is only facing a Republican candidate with no money raised named Roger Groh. Groh’s website explains that to get ready to be a Congressman, “I went through the Public Policy and Leadership programs at Harvard and Strategy program at Wharton. (I was probably the oldest student ever and enjoyed every moment!)”. Last election, Barragán beat her Republican challenger by over 40 points. Your vote here, sadly, doesn’t matter.

CD-45 – No recommendation

This district, primarily based in western Orange County, is home to the largest Vietnamese diaspora community in the world; Vietnamese-Americans’ sharp lurch to the right in the 2020 election as the Trump campaign fanned the flames of anti-communism caused the seat to fall out of Democratic hands, and it’s been tough to claw back since. Nevertheless, four Democrats are taking a shot this cycle. Derek Tran is the leading fundraiser in the group, but his endorsement from the centrist New Democrat Coalition’s PAC makes him a no-go for us. Garden Grove city councilmember Kim Bernice Nguyen-Penaloza is the party pick and has amassed a wide range of endorsements, but she has no issues page on her campaign website; between her and attorneys Cheyenne Hunt and Aditya Pai (Hunt is also notably a TikTok influencer and boasts the distinction of being the only Gen Z woman running for Congress this cycle), no candidate stands out as anything beyond a standard party-line Democrat, leading us to issue no recommendation here.

CD-46 – No recommendation

This district covers the more diverse, working class parts of Orange County – Santa Ana, Fullerton, and Anaheim. It’s been represented by conservative New Democrat congressman Lou Correa since 2016, when the previous representative, Loretta Sanchez left the seat to run for Senate, losing out to an up-and-coming hotshot Top Cop politician from NorCal, Kamala Harris. Working class Orange County is still Orange County though, and Lou Correa is among the most centrist members of the Democratic caucus. He should easily defeat Republican engineering professor David Pan, who’s running a single-issue conservative Universal Basic Income campaign (having UBI replace all social services. Literally. All of them. He cites right-wing libertarian economist Charles Murray’s “A Plan to Replace the Welfare State”), and since they’re the only two candidates in the race, they’ll runoff again in November anyway. Your vote literally doesn’t matter here.

CD-47 – No recommendation

Katie Porter’s Senate run has left behind an open seat that’s attracted a field of ten candidates, including both Democrats seeking to take her place and Republicans hoping to flip the district back into their hands. State Senator Dave Min and attorney/activist Joanna Weiss are by far the two biggest candidates in the race.

Min, who ran for this district’s predecessor in 2018 but finished narrowly behind Porter, who went on to flip the seat, started out as a frontrunner before his campaign was rocked by a DUI conviction last summer. While Min has maintained his collection of powerful endorsements, including from Porter, the Los Angeles Times, and the California Democratic Party, Weiss has come out swinging against Min for his DUI and has now been bolstered by a last-minute spending blitz from AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel. Weiss’s lack of track record was concerning enough—candidates with blank slates tend to let themselves be co-opted by corporate and reactionary interests—and her backing from pro-Israel groups says all we need to know about what kind of representative she’d be in Congress. Furthermore, she appears to have other baggage of her own, such as her husband’s lucrative defense of the Catholic Church in several sexual abuse lawsuits, which produced earnings that the couple has used to fund Weiss’s campaign. Min, for his part, is certainly no anti-Zionist—he’s taken clear pro-Israel positions and has expressed support for military aid—but his criticism of Netanyahu and West Bank settlements were enough to draw right-wing interest groups’ ire. And in addition to his DUI, we have other concerns about Min, such as his use of shady tactics against Porter in 2018 (though Porter’s endorsement suggests she may have forgiven him for this) and his time as a faculty advisor for UC Irvine’s Federalist Society chapter a decade ago. In the State Senate, where Min does have a clear track record we can examine, he doesn’t boast a particularly progressive record.

While Min ultimately appears to be better than Weiss, we have too many concerns about his history, and with no other serious candidates in the race, we aren’t making a recommendation here.

CD-48 – No recommendation

After being ousted by Democrat Mike Levin in 2018 after nearly two decades in Congress, Darrell Issa mounted a comeback by carpetbagging to a more conservative open seat in 2020. This district was made redder after redistricting, with Issa winning re-election by over 20 points last cycle. He’s nevertheless drawn four Democratic challengers, but we weren’t impressed by any of them and have therefore made no recommendation.

CD-49 – No recommendation

In an inverse of District 48, incumbent Mike Levin stands as the only Democrat against four Republican challengers in this coastal district that stretches from southern Orange County to northern San Diego County. Levin’s overall congressional record is fairly middling, which is perhaps unsurprising in this suburban district, lighter blue district (Biden won by 12 points in 2020). He does cosponsor Medicare for All and the Green New Deal—Katie Porter is the only representative in a redder district to cosponsor both—but he also has a very poor record on Palestine, the sixth worst among California Democrats. Ultimately, we don’t have a compelling enough reason to recommend him, especially as he will sail through the primary (and is very likely to win the general in November as the district continues to trend bluer).

CD-50 – No recommendation

Scott Peters is one of the worst Democrats in California. His voting record is the second worst among Democrats in the state’s congressional delegation, and unlike Jim Costa, he can’t claim a relatively conservative constituency as an excuse; his coastal San Diego district is deep blue. This district should be a target for progressives in future cycles, though California’s top-two system does pose challenges, but in the meantime, there’s no viable alternative. Aside from two Republicans, Peters’s only challenger is Timothy Bilash, an OB-GYN who presents a fairly progressive set of issues on his website but doesn’t seem serious and hasn’t posted any financial reports. We regretfully issue no recommendation here.

CD-51 – No recommendation

Sara Jacobs, a tech heiress whose grandfather founded Qualcomm, first won this seat in 2020 in large part thanks to self-funding to the tune of $7 million from her family fortune, besting Georgette Gómez in a confusing race where Gómez was decidedly the more progressive candidate on overall policy but also the more pro-Israel candidate—Gómez carried endorsements from Bernie Sanders, Our Revolution, and Justice Democrats, but also Democratic Majority for Israel. To the surprise of many, Jacobs has turned out better than expected; her voting record is actually on the more progressive side of the Democratic caucus, and she’s cosponsored Medicare for All and called for a ceasefire. She’s part of a handful of representatives who strangely hold membership in both the centrist New Democrat Coalition and the Congressional Progressive Congress. This cycle, her only opponents are a Republican and two conservative independents. Though Jacobs’s voting record is a pleasing development compared to initial expectations, it’s not quite strong enough to merit a recommendation, especially as Jacobs doesn’t face strong opposition given her district’s strong blue lean.

CD-52 – No recommendation

Like Jacobs, Juan Vargas is also a New Democrat/Progressive Caucus dual carder. His voting record is decent in most areas but is glaringly conservative on Palestine, only better than Sherman’s and Costa’s. We can’t in good conscience support a deeply pro-Israel candidate, and with this race being a straightforward Democrat vs Republican congress in a solidly blue district, we have no reason to make a recommendation.

State Senate

SD-1 – No recommendation

In solid red State Senate District 1, covering the Far North, only Republicans filed—Assemblymember Megan Dahle, whose husband Brian is the incumbent, and three-time lieutenant gubernatorial candidate David Fennell. We would never recommend a Republican; no recommendation here.

SD-3 – Jackie Elward

Three Democrats are vying to succeed term-limited incumbent Bill Dodd in this North Bay district. Vallejo vice mayor Rozzana Verder-Aliga is the state party’s pick; her platform doesn’t impress and her endorsements from multiple police unions are undoubtedly a concern. Christopher Cabaldon, who spent over two decades as mayor of West Sacramento before being defeated in 2020, is hoping to have renewed luck in a bid for higher office, but his platform is similarly uninspiring, perhaps fitting for someone who served as Pete Buttigieg’s California campaign co-chair in 2020. Rohnert Park city councilmember and labor organizer Jackie Elward is the clear pick for the left; she touts support for CalCare (the proposal for single-payer healthcare in California) and strengthened tenant protections on her website and calls herself “the pro-labor candidate in this election”, and she’s accordingly been endorsed by the Working Families Party and a number of labor unions, as well as the California Labor Federation. Bonus: Elward’s husband runs the UnionDrip account on Twitter that rose to popularity for its photos of “Dripped Out Trade Unionists”.

SD-5 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

SD-7 – Jovanka Beckles (Endorsed by East Bay DSA)

District 7, stretching along the coastal East Bay from Rodeo to Oakland, is one of the most progressive in the state, and with incumbent Nancy Skinner term-limited, it’s one of the left’s best pickup opportunities. East Bay DSA has endorsed AC Transit Board director and former Richmond City Councilmember Jovanka Beckles, who is the only DSA chapter-endorsed candidate for any federal or state-level race in California this cycle and automatically has our recommendation. She’s also supported by a number of other progressive local organizations and elected officials, a number of Teamster locals (she herself is a Teamster), and the local transit workers’ union (ATU 192).

Beckles is one of four major candidates competing for a top-two spot in this close race. Kathryn Lybarger, president of both the California Labor Federation and AFSCME 3299, has the backing of most labor unions; she’s also a former member of the International Socialist Organization, although she isn’t running an open socialist campaign. Oakland City Councilmember Dan Kalb, who typically positions himself closer to progressives but often tries to straddle the progressive-moderate divide and has notably been active in promoting pro-Israel content on social media as of late, has the support of a number of local elected officials, especially in Oakland; he’d still be among the most progressive state senators, but that’s more reflective of the low bar in California politics, and the East Bay can do a lot better. Berkeley Mayor Jesse Arreguín, though initially elected as a progressive in 2016, has shifted dramatically to the right during his tenure, often and increasingly aligning more with corporate real estate and other interests - for which he’s been handsomely rewarded with maximum donations from the California Apartment Association (landlords) and the California Association of Realtors - and has even outflanked Kalb to the right on Israel, partaking in a paid propaganda tour in 2022 and recently rejecting calls for a ceasefire resolution; he’s the furthest right of the four major contenders. The other two candidates are former assemblymember Sandré Swanson, a relatively unviable law and order candidate whose relevance has waned in the decade he’s spent out of office, and Republican Jeanne Solnordal, who will get very little of the vote in this extremely blue district.

SD-9 – Marisol Rubio

The most heartening thing about this race is that no matter the outcome, term-limited Steve Glazer, one of California’s most notoriously conservative Democrats, will no longer be a state senator. But while anyone would be better than Glazer, Assemblymember Tim Grayson, the favorite to win this seat, unfortunately won’t be that much better. San Ramon city councilmember Marisol Rubio, who challenged Glazer in 2020 and narrowly missed a spot in the general, is hoping to stop him; this time, with no Republican in the race, the two are guaranteed to face off in November. Rubio has been active in East Bay progressive politics and is endorsed by Our Revolution and Working Families Party; she’s the easy choice here.

SD-11 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

SD-13 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

SD-15 – Dave Cortese

Dave Cortese’s political career spans decades; he’s served as a school board member in San Jose, a city councilmember, a member of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, and now a state senator. He’s generally landed on the progressive side of San Jose politics; he was the progressive pick in his 2014 run for mayor, where he was eked out by centrist Sam Liccardo by a margin of less than 2 points, and he was the more progressive candidate in this district in 2020 when he bested Ann Ravel by a 10-point margin. Cortese has put up a pretty good record in the state legislature and was a coauthor of CalCare in his first term. Though he only faces Republican opposition in this deep blue district, we’ve recommended him.

SD-17 – John Laird

Like Cortese, John Laird has a long history of public service—he made history four decades ago as one of the first openly gay mayors when he assumed Santa Cruz’s mayoralty in 1983—and has put up a good record in his first term in the State Senate, also being a CalCare cosponsor. We’ve recommended Laird as well.

SD-19 – Lisa Middleton

Former Palm Springs mayor Lisa Middleton is also a historymaker; she was the first trans person elected to a non-judicial position in California, the first trans mayor in California, and was part of the first all-LGBT city council in US history. She’s aiming to take these accomplishments a step further in her bid for State Senate, but she faces a hurdle in the form of District 19’s red tilt; though it’s rapidly trending leftward, Trump actually won this exurban High Desert and Coachella Valley based district by 0.3 points. Though we don’t have much policy to go off of, and we don’t expect Middleton to put forward a left-wing platform in a bid to flip a light red district, we know that she was part of the progressive bloc in Palm Springs local politics and feel encouraged enough to recommend her.

SD-21 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

SD-23 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

SD-25 – No to Yvonne Yiu

Monterey Park City Councilmember Yvonne Yiu is second-time self-funding vanity candidate relying on an advertisement blitz that’s long on money ($3 million) and short on truth, who lost a race for Controller in 2022 running to the right of the eventually winner (Malia Cohen) and who thinks the same strategy might work this time. Yiu, a former Republican, changed her registration to run for office in 2022, and has maintained an obfuscatory and inconsistent political identity to secure support.

Yiu previously worked in the banking and finance sector and was CEO of an investment company, Key West. That company was censured and fined by the Finance Industry Regulator Authority, and their investment advisor certificate was revoked because she was putting investor funds in to her husband’s real estate fund. Since then she’s been spending her wealth running for office. Her stances against abortion, failure to show up for the Monterey Park mass shooting and inability to respond to environmental issues have raised the concerns of residents.

Yiu is trying to reheat old politics—through red-baiting, cop-hugging, and big money, she hopes to organize a conservative coalition to send her to Sacramento and ratify a new generation’s support for pro-landlord, pro-police, anti-worker policy in the Legislature. Vote against Yvonne Yiu.

SD-27 – Henry Stern

Surprisingly given he represents a suburban and fairly moderate district, which encompasses Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, and much of the San Fernando Valley, Henry Stern has maintained a solid voting record in the state legislature. Stern mounted a bid for a prestigious spot on the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in 2022 and was backed by the Working Families Party and United Teachers Los Angeles but ultimately finished in third, narrowly behind fellow progressive Lindsey Horvath, who went on to win the runoff. He’s now running for re-election as a result, and though he’ll easily win re-election, he is being challenged by a fellow Democrat: Sherman Oaks neighborhood councilmember Susan Collins, who’s running to Stern’s right on a platform that includes anti-trans dogwhistles and support for increased police funding. We recommend a vote for Stern and hope he leaves Collins’s campaign consigned to irrelevancy.

SD-29 – Eloise Gómez Reyes

Reyes, a former Assembly majority leader and labor-side workers’ compensation attorney, won her first Assembly race in 2016 supported by Berniecrat cadre running to the left of “Chevron Cheryl” Brown, two years after unsuccessfully challenging Redlands Mayor (now House Democratic Chair and Hakeem Jeffries lieutenant) Pete Aguilar for Congress. 

Reyes has been a consistent champion for labor, environmental justice, and warehouse workers in her Assembly seat, which runs from Redlands to Fontana and covers much of the Inland Empire’s working-class, Black and Latino core. 

This open Senate seat, which runs from Upland through San Bernardino to Highland along the 210 and 10 freeway corridors, shares much of the same population and issues, and Reyes’s final four years in the Legislature would likely be a repeat of her first eight with a focus on the nexus between logistics, air standards, workers, and economic opportunity for a historically-overlooked region. 

This is a seat to watch for a potential socialist successor, but a left-labor-climate leader like Reyes would be a welcome upgrade to the Senate.

SD-31 – No recommendation

This Corona-to-Perris seat takes in most of the urban and suburban core of Northwestern Riverside County; it’s got high homeowner density, a dense and growing Latino working class-to-middle-class population, and long tradition of local liberalism; the same region was home to Bernie’s regional HQ, and sends progressive and Bernie-endorsing Mark Takano to Congress by heavy margins. he west end of the district has historically been Republican strongholds, but are being leavened by younger families (particularly Asian and Latino) in Corona and Eastvale.

The transition is very visible here: USAF General and Democratic Senator Richard Roth (a labor law attorney and former Chamber of Commerce leader) is retiring to run for Supervisor, and two Democratic electeds are looking to succeed him: 

Sabrina Cervantes, a sitting Assemblymember and former staffer to Jose Medina, is from a political family: Father Greg is a major fundraiser and power in the Coachella Valley, while sister Clarissa sits on the Riverside City Council and is seeking to succeed her in the Assembly. She’s typically been identified as a moderate in a swing seat, though that’s changed both with turnout and with redistricting.

Dr. Angelo Farooq, an educator and school board member, has similarly deep ties in the Riverside political scene, and similar state exposure as chair of Governor Newsom’s Workforce Development Board. 

There’s not a lot of daylight between them – in fact, some of their supporters endorsed both (as did the California Labor Federation,) with Farooq having a slight advantage with Asian American organizations and electeds, and Cervantes with Latinos.

SD-33 – Lena Gonzalez

Incumbent Lena Gonzalez faces two Republican challengers in this district that covers Huntington Park in the north and heads down to Long Beach, touching South Gate, Lynwood, and Lakewood on the way. And then it keeps going into the ocean to Catalina and a single Channel Island. Gonzalez looks to handily win this race, with nonexistent donation reporting from the two challengers. Gonzalez’s term in the senate has seen some wins for her, with the passage of SB 616 that grants five paid sick days to all California workers (albeit a downgrade to her initially proposed seven days). She’s fought for state pensions divestment from fossil fuels (now a two-year bill, so let’s put her back in office), and saw her bill, SB 556, that would have made oil and gas companies liable for healthcare expenses related to pollution-caused respiratory illnesses. A stalwart advocate for the environment, labor issues, other progressive causes, we think that Lena Gonzalez should be sent back for another term.

SD-35 – Michelle Chambers

Incumbent Steven Bradford is term-limited, and eight candidates, including seven Democrats, are vying to replace him. Though no candidates appear to be running on solidly left-wing policy, former Compton city councilmember Michelle Chambers is the favorite and seems to be the best progressive pick, especially compared to her most prominent opponent, Laura Richardson, a former member of Congress whose tenure was mired with accusations of ethics violations.

SD-37 – Alex Mohajer

This Orange County senate district sprawls across Irvine, Tustin, Costa Mesa, and bits of Fullerton. It was initially designed to force a conflict between Dave Min and Josh Newman, with Newman expected to lose. As Min has filed for Congress instead, Josh Newman - initially elected/recalled/re-elected in an eastern OC/western IE seat has the Party and State Labor Fed on side – a testament to his loyalty, particularly to the Building Trades. Newman challenged from the right by a less-than-formidable pair of API Republicans and from the left by Alex Mohajer, a 2016 Clinton activist-turned-Dem club operative who incurred the wrath of the SoCal Democratic establishment by unexpectedly winning the President of the Stonewall Democratic Club. Mohajer is betting on an active and dense Middle Eastern population (who were active for Bernie in 2020) and the students and Millennial voters in Irvine and Costa Mesa. AFSCME 3299 has two members – Jenny Suarez and Jacob Creer – also in the race, who have had little exposure as of this writing.

The differences between Mohajer and Newman are more stylistic than substantial, with Mohajer at a slight disadvantage because of his political activity outside the district in LA. However, in a reliably Democratic seat with weak Republican prospects we think it’s useful to encourage leftward legislating by supporting a left challenger. This also puts other corporate, pro-pharma pro-cop, and pro-oil OC Dems - Lou Correa, Phil Umberg, and Cottie Petrie-Norris – on notice and builds cadre and expectations for future challenges. For that alone, Mohajer gets the nod from us, and a hope that he can push Newman into a two-Dem general.

SD-39 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

State Assembly

AD-1 – No recommendation

Like Senate District 1, Assembly District 1 is a solidly red northern California district where no Democrats have filed to run; only four Republicans are on the ballot in the race to replace incumbent Megan Dahle. No recommendation here.

AD-2 – Chris Rogers

It should be no surprise to socialists that the Democratic Party establishment loves to play dirty. California Democratic Party chair Rusty Hicks is a shining example of that: he’s running for State Assembly while remaining party chair, drawing valid concerns both that he’ll run into conflicts of interest and that he’s neglecting his duties in the statewide fight against Republicans. What’s more, Hicks is actively antagonistic to the left, demonstrated most recently by his crackdown on pro-Palestine protesters at the state party convention in November, and he only moved to the district a couple years ago. Needless to say, we hope this behavior isn’t rewarded, although anyone challenging the party chair surely faces an uphill battle.

Santa Rosa city councilmember Chris Rogers seems best positioned to defeat Hicks out of the five other Democrats running, and his platform includes support for single-payer healthcare and holding PG&E accountable. We’re recommending Rogers and hope he can be successful in preventing Hicks’s shenanigans from paying off.

AD-3 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-4 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-5 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-6 – Evan Minton

With ten candidates, including seven Democrats, this is one of the most exciting races in the state this cycle. There are three progressives running—local school board member Paula Villescaz, policy advocate Evan Minton, and former school board member Sean Frame, which means left-wing voters have a real choice to make here.

Villescaz is probably the strongest candidate in the race. She has the bulk of labor behind her, including the California Labor Federation; a number of Sacramento local officials ranging from centrist mayor Darrell Steinberg to DSA councilmember Katie Valenzuela; and progressive state legislators Liz Ortega and Alex Lee. She also leads in fundraising, with Minton and Carlos Marquez III (a more centrist candidate who comes from the charter school industry) close behind. But we’re disappointed by the relative weakness of her platform; she fails to mention single-payer or CalCare (instead talking about “expand[ing] access to quality healthcare”) and supports “fully funding” the police. If elected, she’ll surely be a champion for labor, but it seems she won’t promote policy as bold as we’d like.

Frame is running on the most clearly progressive platform, including single-payer healthcare, fighting corporate interests, and building affordable housing. But despite backing from progressive groups such as Our Revolution, he lags far behind Villescaz and Minton in both endorsements and fundraising; we feel he may not be viable enough, and are concerned about the possibility of no strong progressive finishing in the top two.

Minton, who would be the first transgender state legislator in California if elected, probably represents the best chance of electing a clear progressive in this district. A number of progressive groups, such as ACCE Action, Health Care for All, and the Sierra Club, have dual endorsed Frame and Minton, while others, such as the California Legislative Progressive Caucus and Courage CA, have dual endorsed Villescaz and Minton. His additional support from a number of state- and local-level elected officials, as well as his strong fundraising numbers, which fall only slightly behind Villescaz’s, indicate he’s a strong candidate.

There are compelling reasons to vote for any of these three candidates, and we wouldn’t fault anyone who opts for them. It’s certainly a tough choice, but on balance, we feel Evan Minton is the best pick to maximize the chance of electing a solid progressive here.

AD-7 – No recommendation

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AD-8 – No recommendation

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AD-9 – No recommendation

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AD-10 – No recommendation

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AD-11 – Lori Wilson

Former Suisun City mayor Lori Wilson was elected to this seat in a special election in 2022. She’s been a decent vote in the state legislature and authored AB957, which requires that a parent’s affirmation of their child’s gender identity be considered as a factor in determining custody, one of many good bills that were inexplicably vetoed by Newsom in recent months. Wilson has one Democratic challenger: Jeffrey Flack, who seems to be running a “law-and-order” campaign. Wilson is certainly the better choice.

AD-12 – Damon Connolly

Despite being elected in a narrow victory over progressive Sara Aminzadeh last cycle, Damon Connolly has turned out better than expected. As with most North Bay and North Coast politicians, he presents climate change as his chief issue, but he also explicitly expresses his support for CalCare, which we feel merits a recommendation.

AD-13 – Rhodesia Ransom

In 2019, Assemblymember Brian Dahle moved up to the State Senate and was succeeded in his Assembly seat by his wife, Megan; the Villapuduas are going for the same move, with Edith running to replace her husband Carlos, who’s running for State Senate. Between our aversion to political dynasties and Carlos Villapudua’s poor record in the state legislature, which is likely indicative of how his wife would vote, Edith Villapudua is not the right choice for this district. Instead, we recommend Rhodesia Ransom, a former Tracy city councilmember who isn’t perfect but is certainly running a more progressive campaign.

AD-14 – Margot Smith

East Bay socialists who have been around for several years will no doubt remember the hotly contested 2018 race in this district’s predecessor between DSA-endorsed candidate Jovanka Beckles and Obama alum Buffy Wicks, in which Wicks ran a nasty campaign against Beckles and emerge narrowly victorious, helped by millions in funds from conservative and billionaire interests. Though Wicks has been among of the better votes in the state legislature, most haven’t forgiven her, and we can certainly expect better in this district, perhaps the most left-wing district in the state. Margot Smith is running a protest campaign on a progressive platform and deserves your vote.

AD-15 – Monica Wilson

With Tim Grayson vacating this seat to run for State Senate, there’s an opportunity to elect a more progressive replacement in District 15. Antioch city councilmember Monica Wilson has the potential to be that, and with endorsements ranging from progressives such as the Working Families Party and Contra Costa County DA Diana Becton to institutions such as the state Democratic Party, she has a good chance of winning. Wilson is part of the progressive bloc on the Antioch City Council (although we wish her more left-wing colleague Tamisha Torres-Walker had run!), although we are concerned, though by her 2022 donation to centrist Assembly candidate Shawn Kumagai. And while her platform isn’t comprehensive, we’re pleased by her agitation against fossil fuel interests, and her alignment with Becton, one of California’s few reform DAs, is a good sign. Former Contra Costa county supervisor Karen Mitchoff (who, on the aforementioned topic, endorsed Becton’s conservative challenger Mary Knox in 2022) seems to be the main centrist candidate in this race, and her endorsements even include Republican county supervisor Candace Andersen. The third Democrat in the race is county education trustee Anamarie Avila Farias, who despite boasting a number of endorsements and being a current elected official hasn’t filed a campaign finance report. Farias also donated to Kumagai in 2022, and her platform doesn’t indicate she’d be more progressive than Wilson, so we feel Wilson is the best choice here.

AD-16 – No recommendation

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AD-17 – No recommendation

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AD-18 – No recommendation

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AD-19 – No recommendation

Incumbent Phil Ting is term-limited in this district that covers the western, more suburban portions of San Francisco as well as Daly City. The frontrunner is Catherine Stefani, a landlord and former prosecutor who now sits on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, where she sits solidly on the pro-police “moderate” bloc—a 2021 analysis from the SF Chronicle identified her as by far the furthest right of the body, and she often cast lone votes against progressive legislation such as the city’s eviction moratorium. She’s endorsed by a large number of elected officials at the state and local elected officials, including notorious enemies of the left such as Mayor London Breed and reactionary DA Brooke Jenkins, as well as a number of labor unions and the California Labor Federation.

Her sole Democratic opponent in this deep-blue district is educator and non-profit leader David Lee. We’re inclined to believe that anyone is probably better than Stefani, and it does indeed appear that Lee is attempting to position himself to Stefani’s left. His endorsements include local progressives such as Matt Gonzalez, Jane Kim, and Mark Leno, as well as a wide array of Asian-American political organizations, community leaders, and elected officials, including the incumbent, Ting; assembling such a coalition among voters will be key if he hopes to defeat Stefani. But his ideological stances aren’t very clear from his website, and his political history is concerning—he previously ran as a moderate against progressive former Supervisor Eric Mar; it’s not clear how genuine his potential shift to to the left might be. As a result, we don’t feel comfortable making a recommendation here.

AD-20 – Liz Ortega

Liz Ortega was first elected last cycle in a four-way race against centrist Shawn Kumagai (her general election opponent), progressive Jennifer Esteen, and a Republican. Ortega has been a solid progressive in the state legislature and has a history in labor organizing and leadership. Even though she’s running unopposed and therefore is in no way threatened this cycle, we feel strongly enough about her to recommend a vote for her.

AD-21 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-22 – Jessica Self

Self is the only challenger to a conservative Republican in a swing district. She is running a pro-union, pro-worker campaign, and reflects the best possible politics in this district, which covers much of the generally conservative Stanislaus County in the central valley. The incumbent, Juan Alanis, won the district in a runoff against Self in 2022. He’s a former Sheriff SWAT team meathead. Like a California Republican, his campaign is all about ramping up law enforcement (“keeping families safe”) and lowering taxes, most especially the gas tax. He sucks. Jessica Self raised a nice warchest with significant labor support for her campaign in 2022, but after flopping hard, most big Democratic fundraisers have stayed out. You should vote for her though. 

AD-23 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-24 – No recommendation

Note: an earlier version of this guide recommended Alex Lee, but that has been rescinded after consultation with Silicon Valley DSA

Alex Lee made waves when he was first elected in 2020 amid a crowded field of eight Democrats—the youngest California state legislator (at 25), the first born in the 1990s, the first bisexual member, and the first self-described socialist in the contemporary political era, having been endorsed in his first campaign by Silicon Valley DSA. He’s been at the forefront of many of California’s progressive fights, authoring a single-payer healthcare bill, a wealth tax, tenant protections, and many other pieces of legislation that advance working-class interests. This would seem to be a slam-dunk recommendation for Lee, but his relationship with DSA and other parts of the left has deteriorated recently—last year, he fought with progressive state senator Aisha Wahab over competing social housing bills, opposing Wahab’s SB555, which was endorsed by CA DSA, and amid this fight and pressure from Hindu nationalist committees, he threatened to shut down Wahab’s anti-caste discrimination bill; Silicon Valley DSA condemned him for this and his strong connection and support from the Hindu nationalist orgs, and hasn’t endorsed his re-election campaigns. Lee’s only facing two Republican challengers in this majority-Democratic district, so we see no reason to issue a recommendation.

AD-25 – Ash Kalra

Ash Kalra has been a progressive champion in California politics; he also authored the single-payer healthcare and wealth tax bills, along with other solid pieces of legislation. Kalra’s presence in the State Assembly is an undisputed positive to the left and the working class as a whole, and we’re glad to recommend a vote for him.

AD-26 – No recommendation

Note: an earlier version of this guide recommended Alex Lee, but that has been rescinded after consultation with Silicon Valley DSA brought additional information to light

This is a crowded race covering the South Bay cities of Sunnyvale, Cupertino, and Santa Clara. Six candidates have filed to replace outgoing assemblymember Evan Low, who vacated the seat to run for Congress. His anointed successor is Patrick Ahrens, his current district director. Aside from three non-viable candidates (a Republican, a Libertarian, and a Democrat who all seem to have raised no money), the race will likely be between Ahrens and and either Tara Sreekrishnan, a representative on the Santa Clara Board of Education running with significant support from organized labor or Omar Din, a current city councilmember in Sunnyvale. Sreekrishnan is heavily supported by organized labor, but she also worked to undermine a ceasefire resolution in Santa Clara Board of Education. Din, on the other hand, has supported ceasefire efforts across the bay, but also has taken an endorsement from the Sunnyvale Public Safety Officers Association. Tough to see across the board, so we’re sitting this one out.

AD-27 – No recommendation

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AD-28 – No recommendation

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AD-29 – No recommendation

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AD-30 – No recommendation

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AD-31 – No recommendation

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AD-32 – No recommendation

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AD-33 – No recommendation

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AD-34 – No recommendation

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AD-35 – No recommendation

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AD-36 – No recommendation

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AD-37 – No recommendation

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AD-38 – No recommendation

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AD-39 – No recommendation

AD-39 was a brand new redistricting creation in 2022, which includes Palmdale, Lancaster, and parts of San Bernardino County, including Victorville. A Latino-majority district, Juan Carrillo won this seat against a Republican challenger in 2022 and he most likely will handily win this seat against the same Republican challenger. He’s conveniently abstained for some consequential votes on environmental conservation and the fast food council. This district is ripe for more progressive, and dare we say, socialist, representation. Until we get that, no recommendation from us.

AD-40 – Pilar Schiavo

Pilar Schiavo was elected to this district that covers Santa Clarita and the northwest San Fernando Valley, including Northridge and Granada Hills in 2022. Her win was deeply helped by a redistrict that swung the district in her favor to eke out a 50.2% win over a Republican. This year, she sees another match up against a Republican, retired deputy chief Patrick Lee Gipson, who is running on your standard CA Republican platform of “repeal gas tax,” “law and order,” and “school choice.”

Schiavo has labor’s backing in this race, with the bulk of her campaign donations reflecting that. During her first term in office, she’s fought to shut down the Aliso Canyon gas facility in the face of the utility commission’s approval to ramp up its production, fought against anti-abortion practices in the state, and has supported pro- worker, -social housing, and -CalCare bills in the Assembly. A solid progressive vote in the Assembly, we recommend keeping Pilar Schiavo in the legislature.  

AD-41 – No recommendation

Chris Holden has termed out of this seat and is running for Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, so AD-41 sees an open race for this district that covers Pasadena and heads east and north into the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains. A heavily Democratic district, there are three Democrats running in this primary and the General Election is likely to be a two-Democrat race. 

John Harabedian used to work in the LA district attorney’s office and was on the Sierra Madre city council. His website lists endorsements from various elected officials, unions, including the California Nurses Association, and California Environmental Voters. Yet, his campaign donations reveal maximum donations from the California Apartment Association, a handful of corporations (like Doordash and McDonald’s), and real estate interests. 

Phlunté Riddle is a former Pasadena police lieutenant and is Holden’s anointed successor in this race. She also has the endorsement of a handful of unions, including SEIU California, as well as the California Renters Council and ACCE. Yet, predictably, when you dig into her campaign donations, you see a whole lotta of cop money.

Jed Leano is an immigration attorney and the former mayor of Claremont. Raising significantly less money than the other candidates, he also has fewer endorsements from unions, as much of his support comes from the California YIMBY realm, a few tenants unions, and a smattering of electeds from a hodgepodge of LA County municipalities. His website leans very heavily on his experience building housing and reducing homelessness in Claremont working with housing trusts.

There seems to be very little daylight between the three’s policies, albeit Riddle is the only candidate who is on the record supporting a California single-payer healthcare system. With roses and thorns attributable to each candidate, we’re leaving no rec. 

AD-42 – No recommendation

So, incumbent Jaqui Irwin is gonna win this race again handily, as she faces no viable Democratic challengers against a Republican candidate in a safe blue district. Her district includes parts of Ventura County, Malibu, Agoura Hills, and Calabasas (hello to all the celebrities reading this voter guide blurb. If you are a member, please switch to paying Solidarity Dues: https://act.dsausa.org/donate/ibd_campaign). She takes hundreds of thousands of dollars from real estate interests, the cops, and gas companies. And also either outright opposes or finds herself conspicuously absent on votes in these areas. Jaqui Irwin is bad news, so no rec here from us. 

AD-43 – No recommendation

We thought this would be a simple blurb! Nothing in California is ever simple! In late November, Congressman Tony Cárdenas announced he would not seek reelection to Congress, Assemblymember Luz Rivas leapt into the race to replace him. Six candidates scrambled to run in this San Fernando Valley district. Well, technically six candidates filed, but only three of them have any sort of campaign finance data, so who knows if the other three exist?

Of the three that do exist, we’ll most likely have a face-off between two Democrats in the general: we have the current Mayor of San Fernando, Celeste Rodriguez, and Walter García, who has served in communications roles for a variety of California politicians, including California Attorneys General Xavier Becerra and Rob Bonta and LA City Councilperson Monica Rodríguez, one of the more right-leaning members.

Celeste Rodriguez seems to be an extension of LA establishment politics, receiving the blessings of the SFV players, including Rep. Brad Sherman, Senator Alex Padilla, LA Mayor Karen Bass, SEIU California, and the LA Fed. Walter Garcia doesn’t show any endorsements or red flags in his donations, but rests a fair amount of weight on his time working in the offices he’s worked in. García’s website and platform hits a lot of the progressive keywords we like to see in candidates: “permanent supportive housing,” “alternative crisis responses,” “Medicare-for-All,” and “pro-worker agenda.” With that, he has an edge over Celeste, and it would be interesting to see a García campaign run with over six weeks of preparation time.

AD-44 – Nick Schultz

The fighting 44th district covers Burbank, Sherman Oaks, North Hollywood, Studio City the tippy-top of Glendale, and Warner Bros. Studio Water Tower Autonomous Zone (pop. 3 Animaniacs). The seat has been held by reliably progressive (and apparent pool shark?) Laura Friedman, who is now running to represent the area in Congress (see our 30th Congressional District race info for more about her.) There are eight candidates running to replace Friedman, including multiple progressives in this race. Those include commendable candidates like Steve Pierson, who’s worked for organizations like SwingLeft and is endorsed by labor hero Dolores Huerta. 

But we’re going to agree with Friedman’s endorsement for Burbank Mayor Nick Schultz and recommend him to succeed her. Schultz has worked closely with DSA-LA member Konstantine Anthony on Burbank’s City Council, stands for affordable housing and workers rights, and is endorsed by lefty unions like UAW. 

AD-45 – No recommendation

Incumbent James Ramos is literally the only person running in this San Bernardino district Ramos, a former community college trustee and county supervisor, is fairly partisan Democrat with specific interests in conservation and the welfare of California’s indigenous peoples rooted in his life in and leadership of the Yuhaaviatam of San Manuel Nation. He’s consistently been elected with support from business and law enforcement. While this safe-D district could be good ground for a left challenger, there isn’t one this year. 

AD-46 – No recommendation

Assembly district 46 covers a big chunk of the West Valley – Encino, Reseda, and Canoga Park. Jesse Gabriel is virtually unopposed, just running against one Republican in this safe blue district. Current chair of the state budget committee, where he will oversee budgeting within a deficit, he’s taken money from the California Apartment Association, private insurance companies, and AirBnB. He’s not really providing the state with any sort of transformative vision, so we have no desire to recommend him either.

AD-47 – No recommendation

This Palm Springs area seat is important to the Democratic caucus, as it’s one the Republicans won by a hair in 2022 – 85 votes, to be specific. Republican incumbent Greg Wallis is facing Palm Springs Councilmember Christy Holstege. 

AD-48 – Brian Calderón Tabatabai

Blanca Rubio is the convenor of the infamous and informal “mod caucus” – that collection of Democratic legislators that works reliably and assiduously for oil, business, pharmaceutical, police, landlord and various other corporate interests. She’s also the center of a family-based political machine that put her sister Susan in the Senate and tried to impose formerly Republican sister Sylvia on Whittier, where she was beaten by another machine dynast, Lisa Calderon. The Rubio sisters’ power in their own bailiwick isn’t impregnably, however – the region is heavily Latino, API, and working-class, and has historically elected more liberal (albeit not socialist) candidates like Judy Chu and Hilda Solis.

The Rubios are working to build a right-wing version of a multi-racial working class majority. The progressive wing of Sacramento’s “third house” (advocacy nonprofits, lobbying organizations, and issue-based coalitions) have identified AD 48 as one of their priorities for struggle and found Brian Calderon Tabatabai – a union educator, football coach, and West Covina Mayor as the best possible challenger or successor to Rubio in AD 48. The traditional liberal players – labor, environmentalists, and Solis – have endorsed early, with newer players like WFP and unexpected establishment supports like former Speaker Anthony Rendon and Senator Bob Archuleta jumping in. The Rubios are among the worst examples of Democratic governance that California has to offer. and knocking off Blanca (hopefully at the same time her sister loses a Congressional race to succeed Grace Napolitano) would be an earthquake for the right-wing forces that depend on her and a major message to California politicians.

AD-49 – No recommendation

Assemblymember Mike Fong has been serving this San Gabriel Valley district since 2022. Lacking any serious Democratic challenger, he’s facing a Republican that has no shot in this safe blue district. Fong’s voting record is pretty much in line with the progressive wing of the Assembly, supporting bills that protect the environment and workers and authoring bills that allow undocumented students to access state financial aid and expanding gun control regulations. However, like many Democrats in the California state legislature, he has accepted large donations from real estate, cops, and good ol’ PG&E, so we’ve got no enthusiastic recommendation for you here. 

AD-50 – DeJonaé Marie Shaw

Three Democrats (and no Republicans) are competing to succeed Eloise Gómez Reyes, who’s running for State Senate, and we hope to see the district remain in progressive hands. Local school board members Robert Garcia and Adam Perez seem to be fairly standard liberals, while DeJonaé Marie Shaw is the choice of progressives, including the Working Families Party and the state legislature’s Progressive Caucus. While Shaw could do with a bolder platform, she’s the best candidate here.

AD-51 – No recommendation

AD-51 covers Santa Monica, West LA, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, the Hollywood Hills, Hollywood, and Hancock Park, a large district that mixes renters and some of the most wealthy areas of the city. While in 2022 we saw a more competitive election between Democrats, this year we have incumbent Rick Chavez Zbur running against two Republicans. Zbur is expected to handily win this race. A corporate Dem through and through, his current campaign contributions include Netflix CEO (and charter school supporter), Reed Hastings, PG&E, a handful of pharmaceutical companies, and the California Apartment Association. His donors represent CA-DSA’s class enemies, while he’s able to create some laurels supporting progressive legislation that has come through the assembly this past term. In a recent CalMatters story, he has conflated anti-Zionism with anti-Semtism. With no good options in this race, we cannot issue a recommendation here. 

AD-52 – Franky Carrillo

District 52 covers all the way from Eagle Rock to its east, to East Hollywood to its west (confusing, we know), Glendale to its north and East Los Angeles to its south (even more confusing). The area is currently represented by Wendy Carillo, who is changing lanes and instead veering towards the Los Angeles City Council District 14 seat. It’s a wide open field, but we’re going to join Eunisses Hernandez in recommending Franky Carillo (no relation to Wendy) to represent the district in the California State Assembly.

Despite how wide open the field is, there seems to be very little room between the platforms of these various candidates, so we’re digging really deep into them and looking at their endorsers and their money. We got David Girón, who has worked as a staffer to defeated-by-DSA-LA City Councilmember Mitch O’Farrell. We got Ari Ruiz, who is coming from more moderate Assembly offices of Autumn Burke and Blanca Rubio. These two candidates have the backings of their bosses and their cohort, so we remain very skeptical of these progressive platitudes listed on their websites.We’ve got Jessica Caloza who is coming from Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office and has received a huge chunk of change from the California Real Estate PAC and SoCal Edison. 

Franky’s personal story is extremely harrowing, having been framed for murder by a Los Angeles County Sheriff and forced to spend 20 years in jail. He is a fierce advocate for criminal justice reform that is desperately needed locally and statewide, is endorsed by DSA-LA abolitionist city councilmember Eunisses Hernandez, and is a voice we desperately need talking about the moral rot at the center of our policing system.

AD-53 – Javier Hernandez

As in AD 48, we have dynasties trying to hold a seat – incumbent Assemblymember Freddie Rodriguez’s wife Michelle is facing off against Congresswoman Norma Torres’s son (and Pomona City Councilman) Robert in a brawl for first place in this mostly-IE seat that runs from Pomona in LA County to Ontario in San Bernardino. This warehouse-country, heavily-Latino, cross-county district has been dominated by trade unionists – Connie Leyva from UFCW, Torres and Rodriguez both out of AFSCME – but logistics, immigration, and environmental justice historically get short shrift from the existing power players. 

Two Berniecrats are also in the race: Three Valleys water district director Carlos Goytia has a long-standing opposition to the Torres and Rodriguez machines and a cadre of supporters drawn from the Bernie/Young Democrats/DSA-adjacent community, but has struggled to raise enough money to take on two machine candidates with corporate and labor ties.

Sharing that base is Javier Hernandez, a recently-naturalized immigrant and executive director of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice, which has led local youth organizing and opposition to the jail and detention center in Adelanto. Hernandez’s relationships with IE United (a local civic engagement table) and, by extension, the Working Families Party and local donors have held him in better stead on fundraising. 

As much as we wish this could be a race between Hernandez and Goytia, we need to back a progressive who can win second place and fight off either Rodriguez or Torres. That seems to be Hernandez, right now. Recognizing Pomona is in Susan Rubio’s district, we’d look to Goytia as a potential challenger to her in 2026 to continue to cut down the “mod caucus’s” power in Sacramento.

AD-54 – John Yi

This is a classic race illustrating the politics of deep-blue Los Angeles’ status quo coalition. Looked at one way, it pits Mark Gonzalez, current LA County Democratic Party chair and thus machine-anointed successor to (as well as senior staffer for) outgoing seatholder Miguel Santiago, against a progressive, grassroots community organizer and environmentalist John Yi. Vote for the upstart organizer and throw a wrench in the Dem Party machine, open and shut, right?

Well to be honest, that probably gets you most of the way there. It’s worth digging a little bit deeper. Gonzalez, the CDP-anointed candidate certainly takes plenty of random business interest money – max donations from DoorDash, Cruise, “Fox Corporate Services” and the like. His career as LACDP chair is littered with complaints by progressive activists and accusations of maybe-not-quite-illegal-but-certainly-shady machine corruption. On the flip side, his biggest source of funding is from the many organized labor unions that have, along with the California Labor Federation, endorsed him – because his boss, and by extension Mark in office, have been among the most steadfast supporters of LA County organized labor.

John Yi’s website and platform seem to be a left dream - he explicitly called for repealing the Costa Hawkins and Ellis acts to protect renters, for massive investment in public transportation, and for statewide single payer healthcare. But digging a little deeper, Yi’s left grassroots history looks a little bit more like a different part of the status quo coalition – the nonprofit industrial complex. From 2012 to 2015, John Yi was interim national director of Parent Revolution, a pro-charter policy non-profit, which launched his career deeper into Los Angeles social justice nonprofits. 

Ultimately, we come down in favor of opposing the status quo labor-business machine and recommend voting for John Yi for his willingness to explicit champion the policy priorities of single payer healthcare, rent control, and mass transit, but socialists should always remember to dig a bit deeper into how these machines work, and think critically about why organized labor may be willing to stick with the candidates that may otherwise seem to us to be uninspiring Democratic Party hatchetmen.

AD-55 – Isaac Bryan

Once again, incumbent Isaac Bryan is basically expected to outrightly win this race, as he faces no other Democratic challenger in this safe blue district that covers Culver City, Palms, Mid-City, West Adams, Crenshaw, Baldwin Hills, Ladera Heights, Leimert Park, Jefferson Park, West LA, Westwood, and Century City. He has one of the strongest progressive records in the State Assembly, with a record of advocating for decarceration and policing reform, workers’ rights, social housing, and a CA single payer healthcare system. With this assessment of policy, we recommend Isaac Bryan for another term. 

AD-56 – No recommendation

This district covers much of east Los Angeles County, including South El Monte, Pico Rivera, La Puente, Whittier, Diamond Bar and Walnut. Sadly, after feverish Googling, we regret to report that Walnut, California is not the walnut capital of the United States. Apparently that’s Santa Barbara. 

Now, why are we talking about walnut facts? It’s because this race is pretty boring. The incumbent, Lisa Calderon, has been in office since 2020. She’s your garden average California Democrat, with basically every statewide politician and organization endorsing her. It’s not a competitive district, and her only opponents are two Republicans. Calderon doesn’t need our recommendation, nor do the Republicans deserve our time explaining why they’re evil. We’re going back to learning more fun nut facts.

Woah, did you know the world’s largest pecan is in Seguin, Texas?

AD-57 – Sade Elhawary

As Reggie Jones-Sawyer terms out and seeks election to LA City Council, this South and Southeast LA seat is open, and brings strong prospects from both the Black and Latino communities. 

We will dispense with realtor-and-police-endorsed Huntington Park City Councilmember Efren Martinez out of hand, but acknowledge he’s likely to make it to the runoff, having ran in this same race in 2020 and earning 42% while running on his pro-cop, reactionary platform against a relatively progressive incumbent. In picking his challenger, we have Dulce Vasquez, Sade Elhawary, and Greg Akili.

Vasquez has run in this geographic area before, and recently, polling in the thirties against Councilman Curren Price in 2022. Her 2022 race was one marked by trying to court the progressive wing, while doing fundraisers with LA’s last Republican mayor, taking money from our class enemies, like charter schools, defense companies, and real estate. She’s using the same playbook in 2024, taking fossil fuel donations while saying she’s “taking on corporate polluters” on her website. , This repeat of action doesn’t inspire confidence about her plan to win or her plan to govern. 

Between longtime union organizer and BLM leader Greg Akili and Community Coalition cadre Sade Elhawary, we have two principled, capable, and respected candidates. Sade’s fundraising, however, and support from labor unions, leftward organizations like WFP, and even a candidate who had entered this crowded AD-57 race and since dropped out, Rene Romero, indicate that, for the best shot to keep Efren out of the Assembly, Elhawary is the best choice – though we recognize Akili’s long movement service warrants serious consideration.

AD-58 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-59 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-60 – Corey Jackson

Running as a progressive, Corey Jackson beat two other Democrats in a contested primary last cycle to win this Riverside County seat. He’s maintained a progressive record in the state legislature, and like 2022, has again secured the backing of the Working Families Party. We do have concerns over his past links to charter school interests, something that generated controversy locally among the left when he first ran, though it appears he hasn’t voted along with those interests in the State Assembly, and it’s worth noting he did defeat a charter-backed candidate in his successful 2020 campaign for Riverside County Board of Education. Despite these reservations, we feel that his record demonstrates a commitment to progressive politics.

AD-61 – Tina Simone McKinnor

AD-61 covers the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Venice, Marina del Rey, Westchester, Inglewood, Hawthorne, and Lawndale. McKinnor is expected to coast to re-election here, with her only challenger a Republican that doesn’t even have any campaign finance data listed as of writing this. A friend of labor, McKinnor has shown up at the picket lines in 2023 and has co-authored legislation allowing legislative staff the right to form a union. A strong and consistent progressive voice in the Assembly, we recommend Tina McKinnor for reelection.

AD-62 – No recommendation

After serving seven years as the Assembly’s speaker, Anthony Rendon is termed out, leaving this district that covers the Southeast Los Angeles neighborhoods of Huntington Park, South Gate, Lynwood, Paramount, Bellflower, and Lakewood an open race. There are three candidates in this race, but one viable and serious candidate, who will most likely have an easy victory. 

The frontrunner in fundraising (and having any sort of website) is current Democratic mayor of Lynwood, José Luis Solache. The anointed successor of Rendon, he’s backed by statewide labor unions, the California Democratic party, and many of the Southern California crew already in the assembly. His website lacks any sort of policy positions, but with the Rendon and Dem establishment backing, we’ll probably get more of the status quo out of him. Also running for the fourth election cycle in a row is Maria Estrada, who has been running since 2018 in response to Rendon tabling a single payer health care bill in 2017. Since we are currently experiencing deja vu, let us repeat DSA-LA’s 2022 voter guide: “She has voiced support of universal basic income, investment in education and infrastructure, public banks, federal jobs guarantee, abolishing ICE, banning private prisons, protecting unions, stopping the expansion of charter schools, but there are reasons to be concerned about her candidacy. Her campaign’s web presence now seems to be running entirely via Facebook, has no campaign finance on file for 2022 [edit: this is also true for 2024], and in the past has gotten into trouble with other progressive activists for public posts praising anti-Semitic preacher Louis Farrakhan and for other spats with activists.” Lacking any serious left or progressive candidate, we are not issuing a recommendation here. 

AD-63 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-64 – No recommendation

If you live in Bell, Cudahy, Bell Gardens, Downey, Santa Fe Springs, Norwalk, La Mirada, or La Habra, you’re a proud resident of the 64th district. Your current Assembly representative is Blanca Pacheco, who took over the seat in 2022. She’s not exceptionally a progressive leader, buddying up with Downey-area politicians fighting against tenants unions and touts numerous police association endorsements. For that reason, we can’t really recommend her in this race. 

We do recommend that if you’re a lefty in the district, you should get involved with DSA-LA’s Eastside Branch. Then, in 2026, we recommend looking into running against Pacheco, who’s going to cruise to re-election this year. Because Pacheco’s only opponent is anti-trans rights Republican Raul Ortiz Jr., who she already beat in 2022 by 22 points.

AD-65 – No recommendation

Incumbent Mike Gipson has no challenger in this race. He takes a lot of oil money, real estate, and cop money, too. You shouldn’t vote for him.

AD-66 – No recommendation

You might as well start calling the 66th Assembly District the Overlook Hotel, because it’s got Torrance inside of it, and it has always been there. (Look, this voter guide is very long, and it’s starting to drive us a bit wacky, so sorry if The Shining is on our mind.) Beyond Torrance though, the district covers much of the California coast line south of LAX, including El Segundo, Redondo Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Rancho Palos Verdes. Also Gardena too, but that’s not the coast line. 

Your perpetual overseer of the Overlook/66th Assembly District is Al Muratuschi, who’s been in charge since 2016. There’s nothing exciting to report about him - he’s like so many California Democratic Assemblymembers, vaguely gesturing towards a progressive future but not doing much to really fight for it. He’s endorsed by a ton of labor unions - including police associations. Like the ocean he represents, he’s coasting to re-election, and doesn’t need our recommendation. His only opponent is George Barks, a business owner and a former Hermosa Beach city councilor in the 1970s and the 1980s… Including when THE SHINING released in theaters. We’ll go tell the Moon Landing truthers. 

AD-67 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-68 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-69 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-70 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-71 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-72 – Dom Jones

Republican incumbent Diane Dixon has one challenger in this competitive district in the form of Dom Jones, an activist and former contestant on The Amazing Race. Jones expresses support for Medicare for All, which is a pleasant surprise for a Democrat running in a GOP-held district; we feel she’s worth recommending.

AD-73 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-74 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-75 – Joy Frew

District 75 is solidly red; no Democrat has a shot of winning here, but three are trying their luck anyways. Christy Dougherty touts a police union endorsement as the first thing on her website, making her an automatic no-go; Kevin Juza is endorsed by the state party and seems to be a standard Democrat; while Joy Frew is the most progressive candidate in the race and earns our recommendation.

AD-76 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-77 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-78 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-79 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!

AD-80 – No recommendation

Write-up coming soon!