2026 CA DSA Primary Voter Guide
Introduction
We, in 2026, are in a new era for democratic socialism. Zohran Mamdani’s win has shown that a politics grounded in working people, in solidarity and collective action, and in democratic socialism, is not only popular but powerful. DSA chapters across the country, as well as other leftist and progressive groups and candidates, have seized this moment and are running more ambitious and plentiful campaigns than ever before.
However, the socialist analysis of our election ballots must extend beyond just DSA endorsements. DSA’s endorsements are rare and special. They are democratically decided upon by chapters and mean that chapter is committing to devoting time and resources to that campaign.
However, there is still value in recommending certain candidates, largely to contextualize the choices on our 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? 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.
For some races, CA DSA opted to issue no recommendation. The reasons for these vary from race-to-race, and will sometimes be explained by a write-up. However, most “no recommendation"s stem from the simple fact that no candidate in the race, which is usually filled by Corporate Democrats or MAGA Republicans, is progressive enough to be recommended.
Below we will link the voter guides of DSA chapters across California as they are published for greater insight into local races.
Contents
Click or tap on a button above to jump to that section
Local Chapter Voter Guides
Statewide
California Governor: See Write-Up
It’s no understatement to say that this cycle’s governor’s race has been a whirlwind. Multiple, potentially field-clearing candidates, like California’s “top cop” and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, and incumbent Attorney General Rob Bonta, declined to run. One of the Democratic frontrunners and darling of California's Bearstar Democratic establishment, Representative Eric Swalwell, has been credibly accused of sexual assault and misconduct and dropped out of the race.
So, who does that leave Californians with? After Swalwell’s disgraceful exit, the Democratic establishment (and corporate donors) almost immediately began supporting a candidate they had formerly urged to drop out, former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. Becerra’s résumé is certainly long; he has been in some kind of public office almost uninterrupted since 1990. His milquetoast policy platform promises very little change from the status-quo, and during this time as HHS Secretary, he largely refused to take more progressive action. With his deep ties to the Democratic establishment, Becerra is more of the same disappointing corporate Democrat we’re used to.
There is also former mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, who dropped his hair dye and picked up an infusion of funds from the oil lobby for another shot at governor. His 2026 race seems to be even more successful than his 2018 race and the most notable thing he’s done so far is pick up the endorsement from historically unpopular and scandal-ridden current mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass. Let’s also not forget that Villaraigosa’s career as mayor was marked by the rapid privatization of LA’s public school system, which is a nonstarter.
Fresh off the heels of her failed campaign for US Senate, former Representative and whiteboard warrior Katie Porter has tried to use her firebrand credentials to stake out a lane in the race for governor. However, she refuses to support many progressive priorities - such as the CA DSA-endorsed billionaire tax and closing the commercial property tax loophole - and has historically supported Israel, even saying she was “extremely impressed” by Benjamin Netanyahu. Late last year, her campaign was rocked by accusations that she mistreated her staffers with videos circulating of the verbal abuse. She seems to mostly have shrugged off that scandal and continues to be one of the leading contenders for governor.
Tony Thurmond, the current State Superintendent of Public Instruction, is technically also still running. However, he has consistently polled in the low single-digits (like… 1%) and has no chance of even seeing the runoff. Additionally, any progressive should remember Thurmond’s silence regarding AB 715, the “Don’t Say Palestine” bill that civil rights groups like CAIR warned would censor pro-Palestinian speech in schools (or potentially even mentions of Palestine).
Finally, Tom Steyer is somehow running the most progressive campaign. Despite being a billionaire, he supports taxing the rich and supports the Billionaire Tax currently on California’s ballot, which CA DSA has endorsed. He has done an about-face from his previous position to now supporting state-level Medicare for All. He has called ICE a “violent extremist group” and outlined how he, as governor, would prosecute ICE agents. He has also been endorsed by a number of major labor unions, including the California Teachers Association, the California Federation of Teachers, AFSCME 3299, Unite HERE, the California Nurses Association, and the California Labor Federation, as well as progressive groups such as Our Revolution and Courage California, and former gubernatorial candidate Betty Yee.
Notably, Steyer is one of two Democrats in the race, alongside Tony Thurmond, to explicitly support California’s law protecting trans girls’ participation in girls’ sports; Becerra, on the other hand, glibly stated that “there’s nothing in the Constitution that says that you are entitled to play a sport”, and other Democrats, including Porter, agreed.
However, while Steyer has disavowed AIPAC’s influence on Democratic primaries (although, notably, AIPAC does not involve itself in non-federal races) and acknowledged that Israel is committing war crimes, he has refused to call Israel’s actions in Palestine a genocide and claimed that he “honestly does not know what genocide means.” We find this rhetorical trick to be pulled from the same Zionist playbook that motivates genocide denial across the political spectrum—playing dumb about the daily horrors and atrocities Israel commits is not “progressive” in any way.
Additionally, Steyer is a billionaire. Even if he glibly considers himself a “class traitor”, his wealth was earned through the exploitation of the working class. Much of his wealth was also invested in private prisons and coal mining, accumulated by the same things he now decries.
There are myriad left-wing protest votes one could take (none of which are going to come close to winning), the most prominent of which are Ramsey Robinson and Butch Ware. We highly encourage voters to not cast a protest vote, as the stakes are incredibly high and the chance of the top two candidates both being Republicans is still very real. We especially urge you to not write-in Butch Ware, who failed to qualify for the ballot and has lashed out against Californian Left, including the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), Peace and Freedom Party (PFP), and DSA. Aside from his previous anti-abortion and transphobic statements, the latter of which he has doubled down on during his run for governor, he also saw it fit to call Shirley Weber, a Black woman, Gavin Newsom’s “house slave” in an ill-executed diss track.
However, the most progressive of the current viable candidates for governor is Tom Steyer. Time will tell whether he’s truly a class traitor.
Lieutenant Governor: Oliver Ma (Endorsed by CA-DSA)
Very much like the governor’s race, the race for lieutenant governor contains a lot of candidates that leave much to be desired. Fiona Ma, California’s State Treasurer, and Josh Fryday, one of Gruesome Gavin’s high-ranking appointees, are the main establishment candidates. Fiona Ma has the bulk of endorsements from the Californian political establishment, with politicians like incumbent Lt. Governor Eleni Kounalakis and the majority of organized labor behind her. Along with Fiona Ma’s uninspiring establishment political line, she has been accused of sexual harassment and racial discrimination by a former staffer.
Occupying the “progressive” lane is the former mayor of Stockton, Michael Tubbs. Since Tubbs’s single term as mayor, where he is most known for his attempts to implement a universal basic income (UBI) program, he has led efforts in the non-profit sphere to combat wealth inequality with his End Poverty in California (EPIC) organization. While Tubbs is certainly running as a progressive and is endorsed by members of the progressive Californian establishment like former Senator Laphonza Butler, Representatives Lateefah Simon and Robert Garcia, and Mayor of Oakland Barabara Lee, his commitment to advancing left politics is not entirely certain.
To start off with, Tubbs endorsed billionaire centrist and former NYC mayor Michael Bloomberg for president in 2020, even while democratic socialist Bernie Sanders’s campaign swept California, receiving almost 36% of the primary vote to Bloomberg’s 12%. Bernie even won Tubbs’s home of San Joaquin county. On the campaign trail, Tubbs has certainly evoked economic populism, but revealed sparingly little policy- especially policy that results in real redistribution and the elevation of workers over owners. He has also been conspicuously silent on the ever-escalating violence, apartheid, and genocide in Palestine.
Luckily, there is another choice: Oliver Ma. Oliver is CA DSA’s first-ever endorsed statewide candidate and is running on an explicitly democratic socialist platform that articulates a vision of a California that works for working people—not oligarchs and billionaires.
Oliver immigrated to California at age seven and has dedicated his career as a lawyer to protecting the rights of tenants, immigrants, and workers. As an immigrant rights attorney with the ACLU, Oliver has been on the front lines of defending Californians against ICE and the federal government’s terror campaign. When elected, he will shut down the for-profit detention centers that have proliferated across our state, ending the profits made from our exploitation.
One of the primary areas of influence of the Lieutenant Governor is over California’s higher education system. Currently, University of California schools alone have over $32 billion invested in assets tied to genocide and apartheid in Palestine. Not only is Oliver the only candidate to describe the atrocities in Gaza as genocide, he is the only candidate who has promised to divest these funds from Israel and ensure that our higher education institutions are not funding atrocities overseas.
Oliver is committed to building something that lasts beyond his campaign and, in this, building DSA statewide. Oliver understands, like all democratic socialists must, that an organized movement of working people is more than one candidate or one campaign. If you are not in DSA yet, join today and get involved with our statewide organization or in your local chapter’s work.
For more information on Oliver Ma, go to: https://oliverma2026.com/ and vote for Oliver Ma before June 2.
Attorney General: No Recommendation
After declining to enter the already-crowded field for governor, incumbent Attorney General Rob Bonta is the easy favorite for re-election. He has generally been on the more progressive side for an attorney general, especially one appointed by Gavin Newsom, but he absolutely does not need our recommendation.
Secretary of State: No Recommendation
Incumbent Shirley Weber has seen probably the most attention of her term yet for her office’s decision to disqualify Green Party candidate Butch Ware from the primary ballot. We won’t weigh in on the specifics of that decision, but she has otherwise been a fairly unimpressive Secretary of State. She has overseen an increasingly slow ballot-counting process, which she says is for the sake of accuracy. She was also unsuccessfully sued by disability advocates, who argued she had not made voting accessible enough for disabled Californians.
Weber’s only “major” (if you could call it that) opposition is former Republican state assemblymember and Orange County supervisor Don Wagner. With the field not split by dozens of other candidates, the general will almost certainly just be Weber vs Wagner. We can’t imagine a world in which Weber loses that and, thus, we don’t recommend any candidate.
Treasurer: No Recommendation
After Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis killed her campaign for governor, largely because she was getting no momentum at all, she decided to switch races and run for State Treasurer. Her entry caused Libby Schaaf, the former mayor of Oakland, to withdraw and endorse her, but didn’t quite clear the field. Anna Cabellero, state senator from the 18th district, and Tony Vazquez, member of the CA State Board of Equalization from the third district, are the two other Democrats still running.
Kounalakis, who is incredibly well-connected and is part of a wealthy family, is running with the blessing of the California Democratic establishment, including endorsements from Governor Gavin Newsom and both Senators from California: Schiff and Padilla. Caballero and Vazquez are better choices, but neither of their campaigns merit a recommendation.
Controller: No Recommendation
Malia Cohen, the incumbent State Controller, is running for re-election. Her only two opponents are Herb Morgan, a Republican CEO, and Meghann Adams, a union leader that is running on the Peace and Freedom Party ballot line. Cohen will cruise to re-election and no candidate in the race is notable enough to earn our recommendation.
Superintendent of Public Instruction: Nichelle Henderson
Like many other open races this year, the field to replace Tony Thurmond—who is termed out and, like every other Californian with a pulse in want of a job, threw his hat in the ring for governor—is full of candidates. Al Muratsuchi, Josh Newman, and Anthony Rendon are among the Democratic frontrunners and all come from the State Assembly; they have fairly similar platforms and all represent varying shades of the Democratic political establishment in California.
Sonja Shaw, the president of Chino Valley Unified School District, is the most prominent Republican in the race. Besides the big elephant next to her name, her endorsement by the California Rifle & Pistol Association PAC is a huge red flag. In our humble opinions, schools and guns should not mix.
Nichelle Henderson is the only Democrat to have longtime classroom experience as a teacher and leader with California Faculty Association (CFA). Henderson touts endorsement from a long list of other community leaders, progressive and young Democrat groups, and many members of the Legislative Black Caucus. On other important issues, Nichelle has supported progressive planks like single-payer healthcare, the billionaire tax proposal, and strict accountability for public supported charter schools.
She is also the only candidate who vociferously opposed AB 715, the “Don’t Say Palestine” bill that attacks academic freedom and free speech under the guise of fighting antisemitism. Henderson is less well known than the many establishment candidates, but because of how split the field is, a strong, united push on the part of the left could catapult her into the top two.
We recommend Nichelle Henderson for California Superintendent of Public Instruction.
Insurance Commissioner: Jane Kim
Write-up coming soon!
Board of Equalization
District 1: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
District 2: Sally Lieber
Write-up coming soon!
District 3: Sam Sukaton
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
District 4: Cody Petterson
Cody Petterson is currently Chief Deputy of the Board of Equalization, and is well-known in San Diego political circles. He’s the past president and current District C trustee on San Diego Unified School District’s (SDUSD) board, the second largest in the state of California. During his tenure at SDUSD the district adopted a robust set of policies for protecting students and their families from unauthorized ICE incursions, which DSA San Diego has used as a benchmark demand of surrounding school districts through its Education Not Deportations campaign. SDUSD has also adopted the most ambitious education workforce housing agenda in the country; on track to award contracts for the production of 1,500 units of affordable housing for its teachers and other staff. And SDUSD recently passed a resolution denouncing the Iran War and calling on members of Congress to end hostilities, quite possibly the first school board in the nation to do so.
While a skim of Cody’s campaign website reveals endorsements from officials not often associated with democratic socialists, this is more a reflection of Cody’s dedication and drive than any compromise of his core political values. Cody has steadfastly been an ardent advocate for progressive revenue collection that would benefit California’s working class, specifically split-roll initiatives like the attempted revision to our property tax code under 2020’s Proposition 15. Notably, he is the only candidate for this seat who endorses a new split-roll initiative and an emphasis on progressive revenue that ensures working families benefit from California’s extensive wealth.
To advance toward a California where workers can afford to persist and build in solidarity through generations, we need dedicated public servants like Cody charting the way forward. We recommend Cody Petterson for California Board of Equalization, District 4.
Read the San Diego DSA voter guide here!
State Assembly
AD-1: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-2: No Recommendation
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AD-3: No Recommendation
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AD-4: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-5: Neva Parker
In this red district based in the suburban foothill portions of Placer and El Dorado Counties, incumbent Republican Joe Patterson has one opponent, Democrat Neva Parker, who challenged him last cycle. Parker is thus backed by the Democratic Party, but also by progressives such as Sean Frame and Tyler Vanderberg, candidates we have discussed elsewhere on this guide. Vote for Neva Parker.
AD-6: No Recommendation
Though this district, consisting of north Sacramento, downtown, and Arden-Arcade, contains strong potential for progressives, it’s sadly represented by a staunch centrist: Maggy Krell, the only member of the State Assembly to endorse quasi-conservative Matt Mahan’s gubernatorial campaign. Krell won the open seat in 2024 after progressives were split between three candidates and locked out of the runoff. Her only opponent, Jagtar Singh, has no campaign presence, and we couldn’t find any information about him. We therefore issue no recommendation.
AD-7: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-8: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-9: Matthew Adams
There are two Democrats running in this heavily Republican district to the south of Sacramento. While neither has a good chance of winning, only Matthew Adams has a website we could find and has received endorsements from the lion share of the region’s Democratic clubs and the CA Democratic Party. While it’s unclear how progressive Adams is, he at least clearly calls out special interests and the influence of money in politics. That’s worth something.
We recommend Matthew Adams in Assembly District 9.
AD-10: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-11: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-12: Jackie Elward
Write-up coming soon!
AD-13: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-14: Mark Rendon
Write-up coming soon!
AD-15: No Recommendation
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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
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AD-20: Liz Ortega
Write-up coming soon!
AD-21: No Recommendation
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AD-22: No Recommendation
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AD-23: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-24: No Recommendation
Alex Lee, the incumbent, was initially elected with Silicon Valley DSA’s endorsement, and has generally been one of the more left-wing members of the Assembly. However, he has broken with the Left on some very key issues and had a sour relationship with his local DSA chapter as a result.
In 2023, he fought with progressive state senator Aisha Wahab, who is now running for Congress, over competing social housing bills and opposed Wahab’s SB555, which was endorsed by CA DSA. Amid this fight and pressure from Hindu nationalist committees, Lee threatened to shut down Wahab’s anti-caste discrimination bill. Silicon Valley DSAcondemned him for this andhis strong connection and support from the Hindu nationalist orgs; he was not endorsed by Silicon Valley DSA for his 2024 re-election.
He is facing no real opposition this election cycle and, as such, we are issuing no recommendation.
AD-25: Ash Kalra
Write-up coming soon!
AD-26: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-27: Japjeet Singh Uppal
California’s 27th Assembly District spans from exurbs west of Fresno to the smaller cities of the North Central Valley, like Merced. Brian Pacheco, a Democrat and Fresno County supervisor is running with the endorsement of incumbent Assemblymember Esmerelda Soria. He’s also endorsed by Democratic politicians from the area, like arch-Blue Dog House representative Adam Gray, and other Fresno supervisors. One reasonably should expect him to be more of the same milquetoast Democratic establishment that he represents on the Fresno County Board of Supervisors and that has supported his run for higher office.
There are two other candidates, Mike Murphy, a Republican, and Japjeet Singh Uppal, a Democrat. Singh Uppal is a city councilmember for Livingston, a small agricultural town in Merced County. Singh Uppal has a history of supportingsingle-payer healthcare and is running on progressive planks like universal childcare, cracking down on corporations, and water sustainability. While he likely will not win, we recommend Japgjeet Singh Uppalfor Assembly District 27.
AD-28: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-29: No Recommendation
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AD-30: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-31: Sandra Celedon
Anchored on Fresno and its southern suburbs, AD-31 has been represented by Joaquin Arambula for the past decade, who is now running for Fresno City Council. While he is a member of the CA Progressive Caucus, he has remained a fairly low-profile liberal vote in the chamber.
Luckily, there seems to be an obvious progressive pick to replace him: Sandra Celedon. Endorsed by progressive organizations like ACCE and WFP, Sandra is running on a platform that includes policies like universal childcare and healthcare.
We recommend Sandra Celedon for Assembly District 31.
AD-32: No Recommendation
The only candidate for this ruby-red district surrounding Bakersfield is the incumbent Republican. No recommendation.
AD-33: No Recommendation
Incumbent GOP Assemblymember Alexandra Macedo’s only challenger is former mayor of Lindsay, CA: Hipolito Angel Cerros. Cerros was the youngest elected official ever in Lindsay when he was elected to city council in 2020 and was subsequently elected mayor by his colleagues in 2022. However, allegedly due to his inexperience, alleged overstep of his power, and high levels of staff turnover in city hall, the council removed him from his position in 2024.
Cerros has barely made a presence in this race and doesn’t have a website I can find. While he might have matured in 2 years, we might never know, and we certainly can’t recommend him.
AD-34: Randall Putz
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-35: Ana Palacio
With conservadem Jasmeet Bains running for Congress (remember to vote for Randy Villegas), her Assembly seat is wide open. While Bakersfield City Councilor Andrae Gonzales promises more of the same as Bains and has the backing of the Democratic establishment, Ana Palacio is the clear progressive pick.
Palacio is an emergency room nurse and advocate who is running on a strong platform that centers access to affordable, high-quality healthcare and creates equitable economic opportunity for the oft-forgotten San Joaquin Valley. She is endorsed by the Working Families Party, the SEIU Nurse Alliance, and SEIU California.
We recommend Ana Palacio for Assembly District 35.
AD-35: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-36: Oscar Ortiz
Write-up coming soon!
AD-37: No Recommendation
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AD-38: No Recommendation
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AD-39: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-40: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-41: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-42: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-43: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-44: Nick Schultz
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-46: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-47: Leila Namvar
With an incumbent Republican in a swing district spanning Coachella Valley and the outer limits of the Inland Empire, there are two choices for Democratic voters. Leila Namvar, former Chapter President of SEIU 721, emerges as the clear choice of labor in the district and promises to be a strong pro-union vote in the Assembly. We recommend Leila Namvar for Assembly District 47.
AD-48: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-49: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-50: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-51: Colin Hernandez
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-52: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-53: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-54: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-55: Isaac Bryan
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-56: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-57: Sade Elhawary
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-58: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-59: No Recommendation
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AD-60: No Recommendation
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AD-61: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-62: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-63: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-64: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-65: Fatima Iqbal-Zubair
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-66: Sara Deen
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-67: Ada Briceño
Editor’s note: as the district is split between Los Angeles and Orange County, there will be two write-ups: one from DSA-LA and one from OCDSA. Both recommend Ada Briceño.
Ada Briceño is one of the co-presidents of UNITE HERE 11, the SoCal and Arizona hotel workers’ union, and is one of a few Democratic candidates for Sharon Quick-Silva’s soon-to-be-empty seat. She’s also the former chair of the OC Democratic Party, and oversaw the flipping of the county from red to blueish-purple. Briceño has since resigned from the OCDP Chairship and become a fixture of OC Working Families Party, who have endorsed her for the race alongside local progressive labor unions.
Briceño faces two more conservative Democratic opponents in this race, Cerritos Mayor Pro Tem Mark Pulido and Artesia Mayor Ali Taj. Pulido is the spoiler choice of the LA-OC Building Trades Council who view Briceño’s support for conditioning tax breaks for new hotels on support for unionized hotel workers as an attack on construction – a disagreement which resulted in “no recommendation” from the state labor federation despite her prominence therein. Taj, on the other hand, is backed by pro-police and “abundance” groups: an easy ‘no’ for DSA members.
We recommend Ada Briceño for Assembly District 67.
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
AD-68: Jessie Lopez
A member of Orange County’s growing Working Families Party contingent, Jessie Lopez is running in another dramatic race between different tendencies of OC’s shifting political landscape. This is, like AD 67, a solidly blue seat where there will likely only be one Democrat in the general but where there are three Democratic candidates crowding the field: this time though, all three are from Santa Ana City Council. From Ward 6 is the choice of the LA-OC Building Trades Council and Santa Ana Mayor Pro Tem David Penaloza, representing the more conservative, business oriented Dems. Penaloza has unified the establishment behind him. Fighting it out for the progressive/left lane were Ward 5 Councilmember Jonathan Hernandez (who has withdrawn his bid) and Ward 3 Councilmember Lopez, who Orange County DSA supported against a well-funded right-wing recall effort in 2023.
Hernandez initially pulled some of the wind from Lopez’ sails in dramatic fashion, taking Lopez to task for several votes on council with which he disagreed, largely around policing in Santa Ana. Both are reformers with ties to local community organizations, but Hernandez ultimately found himself haunted by several scandals of varying seeming legitimacy, and his campaign unceremoniously fizzled out.
Since then, Lopez has consolidated progressive labor endorsements, community organizations, and other Working Families Party-aligned groups – but the early feud with Hernandez delayed this consensus from the Santa Ana and OC Left until late in the game. Faced with split labor (again, like in AD 67) and a potentially too late Left consensus, Lopez is the best choice but her campaign will now serve as a test to see how strong WFP’s Orange County ground game really is.
We recommend Jessie Lopez for Assembly District 68.
AD-69: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-70: No Recommendation
The 70th district is an idiosyncratic one. Anchored by conservative Vietnamese immigrant enclaves in Westminster and Garden Grove which still fly the South Vietnamese flag, AD-70 has been a challenge for Democrats to crack in the Assembly since 2022 redistricting reshaped and paved the way for Republican Assemblymember Tri Ta to pick up the seat.
Ta, who immigrated from Saigon as a refugee to the U.S. in 1992, is an extreme anti-communist who recently went sub-viral for an unprompted video condemnation of Hasan Piker. Ta handily defeated Vietnamese Democratic opponents in both previous election cycles, and this cycle he faces Paula Swift—previously running in CD-40, Swift had received just over $3,000 in donations total this cycle as of January. She touts all the major D endorsements, but they feel more like afterthoughts than commitments. Her policy platforms are also nothing special. Ta is strongly favored to win it all, Swift is an unsupported moderate, and they will both be advancing to the general. No recommendation.
AD-71: No Recommendation
Encompassing suburban Temecula and Murrieta in southwest Riverside County as well as Mission Viejo and its surroundings in Orange County, AD-71 is a Republican stronghold overseen by Assemblymember Kate Sanchez. Her only opponent, Democrat JJ Galvez, the treasurer for the Silverado-Modjeska Recreation and Parks Board, has little to show for platform, endorsements, or money. Both will advance, but this race is safe for Sanchez. No recommendation.
AD-72: Chris Kluwe
Former Minnesota Vikings punter and pro-LGBTQ activist Chris Kluwe’s main election isn’t in the primary, but the outcome this June will shape the race in anticipation of November. Assembly District 72 includes much of OC’s most notorious conservative strongholds, spanning many of the county’s beach cities (Seal, Huntington, Newport, and Laguna), as well as the slightly inland renter/white collar dominated Costa Mesa, and the South County inland suburbs of Aliso Viejo, Laguna Woods, and Lake Forest. In many ways, AD 72 represents much of what people imagine Orange County to be: MAGA flags over boardwalks, old money stucco malls, faux mediterranean suburbia – but Orange County isn’t what it once was, and 2026 is the first opportunity since 1992 where this district may swing left in an extremely anti-Trump year with no incumbent (it only voted against Prop 50 by 0.3%).
Kluwe,who extolled the virtues of democratic socialism in the New York Times just weeks ago, was born in Seal Beach and now lives in Huntington. Kluwe has become the darling of the local Democratic clubs afterbeing arrested in an act of civil disobedience in Huntington Beach City Council last year when the council attempted to place a MAGA acrostic plaque on the local library—Kluwe calling it racist, transphobic, etc. A longtime activist, he was previously fired from his NFL career for standing up to a homophobic coach, and more recentlycalled for an end to the genocide in Gaza at the 2025 CA Dem convention. If elected, he would easily be one of, if not the most progressive member of the State Assembly. Due to Kluwe’s national celebrity status assisting in fundraising, as well as his local grassroots support that earned him the backing of almost every possible state group (from the CA Dems, to CA WFP, to the CA Labor Federation), Kluwe is in an extremely good position to flip this seat.
The real primary race in AD 72 is on the Republican side. With the slow collapse of the OC Republican Party fully in motion, there was an early crowded field which has since winnowed down to two Mayors of Huntington Beach (vying for Asm. Diane Dixon’s termed out seat, as she moves to flip back the OC Board of Supervisors: attacking pro-labor Dem Katrina Foley in District 5). The first (and favored) is Gracey Van Der Mark, HB’s“Latina MAGA Mayor,” who has promoted Holocaust denial conspiracy theories, cavorted with Proud Boys, called Black people “colored,” banned pride flags and pride celebrations on city property, and more! The second is former HB Mayor and former AD 74 Assemblymember Matthew Harper, who has attempted to reframe himself as a political moderate, but made his career disparaging public sector unions and attempting to cap property taxes for wealthy landowners.
With extreme MAGA candidate Van Der Mark favored and endorsed by the OCGOP, overwhelmingly anti-Trump polarized voter sentiment, and a district which has been shifting dramatically blue over the past decade—AD 72 seems like a potential pickup for the Left in the Assembly this cycle.
We enthusiastically recommend Chris Kluwe for Assembly District 72.
AD-73: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-74: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-75: No Recommendation
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AD-76: No Recommendation
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AD-77: No Recommendation
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AD-78 No Recommendation
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AD-79: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
AD-80: No Recommendation
Write up coming soon!
State Senate
SD-2: Damon Connolly
Write-up coming soon!
SD-4: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
SD-6: Sean Frame
The district, represented by Republican car dealer (maybe a redundant phrase) Roger Niello, has long been solidly Republican, trended to the left in recent elections. In today’s climate, who knows? Sean Frame is a solid progressive, a Sacramento DSA member, and an active leader of his union, which represents employees at the Sacramento County Office of Education. He also runs the Six PAC, which raises funds mostly to support progressive rural and school board candidates, mainly in California.
Frame has experience in the political sphere, having previously been a school board member and congressional candidate in the foothills. Most recently, Frame ran for State Assembly in the open 6th district in 2024, but was badly overpowered by Maggy Krell, a centrist Democrat.
This time, Sean is virtually assured to get on the November ballot. Another progressive Democrat had filed but withdrew at the last minute, prompting Sean to file. The only other candidate is an unknown Democrat with no apparent website or other social media presence to speak of.
We recommend Sean Frame for California’s 6th Senate District.
SD-8: No Recommendation
The incumbent State Senator, Angelique Ashby, made headlines for running one of the most expensive legislature races in state history. In office, she’s been mostly a middle-of-the-road liberal and is at very little risk of losing re-election. She doesn’t need our recommendation.
SD-10: Anne Kepner
Write-up coming soon!
SD-12: No Recommendation
Usually, when an incumbent is term-limited and cannot run again, a flood of candidates runs to replace them. Senate District 12, located in the Central Valley, is no exception. However, unlike some other races with no incumbents, there is no Democrat running in this deep-red seat.
The only non-Republican is a Libertarian named William Brown who wants to be a “statesman,” not a politician, and is running because he thinks Californians have forgotten “the best solutions often come from removing the government.”
Needless to say, we aren’t recommending anyone in this race.
SD-14: No Recommendation
Very much like SD12, the 14th Senate District’s incumbent is term-limited and cannot run for re-election. There are two main Democratic frontrunners to replace her but, unfortunately, they both seem practically ideologically indistinguishable. They also have the same first name, which really doesn’t help.
Assemblymember Esmeralda Soria from the 27th district has the backing of the Democratic establishment and the lion’s share of the state’s unions. However, don’t mistake labor support for Soria being a candidate for working people; she has consistently failed to support many progressive policies during her time in the Assembly.
Esmeralda Hurtado is the sister of State Senator Melissa Hurtado from the 16th district, who is currently facing a challenger from her left. Uninspiring politics seem to run in the family, and we cannot say with any certainty that Esmeralda Hurtado would be any more left-wing than her sister.
Vote with your conscience or maybe a coin you can flip. Either way, we issue no recommendation in this race.
SD-16: Manpreet Kaur
Bakersfield and the Central Valley writ large have incredible potential for progressive politics, with a vibrant multicultural political history that has deep connections to the labor movement. Unfortunately, that potential has, so far, failed to manifest in their elected officials. Very much like their federal and other state-level representation, Bakersfield’s representation in the State Senate is Corporate Democrat Melissa Hurtado.
Luckily, voters have a chance to change that with Bakersfield Vice Mayor Manpreet Kaur. Kaur is running to protect the Central Valley from climate change, healthcare disparities, and ICE terror. In her time in Bakersfield city government, she championed street safety, affordable housing, and public parks. We recommend Manpreet Kaur for State Senate District 16.
SD-18: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
SD-20: Caroline Menjivar
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
SD-22: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
SD-24: John Erickson
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
SD-26: Sarah Rascon
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
SD-28: Lola Smallwood-Cuevas
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
SD-30: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
SD-32: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
SD-38: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
SD-40: No Recommendation
Write up coming soon!
House of Representatives
CA-1: Audrey Denney
Thanks to Proposition 50, California’s 1st and 2nd Districts, formerly consisting solely of the inland far North and the North Coast respectively, swapped significant chunks of land, turning both into safe blue districts, one of which is a new, open seat. This district is said to have been designed for State Senator (and former President pro tem) Mike McGuire, who has accordingly assembled the party establishment and labor unions behind him.
But educator and activist Audrey Denney stands in his way. Denney, a progressive, ran against the now-late Republican Doug LaMalfa twice before redistricting, losing but outperforming Democrats at the top of the ticket in the then-safely Republican district. While she doesn't have the backing of powerful interests, she will hopefully benefit from existing name recognition, especially in the inland portions of the district that aren't familiar with McGuire, and she has been endorsed by progressive groups like Our Revolution and Track AIPAC, local Democratic groups in areas like Chico and Lassen County, and women-focused Democratic groups like EMILY’s List and Elect Democratic Women. And thanks to her grassroots support, she's competitive with McGuire in fundraising. Give progressives a voice in Northern California and vote for Denney.
CA-2: Rose Penelope Yee
Incumbent Rep. Jared Huffman happily let his district become redder in service of the redistricting effort, and in the process, he has taken in inland territory home to Shasta County Democratic Party chair Rose Penelope Yee, a solid progressive who ran against LaMalfa in 2024 and is running again.
Huffman is one of the more progressive members of Congress, being a co-sponsor of Medicare for All and the Block the Bombs Act, and is among the few secular voices in DC. But he certainly has room for improvement, especially for the progressive North Coast. Rose Penelope Yee is a worthy left challenger; while she's unlikely to win, a strong showing for her can push Huffman left. We recommend Rose Penelope Yee.
CA-3: Chris Bennett (DSA-endorsed)
Chris Bennett is endorsed by Central Sierra Foothills DSA. Write-up coming soon!
CA-4: Eric Jones
The incumbent Democratic Representative, Mike Thompson, is a fairly middle-of-the-road Democrat who has been in the House since the last century (1999, but still). While he has co-sponsored Medicare for All and the Block the Bombs Act, he also votes for things like the Trump-backed funding bill that increased funding for the military, included $3.3B for Israel, and defunded USAID and UNRWA.
Eric Jones is endorsed by progressive group Our Revolution and is running on a progressive platform that focuses on affordability through universal healthcare and lowering drug prices, taking on PG&E, and ending forever wars. He also has a policy page that calls for actual regulations on data centers and AI, including investments in worker transition training and green energy.
However, there are really reasons to be skeptical of Jones’s commitment to getting money out of politics. Not only is he a venture capitalist, his campaign has been boosted by over a million dollars of SuperPAC spending by his former coworkers and boss at Dragoneer Investment Group.
We recommend Eric Jones for California’s 4th Congressional District, but recommend voters be wary of candidates with progressive rhetoric and aesthetic but corporate backing.
CA-5: No Recommendation
While Prop 50 made some Republican-held districts more competitive, California’s 5th congressional district was not one of them. Tom McClintock, the incumbent Republican, is a ghoulish right-winger who was in the State Assembly for almost two decades, interspersing that time with some failed statewide runs. He’s unfortunately very likely to be re-elected.
The Democratic frontrunner is Michael Masuda, an engineer and former employee of the US Department of State. His platform is fairly uninspiring from a leftist perspective and doesn’t commit to anything beyond the corporate Democratic regulars. His foreign policy section is especially sparse, with no mention of the Middle East at all.
Ultimately, we can’t issue a recommendation in this race.
CA-6: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-7: Mai Vang (DSA-endorsed)
Mai Vang is endorsed by Sacramento DSA for California’s 7th Congressional District. Mai is the daughter of Hmong immigrants and has long stood for the working class as a teacher, organizer, and Sacramento city councilor—where she was a consistent opponent of ballooning police budgets and the surveillance state. Now, she is running for congress to bring a new generation to Capitol Hill and oust the out-of-touch incumbent, Doris Matsui.
Matsui, who has been in Congress for 20 years, wants to “reform ICE”, takes AIPAC donations, and refuses to support popular progressive policies like Medicare for All. Mai takes no corporate PAC money and supports a free Palestine, abolishing ICE, and Medicare for All. Mai is accountable to the people, not corporations, and will be a working-class champion in Congress.
Vote for Mai Vang for California’s 7th Congressional District.
CA-8: Nicolas Carjuzaa
Write-up coming soon!
CA-9: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-10: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-11: No Recommendation
The highly-coveted CA-11 congressional seat has been held by former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi for nearly forty years, since she defeated the late Supervisor (and DSA member!) Harry Britt for the seat in 1987. She has drawn numerous, mostly minor, left-wing challengers in recent cycles, but this year, with her retirement and the seat becoming open, we have a real race on our hands.
The arguable frontrunner is State Senator Scott Wiener, a longtime rival of the San Francisco left. Though Wiener has been one of the more progressive members of the state legislature, and he has been a positive force on issues like drug decriminalization and LGBTQ rights, this fact is more so an indictment of the rest of the state legislature than a positive reflection on Wiener. As a supervisor, Wiener was positioned firmly on the right wing of SF politics, and his local interventions since ascending to the state level have kept him in SF’s right flank. Wiener has backed anti-tenant, pro-police candidates, and has a firmly pro-Israel record.
Wiener co-authored AB 715, a bill nominally about antisemitism that in practice suppresses the teaching of the realities of the genocide against Palestinians in California classrooms (If you’re interested in a candidate for California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction that was vocally opposed to this bill and the chilling effect it will have on free speech in the classroom, see our writeup recommending Nichelle Henderson!). Wiener has flip-flopped on if he will call Israel’s actions a genocide, but his record has demonstrated his true values and he must firmly be rejected.
Progressives are split between two candidates, each with their pros and cons. Saikat Chakrabarti, a tech entrepreneur, former Chief of Staff to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and former Executive Director of Justice Democrats, was the first to jump into the race, originally running as a challenger to Pelosi before the latter announced her retirement. Chakrabarti is running the most openly left-wing populist campaign, publicly criticizing the Democratic establishment and the leadership (or lack thereof) of Speaker Hakeem Jeffries. But his involvement in local politics—notably, his donations to the centrist opponents of DSA-endorsed former Supervisor Dean Preston and progressive Chyanne Chen, and his vote for centrist mayor Daniel Lurie—are cause for grave concern and have led the local left to be skeptical of the sincerity of his politics.
Supervisor Connie Chan, who is part of the now-minority progressive bloc on the SF Board of Supervisors, represents a different approach. She has the backing of the bulk of the local left, including the Working Families Party, the Harvey Milk LGBTQ Democratic Club, DSA-endorsed Supervisor Jackie Fielder and former Supervisor Dean Preston, and most labor unions. She and Chakrabarti were dually endorsed by AROC Action, the political arm of the Arab Resource and Organizing Center.
At the same time, she has strong ties to the statewide establishment; she ran with Pelosi’s blessing (though, as of publication, not her public endorsement) and has been endorsed by figures such as Senator Adam Schiff and former Mayor Willie Brown. Her local record is also mixed; while she has mostly aligned with progressives, she has leaned to the right on policing and has blocked the construction of new housing that San Francisco sorely needs, though it can be argued that in doing so, she is representing the views of her moderate constituents in the Richmond District, constituents that made her vulnerable to an ultimately unsuccessful challenger from the right in 2024. While she stands in opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, she has not been as vocal as Chakrabarti in her stances, as noted in AROC’s writeup above.
As San Franciscans are faced with two decent but flawed progressive choices in this primary, we are issuing no recommendation. The top-two system means that one of Chakrabarti and Chan will reach the general election, and we hope whoever does will defeat Wiener and secure a reasonably progressive voice in Congress.
CA-12: Lateefah Simon
When now-Mayor of Oakland Barbara Lee stepped down from the House in 2024 to run for Senate, many worried about the loss of her progressive, anti-imperialist voice. But since her election, Lateefah Simon has done well to fill her shoes and uphold the tradition of Black radicalism left by Lee and Ron Dellums before her. Simon, a powerful orator if you've attended one of the many protests and rallies she's spoken at, has been outspoken on left-wing issues, domestic and international alike, including Palestine, and she is undeniably the most left-wing member of California’s House delegation.
Though we hope to one day have a DSA member in this seat, the East Bay will do well to re-elect Simon.
CA-13: Daniel Garibay Rodriguez
Write-up coming soon!
CA-14: Aisha Wahab
Eric Swalwell’s gubernatorial run, and his subsequent fall from grace and resignation after allegations that he sexually assaulted former staffers, has given progressives an opportunity to take back this seat a little over a decade after Swalwell took advantage of the top-two system to defeat longtime representative and progressive icon Pete Stark.
State Senator Aisha Wahab, a strong progressive voice in the state legislature, especially for tenants’ rights, has emerged as the clear frontrunner. She's endorsed by the Working Families Party and Our Revolution but also by the Democratic Party. Wahab was one of the first Afghan-American elected officials in the country when she was elected to the Hayward City Council in 2018, and if she wins this race, she will be the first Afghan-American in Congress and one of very few Muslim members of the House (there have only been five total ever).
She has two main Democratic rivals, both running clearly to her right. BART Board Director Melissa Hernandez has garnered support from local mayors, County Supervisors, and police unions, including DSA’s evil doppelganger (the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association). But the most concerning candidate is Rakhi Israni, a longtime Hindu nationalist activist with a history of ties to far-right Republicans. Wahab, a Muslim, drew the ire of Hindu nationalists for her bill aiming to outlaw caste discrimination (which passed the state legislature but was vetoed by Newsom), and while Israni is little-known, she has raised millions, making her a formidable candidate. Vote Aisha Wahab.
Note: Due to Swalwell resigning, there will also be a special election to fill his seat for the remainder of his term; make sure you vote for Aisha Wahab in the June 2 regular primary election, the June 16 special election primary, the August 18 special election runoff, and the November 3 general election.
CA-15: Don’t Vote for Mullin
Write-up coming soon!
CA-16: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-17: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-18: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-19: Sean Dougherty (DSA-endorsed)
Sean Dougherty is endorsed by Central Coast DSA for California’s 19th Congressional District. The incumbent Democrat, Jimmy Panetta, has received hundreds of thousands of dollars from AIPAC donors. Panetta helped to authored and supported legislation, like the DEFEND Act, to strengthen the U.S.-Israel alliance by integrating Israeli and regional air defenses against Iranian threats. He has refused to support the Block the Bombs Act or to vote to impeach Trump for unconstitutionally bombing Iran.
Sean Dougherty is running to unseat him with a platform that emphasizes people over profiles and places ownership in the hands of the public, promoting a democratic economy. He wants to abolish ICE, tax the rich, end the genocide in Palestine, end pesticide abuse, overturn Citizens United, and fight for healthcare, education, and housing for all.
Vote for Sean Dougherty for California’s 19th Congressional District.
CA-20: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-21: Lourin Hubbard
Jim Costa is one of the most right-wing Democrats in the House. Listing his bad votes would keep us here all night, but needless to say that he has been one of the most reliable votes for Republicans looking to slash the social safety net or environmental protections with “bipartisan” support.
For left-wing voters, there is Lourin Hubbard, a labor activist that ran (and lost) for CA-22 in 2022, as well as mayor of Fresno in 2023. He’s running on a progressive platform and supports things like Medicare for All and has called for ending arms aid to Israel. While Hubbard has no chance of winning and very little chance of making the general, Jim Costa is horrible and we recommend you vote for Lourin Hubbard for California’s 21st congressional district.
CA-22: Randy Villegas
Oliver Ma isn’t the only exciting candidate to come out of the Central Valley this election cycle. CA-22 is one of the districts restructured by Prop 50, giving Dems the best chance to flip it in decades, and after running milquetoast candidates for years Randy Villegas, a Visalia school board trustee and organizer, is a candidate who may be able to flip it not just for Democrats but for working people.
Villegas is endorsed by CA Working Families Party, Bernie Sanders, and a broad swath of progressive labor, including the United Auto Workers—of which he was a member as a student at UC Santa Cruz, where he organized and struck for cost of living and housing equity. His platform includes Medicare for all, taxing the 1%, regulations on AI, universal childcare, and other DSA-aligned policies. His opponent Jasmeet Bains, on the other hand, is backed by moderate Dems like the Blue Dog Democrats, as well as groups like Democratic Majority for Israel.
This race is an easy choice for DSA members: vote for Randy Villegas in California’s 22nd Congressional District.
CA-23: Tessa Lynn Hodge
CA-23 is one of the districts that was packed with Republican voters by Prop 50 to make other districts more Democratic.
The Democratic establishment in the district has coalesced behind one candidate: Tessa Lynn Hodge. However, Hodge is not running with typical establishment politics. She supports single-payer healthcare, rejects “money from AIPAC, J Street, or any PAC that seeks to influence U.S. policy in ways that conflict with my commitment to human rights and accountability,” is willing to name the genocide in Gaza, and supports the elimination of anti-BDS policy. She is a truly progressive candidate in an unfortunately Republican district; while she, unfortunately, is unlikely to win, we recommend you vote for Teresa Lynn Hodge in CA-23.
CA-24: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-25: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-26: Chris Espinosa
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
CA-27: Caleb Norwood
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
CA-28: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
CA-29: Angelica Dueñas
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
CA-30: Cameron Tennyson
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
CA-31: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
CA-32: Chris Ahuja or Marena Lin
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
CA-34: Angela Gonzales-Torres
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
CA-35: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
CA-36: Marianne Shamma
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
CA-37: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
CA-38: Solis or Sanchez
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
CA-39: No Recommendation
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
CA-40: Lisa Ramirez
Prior to the passage of Proposition 50, CA-40 was one of the most flippable districts in the country—Young Kim, the Republican incumbent, has been flirting with MAGA identity for some time. Facing an anti-Trump wave especially among Latinos, and having had no serious Democratic candidate for some time prior, the seat was a target for a congressional flip. Like many other seats in Orange County, the race was crowded early with hopefuls who sought to be the person to finish the job of turning this side of the “Orange Curtain” blue. Then Prop 50 happened. CA 40 ended up being one of the Republican-packed districts and went from a Lean R to a Solid R (+6). Most D candidates who had initially filed suspended their campaigns, notably including UNITE HERE 11 backed candidate Perry Meade and Obama FCC Advisory Committee member Christina Gagnier: facing two incumbents, now both Kim and Ken Calvert (displaced from CA-41), and a 6 point deficit.
Then ICE raids happened. Since Prop 50 passed last November, the political climate across the country and especially in California has shifted significantly: polarized against Trump at previously unseen levels. Gradually, it has seemed like CA-40, given the right candidate could be in play again. So, who are the three remaining Democratic candidates?
The most notorious is millionaire art dealer Esther Kim Varet, who has sunk hundreds of thousands of her own money into the race. A proud Zionist (as well as allegedly a critic of unions) she has mostly spent her time on the extreme-centrist liberal online: touting an endorsement from liberal darling former Texas representative Jasmine Crockett, trying to buy a number of scandalous billboard ads which criticize Young Kim and Ken Calvert for their support of Trump during the Epstein scandal, and even bizarrely and unpromptedly messaging Orange County DSA’s Instagram account…multiple times. She’s the frontrunner in fundraising, but reportedly doesn’t live in the district and has earned little goodwill from its constituents thus far.
The establishment choice is perennial candidate Joe Kerr: the former president of a local Firefighters’ union who has failed upwards, losing every race he’s run (including most recently CA-40 by 9 points in 2024)—he’s backed by labor more out of obligation than anything else, failed spectacularly to get the CA Democratic Party endorsement, and has raised relatively little money as a result. Kerr is a centrist Democrat who comes from labor’s late 20th century conservative service tendency and by no means a progressive labor candidate, supporting things like increasing police funding and taking money from the Democratic Majority for Israel in his 2024 campaign.
The third remaining Dem is Lisa Ramirez, who had the most support at the CA Democratic Party Convention largely it seems due to her not being Kim Varet or Kerr. Ramirez is a center-to-progressive immigration lawyer who successfully won against ICE in court representing a father from the district, and is a first time candidate. She’s endorsed by several Working Families Party electeds, has decent fundraising numbers among the Democratic field, and has gained momentum since her CA Dem Con performance.
Ultimately, there aren’t any superbly exciting candidates in this race. However, given the against-the-odds potential for CA-40 to be competitive in the general election during this cycle it felt important to issue a recommendation against Esther Kim Varet who is actively hostile to DSA and everything we represent. Joe Kerr and Lisa Ramirez are similar on many policy items, but given Kerr’s historical flop performances, his position on police funding, and his former receipt of Israel lobby funds (as well as Ramirez’ anti-ICE work) — we recommend DSA members vote for Lisa Ramirez in California’s 40th Congressional District.
CA-41: Shonique Williams
DSA-LA’s voter guide to be released soon!
CA-42: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-43: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-44: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-45: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-46: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-47: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-48: Corinna Contreras
This district was redrawn as a result of Prop 50 to favor democrats. The new borders of CA-48 include Escondido, San Marcos, Vista, Palm Springs and parts of Riverside. Typically a republican seat, it is now one of the most likely to flip for democrats in the midterms. The incumbent, Darell Issa, is retiring and numerous democrats are vying for the primary.
Amongst the crowded field, Corinna Contreras is a refreshing and heartening choice for democratic socialists. She is running with a progressive platform including demands for medicare for all, abolishing ICE, halting funding for the genocide in Gaza, and strengthening worker and tenant rights. She has been on the Vista City Council since 2018 and has a track record of staying true to progressive values. She’s spoken out against surveillance technology and local cooperation with ICE, rejecting a proposal to install license plate readers in Vista and passing a resolution to protect residents against ICE. She is much further to the left than the other Democrats running, and unlike some other candidates, she actually lives within the district.
Other front-runner candidates include Marni Von Wilpert and Ammar Campa-Najjar. Marni is a San Diego city council member with strong labor support, but who voted to continue using Flock automated license plate readers and has accepted donations from DMFI, a pro-Israel PAC. Ammar has run and lost several campaigns, including two tries at the former CA-48. He has name recognition, and also a reputation of waffling on issues, such as banning assault rifles, and pitching himself as a centrist. Corinna has not taken any PAC money and is running a grassroots campaign. If she is able to pull off an upset to get on the November ballot, it will be an exciting win for the democratic socialist movement showing that our platform appeals more to battleground voters than the typical, centrist dem. We recommend Corinna Contreras for Congressional District 48.
Read the San Diego DSA voter guide here!
CA-49: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-50: Aishwarya “Sparky” Mitra
District 50 was one of California’s Congressional districts redrawn as a result of Prop 50 passing in 2025. It now covers the coastline, starting with Coronado in the south stretching north to Torrey Pines, where the district then turns inwards and covers Carmel Valley up to San Marcos. Scott Peters is the running incumbent, he’s been in office since winning the 2014 election. He’s one of the richest members of Congress, and has consistently squashed progressive reforms for drug pricing and voting with AIPAC. A true centrist at heart.
Enter: Aishwarya “Sparky” Mitra. Sparky got involved in politics in college, where she mobilized students for a variety of progressive campaigns from District 50’s very own UC San Diego. Sparky even helped organize the famous Columbia encampment while on campus as a grad student. Sparky is using this experience to engage District 50’s multiple college campuses full of potential voters, with affordability at the top of her campaign. Universal healthcare, protecting democracy, and international solidarity are also pillars of her campaign. Sparky is the only progressive challenging Peters for this seat, and we would love to see her put up a fight to get her name on the November ballot. We recommend Aishwarya “Sparky” Mitra for Congressional District 50.
Read the San Diego DSA voter guide here!
CA-51: No Recommendation
Write-up coming soon!
CA-52: Frances Yasmeen Motiwalla
District 52 was yet another district shifted by the recent Prop 50. Still the most southwestern district in the state, what used to end at Otay Ranch now stretches further east, all the way to Jacumba. This will theoretically make it tougher to win as a progressive, but the added geography is a relatively small population, and this district had been firmly blue (20-30 points) for quite some time. It is currently represented by Juan Vargas, who has periodically supported progressive legislation and considered left of center until this past March. Vargas was one of four Democrats to vote against stopping Trump’s illegal war in Iran, a backbreaking vote in a resolution that ended 219-212. He then supported a second War Powers resolution in April, which was opposed by only one Democrat; the right move but too little, too late.
At the same time, Frances Yasmeen Motiwalla, a longtime community organizer, announced that she would be launching a campaign to unseat Vargas. Frances has been prominently involved in Activist SD, Peace Action, and Grassroots Global Justice. Her platform centers around urgent climate protection action, divesting from militarism spending (including ICE), and taxing billionaires to fund universal healthcare and education.
We recognize that this is a protest campaign. Due to its last-minute nature, Frances was unable to qualify for the ballot with enough valid signatures, a determination she is challenging. In classic Frances fashion, she is unbothered and continues to fight via a write-in campaign. While the odds are long, we commend Frances for her continued fight and will support this protest campaign against Vargas. We recommend writing in Frances Yasmeen Motiwalla for Congressional District 52.
Read the San Diego DSA voter guide here!
