2026 DSA-LA Primary Election Voter Guide

Mayor

Los Angeles City

The Mayor of Los Angeles is the most powerful figure in Los Angeles municipal politics, proposing budgets, creating executive commissions and committees, and issuing emergency ordinances, and most importantly, getting blamed for everything that goes wrong. Despite being the figurehead for city government, the LA mayor is still significantly structurally weaker than other big-city mayors like Zohran Mamdani in New York City. The candidacy of not one, but two DSA members in this race, right after Mamdani’s election has stirred robust internal debate within DSA Los Angeles about the Chapter’s role in the race. This recommendation aims to capture the content of these debates.

We’ll start with the incumbent, Karen Bass.

Four years ago, the former-leftist and longtime pretty solid if imperfect Congresswoman cruised to election against former Republican and very evil billionaire Rick Caruso, building a powerful mandate for her signature “Inside Safe” initiative. The initiative poured hundreds of millions of dollars into getting unhoused people off the street into temporary shelters–sometimes to permanent housing, but most importantly to Bass’ base, out of their line of sight.

Bass’ campaign has overwhelming institutional backing across the gamut of the LA Power Brokers: she is endorsed by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor (LA Fed), and the Business Federation (BizFed), but, in spite of the sudden re-emergency of mid-00s reality stars, not KFed. She’s also endorsed by the LA Chamber of Commerce, the LA County Democratic Party, and a majority of overlapping Congressional and LA city councilmembers, including DSA-LA socialist in office Hugo Soto-Martinez.

Despite her strong institutional support, Mayor Bass has had an extremely rocky first term. While polling indicates that her reputation took the largest hit in 2025 in the immediate wake of the Los Angeles wildfires, Mayor Bass’s office has suffered numerous scandals and heavy criticism from left and right-wing critics of her administration of homelessness funding, the Los Angeles budget crisis including cuts to city services, and the city’s response to ICE.

As Democratic Socialists, DSA-LA has particularly clashed with Mayor Bass on her steadfast support to raise salaries for the Los Angeles Police Department, whose budget now makes up 46% of the city’s unrestricted budget. Mayor Bass’s negotiated salary raise in 2023, which DSA-LA opposed, directly led to the city’s massive budget deficit that resulted in the city cutting street services and laying off hundreds of public workers.

After a term full of negative headlines, it’s unsurprising that Karen Bass is facing over a dozen prospective challengers, with last month’s polling showing a whopping 40% of voters undecided, but four challengers clearly lead the pack, and the seeming most-likely outcome is a runoff between Bass and one of them.

To Bass’ right is the former “star” of the reality show The Hills, Spencer Pratt. Now, to the millennials reading this, we’re going to need you to hold onto something to brace yourself: The Hill premiered twenty years ago. Your AARP card is in the mail.

Pratt is polling exactly the same as the percentage of dedicated Republicans in Los Angeles. That’s possibly enough to make the runoff, if enough independents or disaffected Democrats swing his way. And if he makes the runoff, you can basically count on a second term for Karen Bass. We’d also like to take this moment to point out that his ridiculous campaign hats say “PRLATT.”

Another candidate running from Bass’s right is Democrat tech entrepreneur Adam Miller. He’s pitching himself as a pragmatic #disruptor who will #disrupt homelessness and run the city more efficiently. Miller’s campaign is almost entirely self-funded to the tune of $2.5M, but the latest poll still has him polling at 3%.

To Bass’ left, the broad left-and-progressive vote is split between Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman from the 4th district (Los Feliz, some of Silverlake, the Hollywood Hills, Sherman Oaks, Van Nuys, and Encino) and housing nonprofit organizer and self-described democratic socialist Reverend Rae Huang.

Rae Huang is a Presbyterian minister, DSA member, and deputy director for Housing NOW! California. Her platform calls for stronger protections against ICE, unarmed crisis response, housing affordability, expanding social housing and tenant protections, green infrastructure, and permanent and long term transit investments with eyes beyond the upcoming major sporting events. Huang has touted her heavily grassroots, volunteer-driven campaign, which has raised a respectable $270,000, but is still vastly outmatched by Raman’s half million or Bass’s nearly three million. Though one questionably-methodological poll showed Huang polling at 17% among voters after candidate descriptions (even with Karen Bass and behind Nithya Raman at 32%), the last conventional poll, which was published in early April, showed Huang at 3%.

While undeniably a strong proponent of socialist policy, Huang’s campaign and platform do raise significant questions on how she plans to accomplish the specifics of such an ambitious agenda. Though her campaign website includes a detailed policy platform, Huang has never held a public office herself, and her public policy work in recent years has been focused on statewide housing organizing. If elected, she would enter City Hall without the connections and expertise that more experienced politicians hold, and will undoubtedly encounter difficulty in delivering quickly on the expansive promises of her platform.

Councilmember Raman, who has been endorsed twice by DSA-LA for her city council runs, made significant waves with her last-minute decision to enter the mayoral race. Raman’s first election and terms on council has been undeniably transformative in LA politics, uniting a core constituency of young and middle-aged multiracial renters dissatisfied with the city’s neoliberal status quo.

She has been a consistent champion for renters and immigrants, leading the city’s Housing and Homelessness Committee to advance the largest expansion of tenants rights in LA history in 2023, followed by supporting a major democratic socialist priority in rewriting the city’s rent stabilization laws to reduce allowable rent increases, while also maintaining a consistent position against homelessness sweeps, a position that has earned her significant hate from law-and-order reactionaries.

Raman has also advocated against illegal Short Term Rentals (STRs) listings on AirBnB, which remove homes from the housing supply and increase rents in the surrounding areas. Her willingness to take a strong stand in the face of status quo opposition has been evident nowhere more than in her 2025 vote against a multi-billion dollar expansion of the Los Angeles Convention Center, which was backed both by the LA Fed and business interest groups, citing the massive expense to city funds.

Councilmember Raman’s relationship with DSA-LA, and the broader Angeleno grassroots left, has not been without strains. Raman is consistent in her support for renter protections and a humane homelessness policy, but she also broke ranks with DSA-LA and LA’s affordable housing coalition with her recent failed motion to scale back multi-family restrictions in Measure ULA, the so-called “mansion tax.” She joined the rest of DSA-LA in opposing the massive raises for LAPD officers in 2023, but she has also broken from the council’s other socialists-in-office in votes on funding for policing. Most recently, she has expressed that she would not seek to shrink LAPD’s manpower as mayor.

In 2024, DSA-LA membership approved a censure for Raman’s acceptance of an endorsement from a pro-Israel Democratic club during her hard-fought reelection campaign. However, she was also key to bringing the demand for a permanent ceasefire to City Hall, an important victory that was achieved through months of organizing by DSA-LA members and coalition partners.

Ultimately, Raman touts her political independence as an asset, and, despite her late entry into the race, has out-fundraised Bass in the first three months of 2026, and she is currently the only candidate other than Bass and Pratt polling in double digits.

While DSA Los Angeles has not endorsed a candidate in this primary election, membership interest in the race remains high, between the excitement of Zohran Mamdani’s win and the strong possibility of challenging Karen Bass from the left in 2026. Responding to a membership petition, the chapter’s Electoral Committee ran an advisory strawpoll of membership, the results of which are as follows:

These results show clearly that while there are diverging opinions on who should be the next mayor of LA, members are largely united in their desire to see a democratic socialist Mayor elected to City Hall this November. With a plurality in support of Nithya Raman, substantial support for Huang, and a significant minority without preference, this was a seriously challenging race to evaluate, and we debated it at length. 2026 will be a big midterm year, and as socialists we must decide how to vote tactically for Mayor in the jungle primary, given Pratt’s candidacy.

Some DSA-LA members believe that we should vote for the candidate with the most radical and grassroots platform, especially in the wake of Raman’s sometimes rocky relationship with major constituencies on the left. Others believe that the opportunity to elect a DSA member to mayor is worth accepting the contradictions. Her council experience, even if imperfect, demonstrates a real ability to execute and enact change in City Hall. Yet others argue that the movement is best served by organizationally expressing no preference in the primary.

Ultimately, we 👍 recommend a vote for Raman to ensure a left candidate with a proven track record of delivering for working class Angelenos makes it to the general against Bass. 👍

This recommendation reflects a political assessment reached after substantial discussion and careful debate, informed by members’ opinions and the expressed strategic priorities of our chapter. It is not an endorsement and does not commit chapter resources, volunteer capacity, or other forms of organizational support that come with a formal endorsement of a candidate.

City Controller

Los Angeles City

The City Controller functions effectively as the city’s accountant, in charge of keeping track of where LA’s money comes from, where LA’s money goes to, and has the ability to conduct audits of how the city spends money. While not legislative in nature, the audit authority is an important component of the job. The controller has the ability to investigate spending in city departments (such as LAPD and LA Housing Department) and then recommend improvements for efficacy, showing what our tax dollars are ~actually~ used for.

Elected in 2022, current city controller Kenneth Mejia is running for re-election. Following Nithya Raman’s upset in outsting incumbent David Ryu in 2020, his win signified a real shift from LA voters, and frustration with status quo politics. Mejia’s election was a notable shakeup for electoral politics in Los Angeles City. His opponent Paul Koretz, former State Assembly member and City Council member, had strong name recognition and a deep bench of endorsements from past and current elected officials. He lost, and left some kind words for his constituents on his way out.

Now, Mejia’s publicly accessible online data dashboards and many billboards have become one of the hallmarks of his first term, as well as a deeper public involvement in the city’s budgeting process. He’s tracked the spending of LA’s homelessness programs, and has been pushing to audit Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe program to ensure that all our city funds towards homelessness are spent effectively. Mejia’s informative infographics and Instagram posts have been quite effective in drawing attention to a wide range of otherwise dull political affairs, putting everything from LAPD overspend to charter reform under the public microscope.

Mejia faces a challenger in Zachary David Sokoloff. Sokoloff is the president of asset management at a real estate investment company. He’s outraised Mejia in campaign donations to date, with his large dollar donations coming from CEOs of capital investment firms, real estate executives, and people who are based outside the state of California. Also, his campaign has an independent expenditure with $2,500,000 from his mom. (If you’re reading this early, here’s your reminder that this Sunday, May 10th is Mother’s Day.)

The forces of capital (and moms) might be lining up behind Sokoloff but Kenneth Mejia has shown what a transparent, ethical controller can look like, vote for him this June. 👍

LA City Council - District 3

Los Angeles City

Los Angeles CD 3 covers much of the West San Fernando Valley, including Woodland Hills, West Hills, Tarzana, Winnetka, and Reseda. Current councilmember Bob Blumenfeld is termed out, leaving a wide open race in this primary. Three candidates have qualified for the ballot to succeed him: Tim Gaspar, Christopher “Roberts” (C.R.) Celona, and Barri Worth Girvan.

Before we say goodbye to ol’ Bobby, here’s a photo of him trying to skateboard with Tony Hawk. (What is it with this year and 2000s celebrities?)

Gaspar is Blumenfield’s chosen successor. He touts endorsements for the Los Angeles Police Protective League and many of the moderate to conservative elected representatives in the SFV. According to his website, his priorities involve “restoring law and order in every neighborhood,” supporting and expanding 41.18 encampment bans, and cutting red tape for small businesses. A self-described ‘entrepreneur’ and founder of Gaspar Insurance, Gaspar lists donations from real estate, the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles, and a bevy of other donors who donate to candidates who run against DSA-LA endorsees.

Celona has not raised much to date. He calls himself a “compassionate capitalist” on his website and wants to prioritize expanding the tech and aerospace industries in Los Angeles. His LinkedIn also claims that he’s a licensed Krav Maga practitioner, but the cited URL of his credentials is a dead link.

Girvan has the most labor endorsements in the race, with the LA Federation of Labor endorsement along with SEIU 721, NUHW, AFT 1521, and more. She also lists a handful of endorsements from various eras of the LA political status quo, including her old boss, Lindsay Horvath, and many within the state assembly where she used to work. While no socialist, her platform includes references to properly expanding unarmed crisis response teams, humane solutions to homelessness, including centralizing homelessness outreach and support within the city, and ensuring housing is built quickly and by transit and jobs hubs.

This race is likely to come down to Gaspar and Girvan. While Girvan is no socialist, she would be a step forward in the SFV in the face of a candidate who wants to increase policing and criminalization of homelessness. DSA-LA recommends Barri Worth Girvan 👍 for Council District 3.

LA City Council - District 5

Los Angeles City

Katy Yaroslavsky is the incumbent in this race, representing an affluent, homeowner-heavy Westside district. CD 5 covers a geographically diverse portion of the city’s Westside, like Century City, Fairfax, Palms (one of the city’s densest neighborhoods), and parts of Encino, combining some of the city’s wealthiest areas with a few renter-heavy, mixed-income ones. It’s also among the more affluent and less racially diverse districts in Los Angeles.

Notably, CD5 includes highly affluent & low-density single-family neighborhoods with some of the city’s most transit accessible and renter communities. It also has among the lowest levels of affordable housing production in Los Angeles, reflecting longstanding zoning restrictions and exclusionary land-use patterns. While poverty rates are lower than in many other districts, economic need exists in pockets particularly among students, renters, and workers, highlighting the district’s role in broader citywide debates over affordability and displacement.

Yaroslavsky’s first term in office reported a 27% reduction in street homelessness, expansion of interim housing, and tenant protection efforts, while also advancing environmental wins like the phaseout of neighborhood oil drilling. She’s been an ally to climate and transportation advocates pushing to fund the Climate Adaptation and Action Plan and has approved two rail projects in her district. She’s faced a failed recall attempt tied to a 33-bed project developed on an underutilized city parking lot for the unhoused. As Budget and Finance chair, Yaroslavsky notably cast one of two “no” votes on the highly controversial convention center expansion project, emphasizing risks to the city’s long term fiscal stability and its impacts to core city services. As expected for an incumbent, she has a healthy mix of notable endorsements, including the LA Fed, the LA County Democratic Party, State Senators Ben Allen and Caroline Menjivar, County Supervisor Holly Mitchell, the Sierra Club, and LA Forward among others.

Katy opposed Senate Bill SB 79 and she pushed the least ambitious option to increase housing near transit, delaying implementation and allowing time for planning and targeted reforms. Critics see this as her way of opposing density in her district, at the behest of the wealthy homeowners in her district. She’s also consistently approved new 41.18 zones, which criminalize homelessness, and in 2026 voted to delay renewing to the city’s tenant eviction defense contract, approved $15 million to the LAPD to cover overtime costs during ICE raid protests, and approved accepting donations of Flock cameras from the LA Police Foundation.

Henry Mantel’s platform centers on aggressively addressing LA’s housing and affordability crisis by ending single-family zoning, in order to allow higher density, more walkable neighborhoods. He pairs this with pro-tenant reforms like stronger enforcement, rent caps, and expanded relocation assistance, while also pushing for transit-oriented development, expanded public transportation, and safer streets. His agenda includes climate resilience through greener infrastructure and building retrofits, increased police accountability alongside expanded unarmed crisis response, stronger sanctuary protections for immigrants, and structural reforms like expanding the City Council and adopting ranked-choice voting. Henry Mantel is endorsed by Abundant Housing Coalition, Run for Something, and Future Urbanist Club. He identifies as a democratic socialist. Besides Mantel, there is Morgan Oyler, a business accountant that has raised virtually no money.

Though Yaroslavsky has a clear incumbency advantage, Henry Mantel 🌹 is a socialist and you should vote for him to demonstrate the left base in CD5.

City of LA Proposition CB

Los Angeles City

Proposition CB would apply the City’s existing cannabis business taxes to unlicensed cannabis businesses at the current rates and generate approximately $30 to $35 million dollars in annual revenue for the city’s general fund, which can be used for general services like fire, police response, street and sidewalk repair, transportation and other services.

The tricky part here will be enforcement. It will take effort to collect taxes from unlicensed businesses that aren’t supposed to be operating in the first place. The city estimates enforcement activities would cost anywhere between $2 and $10 million depending on how hard they go. No formal arguments for or against the measure were submitted.

Obviously, business taxes should be enforced consistently - we recommend voting yes. 👍

City of LA Proposition TC

Los Angeles City

Propositions TC and TT (next up) are about the city’s Transient Oriented Tax (TOT) commonly referred to as the “hotel tax.” Importantly, Proposition TC in particular is not a new tax. This measure ensures The City of LA collects the “hotel tax” revenue it is already owed by requiring travel sites like Expedia collect and pay taxes based on the full amount charged to guests, rather than lower negotiated wholesale rates with hotels. The proposal applies to short term (30 day) lodging, not fees paid by most Angelenos. Revenue generated would support city services like emergency response, infrastructure and other essential services, and is estimated to bring about $5 million dollars a year to the general fund.

LA City council members in support include members of the city’s Budget and Finance Committee, Eunises Hernandez, Tim McOsker, and Bob Blumenfield. This isn’t a new tax and the City needs all the cash it can get to go towards essential city services so we recommend you vote YES to approve this measure. 👍

City of LA Measure TT

Los Angeles City

In addition to Prop TC, the City is dealing with another proposition that would impact the hotel tax: Proposition TT (The Funding For City Services Through Modifications To The Transient Occupancy Tax), which would make broader changes to the City’s TOT. This measure would temporarily increase the hotel tax rate paid by hotel guests by from 14% to 16% through Dec 31, 2028, before dropping to 15% after the Olympics. It covers reforms included in Proposal TC (above) by requiring travel companies to pay taxes on all charges imposed when booking a hotel, closing that existing loophole and generating an estimated $22-44 million annually for the city’s general fund. The temporary 2% increase is meant to coincide with major international events like the Olympics.

Opponents of the measure include Councilmembers John Lee, and Monica Rodriguez, as well as Hotel Association of Los Angeles President Jackie Filla, and Nella McKosker, president of the Central City Association and Tim Mckosker’s daughter. They argue that LA already has the highest hotel tax compared to the rest of California and that this will drive tourists away. We say that Los Angeles is a major tourist destination and the businesses who profit from that should pay for our city services. We recommend you vote in support. 👍

LAUSD Board of Education - District 4

LAUSD

LAUSD Board District 4 covers most of the Westside and extends north to the West SFV. Nick Melvoin is the incumbent in this seat as he runs for a third and final term. He recently flopped hard in his run for Congress in 2024, where he got less votes than a different TV star running a quixotic campaign for office, Ben Savage. He’s backed by charter school supporters who want to privatize and take resources away from our public schools. He was a roadblock in ensuring UTLA received a fair contract (they eventually did, worker power always gets the goods) and voted this past term for layoffs in the school district, despite the district having a significant amount of savings. While the significance of charter school interests has declined in LAUSD races in the past decade, Melvoin appears to be running solely on leading the charge to keep cellphones out of classrooms. I mean, fine, we guess.

Ankur Patel is challenging Melvoin. Patel has a history within UTLA as a substitute teacher from 2019-2023, worked as a community coordinator for an LAUSD Board Member from 2015-2018, and is a frequent supporter of grassroots progressive electoral campaigns. His platform stresses ensuring public education remains public, empowering teachers, community-centered schools and expanding community schools, and investing in early childhood education.

Board District 4 does not need another term of Melvoin selling out to corporate interests. Vote for Ankur Patel. 👍

County Assessor

Los Angeles County

The LA County Assessor is in charge of determining how much your property is worth, which determines how much you pay in property tax. As a majority renter organization, this one is a bit hard for us, but we do care deeply about taxing the rich, who do own a lot of property.

Property taxes are important because they make up a significant portion of revenue for the city and county—revenue that ensures that we have the funding for our transformative reforms we fight for as socialists - public housing, green space, unarmed models of crisis response. While the assessor is bound by strict rules and laws (like 1978’s Prop 13), the LA County Assessor has also simply ignored these laws in the past, engaging in bribery, tax breaks for friends, and other forms of corruption.

Incumbent Jeffrey Prang touts his main accomplishments in office as modernization (everything was paper-files until Prang!?), a jobs training program that connects local community colleges to county jobs, and expanded transparency and accessibility within the Assessor’s office. Prang is endorsed by every status quo politician under the Los Angeles County sun.

But there are those who aspire to be a successor to the assessor - say that 5 times fast!

One of those challengers, Stephen Ademus, is putting pressure on the assessor by accusing Prang of corruption, highlighting his connections with the predecessor of the assessor’s office, John Noguez, who was actually quite a transgresser. On the other hand, Ademus has a platform plank that prioritizes “Protecting Proposition 13,” a proposition that has deprived California of vital tax revenue for over four decades.

The last candidate we can find a working website for is Rob Newland, a real estate appraiser and housing economist who is also running on a platform of transparency, modernization, and fairness. Newland would like to create a vacant property and a land transparency map paired with assessor data to identify illegal short term rentals, which would be cool.

There’s no real reason to believe Prang will lose this highly depoliticized position. Perhaps a guesser could say this election is a lesser stressor for the assessor, under no pressure from a potential successor (kind of a depressor), but you may as well vote for Newland.

Superior Court Justices

Los Angeles County

This voter guide is all about judging who to vote for. Now we’ve got to judge the judges!

Voting for judges is difficult. Voters generally have no meaningful way to evaluate which candidates are good or bad, seats frequently go uncontested, and the people who get elected are typically well-off prosecutors who’ve spent their careers putting poorer working-class plaintiffs in jail for minor offenses. While there are some sites for public review, there is overall little public information about judges because these are non-partisan races and campaigns rarely fundraise or campaign significantly. Once seated, incumbents who file for reelection without a challenger automatically begin a new term without appearing on the ballot. Not super democratic.

Fortunately, there are movement organizations stepping out to fill the void of information and try to wield these elections to push our punitive justice system to be, well, a little less punitive. This year, we’re going to rely on the guidance from La Defensa, a Los Angeles-based abolitionist and judicial accountability organization founded by our very own Socialist-in-Office Eunisses Hernandez. La Defensa conducts one of the most rigorous and value-driven judicial evaluation processes in the county. Their work centers identifying candidates who will reduce the harms of incarceration and bring greater humanity to the bench.

You can find their recommendations in orange below reflecting those recommended or endorsed by La Defensa’s judicial evaluation process, and you can follow the link to their guide (here) for a full analysis based on their in depth process, which includes questionnaires and interviews.

Following our friends at La Defensa, we recommend voting for:

Tal K. Valbuena for Office No. 2 Angie Christides for Office No. 14 Binh Q. Dang for Office No. 39 Rhonda Haymon for Office No. 64 Justin Allen Clayton or Ana Reitano for Office No. 65 Ben Forer for Office No. 66 Dan Kapelovitz for Office No. 81 Paul A. Thompson for Office No. 116 David Ross for Office No. 131

County of LA Measure ER

Los Angeles County

Measure ER is a half-cent sales tax put on the ballot by the LA County Board of Supervisors. The Essential Services Restoration Act would enact a 0.5 percent general sales tax for five years (generating $1 billion annually) in an attempt to stabilize the health care system in response to federal cuts enacted through the big beautiful bill.

According to the UC Berkeley Labor Center, about 1 million people could lose medical coverage in LA County as a result of these cuts and nearly half of the residents in Southeast LA cities. As socialists, we view sales taxes as regressive, and support taxation on things that would not disproportionately impact the working class, such as taxing the rich, or assessing property taxes at what they’re actually valued at instead of their 1976 value (yes, we’re going to talk about repealing Prop 13).

However, in this time of Trump federal emergency and to ensure our county maintains vital healthcare services, we recommend you vote yes to enact this measure. 👍

It’s not going to be enough though – you should also support the Statewide Billionaire Tax hitting ballots in November and ensure the city Overpaid CEO Tax makes the ballot.

Glendale City Council

Glendale

Incumbent Dan Brotman has built a reputation as a strong environmental voice on council, championing clean energy, climate action, and public accountability. Elen Asatryan, incumbent and former mayor has focused on city services, immigrant communities, policies to uplift working families, and renters. Finally, Alek Bartrosouf brings an organizing and public service background including service on Glendale’s transportation bodies and has emphasized safer streets, public transit, housing, and sustainable City planning. He is endorsed by the Glendale Teachers Association and Glendale College Guild.

We recommend voting for Alek Bartrosouf, Dan Brotman, and Elen Asatryan.

Glendale Unified School District Board - Area B

Glendale

Ingrid Gunnell (Area B) is seeking reelection. A former LAUSD educator and longtime union activist who now works with the California Federation of Teachers as a current board member, she points to her work advancing safe schools and culturally inclusive curriculum, expanding dual language programs and supporting students with disabilities. She has earned support from the Glendale Teachers Association and the Glendale Parents Association. Her opponent, Greg Krikorian, is a long time local elected and former GUSD board member, he’s supported by business, the establishment. We believe Gunnell has the clearer educator and community centered vision for the district.

Glendale Unified School District Board - Area C

Glendale

Kathleen Cross (Area C), is backed by educators. Katheleen has earned endorsements from the Glendale Teachers Association, the LA Fed, and other labor, education, and progressive community organizations. In contrast Debbie Blute, appears aligned with more conservative parent-choice and school policing politics while David Cole has maintained a very limited public campaign presence, making it difficult to assess his priorities. Kathleen is the clearest educator backed candidate here.

Glendale Unified School District Board - Area D

Glendale

Shant Kevorkian (Area D) has been endorsed by both the Glendale Teacher’s Association and the LA Federation of Labor as well as sitting school board members, and elected leaders such as California State Treasurer Fiona Ma and LA City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian as well as the los angeles league of conservation voters. His campaign emphasizes working with labor partners and the community to address the district’s structural deficit, stagnant English and math proficiency, protecting public schools, and defending every student’s right to an education by opposing ICE enforcement.

There are two other candidates for Area D: Aileen Dinkijian and Janet Balekian. Aileen is an GUSD parent volunteer on the GUSD Budget Oversight Committee and works as Associate Vice President of Population Health and Executive Director of a Healthy Communities Institute. If you search for Janet online one of the first links you will find will send you to ‘Glendale Extremist News’ where she is referred to as a ‘union hater.’ Janet emphasizes policing, raising concerns over prioritizing punitive approaches over student centered support – Kevokarian is the better choice.

Mayor

Compton

Inez ‘Tootsie’ Adkins, is a lifelong Compton resident, a longshore worker, and a retired mortuary executive with over 30 years of experience serving families during difficult moments. Adkins frames her campaign as bringing attention to the needs of the residents of Compton, with a focus on strengthening programs for young people and fixing roads and key infrastructure. We applaud her platform to “end homelessness with dignity” through a Comprehensive Homelessness Response Plan, collaboration with county agencies for mental health treatment and transitional housing, and what she describes as a “crackdown on absentee landlords who neglect properties.” For us, Adkins is a recommended choice for mayor of Compton.

Compton City Council - District 2

Compton

Bennie Tinson comes to the City Council race with a strong background in labor organizing, public affairs, and community leadership. His platform prioritizes affordable housing, holding industrial polluters accountable, and putting community voices at the center of District 2’s revitalization. With a track record to back his promises — he coordinated workers’ strikes to protect pensions and secure wage increases, led a countywide nonprofit that addressed homelessness and worked in the Compton City Attorney’s office — we recommend a vote for Tinson.

Compton City Council - District 3

Compton

Founder of the Compton Cowboys and the Compton Junior Equestrians, Randall Hook was born and raised in Richland Farms in the heart of Compton, and has spent his life building community-rooted institutions to support at-risk youth and champion racial justice, including leading Black Lives Matter peace rides throughout the city. His deep grassroots organizing background and commitment to keeping Compton’s most vulnerable residents at the center of his representation makes him the clear choice for District 3.

Covina Treasurer

Covina

Neil Polzin is running for reelection as Covina Treasurer. He’s campaigning alongside Bri Serrano and Sarah Rizvi. His main opponent is TJ Nass, whose endorsements include some Covina council members and school board members, as well as the police association. While Neil’s (treasurer) website isn’t overtly socialist, he is a socialist climate organizer and has received the Working Families Party endorsement, and cites affordability, transparency, and accountability amongst his campaign’s priorities.

We recommend you vote for Neil Polzin. 🌹

Covina City Council - District 5

Covina

Bri Serrano is an educator and former Union Member (APC and CFA), endorsed by movement backers like the Working Families Party, Run for Something, Stonewall Democratic Club, Our Revolution, and Feel the Bern Democratic Club. They are running on affordability, eliminating Covina’s Utility User Tax, and redirecting city funds to support childcare, emergency assistance, and basic needs.

His primary opponent is Andrew Aleman, currently Covina’s elected City Clerk who has received noteworthy endorsements including, State Senator Maria Elena Durazo, LA County Democratic Party, Covina Police Association, Teamsters Joint Council 42, and the Western State Carpenters, among many other institutional heavy hitters. He’s running on his experience in local government and his union. His platform is centered on public safety, with no real attention to alternative systems or care based approaches.

We don’t love the Police Association endorsement amongst others signaling moderate and even conservative views on our issues, so we recommend you vote for Bri Serrano. 👍

Covina City Council - District 3

Covina

Sarah Rizvi is part of the same slate as Bri Serrano and Neil Polzin. Sarah has worked as a federal and state grant writer, helping secure funding and support public works infrastructure projects. She understands how cities operate, how budgets work, and how to pursue outside funding so residents’ tax dollars go further. Her experience also includes service with the California State Assembly, where she helped residents navigate EDD and small business loan issues during COVID. She has also served as a park ranger, fitness trainer, and mutual aid volunteer, meeting people where they are and helping neighbors directly.

Sarah’s campaign is focused on community safety, city transparency, and affordability. She is committed to protecting residents, improving communication, opposing backroom deals, supporting small businesses, and helping seniors, renters, and working families stay in Covina.

She’s up against the incumbent, Victor Linares, who was endorsed by moderate Dems Susan and Blanca Rubio. Linares was a lifelong Republican, before changing to NPP before the filing of this election. He ran as a small business owner in 2017, but the reality is he is the business partner for the largest developer and commercial land holder in Covina. During his time in office, he has flouted personal finance disclosures and conflict of interest forms. Lastly, Adrian Fernandez is running on ensuring three story buildings do not get built in single family housing zones and making Covina friendly to business development.

Sarah Rizvi will answer to the residents, not special interests - we recommend voting for her for Covina City Council. 👍

Mayor

Long Beach

Long Beach has a Council-Manager form of government which gives the City Council the decision-making power, while an unelected City Manager is tasked with running the operations of the city and enacting decisions made by the Council.

This means the mayor is a “weak mayor.” The mayor chairs City Council meetings and acts as the “chief legislative officer” with the ability to veto actions, but they cannot implement policy, nor do they get a vote on City Council.

To say that the current mayor, Rex Richardson, is weak is an understatement. His progressive platitudes have already begun to wear thin on residents and he seems to have taken pride in the ceremonial nature of his position. His focus has remained on the tourism industry with an eye towards the 2028 Olympics and the Long Beach Amphitheater. He has also been a friendly mayor to real estate developers while he watches the housing crisis worsen under his watch.

Unfortunately, none of the mayoral contenders have stepped up to challenge Richardson and the strong Democratic Party machine that operates in Long Beach. The usual mix of fiscal hawks, real estate-backed vultures, pro-police candidates come up against progressive challengers disconnected from organized strength.

Of the available candidates and based on his stated beliefs, Lee Goldin is running a campaign that represents a clear break from the city’s dominant law‐and‐order consensus. Goldin has directly declared opposition to sweeps and the criminalization of people experiencing homelessness. He instead calls for housing‐first solutions and material support for unhoused residents. He also vows to stand up to ICE and fight against the encroachment of the military industrial complex in Long Beach. However, as a challenger, Goldin does not have the financial backing or institutional support of establishment candidates and may find it difficult to compete against someone like Richardson whose coffers run deep.

City Auditor

Long Beach

A lifelong Long Beach resident and 20-year incumbent, Laura Doud has built one of the most effective municipal audit offices in the region, recovering over $350 million in additional city revenue. We especially applaud Doud for her recent, multi-year audit of over $69 million in homelessness spending, resulting in the city firing a major service contractor. In a role where experience and independence matter most, Doud is the clear choice over an opponent with two unsuccessful council runs and no auditing track record.

Long Beach City Council - District 3

Long Beach

Typically dominated by homeowner and small business interests, CD3 has had some challengers in recent years. In 2022, Kailee Caruso came only a few points away from defeating now-incumbent Kristina Duggan. Duggan is a thorn in the side of many on the left in Long Beach. She is hostile to the unhoused, supportive of increasing LBPD presence, and prioritizes the needs of the wealthy homeowners in her district over the many working class families and students that live there.

There are several challengers this time around, including Ronald Sampson, a former trade union member and full-time community activist. Sampson brings a working-class perspective to District 3. He supports equitable distribution of public safety resources — such as sidewalks and streetlights across all neighborhoods — and trade union partnerships to create local jobs. Sampson has also pushed for a city-run recycling center that would direct profits back to disadvantaged families in the school district.

Long Beach City Council - District 7

Long Beach

CD7 has long been defined by the Uranga family. Vice Mayor Roberto Uranga, who terms out this year, has held the seat since 2014. Prior to that, his wife, Tonia Reyes Uranga, served two terms from 2002-2010. The Vice Mayor has been a mixed bag. Generally supportive of labor, the Westside still lacks a true champion.

The frontrunner is LBCC Trustee Vivian Malauulu, who is backed by most of the establishment Democrats in the city. Her election would signal no meaningful shift in representation for West Long Beach.

Her opponents include two community activists looking to make a difference. Jameis Shuford, a formerly unhoused West Long Beach resident who turned his lived experience into decades of advocacy, Shuford founded the Skidrow Advocacy Group, serves as president of the Long Beach Homeless Coalition, and co-chairs the Long Beach Continuum of Care. However, his platform emphasizes law enforcement responses to public safety, and he is particularly interested in the recruitment and retention of police officers.

Our recommended choice, Dameon Gordon, is a social worker who is seeking to improve the quality of life on the Westside for his family and neighbors. His campaign emphasizes community safety officers rather than an increase in policing, and he has vowed that if elected he will fight to reduce cooperation between the City of Long Beach and federal immigration enforcement agents. He hopes to provide wraparound support for those experiencing homelessness, and also wants to address the root causes of displacement and the rising cost of living for CD7 residents. Environmental justice is another key pillar for him in a neighborhood that has a roughly 10 year lower life expectancy than residents across town. Dameon Gordon gets our recommendation.

Long Beach City Council - District 9

Long Beach

A public health scientist with a PhD in epidemiology, incumbent councilmember Dr. Joni Ricks-Oddie brings a data-driven, equity-focused approach to North Long Beach, one of the city’s most underserved districts. She has championed environmental justice initiatives to address the freeway pollution burdening her constituents, pushed for budget transparency by holding evening hearings accessible to working residents, and serves as Vice Chair of the city’s Housing Authority.

Her opponent, Sequoia Neff, is part of the same realtor-backed slate seeking seats across the city. The protection of property values is one of her key priorities and that should tell you all you need to know about this race.

San Diego City Council - District 8

San Diego City

San Diego City Council District 8 includes Barrio Logan, Sherman Heights, Southcrest, and South San Diego (San Ysidro, Otay, Nestor, Palm City, etc.).

This race is a contest between a longtime community advocate, Rafael Perez, and three political insiders: Gerardo Ramirez; the Chief of Staff to Vivian Moreno, who currently represents this district (District 8); Venus Molina, the Chief of Staff to Dr. Jen Campbell, who represents District 2 on the City Council; and Antonio Martinez, a San Ysidro School Board member who, up until recently, worked for Congressman Juan Vargas.

Ramirez is endorsed by the San Diego Police Officers Association and the Lincoln Club Business League. Although he is a Democrat, he is not an option for socialists.

Venus Molina is the Chief of Staff to one of the more conservative members of the City Council, and she is the chosen candidate of San Diego’s centrist Mayor Todd Gloria. We can expect her to be a reliable vote for his failed policies and cannot recommend a vote for her.

Antonio Martinez, who is running for the third time in eight years for this seat, has the support of the teachers union and classified staff union at the San Ysidro School District, where he serves on the Board. However, his record of working for Congressman Juan Vargas rules him out as a candidate that socialists should support.

Rafael Perez, meanwhile, has a record of community activism and independence that is sorely needed on the City Council. He has recently questioned the Mayor’s recent proposal to increase spending on police while dramatically cutting arts spending. He refused to be considered for endorsement by the San Diego Police Officers Association. He helped lead the fight to overturn the cruising ban in National City that criminalized lowrider culture. He currently serves on the Board of the San Diego Regional Airport Authority, as well as on the Board of the Sherman Heights Community Center. He is a union member and has been endorsed by the American Federation of Teachers Guild and the Working Families Party. We recommend Rafael Perez for SD City Council District 8. (San Diego DSA recommendation)

San Diego County Board of Supervisors - District 5

San Diego County

The Board of Supervisors oversee the county government, including allocating funds to spending priorities through the county budget, administering programs like CalFresh and MediCal, and managing public health crises. District 5 covers the northernmost parts of North County, including Oceanside to Escondido, Fallbrook, Valley Center, and further east. Historically a Republican seat, Democrats are eager to flip it in order to solidify control of the county budget. Incumbent Jim Desmond is not running, leaving the race open to 2 Republicans, a centrist Democrat (Kyle Krahel), and independent Sasha Miller.

Sasha Miller is running as an independent in protest of the broken two-party system with an anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, and pro-worker policy platform that closely aligns to the DSA platform. As a county supervisor, she would advocate for a universal healthcare system, fully funding public education, ending corporate ownership of housing, and transitioning to public ownership of utilities. Sasha is a union member who stands in solidarity with workers by supporting strikes and boycotting companies that union bust. She regularly organizes with the free Palestine movement and brings attention to the genocide through protests and banner drops – justice for Palestine is one of her top campaign priorities. It is a rare and exciting opportunity to vote for a candidate who so fearlessly advocates for socialist values. We recommend Sasha Miller for San Diego County Board of Supervisors, District 5. (San Diego DSA recommendation)

State Board of Equalization - 3rd District

State of California

The California State Board of Equalization (BOE) is the only elected tax board in the US. We Californians love voting for things, especially when they’re very esoteric to voters. Before 2017, the BOE had far more responsibilities, but due to mismanagement of millions of dollars of funds and political corruption, Governor Jerry Brown and the California Legislature stripped the BOE of most of what it was tasked to do. Now, it primarily administers taxes and audits state-assessed properties (we promise, we’re out of assessor puns). The BOE has four elected districts—District 3 covers all of Los Angeles County.

District 3 has a crowded race, 10 candidates total, with three Republicans, one No Party Preference, and six Democrats. Out of the Democrats who have raised any money or have a campaign website presence, we have Yvonne Yiu, Baru Sanchez, Mike Gipson, and Sam Sukaton.

Baru Sanchez is a former mayor of Cudahy, who is running a BOE campaign around “integrity, transparency, and fairness.” He’s self funding his campaign to the tune of $25k. Not much else to say about him besides that.

Yvonne Yiu is constantly and unsuccessfully self-funding runs for office and this time is no different. A Monterey Park city councilmember, 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 into her husband’s real estate fund. A former Republican, Yiu changed her registration in 2022 and is trying to amass a moderate base of folks to vote for her.

However, she’s not the only moderate candidate in this race. Mike Gipson is a former cop whose stint in the state assembly was funded by fossil fuels and real estate. Now termed out of the CA Legislature, he’s got the same financial backing this run, with Meta, Chevron, and Amazon maxing out donations. Nevertheless, the status quo coalition is falling in line behind him, as he’s received the endorsement from the Democratic Party, the California Federation of Labor, and numerous electeds from his time in the state assembly. The BOE is an office that is largely bureaucratic and non-political in nature, but the campaign donations from big corporations don’t instill confidence in us that he’ll make sure that everyone pays their fair share of taxes.

Lastly, we have Sam Sukaton. A DSA-LA member who has been in chapter leadership, Sam is running a campaign that ensures that everyone pays their fair share of taxes and everyone gets their share of taxes in return. His platform seeks to strengthen oversight of the county tax assessors so that property valuation is applied consistently, ensure the BOE stays accountable, and expand BOE outreach to ensure that the communities who need it most get the information about tax assessments, exemptions, and appeal rights they need. A union organizer, Sam is endorsed by the Working Families Party and seeks to democratize and make an otherwise inaccessible state office work for the people.

We recommend voting for Sam Sukaton for State Board of Equalization. He’s a DSA member who is running a campaign that ensures that everyone pays their fair share of taxes and everyone gets their share of taxes in return. His platform seeks to strengthen oversight of the county tax assessors so that property valuation is applied consistently, ensure the BOE stays accountable, and expand BOE outreach to ensure that the communities who need it most get the information about tax assessments, exemptions, and appeal rights they need. A union organizer, Sam is endorsed by the Working Families Party and seeks to democratize and make an otherwise inaccessible state office work for the people.

State Board of Equalization - 2nd District

State of California

State Board of Equalization - 4th District

State of California

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 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 mapping the way forward. We recommend Cody Petterson for California Board of Equalization, District 4.

Insurance Commissioner

State of California

The incumbent Insurance Commissioner, Ricardo Lara, is running for re-election. He has been a fairly progressive insurance commissioner, especially compared to his predecessor, but he has also been criticized for his handling of the state’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic and for his support of the insurance industry. His only opponent is Jane Kim, a former member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and a former state senator. Kim has a strong track record of fighting for working people and has been endorsed by a number of progressive organizations, including California DSA. We recommend Jane Kim for Insurance Commissioner.

Superintendent of Public Instruction

State of California

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.

California DSA recommends Nichelle Henderson 👍 for California Superintendent of Public Instruction.

20th State Senate District

California State Senate

In the 20th State Senate district we have Caroline Menjivar, a young queer latina veteran. She’s a progressive with Democratic establishment backing, likely to cruise to the general. Her district covers much of the East and Northeast San Fernando Valley and is a heavily working class Latino district.

Caroline faces two challengers, one is Dr. Roberto David La Carra, an independent army veteran, former probation officer, and professor at local community college. Aside from a PHd, he also holds a JD. Then there is Republican Tony Rodriguez, who we cannot find any information on. Neither has raised over $3,000.

During her first term, Caroline Menjivar has sponsored legislation to add specialized mental health crisis services for LGBTQ+ youth on the 988 Crisis Hotline, fought to keep our undocumented neighbors on Medi-Cal in the face of Gavin Newsom’s cuts, and introduced legislation that would permanently ban ICE officials from being police officers in the state of California. Menjivar has built a legislative record aligned with working class, immigrant communities, and LGBTQ+ issues, with backing from labor and progressive organizations like the Working Families Party.

Given her incumbency and broad coalition support, she appears well positioned to win reelection, but her incumbency so far is good enough for us to suggest you vote for Caroline Menjivar.👍

24th State Senate District

California State Senate

With Ben Allen vacating his seat in pursuit of the State Insurance Commissioner position, SD-24, a district encompassing much of the coastline in addition to West Hollywood and Calabasas, sees a wide open field of 10 candidates vying for a spot in the November general election. Allen won this seat last cycle by a margin of more than 2 to 1.

Though quite a progressive Senate District, the impact and aftermath of the Palisades Fire still looms large in the psyche of voters and represents an outsized priority for most of the candidates fighting for the two spots here.

The candidates most likely to compete for the two runoff spots come from a smaller core group. Republicans like Kristina Irwin (who lost to Allen last cycle) and Glenn Marshall have each raised relatively little and are likely to split the conservative vote, making them less likely to advance in this deep-blue seat. A

Among the Democrats, physician Dr. Sion Roy enters with prior campaign experience and $500,000 raised, earning backing from Democrats for Israel as well as every medical entity/union under the sun. Even more frustrating, he specifically does not mention single-payer healthcare via CalCare or Medicare for All

Brian Goldsmith has also emerged as a serious contender with over $1 million raised, with nearly half of that coming from himself and large dollar donors. He has endorsements from Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and the Los Angeles Police Protective League. Michael Newhouse has also posted competitive fundraising numbers and is running in a more moderate lane, with him getting money from all the other Police Officers not in LA and the California Real Estate PAC.

At the front of the progressive lane is John Erickson, current West Hollywood city councilmember, long time operative and advocate on gender equity and LGBTQ+ issues. Erickson has already earned support from the California Federation of Labor and other labor organizations, and has raised over $300,000, enough to be competitive in a crowded field. On policy, Erickson has built a record on promoting housing production while still safeguarding housing affordability and tenant protections, and local climate action. He touts himself as a potential leader in healthcare access and public education investment. While Erickson has been solid on most issues he notes the need to invest more in “21st-century crime prevention tools for first responders that can stop crimes in the first place”.

Other candidates include Eric Alegria, who emphasizes public safety and increasing funding for law enforcement, Ellen Evans, who has earned backing from several pro Israel groups, and Zenon Ulyate-Crow, a Gen Z candidate with an impressive resume that includes housing advocacy, non profit leadership, and work on youth and student housing policy, though he has significantly less cash on hand than the frontrunners.

With three well-funded moderates and a crowded race, it’s important that the most viable progressive get as many votes as possible to make the general. We recommend you vote for John Erickson in this particular primary, in order to advance a progressive voice to the general election. 👍

26th State Senate District

California State Senate

With longtime local labor leader turned politico Maria Elena Durazo opting for a run to replace Hilda Solis on the County Board of Supervisors, Senate District 26 presents another wide open race with eight challengers vying for a top finish in this primary, both likely to be taken by two of the five Democratic candidates here.

The 26th State Senate District covers one of the most culturally diverse districts in California. The region includes Central and East Los Angeles, a plurality Latino district with a significant Asian population, and overall distinctively immigrant, and multilingual. It includes Boyle Heights, Koreatown, Echo Park, Silver Lake, Highland Park, East Hollywood, Westlake/MacArthur Park, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, and parts of East LA. In a chaotically crowded field, candidates include retired teacher Paul Bowers, Sarah Rascón, Juan Camacho, Sarah Hernandez, and Maebe Pudlo. Bowers presents as a non-serious candidate with no campaign website and no campaign contributions. Let’s get to the rest.

Juan Camacho emphasizes his time leading Fox Studio’s Government and Community Affairs and his current job as President of the Equality California Institute among his qualifications for this position. Camacho’s platform hits the predictable Dem platitudes, although his “Healthcare for All” plank has zero indication he’d support a single payer system in the state. His endorsements reflect his prior job experience, and he’s also racked up some of the more moderate members of the state legislature.

Former assemblymember Wendy Carrillo cites Trump’s return to the White House as the driving factor for her SD-24 run. Though she surely has the traditional “Progressive” bonafides from her seven years in the Assembly, her most recent electoral efforts against Kevin de Leon for the CD-14 Council Seat in 2024 was surprisingly unsuccessful, only garnering 15% of the vote and a 4th place finish (with DSA-LA Socialist in Office Ysabel Jurado winning that race). Her 2023 DUI surely played a factor in her electability in 2024, which is ironic because this election cycle, she’s highlighting the California New Car Dealers Association PAC as a primary endorser. She also lists donations from energy companies like Sempra and PG&E.

Attorney, LACCD Board President, and former teacher, Sara Hernandez presents an establishment platform and outlook for her campaign, despite the qualifications of a “progressive” candidate. Like many of her establishment counterparts, she centers the YIMBY/Abundance agenda above all else while also touting her support for measures to tackle homelessness that are punitive in nature. Her campaign contributions bear this out, with maximum donations coming from housing developers and property investors. Additionally, opponents in this race are calling out Hernandez’s connections to AIPAC and its donors, dating back to a 2018 trip Hernandez took with AIPAC to tour Israel

Community organizer, Silver Lake Neighborhood Councilmember, and perennial leftist candidate Maebe Pudlo presents perhaps the most progressive platform in both this race and throughout this primary election cycle statewide. Pudlo has run for Congress three times on a platform of Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, abortion rights, federally backed housing vouchers for unhoused individuals, and Education for All, and all that good stuff. She’s running on the same platform for State Senate, but has only raised $53,000.

Electoral newcomer Sarah Rascon also presents a progressive angle in the race. An El Sereno native, Rascon’s career spans community organizing, state legislative work, and roles advancing Latino civic participation, and serving in environmental equity leadership at the Mountains recreation conservation Authority. Though she has worked for various Status Quo Coalition politicians including a brief term in the Bass administration, she is running a fully clean-money campaign. Her platform explicitly rejects “corporate PACs” and “PACs representing foreign governments”, alongside calling for “the full liberation of Palestine”. In more state-government-specific items, she supports Single Payer healthcare via CalCare, repealing the Ellis and Costa-Hawkins acts and reforming Proposition 13. Though she has been outraised by the big three corporate-candidates, her $105,000 makes her the highest-raising grassroots candidate.

In a wide open race where the money is flowing to three who will represent big money and the status quo in a progressive district, we recommend voting for Sarah Rascon to send a clean-money candidate to the top two against one of Camacho, Hernandez, or Carrillo. 👍

28th State Senate District

California State Senate

Incumbent Lola Smallwood-Cuevas is facing no realistic challengers in this race and will win reelection. SD-28 covers Culver City, Palms, Mar Vista, West Los Angeles, Crenshaw, Leimert Park, South Los Angeles, parts of Mid-City, the neighborhoods surrounding USC, and parts of Downtown LA. Chair of the Senate labor committee, she’s been a reliable champion of pro-labor legislation in the State Senate, putting forward bills to require employers to report use of surveillance tools on their workers, strengthen enforcement for price gouging, creating regulations on large grocery store chains in replacing workers with self checkouts. Smallwood-Cuevas has been a reliable cross-endorser of our socialists in office and Shake Up City Hall slate, and is a member of the South LA Working Families Party-endorsed squad in the California legislature.

A reliable representative of the left-labor movement in the CA State Legislature, we recommend you vote for Lola Smallwood-Cuevas for another term.

6th State Senate District

California State Senate

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.

10th State Senate District

California State Senate

16th State Senate District

California State Senate

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.

34th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

While most of this district is in San Bernardino County, AD-34’s got a liiiiittle bit of Lancaster and Palmdale, so we’re going to do a write up. Hello to everyone reading this in Lancaster and Palmdale! Any good recommendations for Date Shakes?

Republican Assemblymember Tom Lackey is termed out, so we got an open seat for this one, with three (3) Republicans and one (1) Democrat running. A Democrat has not received more than 30% of the vote here in quite a while. Democrat Randall Putz seeks to break the trend, and he very well could, publishing a poll that has him leading the pack with 42% of the vote. A blue wave just might flip this one.

He’s running on some solid points, such as renter protections, ensuring corporations pay their fair share of taxes, and holding polluters accountable. In other words, Putz is not a total putz. Even a middling Democrat would be better than his Republican opponents, vote for Randall Putz.

44th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

AD-44 district covers Burbank, Sherman Oaks, North Hollywood, Studio City the tippy-top of Glendale, and the Warner Bros. Studio Water Tower Autonomous Zone (soon to be Paramount Pictures Water tower??? Will they evict the Animaniacs????). Nick Schultz won his first term in 2024 and is facing two Republican challengers.

Schultz is current chair of the Assembly Public Safety Committee and is running on an affordability agenda, universal healthcare, and protecting renters. He’s worked well with criminal justice reform organizations such as Initiate Justice. He’s fought against ICE in the levels of state government, including the ban on ICE wearing face masks, and supported ending AI from hiring decisions in the workforce. He’s worked closely with DSA-LA Socialist in Office Konstantine Anthony while he was on the Burbank City Council and supports our endorsed candidates.

Schultz is going to coast to re-election, but he’s been decent in Assembly and is the only Working Families Party Assembly endorsee in LA wholly north of the 10 - we recommend you vote for him.

51st State Assembly District

California State Assembly

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.

Over the course of his two years in the State Assembly, Rick Zbur has demonstrated why he remains one of the more odious establishment power brokers in both the region and the state. While trying to appear “progressive”, he continues to vote in lockstep with the wishes of his megadonors, such as tax-dodging corporations well-known for crushing organized labor (Uber, Walmart, and Amazon) or public utilities (PG&E and Edison International). The latter was successful in pushing Zbur to back down from supporting limitations on lobbying and advertising by investor-owned utilities (AB 1167)! He also co-authored AB 715, a bill advertised as a defense against antisemitism in California public schools, but was specifically designed to censor public education and protected speech regarding Israel and Palestine.

None of the candidates stepping up to the challenge have garnered much in the way of endorsements or donations. Three of them are running on right-wing reactionary law and order complaints about violent crime. Also, one is named Jake Head and another is Dick Lucas. Come on.

Colin Hernandez is the only candidate running from Zbur’s left. A 9th-generation Californian, Hernandez’ platform includes CalCare, Housing for All, walkable cities, climate justice, and taxing the rich.

He’s not likely to win against the fundraising behemoth that is Zbur, but as the only left candidate in the race, so we recommend that you should vote for Colin Hernandez.

55th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

Incumbent Isaac Bryan is expected to handily win this race, as he faces no challenger who has raised any campaign contributions 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, advocating for decarceration and policing reform, workers’ rights, social housing, and a California single payer healthcare system. Bryan is broadly seen as a rising star in the progressive wing of the Assembly Democratic Party, and is one of a new generation of leaders that have emerged across South LA in recent years.

This cycle, he’s put forward legislation to prohibit privately contracted firefighters from accessing public water sources, introduced the bill to prohibit surveillance tools in the workplace, and other judicial and policing reforms.

With this consistency in policy, we recommend Isaac Bryan 👍 for another term.

61st State Assembly District

California State Assembly

AD-61 covers the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Venice, Marina del Rey, Westchester, Inglewood, Hawthorne, and Lawndale.

Tina McKinnor is literally the only person running.

But we’d like to note that she’s endorsed a lot of our Shake Up City Hall slate and is yet another part of the WFP State Squad here in LA. A friend of labor, McKinnor has been a reliable presence at picket lines and has co-authored legislation allowing legislative staff the right to form a union as well as ensuring all apartments for rent come with a refrigerator and stove.

As a strong and consistent progressive voice in the Assembly, we recommend that you should vote for 👍 Tina McKinnor.

65th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

Assembly District 65 is a South LA and South Bay district that includes Watts, Compton, Harbor City, Willowbrook, Wilmington, parts of South Central, and San Pedro. It’s been held by Mike Gipson, who’s now running for State Board of Equalization, since 2014.

This is an interesting multi candidate jungle primary. There is strong movement potential here with Fatima Iqbal-Zubair, the clear progressive in the field. Ayanna Davis is also an important Democratic contender and Mike Gibson’s pick, expected to make the top two. She represents more of the traditional establishment democratic alternative to Fatima and has backing from important state legislators including Mark Gonzales, Tina Mckinnor, Tony Thurmond, Fiona Ma, Malia Cohen, and heavy hitter labor locals including ILWU Southern California District Council, Smart Local 105, Teamsters Joint Council 42, and California Democratic Legislative Caucus among others.

Fatima has pulled together a young and multi racial coalition with movement backers and strong labor support. Iqbal-Zubair has run for and been endorsed by DSA-LA and DSA Long Beach in 2020 and 2022, but struggled to break 40% against the entrenched Gipson. She’s spent the last four years at California Environmental Voters, an eco-electoral nonprofit, and leading the California Democratic Party Progressive Caucus. She’s earned a very healthy mix of endorsements from SEIU California, California Working Families Party, the LA Federation of Labor, California Teachers Association, National Union of Healthcare Workers, Black Los Angeles Young Democrats, but did not seek a DSA endorsement this cycle.

There are a couple of other Democratic candidates who filed with but stand no real chance including Lamar Lyons, Magaly Sanchez-Hall, and Vinson Eugene Allen. There’s also a single Republican, Lydia Gutierrez.

Fatima is the clear progressive candidate here with a real shot and she is running against an establishment Dem, for this reason we recommend you vote for Fatima Iqbal-Zubair.

66th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

With Al Muratsuchi sights set on State Superintendent of Public Education after terming out, Assembly District 66 (covering much of the South Bay) sees four Democratic candidates ranging from terrible to relatively unknown vying for a top two position here, with two GOP spoilers in the mix.

While we will be recommending one of those “unknowns”, this race in particular is important to follow as candidate research steadily comes out and these murky platforms are fleshed out in real time.

Though his platform is comprised almost entirely of vacuous one-liners meant to allow voters project their own varied ideals onto himself, PR specialist and BizFed (Organized Business, lol) leader Scott Houston does provide some more in-depth insight into how he plans to govern in Sacramento through his various endorsements from organizations such as Democrats for Israel Los Angeles, New California Coalition (big business advocacy group), and several law enforcement lobbying groups (including officer associations across the South Bay). To say that Scott Houston shouldn’t be allowed to prove whether he can remain loyal to these backers in the Assembly would be an understatement.

Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor Paul Seo is much of the same, though with an admittedly more fleshed out platform and much more backing from organized labor. Though he touts endorsements from Labor Fed and California SEIU, his stated priority of increasing law enforcement hiring and funding is reflected in the LA Police Protective League (LAPPL), California Fraternal Order of Police, and the Association for Los Angeles Deputy Sheriffs (ALADS). With the Labor Fed supporting him, Seo’s candidacy is another demonstration of the Los Angeles Status Quo Coalition.

Vice Chair of the LA County Beach Commission Shannon Ruiz-Ross is a long-time member and functionary in the South Bay region of the LA County Democratic Party (LACDP), and has collected a respectable set of endorsements from local moderate electeds like LA Councilmembers McOsker and Hutt and Mod Squad assemblymembers like Mike Gipson and Juan Carrillo. What she hasn’t collected is a campaign platform.

Finally there is dentist, urgent care facility owner, and Palos Verdes School Board President Sara Deen. Deen’s platform is relatively sparse and nondescript, talking about “access to healthcare,” and reducing the “influence of special interests in our political system.” Which special interests, Sara? Deen has the endorsement of progressive unions like NUHW and California Nurses Association (CNA), as well as progressive grassroots organizations like Indivisible, California Women’s List, South Bay Forward, and a couple YIMBY organizations.

Though nonspecific, Sara Deen is clearly positioned as the progressive candidate in this not-very-progressive district, so we recommend that you should vote for her.

67th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

With the moderate Sharon Quirk-Silva terming out, Assembly District 67 (encompassing part of the Gateway Cities such as Artesia and Bell Gardens as well as the northern OC such as Buena Park and Anaheim) presents a monied, competitive race with no outstanding progressives but a surprising lack of moderate platform positions among the four Democratic competitors. While it’s important to keep in mind that Quirk-Silva only won by 13 points in 2024 (against a competitor who cited a bill “protecting our sovereign borders” as the first she’d introduce), this election cycle’s primary election is likely to result in one Democratic candidate against a Republican, so it’s important to pick the most left from among the Democrats.

To begin with the least serious of the four Democratic candidates, County Safety Representative Mark Gonzales is completely silent on any salient issue facing either his district or working class Californians as a whole and an endorsement page lacking any sort of institutional backing. Former financial services professional Ali Taj is another potential spoiler here who, while presenting as a “nice man,” also presents little to nothing in terms of a platform for working class Californians. His career in financial services and a campaign backed by AI Startups and Hotel Owner PACs doesn’t necessarily inspire confidence in him as a progressive candidate.

Looking at the Republican candidates, the one likely to advance to the general is Paulo Morales, a Compton native and cop who really wants you to know that he’s a cop, he loves cops, and if he’s elected his priority is going to be cops. But we can hold out hope that instead it’s Adrian Ayub, whose campaign website doesn’t have anything on it except for the phrase “New Ideas Old Time Values” on a cloud background. What does it mean? Who knows?

Despite his cop-iness, Morales is not the candidate in the race backed by any police unions. That honor goes to Cerritos Councilmember Mark Pulido, who’s endorsed by the Los Angeles School Police Management Association, as well as a wide array of more traditionally SoCal unions, the Building Trades, and most Asian-American California electeds. He’s even got the endorsement of Steven Raga, a Filipino-American New York assemblymember running against NYC-DSA-endorsed Palestinian socialist Aber Kawas (both Raga and Pulido are Filipino-American). (You can donate to Kawas here!)

Though light on the specifics of how he’d accomplish such goals, Pulido touts a background as a student activist who’d leverage his time in Sacramento to support “policies that reduce the economic burden on working families” through policies that bolster education and create more affordable housing.

Lastly, Ada Briceño is a lifelong labor advocate and current co-president of UNITE-HERE Local 11. Having played a key role in achieving an Olympic Wage increase in Long Beach while remaining active in the push for such increases elsewhere in the Los Angeles Metro area, Briceño has a proven track record of supporting the policy outcomes she’s running on in this race, including ensuring liveable wages, universal healthcare for all, lowered cost of living, and the enactment of safeguards against climate catastrophe. Though a six year term as the chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County should clearly signal the limits of her ideological commitments (i.e., she’s not a socialist), she is clearly the only candidate with a proven track record of walking the walk in fighting for working class Californians.

We recommend you vote for Ada Briceño. 👍

5th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

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.

9th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

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.

12th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

14th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

20th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

25th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

27th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

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.

31st State Assembly District

California State Assembly

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.

35th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

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.

36th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

47th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

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.

68th State Assembly District

California State Assembly

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.

72nd State Assembly District

California State Assembly

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 after being 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 recently called 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.

California’s 26th Congressional District

United States House

Seven-term U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley announced her retirement in January 2026, opening up a seat that spans most of Ventura County and a slice of northwestern L.A. County including Westlake Village, Calabasas and Agoura Hills. Under Prop. 50, the district extends further east to Quartz Hill in the Antelope Valley, making the electorate bluer — 43% Democrat, 28% Republican. The district is majority white (though 43% Latino), and quite wealthy with 70% homeownership and a median income 20% higher than the rest of California’s.

The early frontrunner is Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks), who carries Brownley’s endorsement and is term-limited out of her Assembly seat. Irwin previously served as mayor of Thousand Oaks and has represented communities in both Ventura and L.A. counties. Irwin was a classic conservative Democrat when she was in the Assembly, voting against bills that sought to curb police surveillance, provide more oversight of charter schools, and abstained from a vote that would have prohibited ICE from wearing face masks.

Republican Michael Koslow, a military veteran whom Brownley narrowly beat in 2024, is running again, but thanks to Prop 50, no Republican is likely to get as close. Rather than Koslow, the main Republican challenger might actually be Sam Gallucci, a (stop us if you’ve heard this one before) white conservative businessman who wants more cops, mass deportations, and to stop the woke left. He thinks “Washington is full of talkers” , something that can be solved by… an evangelical pastor?

Anyway, the two remaining Democratic candidates are Sonia Devgan-Kacker, a doctor and small business owner who doesn’t support Medicare for All, and Chris Espinosa, a long-time environmental and Latino representation lobbyist who has worked in and outside of Congress since 2008.

Espinosa’s website boasts endorsements from progressives/Berniecrats such as newly seated Arizona congresswoman Adelita Grijalva and United Farmworkers leader Dolores Huerta. He supports abolishing ICE, Medicare for All, and has sought the endorsement of Ventura County DSA.

It’s going to be pretty tough to get a leftist candidate to the general in this race, but we definitely recommend voting for Chris Espinosa to take on the worst of the Democratic party in Jaqui Irwin. 👍

California’s 27th Congressional District

United States House

This district is the far northern edges of LA County, covering a bit of San Fernando and then Santa Clarita up through Lancaster and Palmdale. This district is historically white, wealthy homeowners but has rapidly shifted to be a plurality Latino, median income district over the last decade as multiracial renters and families have been priced out of Los Angeles proper.

After George Whitesides flipped this seat blue in 2024, Proposition 50 redrew the map to make it much safer for Democrats. The new CA-27 voted for Harris 53% to Trump’s 43% in 2024, making this seat a reliable Democrat hold when the House is up for election in November. Which is great for us, because it really sucked to have to recommend you vote for him in 2024 just to flip the seat, and we don’t want to do that again.

Whitesides is literally a boss – he’s the former CEO of Virgin Galactic promising to govern as a “moderate.” During his tenure in office, he voted to send more money to Israel, defund USAID and UNRWA, and voted to honor Charlie Kirk. The Democratic Party and political establishment is backing Whitesides for another term, and he’s likely to succeed here.

In the general election, he’s basically guaranteed to face and beat Republican Jason Gibbs, a standard Santa Clarita Republican fearmongering about the border, taxes, and crime.

You should instead give your primary vote to Caleb Norwood, a candidate who’s barely trying, has only raised a couple hundred dollars, but whose platform includes abolishing ICE, Medicare for All, and an arms embargo on Israel. 👍

California’s 29th Congressional District

United States House

CA-29 includes North Hollywood, Van Nuys, Panorama City, Pacoima, San Fernando, and Sylmar. The district is heavily urban, about 40% renter, nearly two-thirds Latino, and is currently occupied by Luz Rivas, elected in 2024. The former California state Assemblywoman was anointed by Tony Cardenas who held the seat since 2013, but didn’t run for reelection.

This is where Angelica Dueñas comes in (again). Angelica has challenged Cardenas every year since 2018 and continues her tradition in this cycle by challenging Luz Rivas. Dueñas, is a Bernie to Jill Stein 2016 progressive activist. After losing in the primary in 2018 as a Green, Dueñas switched to the Democrat ballot line and peaked with 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, before falling back to a 24% vote share against Rivas. At some point, you have to wonder when it’s time to take a hint and work on building durable left organizations instead of running solo races.

In 2024, we said this about Luz Rivas:

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 her 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. Her background as an educator, MIT trained engineer, and founder of DIY Girls, an organization that promotes STEAM education through programming for young women, remains at the forefront of her mission and she has stated this as the source of motivation for running for office in the first place.

And, this is pretty much what has borne out. Rivas is an improvement on Cárdenas but is a fairly standard LA Democrat – sponsoring Medicare for All and opposing ICE funding, but also taking money from Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI) and refusing to the Block the Bombs Act.

With under $15k raised and no meaningful endorsements, Dueñas is a protest vote, but one worth taking. 👍

California’s 30th Congressional District

United States House

CA-30 sees first-term congresswoman Laura Friedman against an array of long-shot challengers for this majority white, majority homeowner seat covering most of Hollywood, Northeast LA, Glendale, and Burbank. Friedman succeeded to this seat in 2024 after eight years as one of the most progressive members of the California State Assembly, when Adam Schiff moved up to become a Senator (ugh). In the 2024 primary, Friedman’s assembly record and campaign had us hopeful she would be “among the most progressive congresspeople.” Since then, however, she’s taken support from the Democratic Majority for Israel and has thus far refused to sponsor the Block the Bombs act.

Friedman is going to win re-election handily. She’s probably going to go to the general election against either Republican Scott Alan Meyers who explains that he was inspired when Ronald Reagan “reminded this country that it’s okay to be proud of America,” or John Armenian.

Yes, his name is actually John Armenian.

He got wealthy after founding a small defense contractor and is running as an independent on what seems to be a single issue “being Armenian” platform.

There is one self-identified socialist candidate in the race, Cameron Tennyson, a 29-year-old first-time candidate. He argues Laura Friedman hasn’t done enough to stand up to and take on Trump, and his platform singles out issues that should appeal to a Hollywood-worker crowd like stopping Generative AI and the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger, alongside standard socialist fare like Medicare for All and ending the Palestinian genocide.

You should protest vote for Cameron Tennyson just to signal the constituency that demands better, but we shouldn’t expect somebody to actually unseat Friedman here. 👍

California’s 32nd Congressional District

United States House

Once again, this race is everyone else vs. AIPAC-loving Brad Sherman. In this San Fernando Valley district, eight people (six Democrats, one Republican, and one No Party Preference) piled into the race, underscoring how deeply unpopular it is to be backed by AIPAC and also to be a multi-decade Congressional incumbent past retirement age. Brad Sherman has been in office representing the San Fernando Valley since 1997! This is as long as a Gen Z’er has been alive!! The Sherman Oaks Galleria didn’t have a Cheesecake Factory yet!!! The Encino Man had barely thawed!!!!

Back to Brad - he is notorious among the left for his vigorous support for Israel; his voting record on Palestine-related issues is amongst the worst among California Democrats, and his views on other issues are fairly bland. He doesn’t support Medicare for All, taxing the rich, or defunding from war. We can go on, but we’ve had many voter guides saying how much Sherman is out of touch with his district. Let’s get to these challengers.

Sherman’s challengers range the full gamut of ideology (and website quality…), reflecting the modern liberal #resistance trend of historically moderate liberal voters looking for (or themselves becoming) younger candidates who will show more energy fighting Trump. We’ve got Dory Benami, whose issues page emphasizes his love for the US-Israel alliance. We’ve got Encino Neighborhood Councilmember Josh Sautter, who’s primarily concerned about getting money out of politics (cool) and funding crime prevention priorities (less cool). We’ve got a lady who explains that she’s “not a part of the far left” and whose website features a link to “The Constitution”.

The overwhelming favorite to advance to a runoff vs Sherman is Jake Levine. Levine’s platform isn’t terrible supporting Medicare for All, “shut down ICE”, and a just transition to a clean economy. But he was also a national security advisor to President Biden, and has very carefully avoided serious criticism of Israel, is endorsed by the moderate Zionist organization J Street, and calls for a “diplomacy-first approach to peace” and a two-state solution – but not an arms embargo.

Maybe we’ll need to think about holding our collective noses and voting for a liberal Zionist in the general election, but in the primary you should instead vote for Chris Ahuja or Marena Lin. Both are local progressive activists running shoe-string campaigns (Ahuja has raised $40k, Lin $14k) and are unlikely to make the runoff, but both support a broad range of left priorities from abolishing ICE, a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, and crucially – stopping weapons sales to Israel to end the Palestinian genocide.

It’s unlikely that your vote for Ahuja or Lin is going to change the Levine/Sherman runoff, but we recommend that you do so to add to the constituency demanding a moral voice regarding Gaza.

California’s 34th Congressional District

United States House

Jimmy Gomez ascended to this congressional seat, which represents Downtown LA, Koreatown, Chinatown, Northeast LA, and East Los Angeles in 2017 when now-Gubernatorial-candidate Xavier Becerra was appointed Attorney General in a race that coincidentally began Kenneth Mejia’s political career as a Green Party candidate. Extremely well-loved by LA Labor, Gomez faced a series of challenges to his left throughout the election cycles, first from Mejia and then recently from Korean Andrew Yang-inspired, self-identified socialist candidate David Kim. Jimmy has carefully triangulated his political positions over the years, trying to join the Squad in 2021, then distancing himself in 2023 to make sure those sweet, sweet AIPAC dollars kept flowing.

Some of Jimmy’s worst votes in recent memory include voting in support of the General Government and National Security Appropriations Act (H.R.7006 on 1/12/2026). This included $3.3 billion in publicly-funded weapons to Israel. Gomez was also one of 57 Democrats to join all Republicans in the House in approving the “Affordable HOMES Act” (H.R. 5184 on 1/9/2026), which revokes energy efficiency standards for new manufactured homes, raising utility bills and overall costs for future residents of these homes. This district, which is among the most progressive in the country, deserves better.

Angela Gonzales-Torres has positioned herself as a movement challenger running to break up the establishment, with a particular focus on strongly anti-war foreign policy, arguing for reducing military spending and reinvesting in domestic priorities, community driven policy solutions and public investments. Backed by Justice Democrats, the candidate recruitment group famously associated (alongside DSA) with the first election of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Gonzales-Torres’ platform includes all the main left priorities – a Green New Deal, Medicare for All, ICE abolition, tenant protections and union jobs, and of course, ending the genocide in Gaza.

Prior to her run, Gonzales-Torres was a Highland Park neighborhood councilmember. Her endorsements are concentrated on anti establishment and movement organizations, and local grassroots clubs. She’s received notable endorsements from Justice Democrats, California Working Families Party. She’s also gained the support of groups like Beyond the Ballot, Organize for Peace, Feel the Bern Democratic Club (San Fernando Valley), CAIR California, and David Kim. Gonzales-Torres is hoping she’ll be able to retain and build on Kim’s coalition as Democratic voters have continued to sour on Israel.

To do so, she’ll also need to get past Rob Lucero, who has raised a similar ($170k) amount to her, calling himself an “independent Kennedy Democrat”. Lucero has spent decades working for various politicians, including a stint in the California Republican Party. His platform calls for “securing the border” alongside a major focus on government infrastructure spending.

We recommend you vote to send Angela Gonzales-Torres through for a chance to unseat an AIPAC-loving congressperson here in the heart of LA. 👍

California’s 36th Congressional District

United States House

A coastal district, what’s up you beach bums! 🤙

Ted Lieu has been in Congress since 2015, has been on your liberal parents’ TV screens talking about impeaching Trump shortly after that, before that having been in the State Legislature for nine years. He faces three Democratic challengers and two GOP challengers.

A centrist through and through, Lieu has yet to sponsor legislation for an arms embargo to Israel because he is backed by AIPAC. He also voted for the symbolic motion to “denounce socialism in all forms,” so consider this our official denouncement of Ted Lieu. Lieu is also something of an artificial intelligence (AI) apologist, known for pushing back against proposals to restrict AI technologies such as ChatGPT.

Running against him, a Republican named Melissa Toomim, who “UNAPOLOGETICALLY STANDS WITH ISRAEL”, accuses Lieu of being an antisemite, and claims an endorsement from fash-y Senator Josh Hawley. Self-funded businesswoman Claire Anderson is running as a no party preference candidate, and then a trio of candidates running from the left all have raised under $5000.

Frederick Reardon and Rustin Knudtson both have a combination of abolishing ICE and Medicare for All in their platforms. Marianne Shamma has a campaign slogan of “No AIPAC. No ICE. No Genocide” and is the only Democrat who has recorded any money raised on the FEC website against Lieu’s war chest.

If you’re going for a protest vote, we recommend going for Marianne for Shamma.

California’s 38th Congressional District

United States House

With incumbent Linda Sánchez switching to run in the new CA-41 seat (thank you, Prop 50), this race is wide open with three Democrats and a Republican in the running. The new borders of CA-38 span parts of the northern parts of Orange County, as well as Baldwin Park, Bell, Cudahy, El Monte, Maywood, parts of Pico Rivera, Rowland Heights, and West Whittier. In this majority-Latino district, there are three Democrats and one Republican running for this seat. We will not be talking about the Republicans.

On the Dem side, you have two Pico Rivera city councilmembers running - Erik Lutz and Dr. Monica Sanchez. Lutz’s website doesn’t list much of a platform aside from nebulous statements like “bringing investment into the district” and “reaching across party lines” and he hasn’t raised much money either. Dr. Sanchez has raised significantly more money, and has a solid progressive platform on paper, including passing Medicare for All and Universal Childcare. Her endorsements include many municipal representatives in her district. However, her endorsements also include Montebello Police Officers and the National Latino Peace Officers Association.

After the maps established by Prop 50 passed, Hilda Solis declared her candidacy for this seat. Secretary of Labor under the Obama Administration, current Los Angeles County Supervisor, Solis is seeking to return to Congress where she served from 2001 to 2009. Solis has had a decorated tenure in public service, from being the first Latina in the CA State Senate, to being the Labor Secretary that would revitalize the office after the Bush-era and 2008 Recession, she’s held positions that put her on the political left when she first was in office, but have since become the norm in the Los Angeles Democratic Party.

Her campaign this time around rests on her name and her reputation, with zero platform to be found on her website, just her lengthy list of endorsements from left wing of the status quo coalition, exemplified by her grab-bag of federal, state, and labor endorsements, which include three of DSA-LA’s Socialists in Office, Los Angeles City Councilmembers Jurado, Soto-Martinez, and Hernandez.

This fight feels more focused on generational transition and conflict between municipal electeds on one hand and federal and state politicians on the other. You can vote for either Solis or Sanchez here, though it’s pretty annoying that Solis won’t bother to write a platform.

California’s 41st Congressional District

United States House

The 41st Congressional District is currently represented by the truly terrible Republican Ken Calvert, who has been in Congress for over 30 years. Proposition 50 essentially wiped Calvert’s district off the map, and the 41st District has moved from the whitest, wealthiest, and most Republican corners of Riverside County to largely Democratic Los Angeles and Orange County cities like Whittier, Downey, La Habra, Bell Gardens, Santa Fe Springs, and Lakewood.

The race is between three Democrats—current 38th Congressional District Representative Linda Sánchez, California Air Resources Board (CARB) member Hector de la Torre, and criminal justice reform activist Shonique Williams — and Republican Mitch Clemmons. Sánchez is a shoe-in for the seat, and has endorsements from establishment Democrats, the California Democratic Party, and the California Labor Federation. She’s been a pretty poor congressional Democrat, taking money from AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel (DMFI). De la Torre is supported by several current and former legislators and a number of Southeast LA electeds, as well as law enforcement unions.

Williams’ campaign has not gained much steam, with about $60k raised and no major endorsements, but at least her sparsely filled website talks about criminal justice reform and universal healthcare. It’s going to be a pleasure taking this seat away from the Republicans, but we can’t recommend AIPAC-supported Sanchez, so you may as well cast a protest vote for Shonique Williams.

California’s 1st Congressional District

United States House

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.

California’s 2nd Congressional District

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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.

California’s 4th Congressional District

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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.

California’s 8th Congressional District

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Recommendation Source: California DSA

California’s 12th Congressional District

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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. We recommend Lateefah Simon for California’s 12th Congressional District.

California’s 13th Congressional District

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California’s 14th Congressional District

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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.

California’s 19th Congressional District

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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 co-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 profit 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.

California’s 21st Congressional District

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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.

California’s 22nd Congressional District

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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.

California’s 23rd Congressional District

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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.

California’s 40th Congressional District

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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./n/nThen 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.

California’s 48th Congressional District

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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.

California’s 50th Congressional District

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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.

California’s 52nd Congressional District

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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.