Welcome back, Angelenos, to the 2026 Primary edition of the Knock LA Progressive Voter Guide. If this is your first time using our guide, thank you! We’re glad you’re here.
This midterm election is an opportunity for LA voters to double down on the progress our city has made, like the expansion of unarmed crisis response teams and ULA’s funding of more affordable housing. However, the same players as usual — corporations, police leagues, landlord lobbyists, billionaires, and more — are operating from the shadows, continuing to pull strings and leverage huge amounts of money behind their “Republican in everything but name” candidates.
So the choice is yours, voter. Will LA continue on this painstaking upward trend, or will the greedy hands of MAGA fools pull us back?
Our voter guide is a labor of love for a better Los Angeles. This guide reflects dozens and dozens of conversations with organizers, government staffers, lawyers, and everyday Angelenos. We pour in countless hours of research, writing, fact-checking, and editing to bring you these recommendations. A round of applause to the team that makes this possible!
We hope that this guide leaves you with the knowledge to navigate the politics of Southern California, and the confidence to get involved even after your ballot has been counted.
If you find this guide useful, we would be so grateful for any donation you can give, especially if you can become a monthly donor. These funds support our November edition of the voter guide and enables us to pay writers and editors for their stories on surveillance, union organizing, and encampments against the genocide in Palestine, among many others.
Knock LA is a journalistic project of Ground Game LA.
City of Los Angeles
As long-time readers are aware, city council in Los Angeles is a different animal compared to other major cities. With only 15 districts, each representing a quarter of a million people, council elections can have far-reaching consequences. A shift of just a few seats can have a huge impact on the treatment of the unhoused, on whether safe streets and climate change are prioritized, and on the increased militarization of LAPD and their incessant demand for more and more of our resources. Let’s dive in.
Council District 1: Eunisses Hernandez
Eunisses came to City Hall promising change, and she has delivered. A steadfast progressive ally, Eunisses has carried the message and priorities of the movement with her— standing up to abusive landlords, challenging a bloated police department, and fighting the criminalization of the poor and unhoused.
She has been unafraid to take a lonely stand when principle demands it, but has also been able to put together coalitions to get her priorities passed. In 2023, she was the only vote against Mayor Bass’ budget, arguing that it was a handout to LAPD at the cost of other city priorities; in 2025, as a member of the Budget and Finance Committee, Eunisses helped rework the budget to save over 1,000 vital city jobs while reducing LAPD’s target hiring (for the first time in years). She voted with the majority to pass that budget as the three most conservative councilmembers lodged protest votes against it.
A priority of her first term was demonstrating that policing is not the best or only way to create real public safety. Her Unarmed Crisis Response pilot diverted over 20,000 9-1-1 calls away from LAPD and to medical and mental health professionals — an enormous success that we hope will be replicated citywide. Bringing street medicine, outreach, and harm reduction services to the troubled MacArthur Park area has cut overdose deaths by nearly a third, cleaned up enormous amounts of trash, and helped deescalate conflicts to avoid violent outcomes. After years of criminalization and disinvestment by the city, Eunisses is showing a new and more effective way forward.
Over the last four years she has also become a city infrastructure enthusiast, in the tradition of the Sewer Socialists of the early 20th century. Her stump speeches don’t just discuss criminalization and policing — she also happily rattles off numbers of trees trimmed, potholes filled, and streetlights solarized. The nitty-gritty of making city services function is key to her approach to governance, and speaks well to her future in City Hall. As a public safety expert, infrastructure and budget hawk, and program pioneer, her record is secure. In housing she has transformed her district’s approach to homelessness under challenging circumstances; in her second term we hope to see her boldly support the preservation of public housing, including William Mead Homes, located in her district.
Her successes with progressive policy and her outspoken calls to resist the Trump administration and ICE have put a target on her back for the right wing. Conservative groups like Neighbors First and Thrive LA — dark money organizations powered by real estate and venture capital money — have been spending big in CD 1, drowning mailboxes with anti-Eunisses flyers. But CD 1 is not for sale.
Eunisses is a real one. She deserves your vote once again.
Council District 3: No Recommendation
One recurrent trope of Los Angeles politics is the candidate who talks about the need for change, and then goes on to propose the exact same failed policies that the city has already been pursuing. District 3 gets to choose from three different candidates who offer the same flavor of nothing.
Barri Worth Girvan served as director of community affairs for County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath. She wants to hire more cops and give them access to harmful surveillance technology like drones and Flock cameras. She supports 41.18 and homelessness sweeps, but claims to want more shelter beds and wraparound services for the people she just violently displaced. She wants more housing development, but not just anywhere, you know — in the right places.
Tim Gaspar is the owner of his own insurance company. He wants to hire more cops and give them access to harmful surveillance technology like drones and Flock cameras. He supports 41.18 and homelessness sweeps, but claims to want more shelter beds and wraparound services for the people he just violently displaced. He wants more housing development, but not just anywhere, you know — in the right places.
C.R. Celona is a tech entrepreneur. He wants to hire more cops and give them access to harmful surveillance technology like drones and Flock cameras. He supports 41.18 and homelessness sweeps, but claims to want more shelter beds and wraparound services for the people he just violently displaced. He wants more housing development, but not just anywhere, you know — in the right places.
It’s depressing, frankly.
Girvan has locked up most of the Democratic endorsements — clubs, unions, state legislators, and so forth. We were surprised to note, however, that she doesn’t have a single endorsement from a sitting councilmember or City elected.
Gaspar boasts the endorsement of a murderer’s row of police unions — LAPD, Deputy Sheriffs, and Airport Police — as well as the landlord lobby AAGLA. Oddly, unlike many of his endorsers, he has acknowledged that crime in Los Angeles is actually falling.
Celona calls himself a “compassionate capitalist,” which made us roll our eyes so hard that we sprained something. He does, however, have a dog named Beowulf Rod Stewart.
None of these people have a plan to make LA a better place. They hardly have plans at all. We can’t recommend any of the three.
Council District 5: Henry Mantel
Incumbent councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky has been a huge disappointment. While obviously an improvement over Paul Koretz, and superior to the right-wing goon that she beat in her race, her first term in office has been characterized by half measures, inaction, and attempts to play both sides.
One glaring example would be Yaroslavsky’s approach to 41.18, the anti-camping ordinance. On arriving in office, she authored a motion for a report evaluating the effects of the law. The report came back, showing that it had accomplished nothing and had simply shuffled people around, which the Councilmember acknowledged; then she began creating more 41.18 zones herself. What is the principle at play here, beyond pandering to NIMBYs?
This is a pattern that organizers have seen over and over again. Yaroslavsky takes meetings, she speaks with great sympathy and concern; nothing comes of it. When she should be leading, she instead reluctantly follows.
We recommend a vote for challenger Henry Mantel instead. Mantel is a tenants’ rights attorney and a dyed-in-the-wool YIMBY, resulting in endorsements from both Abundant Housing LA and the Westside branch of the Los Angeles Tenants Union. The housing crisis is, naturally, a major focus of his campaign, and he takes a yes-and approach to policy. Mantel calls for an end to single-family zoning, but also endorses the construction of public and social housing. He is in favor of reforming permitting to speed development, but also increased relocation assistance payments and a fully funded right to counsel for tenants in eviction proceedings.
Mantel also seeks to expand public transit and pedestrian infrastructure, hold LAPD accountable for violations of civil rights and for the use of their budget, and expand the Unarmed Crisis Response program. He might talk about zoning reform so often that it seems like a bit, but his non-zoning platform is clear, measurable, and results-oriented.
Council District 7: No Recommendation
Monica Rodriguez is running unopposed. We’re just as upset as you are.
Council District 9: Estuardo Mazariegos
Estuardo Mazariegos is exactly the type of person the LA City Council needs more of. An immigrant from Guatemala who grew up in South Central, Estuardo has devoted his life to his community. Over two decades of organizing, he has risen to co-director of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), one of the most effective working-class groups in the state and a key part of the coalition behind victories such as the creation of the Tenant Anti-Harrassment Ordinance. Mazariegos has spent his career fighting for the often-neglected constituencies of low-income renters to have a voice at City Hall and in Sacramento.
Mazariegos’ messaging has focused on the wage and rent exploitation by the billionaire class that extracts wealth from CD 9. His decades of both organizing experience and community-led policy advocacy means that his platform is deeply informed by conversations with tenants, workers, and marginalized people in the district. CD 9 contains the second-largest unhoused population in LA and is home to many Black Angelenos and recent immigrants; the district is under pressure to address gentrification and to curb pollution. His primary goals are to ensure safe, accessible streets; build affordable housing and protect renters; and create green space and climate improvements in CD 9 to overcome decades of environmental injustice and disinvestment.
This race is very crowded, with eight candidates running in the primary. Mazariegos’ most prominent opponent is Jose Ugarte, a staffer for the current CD 9 councilmember, Curren Price. Price is leaving office under the shadow of pay-to-play scandals and a criminal prosecution. Ugarte appears to be cut from the same cloth: he failed to disclose years of income from the lobbying and political consulting firm that he ran at the same time he worked for Price, leading to a $25,000 fine from the Ethics Commission. Ugarte’s limited policy platform includes more homelessness sweeps and 41.18 zones, more bans on sleeping in vehicles, and more LAPD patrols — in short, more criminalization of poverty.
Ugarte has earned the endorsements of many centrist Democratic clubs, while Mazariegos has the backing of DSA LA and the California Working Families Party as well as progressive politicians like Eunisses Hernandez, Kenneth Mejia, and former councilmember Mike Bonin. Their union support is fairly split, with Mazariegos picking up the support of more progressive unions like UTLA, SEIU, and the National Union of Healthcare workers, and Ugarte picking up more moderate unions such as the Building and Construction Trades and AFSCME.
If you want a candidate who’s devoted his life to serving the people and not political insiders, Mazariegos is the only choice. His combination of organizing experience, policy knowledge, and local understanding is extremely rare.
Council District 11: Faizah Malik
Malik is managing attorney at Public Counsel, one of the city’s most prominent nonprofit law firms. Throughout her career she has been laser focused on housing justice, crafting policy to protect tenants and fighting for the funding to build more truly affordable housing. She has fought successful campaigns to preserve eviction protections, expand tenant rights, and return Bruce’s Beach to its rightful owners. Most recently she has been fighting in court against incumbent Traci Park’s attempts to scuttle the Venice Dell Community Housing development — 120 units of desperately needed affordable housing.
Her platform extends far beyond housing — to the infrastructure and climate resilience reforms required to protect a rebuilt Westside from the next fire, and to the street and transportation enhancements needed to reduce traffic deaths. She calls for the protection of legacy businesses, the procurement of low-interest capital for small businesses, and the expansion of affordable childcare. Her legal background also positions her well to work on some of the oversight challenges facing the city, such as enforcing and improving the Sanctuary City ordinance.
The incumbent councilmember, Traci Park, is one of the most reactionary and destructive figures in city government. At a time when the cost of living is at the forefront of Angelenos’ minds, she has squandered millions of dollars fighting against the construction of affordable housing. When Los Angeles faced a severe budget deficit in 2025, she voted against a plan to save a thousand vital city jobs. When the Trump administration threatened our immigrant communities, the fundamental lifeblood of Los Angeles, she declared her opposition to our Sanctuary City law. And when a historic firestorm destroyed the Palisades, Park chose climate change denialism over actually working to protect her constituents.
With such a clear contrast, it’s no surprise that Malik has been able to build up a broad coalition of endorsers: Democratic Party clubs; left-wing organizations like DSA-LA and the LA Tenants Union; environmental groups like the Sierra Club and Sunrise; and the Federation of Labor, SEIU, and Unite Here Local 11. Park, meanwhile, has been fundraising from Republican donors and leaning on the support of right-wing organizations like the Los Angeles Police Protective League, mass evictor Douglass Emmett, and dark-money operation Thrive LA.
If that split looks like a Democrat vs. Republican race, it’s because it really is. Perhaps it’s time to talk about how ambitious conservatives in our Democrat-dominated city just change their voter registration (as Park did!), call themselves “moderates,” and start pursuing the same right-wing agendas.
In the meantime, let’s make sure there’s one less. Faizah Malik should get your vote.
Council District 13: Hugo Soto-Martinez
Union organizer Hugo Soto-Martinez came into office promising to work on behalf of labor and the working class, and his first term has been characterized by a number of victories that show the strengths of progressive policy.
For example, he fulfilled a campaign promise early on by taking down the dystopian fence around Echo Park Lake. Once fenced off by his predecessor to force out the unhoused, the lake and its surrounding park have been restored to a vibrant and open community space. Consistent outreach from his office ensures that people in need can find help, putting the lie to right-wing fearmongering about homelessness. The reopening of the park clearly models how policy that leads with care and compassion makes for a better community than fear, fences, and handcuffs.
Hugo has also been on the forefront of supporting the immigrant community in the face of ICE’s Gestapo tactics. He was a key supporter of the Sanctuary City rule and has fought for protections to help laborers and vendors who lost work during the flood of federal agents. He has also actively organized with community rapid response networks to protect our neighbors.
Hollywood has also seen welcome changes during his term, including the installation of protected bike lanes and plans for public transit corridors and increased pedestrianization. We hope that this potential is fulfilled in his second term; CD 13 is full of neighborhoods that should be more walkable, bikeable, and transit-friendly.
Hugo is putting CD 13 on the right path, and deserves another term.
Council District 15: Tim McOsker
Sometimes a candidate disappoints us with their performance in office. Sometimes we’re pleasantly surprised.
When McOsker ran in 2022, we feared that we were about to see another hard-right vote on City Council, a twin of Buscaino or Traci Park, a lapdog for the LAPPL and the landlord lobby. What we got, instead, was an actual moderate. Not a “moderate” as a euphemism for right-wing (as per the nonsensical “ultra moderate” designation in the Los Angeles Times), but genuinely in the liberal center, a persuadable swing vote who has sided with the left more than once.
Progressive city staffers that we’ve spoken to say that his office is reasonable to work with, and that policies from the left get a fair hearing and sometimes his support. Even though he’d been heavily backed by the police union, during the 2025 budget fight he was willing to work with Eunisses to reduce LAPD hiring targets in order to prevent layoffs at the city level.
Perhaps the biggest surprise came when we looked at his record on 41.18, the anti-homeless zone ordinance. If you’re a reader of Knock LA you’ve probably heard about it. While he has voted in favor of zones proposed by other councilmembers, McOsker has not moved to create any new 41.18 zones in his own district.
McOsker is not a candidate from the movement, but he’s been a significant improvement over his predecessor.
The other candidate on the ballot is Jordan Rivers. His platform shows that he has the right goals and the right motivations behind his run, but he’s only 22 years old. Unfortunately it’s hard to consider his campaign a functioning challenge. He has not made any ethics filings around fundraising and expenditures, indicating a lack of activity and campaign infrastructure. Perhaps later down the line he’ll be in a position to mount a fuller campaign.
Mayor: Rae Huang
We’ve got a lot to say, so strap in.
City Attorney: Marissa Roy
Marissa Roy, deputy attorney general, is the clear and necessary choice. She has the experience and vision to transform the office into a leading force for progressive change. Roy aspires to be a City Attorney for the people, using the power of the office to target polluters, slumlords, wage theft, and the Trump administration — which she does not hesitate to call fascist.
The incumbent city attorney, Hydee Feldstein Soto, is one of the most unqualified and incompetent officials in the entire state of California. Her term in office has been marked by abuses of power, humiliating scandals, and ballooning liability payouts that bleed the city budget.
City attorney is one of the most important but least understood elected positions in Los Angeles. On the one hand, the office acts as the prosecutor for misdemeanors and has a direct policy impact on the criminalization of poverty and homelessness. On the other, the office is the counsel for the city as both defendant and plaintiff in civil lawsuits. The city attorney also advises City Council on the law and puts proposed ordinances into legal language. It does not take much imagination to see how much potential the office holds… or how badly it could go off the rails.
Since Feldstein Soto took office in 2022, liability payments from legal settlements and losses in court have increased 35% every year, far outstripping the budgeted costs. In 2025 those outflows, primarily due to LAPD, reached $287 million. This is not simply a run of bad luck. Attorneys that spoke with Knock LA were uniform in their assessment: Feldstein Soto has no idea how to handle litigation. Cases that should settle early instead wind up on track for jury trial, resulting in vastly more expensive losses for the city.
Defending the indefensible is characteristic of Hydee’s tenure. After journalists were targeted with rubber bullets by LAPD at an anti-ICE protest, they won a court injunction. Hydee went to court to try to overturn that injunction, arguing that LAPD should have the right to intentionally use excessive force against journalists. We realize that sounds insane, but that was literally her position.
Going into detail about Hydee’s scandals and accusations would far exceed the space we have here, but it includes: claims of racist speech, Islamophobia, drunkenness in the office, targeting activists for prosecution without probable cause, retaliating against attorneys who pointed out that would be illegal, failed lawsuits against journalists, sabotaging affordable housing, accidentally dismissing important cases, accidentally leaking terabytes of confidential LAPD data, and letting private law firms bill the city for millions of dollars without prior approval. We’re pretty sure we’re leaving some out.
Out of the challengers, only Marissa Roy has a clear plan to not only defeat the incumbent but also change the way the office operates. She has the ability to speak convincingly to any audience without hedging her principles, and knows the value of education and politics that are needed to make progressive policy last.
In many ways, her campaign is one for basic fairness and justice under the law. What if the theft of money from a worker was treated as seriously as the theft of money from a corporation? What if laws around pollution, or predatory lending, or tenant harassment were treated as seriously and pursued as aggressively as sleeping on the street? The decision to treat laws that restrict the poor as sacrosanct and laws that restrict the rich as optional is a political choice.
We can make a different choice. Vote for Marissa Roy.
Controller: Kenneth Mejia
City controller — a.k.a. the city’s in-house accountant — plays the crucial role of monitoring the accounts of all officers and departments. They conduct audits of the city’s programs and spending, and serve as the point through which all city payments pass.
Kenneth Mejia, the first CPA to hold the office, remains the best choice for controller. Throughout his first term, his office has prioritized and enacted both transparency and accountability. The City of LA has its first homelessness spending tracker thanks to Kenneth as controller, as well as a slew of other charts and data tools to help us better understand our city government. Other accomplishments include getting the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority to agree to strengthen oversight over homeless service providers, the refund of incorrectly issued red curb parking tickets, and increased transparency over the LAPD’s use of military equipment.
As an unabashed progressive, Mejia has drawn the ire of the centrist establishment. Their chosen challenger, Zack Sokoloff, has nothing to recommend him. He has no background in accounting at all, and the policies listed as priorities on his website are vague and confused. Sokoloff has been running ads blaming Mejia for homelessness spending and arguing for a plan that will require mental health and drug abuse treatment, which seems to suggest that Sokoloff has no idea what position he’s running for or what the Controller actually does. Most embarrassingly, Sokoloff’s campaign is bankrolled by his mother, who donated $2.5 million to try to buy the office for her little boy.
Mejia has fundamentally fulfilled the promises he made when he ran, putting the office at the forefront of city accountability efforts and making their work accessible to all Angelenos. He absolutely deserves another term.
Los Angeles County
Board of Supervisors District 1: Maria Elena Durazo
Durazo’s commanding list of endorsements, her long career as an elected official, and her tenure at the LA Labor Federation and the Democratic National Committee have cleared the field for her run. Considering the lack of real challenge, District 1 is a pretty cut and dried race. Durazo has some real legislative wins in recent years, including authoring SB 731, which dramatically expanded Californians’ access to sealing of old criminal convictions, and co-authoring AB 969, which would address a major flaw in domestic violence victim support by expanding eligibility and ensuring that all domestic violence survivors are able to request necessary CalWORKs waivers.
David Argudo is the pro-sheriff candidate, with just the lightest gloss of policy on his website. He relies heavily on his military experience but offers no credentials to suggest that he would be effective or have the expertise to tackle the county’s complex issues, especially homelessness. Noel Almario has a “background as a birth doula and advocate for maternal health.”
It’s unfortunate that there is no real contest in this race, as an actual campaign would clarify Durazo’s plans for the powerful office and help the public understand her policies. As it stands, she is clearly the only qualified candidate, and we expect that she will cruise to victory.
Board of Supervisors District 3: Lindsey Horvath
The Board of Supervisors has been a much overlooked and very powerful part of local governance. Time and time again, the county has moved faster and more effectively at expanding tenant protections and supporting immigrant communities under attack by the Trump administration.
In her first term, Lindsay Horvath has been a big part of that push. Horvath led the board in seeking to increase the evictable rent threshold to three months of rent, rather than letting renters be evicted the first moment they fell behind. While the board was not willing to meet her proposal, they agreed to a two-month rent threshold, a substantial win for renters at a time when ICE raids and rising costs of living have many living in economic uncertainty. Horvath has also been a reliable vote on the county’s efforts to shore up financial support for immigrant communities though emergency relief measures.
On these matters and many others, Horvath has been one of the most reliable proponents of progressive policy at the county level, far exceeding our original expectations.
On the flip side, many activists and organizers had concerns about the sloppy drafting of Measure G essentially undoing Measure J and endangering the funding set aside for Care First initiatives. While some have blown off these concerns, we are not playing when it comes to Measure J, a powerful anti-carceral measure that reflected the goals and needs of the entire county. It will be in part her responsibility to make sure that those reforms are protected.
We recommend a vote for Horvath.
Sheriff: Eric Strong
After handing a sound thrashing to neckless fascist Alex Villanueva in 2022, Sheriff Robert Luna has maintained a subdued status quo at the department over the last four years. It’s been nice that the third largest police department in the country is no longer led by a Trumpian goofball who persecuted political opponents, hired abusers, and shut down internal misconduct investigations. But Luna has not done enough to address LASD’s deep-seated problems. In many ways it seems that the goal of his tenure has been to cut down on scandalous headlines rather than fix underlying issues. Deaths at the county jail, which his department operates, have reached the shocking level of almost one per week, leading to a lawsuit by California Attorney General Rob Bonta. Policies claiming to ban deputy gangs have resulted in no discipline and no public disclosures; Luna has essentially declared the problem solved.
In 2022 we recommended Eric Strong in the primary election. He’s running again, and his argument is stronger in 2026. Compared to his first run he has developed a clearer vision of the policies he wants to implement and the reforms that the county needs, and understands that caging human beings is not a solution to every problem. While most of the candidates are in deep denial about the department’s gang-ridden culture, Strong is quick to acknowledge that the issue is a real and continuing problem that demands action from department leadership. He emphasizes oversight, transparency, and dismantling the “old boy’s club” that has blocked efforts at accountability.
Casting a vote for sheriff is a matter of harm reduction. Strong is clearly the correct choice here.
Assessor: Jeffrey Prang
This low-profile office has the important duty of assessing the value of all taxable real estate and business property in LA County. The office also has a history of corruption, with former assessor John Noguez arrested in 2012 for accepting bribes in exchange for lowering wealthy individuals’ property tax valuations.
Jeffrey Prang, a licensed appraiser first elected to this office in 2014, is running for a fourth term and has generally received positive reviews for restoring integrity to the office. Prang has focused on closing loopholes and ensuring wealthy property owners pay their fair share. For example, in 2026 Prang’s office identified 1,000 previously unassessed aircraft, resulting in taxes levied on $3.5 billion worth of newly identified aircraft property in 2026.
Candidates Sandy Sun and Stephen Adamus appear more interested in protecting the wealthy, as they oppose reforms to Prop 13 that would cause wealthy homeowners to pay more. Candidate Rob Newland offers interesting ideas about using the department’s extensive data to identify vacant property and illegal short-term rentals. Tax consultant Steven B. Palty is also in the race.
Los Angeles Unified School District
LAUSD District 2: Dr. Rocio Rivas
We recommend another term for Rivas, the LAUSD District 2 incumbent and the Board of Education’s current Vice President. We recommended her when she first ran due to her extensive experience as a policy deputy to former Board Member Jackie Goldberg, her commitment to public schools, and her pursuit of policies like green and sustainable schools. Dr. Rivas is a Board Member of the School Boards Association and plays an active role in shaping state policy around education. She is also committed to the protection of immigrant students and their families at LAUSD.
Dr. Rivas is a leader in education. Give her your vote.
LAUSD District 4: Ankur Patel
Ankur Patel is an LAUSD graduate and a public education advocate through and through. He previously worked at the LAUSD board office for district 3, and as UTLA substitute teacher for five years. His platform includes concrete solutions addressing the school-to-prison pipeline, smaller class sizes and better benefits for teachers, among others. He has been a consistent presence in the progressive movement in Los Angeles over the last decade, always seeking the improvement of Los Angeles.
Ankur is a strong and devoted choice. He deserves the support.
LAUSD District 6: Kelly Gonez
Kelly Gonez is running unopposed. We like her, though, so we’re not mad.
Judge of the Superior Court
In Los Angeles, judges are elected to six-year terms in countywide races, which in a county of 10 million people ensures that no candidate can reach more than the tiniest fraction of the electorate. This means that incumbents are impossible to beat unless they’re up to their necks in scandal, and even then a judicial PAC protects even the most loathsome among them. Judicial hopefuls go to war over the open seats — futures are often decided by a game of musical chairs at the County Registrar, leaving a lucky few running unopposed. This is obviously a great system and a credit to democracy.
Finding meaningful information about the candidates also poses an enormous challenge. Your average campaign website has a list of endorsements, some vague language about fairness and the law, and a smiling photo of a person in a suit. That’s why we’re here. Our recommendations are based on dozens of conversations with progressive lawyers and organizers.
Part of the purpose of this guide is to push back against the biases built into what little information is available. The Bar Association, for example, rates candidates on their “qualifications” in a manner that privileges prosecutorial experience over defense or civil work. In the race for Seat 64, for example, they rated Public Defender Haymon as only “qualified” with 26 years of experience, and District Attorney Ghobadi as “well qualified” with 17.
Many other publications also fall for the fiction that “nonpartisan” judicial races are politically neutral. The police unions certainly don’t believe that; they endorse the judges they think will be most friendly to an agenda of criminalization and imprisonment. We also see the intervention of groups like the Crime Survivors PAC, a Trumpist Republican group that prospective judges list proudly on their websites. Even without those extremes, there is a meaningful difference between a judiciary made up of white male ex-DAs and one with a diversity of cultural, class, and professional backgrounds.
Seat 2: DDA Tal Kahn Valbuena
Valbuena is a deputy district attorney in the mental health court, and serves on the County LGBTQ Commission. He has a reputation as a fair and rehabilitation-minded prosecutor who approaches cases from a holistic perspective rather than trying to simply inflict punishment. He speaks openly about racial inequality in the criminal legal system, and would also bring the perspective of a refugee to the bench.
Valbuena would be an excellent choice in any case, but especially when weighed against incumbent Judge Robert Draper. Draper is facing severe misconduct allegations of racist remarks on the record, sexually inappropriate conversations and unwanted touching, and questions about his fitness for the position, leading to censure and possible removal by the Commission on Judicial Performance. While the allegations are still pending, his behavior has already led to the court of appeals overturning a jury verdict from his court.
Seat 14: DDA Angie Christides
This is a DA-on-DA election. We recommend Angie Christides, a 20-year prosecutor who also worked in the rehabilitation-focused settings of the Veterans Court and Community Collaborative Court.
Irene Lee left the DA’s office during the Gascón administration to join the reactionary tough-on-crime chorus. Lee was the victim of a random attack in August 2020, and when the culprit was later arrested for attacking Olympian Kim Glass she went on a media tour denouncing “woke” officials for putting the man back on the street. What she left out, of course, is that it wasn’t Gascón’s office who released her attacker on probation or rejected felony charges in her case — it was previous DA Jackie Lacey. We have no confidence in her ability to be an impartial arbiter of the law.
Seat 39: UNOPPOSED
Seat 60: UNOPPOSED
Seat 64: DPD Rhonda Haymon
Rhonda Haymon is an experienced trial attorney who boasts more than 25 years as a public defender. In our research we heard both pros and cons: praise for her grit and determination as an advocate, criticism of her ability to work collaboratively. She has the endorsements of judges Holly Hancock, George Turner, and Ericka Wiley, who won election as part of a movement to expand the diversity of background and experience in the judiciary; she also is endorsed by La Defensa, who helped power slates of progressive judicial candidates in previous cycles. We recommend her for this seat.
Seat 65: Anna Reitano
Judicial Musical Chairs strikes again. Other open seats have a lone candidate who wins by default. This seat has four, two of whom we’d be more than happy to support in any other race. In the running for Seat 65 are current deputy public defender Justin Clayton, a supervisor at the Inglewood office; and former deputy public defender Anna Reitano (now with County Counsel). While both would be strong choices, we recommend Reitano: as part of the first Defenders of Justice slate in 2022, she helped open the door for progressive and community-focused lawyers to run for the bench.
Seat 66: DDA Ben Forer
District Attorney Forer is well-suited for the bench, with a strong scholarly background as a teacher of cyber law at USC and as an ordained rabbi. At the courthouse he’s known as a person who can help settle a case, and as a believer in earning second chances. He deserves your vote.
His opponent, Cheryl Turner, is a lawyer for and on the board of directors of the Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles (AAGLA) — literally, the landlord lobby. It is hard to name an organization more devoted to impoverishing and disempowering the working class than AAGLA, a group that fights every day for your landlord’s right to bleed you dry and kick you out of your home. This should be disqualifying in the eyes of any Angeleno.
Seat 81: Dan Kapelovitz
Kapelovitz is a genuine old-school radical lawyer, steadfast in his commitment to transformative change in the system. He touts his commitment to the working class and a decade plus of a practice focused on low-income clients, with a particular pro-bono lane related to animal rights.
He’s running against incumbent Judge Walgren who, unlike other incumbents mentioned in this guide, is not currently facing any disciplinary action. Even though it would have been an easier road for Kapelovitz in another seat, we give him our recommendation. If we’re going to be choosing judges by election the scope of that pool should be expanded as much as possible.
Seat 87: DPD Anthony Bayne
Anthony Bayne boasts a quarter century of experience at the public defender’s office, including 19 years at the Compton Courthouse in roles ranging from defending the most severe felony offenses to the supervision of new misdemeanor attorneys. His broad experience with the courts at every level puts him head and shoulders above his challengers for the seat.
Seat 116: DDA Paul Thompson
Incumbent Pat Connolly has been repeatedly disciplined for improper conduct, and drawn censure for biased behavior such as: abusing his authority to hold a defense attorney in contempt, telling an acquitted defendant that he was sure the man was guilty, and attempting to intervene in the resentencing petition of a man that he had prosecuted and who had accused him of misconduct. Judges rarely face discipline except in the most egregious cases; the simple fact is that Connolly, who the Bar Association classified as “Not Qualified” during his original election, has demonstrated through his own actions that he is unfit for the bench.
His opponent is Paul Thompson, a prosecutor who, among other things, won the rape conviction of Harvey Weinstein in 2022. He has the experience to support his run, and has chosen the harder road of taking on an incumbent who he considers “an unqualified bully” rather than competing for an open seat. In a shocking display of incumbent solidarity, a judge who endorsed Thompson faced threats and harassment from other judges. Vote Connolly out.
Seat 131: DAPD David Ross
For those who don’t know, the county has two public defender offices — the alternate public defender, where Ross has worked since the year 2000, handles cases where there are multiple defendants or conflicts of interest between them that would disqualify the public defender. Before becoming an attorney, he spent a decade as a journalist. He has an excellent resume and a commitment to the people left behind by our system, and in interviews with organizations he impressed with his thoughtfulness and temperament. He’s both the progressive choice and the most qualified candidate.
Troy Slaten ran for judge in 2020 against a prosecutor with a history of misconduct; in this race, however, Ross’s greater experience wins out. Carlos Dammeier is a former police officer. His former firm represented the Costa Mesa police union, and wound up dissolving itself when the police union was sued for aggressive legal tactics by Costa Mesa City Council members. Nothing in his background suggests that he would be a good judge. Public Defender Donna Tryfman is also in the running. She’s faced allegations of misconduct during her previous campaign for Beverly Hills School Board, and she has been accused of harassing coworkers for their opposition to the genocide in Gaza.
Seat 141: UNOPPOSED
Seat 176: DPD Zachary Smith
With 23 years in the public defender’s office, Smith has demonstrated the depth of experience required for a judicial seat and is well regarded by other attorneys. His opponent, Gloria Marin, touts endorsements from reactionary former DAs Cooley and Lacey, and the Trump-supporting Crime Victims PAC.
Seat 181: Thanayi Lindsey
Both candidates in this race have quasi-judicial experience. Ryan Dibble, former deputy district attorney, was appointed a Superior Court commissioner in 2025 and has been hearing cases in Small Claims court. Thanayi Lindsey has been an administrative law judge since 2021, overseeing hearings relating to government agency actions such as professional license suspension. Both candidates are also, frankly, overselling their judicial experience in their campaigns. In this instance we’d recommend Lindsey to increase the diversity of perspectives on the bench.
Unopposed Races
In Seats 39, 60, and 141, Public Defender Binh Dang, Glendale City Attorney Ann Maurer, and Deputy District Attorney Mariela Torres lucked into unopposed races and will now become judges. They might be wonderful, they might be terrible, but we don’t have anything meaningful to say about them because no one is running against them. A judge is a position of enormous respect, with the power to transform the lives of the people who appear before them, and we’re making the choice by the luck of the draw. Is this the system we want?
Neighboring LA Cities
Glendale
Glendale sits at a crossroads and we don’t mean the 134 and the 2. The same forces of right-wing reactionism that terrorized school board meetings across the San Fernando Valley, bringing Proud Boys, J6ers, and men with knives to LGBTQ+ events, are now making a coordinated run at City Hall. Meanwhile, federal funding is evaporating, the housing crisis is crushing renters, and wildfire risk is climbing every year. This city needs serious people. Fortunately, there are some on the ballot.
Glendale’s turnout historically stays below 30%. That means an organized progressive minority can decide this election. It also means a bunch of MAGA loons can take over the city. Don’t let them.
Glendale Unified School District
GUSD has been ground zero for the Southern California right-wing school board takeover movement since 2021, when Jordan Henry — a man with no children in the district — helped engineer a harassment campaign against a third-grade teacher who showed a Pride video to her class. That teacher received death threats and was transferred for her own safety. Henry went on to help spark a near-riot outside the June 2023 board meeting that drew Proud Boys and January 6 insurrectionists (per Knock LA’s own reporting). He ran for the board in 2024 and lost. His network did not go away. This cycle, that same ecosystem is fielding candidates in all three contested areas: Greg Krikorian in Area B, Debbie Blute in Area C (a Charlie Kirk enthusiast whose public social media includes praise for a gun-wielding anti-vax COVID conspiracist) and Janet Balekian in Area D, Alex Balekian’s sister (more on Glendale’s Matt Gaetz below), whose notable early supporters include MAGA Chino Valley board member Sonja Shaw. Don’t let any of them near this board.
Area B: Ingrid Gunnell
Gunnell is exactly what a school board member should be: a 25-year LAUSD educator, a GUSD parent, and now Board President. She didn’t stumble into this — she co-authored the 2017 Safe Zone Resolution protecting immigrant students and helped GUSD pass its Black Lives Matter in Schools resolution in 2020, years before she held a seat. As she put it when she first ran in 2022: “We cannot allow anybody to get elected to school board who is not 100 percent in for public education.” The GTA and CTA both back her. So should you.
Area C: Kathleen (Kat) Cross
Cross is a trained social worker, single parent, and a genuinely effective board member who has spent four years doing the unglamorous work of institutional repair: pushing for an independent financial audit that exposed years of budgetary mismanagement, settling labor contracts in record time, and bringing in a new Superintendent through an actual process. She hasn’t caved to the NIMBY parents who use “transparency” as a cover for erasing LGBTQ+ existence from curriculum. That’s the job. She’s doing it.
Area D: Aileen Dinkjian
This is the one open seat on the GUSD board in 2026, and it matters enormously. Dinkjian — a Filipina-American renter, daughter of immigrants, wife of a first-generation Armenian-American, and mother of three current GUSD students — brings a doctorate in education and a master’s in public health to a board that desperately needs that expertise right now. She has two decades managing public health budgets and writing grants, which is exactly what GUSD needs as federal dollars disappear. She’s been vocal about protecting schools as safe zones from ICE enforcement, and she publicly supported SB 848’s new oversight standards after the sexual abuse arrest of a contracted employee rocked the GUSD community. Endorsed by GUSD Parents for Public Schools.
Glendale City Council: Dan Brotman, Elen Asatryan, and Alek Bartrosouf
Brotman co-founded the Glendale Environmental Coalition and fought the Grayson gas plant renovation before he was ever on council. Since 2020, he’s pushed building electrification, plastics reduction, expanded tree canopy, and bike infrastructure. At the March candidate forum, when asked about the budget shortfall, he didn’t promise magic cuts. He acknowledged that two-thirds of Glendale’s budget is police and fire, said he wasn’t “prepared to cut services and downsize this city like a failing enterprise” (per Glendale News-Press coverage), and talked honestly about revenue generation. That’s not a politician’s answer. It’s an actual answer.
Progressives should push him harder on explicit anti-displacement policies for renters and the use of FLOCK cameras for traffic safety. But in a field with Balekian in it, Dan Brotman is not a compromise — he’s a genuine environmental progressive with a track record.
Glendale’s first Armenian-American woman elected to council, first immigrant woman, and former Mayor. Before politics, she spent over a decade running a major ethnic advocacy organization and founded free legal clinics for Glendale residents in partnership with the Armenian Bar Association and Neighborhood Legal Services. As councilmember she’s been a consistent voice for clean energy, transit access, and equity — and she launched a volunteer Community Resource Center during COVID to connect residents with relief programs before anyone told her to. Planned Parenthood and organized labor both back her.
Her business-consulting background produces some frustrating centrism on housing — “cutting red tape” rhetoric can mean a lot of things — and she needs to be pushed toward stronger tenant protections. But she’s earned her seat.
The most compelling new voice in this race. An urban planner with the City of LA and Glendale Transportation and Parking Commissioner, Bartrosouf co-founded the Coalition for a Green Glendale and helped establish the Monterey Community Gardens. He’s been an environmental activist in this city for 20 years. His vision — using public space, transit, and parks to build genuine community rather than just accommodate cars — is the most coherent urban-progressive platform in the field. Endorsed by both the Glendale Environmental Coalition and the Glendale Teachers Association.
Here’s a number worth knowing: according to the California Office of Traffic Safety’s 2021 rankings, Glendale holds the worst ranking in the state — dead last among comparable cities — for crashes involving pedestrians 65 and older. The city’s own police department acknowledged this on its website. Bartrosouf is the only candidate in this race who has spent two decades working professionally on precisely these problems: road design, transit access, and building a city that doesn’t treat walking as an afterthought. When opponents call his ideas about bike lanes and transit “radical,” ask them what they plan to do about seniors being killed at Glendale intersections.
We’d like to hear more explicit commitments on tenant protections and immigrant safety from him. But his professional expertise in land use and transportation is exactly what a city navigating SB 79, a housing crisis, and a transit expansion needs at the table.
The alternatives are not acceptable.
Alex Balekian is a MAGA Republican — he ran as one for CA-30 in 2024 and lost badly to Laura Friedman. After his loss, he and his political partner were publicly celebrating the removal of “Trans” from LGBT on federal websites. Friedman (who we’re no fan of, but is still progressive on social issues) accurately described his inner circle as “some of the worst anti-trans activists we have here in Glendale.” Community researchers and parent advocates documented that Balekian and allied candidates have “frequently appeared and rallied with individuals who voice open anti-Semitism, homophobia, transphobia, and racism” — the same “Leave Our Kids Alone” coalition that brought a riot to GUSD headquarters in June 2023, with Proud Boys and armed agitators in the crowd. At the March forum his budget plan was, nonsensically, to ban bike lanes. He has called climate advocates a “climate cartel” even as Glendale’s wildfire risk grows year by year. This man should not be anywhere near City Hall.
Patrick Murphy is the quieter version of the same problem. His platform opposes the city’s housing density plans, wants to “remove the City-Owned Residential Overlay,” and frames every development question as a threat to “neighborhood character” — which in a city that is 60% renters is a direct attack on the people who actually live here. His social network overlaps with the same retrograde organizers who have spent years fighting transit, housing, and LGBTQ+ inclusion in Glendale. He wants to audit everything except the parts of the budget that benefit his homeowner base.
The remaining candidates are either clearly unqualified or a diet version of the two we just mentioned.
Vote the full slate: Brotman, Asatryan, Bartrosouf.
City Clerk: Suzie Abajian
The Clerk runs elections, keeps public records, and ensures the city complies with the Brown Act and the California Public Records Act. It’s not glamorous — it’s the plumbing of democracy. Dr. Abajian has been doing it well since 2022. A mathematician, 24-year educator, former school board clerk, and Congressional Woman of the Year, she has prioritized multilingual access, voter registration drives, and transparency. When hate fliers appeared in 2023 targeting Jewish, Arab American, and Armenian American residents, she didn’t stay quiet. When a smear campaign targeted her, her community rallied harder.
Her opponent, Susan Wolfson, is a CPA with city finance experience — fine credentials for a different office. But she’s endorsed by Ara Najarian and Vartan Gharpetian, the conservative bloc on the current council, which tells you everything about whose vision of Glendale she represents. She describes her approach to the office as “nonpartisanship” — a framing that sounds neutral but, in this political moment and context, is a dog whistle for the same forces trying to roll back the inclusive, multilingual, community-engaged approach Abajian has built.
Abajian is the real thing. Re-elect her.
Glendale Community College Board, Area 2: Edit Khachatryan
Khachatryan came to Glendale from Armenia at age nine, attended Glendale schools K-12, earned a Ph.D. in Education from Stanford, taught high school here, and spent years with the Carnegie Foundation improving community college math outcomes for exactly the students GCC serves. She’s a current GCC parent. The GTA and State Senator Sasha Renée Pérez are behind her.
Her opponent Ross Erlich is a well-meaning attorney with good civic instincts — but no education background, no Glendale endorsements, and his campaign address is in Covina. This one isn’t close.
City Treasurer: Rafi Manoukian
The Treasurer’s job is narrow but consequential: safeguard public funds, manage cash flow, and invest idle city money responsibly. Manoukian has been doing this since 2013. Under his watch, the city’s investment portfolio grew from roughly $375 million to more than $1 billion, generating over $250 million in earnings for Glendale while maintaining conservative practices that protect the principal. He’s a CPA, holds an MBA, and is a Democratic Party member who has consistently backed the progressive candidates on this slate.
Ballot Measures
County Measure ER: Yes
Measure ER proposes a 0.5% sales tax for 5 years in order to offset funding cuts by the Trump regime to healthcare and essential service providers. This measure is straightforward. Without those federal funding sources, California needs to adopt new taxation methods to do basic things like keep public hospitals open. The alternative is millions of people losing access to care, healthcare workers getting laid off, and illness and deaths as a result of Californians not being able to see their providers. The choice is obvious. Vote yes.
City Measure CB: Yes
This measure would apply the city’s taxes on licensed cannabis dispensaries to unlicensed dispensaries as well. “Wait a minute,” you might ask, “Aren’t unlicensed dispensaries already illegal?” Well, yes. And illegal businesses tend not to comply with tax rules. Instead, it creates another avenue to shut them down; think of Al Capone being convicted of tax fraud rather than running the mob.
Up to now, the city’s enforcement of cannabis licensing has mostly taken the form of police raids, and low-level employees who have no idea that the business is unlicensed wind up facing criminal charges under strict liability statutes. Attempts to amend the ordinance to prevent this injustice have stalled; with the new options created by Measure CB, hopefully we can see renewed action on that necessary reform.
City Measure TC & TT: Yes
Measure TT and Measure TC are overlapping local hotel tax ballot measures, strategically timed with the impending approach of the Olympics to increase the city’s revenues from what they hope will be a substantial influx of visitors. A perfectly reasonable thing to do, assuming that Trump doesn’t manage to convince the rest of the world to boycott the Olympics entirely.
The core of both measures is changing the way the hotel tax is calculated for online travel agencies, third party sites, and awards programs, to be based on the final price to the consumer rather than the negotiated rate paid by the third party to the hotel. Measure TT also includes a rate increase from 14% to 16% through 2028, and to 15% permanently.
We believe that the Olympics are a hideous con, a form of self-inflicted disaster capitalism that increases inequality, exploitation, and authoritarianism in every host city – if you want to learn more, check out our friends at NOlympics LA – but these measures are a reasonable and responsible thing to do in a tourism-heavy city like Los Angeles. Vote yes.
At posting time we have no idea why there are two measures here, given that TT includes all of TC, but if any of our City Hall sources want to explain it you know where to find us.
California State Legislature
Statewide Races
Governor: Tom Steyer
The CA governor’s race could be generously described as a goat rodeo. The state Democratic Party is directionless, and Governor Newsom is primarily concerned with anti-Trump memes and impressing his chud son by interviewing internet bigots on his podcast. Maybe it’s for the best, though – if he’s busy online he can’t destroy unhoused people’s possessions for a photo op. In the meantime, an endless parade of candidates have somehow put us in danger of a Republican vs. Republican runoff: MAGA dipshit Steve Hilton and Literal Fascist / Ambulatory Moustache Chad Bianco crawling over the finish line with 15% each.
If you’re familiar with past guides we’ve been more than happy to say “don’t vote for either of these creeps.” Not every race has a candidate who deserves your vote. But sometimes we as voters have to play a numbers game.
After many long conversations, we’ve come to the conclusion that you should vote for Tom Steyer. A literal billionaire. I think I’m going to vomit.
One of the inescapable issues of running for statewide office in California is that you’re running for statewide office in California, with nearly 40 million people across a vast geographic range. As the race has progressed, the realistic field of candidates has narrowed.
Swalwell was a favorite of the moneyed establishment until long-rumored accusations of sexual assault finally surfaced and his supporters immediately dumped him – perhaps relieved that the other shoe they’d been on the lookout for finally dropped. The big bucks have pivoted to Becerra, who after months of silence finally found the resources to bombard us with text messages.
Becerra isn’t it. In the simplest sense, a person who can’t say “Abolish ICE” is completely unfit to represent California. We in LA have borne the brunt of the federal Gestapo assault on our neighbors and if you can’t stand with us you can go to hell. That’s not his only failing, however – he’s accepted a maximum donation from Chevron and consistently sides with the oil industry including supporting new drilling and oil production in California. He turned his back on single payer healthcare to earn the backing of a health industry lobby. Becerra is only clay in the hands of wealthy corporations.
Katie Porter was definitely screwed over in 2024, when Adam Schiff (D-Raytheon) boosted Republican Steve Garvey in order to box her out of the runoff. But that doesn’t make her a good candidate for governor. No one we talked to had a positive experience with her office during her time in Congress. Porter has also come out against the proposed Billionaire Tax, a small tax on people whose wealth is so great as to warp the world around them; unilaterally disarming in the class war puts her at odds with the working people of California.
So it’s Steyer then, as disgusted as we might feel about another oligarch governor. His commitment to environmentalism is genuine, he supports single-payer healthcare, he backs the billionaire tax, he’s unafraid to say that ICE should be abolished and that they should be prosecuted under state law for their crimes. It’s a strange position to find ourselves in, but remember: an elected official is a battlefield, not a general. We don’t count on elected leaders to simply take care of us out of the goodness of their souls – we have to engage with them, push them, and challenge them, even the ones we support, to accomplish our goals.
While we cast those ballots, however, we should also ask why the governor’s race looks the way it does. Why are candidates backed by Democratic Party power players unwilling to call for the elimination of Trump’s fascist stormtroopers? Why are candidates still willing to call for more oil drilling, against the will of the voters, in a state that has seen the devastating effects of climate change first hand? Why are our state politics, in a state with democratic supermajorities all up and down the line, still so captured by the wealth and influence of right-wing interests?
At this point, it’s clear: if we want to keep MAGA out of the Governor’s mansion, Steyer is the best choice. And of course, he has the all-important Juvenile endorsement.
Lieutenant Governor: Oliver Ma or Michael Tubbs
Out of the candidates for the office of Lieutenant Governor – a position that sounds like it should carry much more authority than it does – civil rights attorney Oliver Ma and Michael Tubbs, the former mayor of Stockton, stand out as the best choices for the left. Both of them carry a mix of endorsements from unions and organizers: Ma has the Democratic Socialists of America and If Not Now, Tubbs has the Working Families Party and ACCE. Both want to reduce college tuition, one of the few issues on which the Lieutenant Governor might be able to directly intervene.
We do not have consensus to choose one over the other, but we consider both to be acceptable choices.
Secretary of State: Shirley Weber
The Secretary of State oversees state and federal elections, as well as managing the corporate filings for businesses, nonprofits, and lobbyists. Given the attacks on free and fair elections by the Trump administration and the Supreme Court, this normally-sleepy office becomes an important line of defense. California’s elections are slow to be certified, and our data on lobbyists and campaign finance is hard to navigate.
Weber is endorsed by a broad coalition of labor, activists, and elected officials. Her goals for the coming term include strengthening cybersecurity and expanding voter registration outreach to high school and college students and the formerly incarcerated. She is also a consistent opponent of GOP-led “voter ID” disenfranchisement schemes.
State Controller: Meghann Adams
Similar to the Controller for the City of Los Angeles, the Controller for the state oversees financial disbursements, audits, and unclaimed property. Given the size and economic power of California, this is no small task. California has a country-scale budget, and transparency is critical for advocacy.
Our pick is Meghann Adams, a school bus driver, union leader, and anti-war activist. Her policy platform calls for utilizing the auditing power of the controller’s office to crack down on corruption, identify the landlords contributing to the rent crisis, and establish the economic effectiveness of Medicare For All. It’s a clear plan to use the powers of the office to make the case for more progressive policy. Current Controller Malia Cohen will likely sail through via the advantage of incumbency, but we enjoy the thrill of voting for someone with a vision.
Treasurer:
Attorney General: Rob Bonta
At this historical moment, the most important thing an Attorney General can do is use the legal system to throw up roadblocks in the way of the fascist in the White House. By that metric, Bonta has done an excellent job putting his foot on Trump’s neck. His department’s lawsuits have fought the federalization of the national guard, the weakening of environmental standards, anti-immigrant and anti-trans policies, and dangerous corporate mergers. The name of the game is resistance with whatever tools are at hand. Bonta should continue the work.
Insurance Commissioner: Jane Kim
Here’s one you didn’t think you had to think about. The Insurance Commissioner runs the Department of Insurance, responsible for licensing insurance companies, investigating consumer complaints and insurers, and punishing insurers for regulatory noncompliance. The Department of Insurance impacts home and auto insurance, life insurance, worker’s compensation, and some aspects of health insurance (California, uniquely, splits oversight of Health Insurance companies between the Department of Managed Health Care, run by the Governor, and the independent Department of Insurance).
As insurance rates rise and home insurers abandon the state, working people are being shut out of the economy in a most basic way. Kim wants to create a nonprofit public disaster insurance plan, create transparency around costs and coverage, and to use regulatory powers to hold bad actors in the insurance industry accountable.
Look at this race like Kenneth Mejia’s first run for Controller, but with less corgis. Insurance Commissioner is a technical and regulatory office that most people wouldn’t look twice at, but also offers significant opportunities for a mission-driven public servant to make material improvements in peoples’ lives.
The race has eleven names on the ballot, mostly offering more of the status quo. Lalo Vargas and Jane Kim are the two offering a bolder vision that isn’t a deregulatory fever dream, and between them only Kim has the statewide network of support to win. The former San Francisco Supervisor carries endorsements like the California Teachers Association, the Working Families Party, and local and national elected officials from Bubba Fish to Bernie Sanders.
For Insurance Commissioner, vote for Jane Kim.
Member of the State Board of Equalization (3rd District): Sam Sukaton
What does Board of Equalization even do? Great question, we’ve got answers. The BOE oversees the property tax systems, alcoholic beverage tax, and tax on insurers. It is a five member body that on paper might seem like a place to park your political career when you’re figuring out your next step, but might secretly be one of the more underrated tools for budget equity in California.
Our state has been plagued with tax policies that benefit rich homeowners, corporations, and predatory companies. It is not news that right-wing organizations like the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association have been key players in developing and standardizing these regressive, trickle up taxation schemes to hoard wealth, resources, and power. A sharp administrator with an eye towards making the rich pay their fair share could do a lot for Californians.
That’s why we’re recommending Sam Sukaton, a labor organizer and a representative of the CA Working Families Party. He has institutional experience, having worked with the California Public Utilities Commission, Energy Commission, Air Resources Board, and Natural Resources Agency. His campaign commitments include equity for homeowners and small businesses across counties, increased transparency on taxation revenue, and safeguarding the environment.
Sukaton is part of a wave of candidates, like Controller Kenneth Mejia, who see the potential for progressive policymaking in more obscure and technical roles. Making a better California for everyone requires every tool at our disposal. Sukaton should get your vote.
Assemblymember Mike Gipson is also running for the seat. He has been repeatedly called out by Greenpeace, Courage California, Project Super Bloom, and Knock LA for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars of oil industry money to abstain on or vote against important environmental bills, at the same time as he was representing one of the most pollution-impacted districts. He doesn’t deserve a second act at the BOE.
Superintendent of Public Instruction: Frank Lara
The Superintendent is the elected executive of the state Department of Education… for now. It’s possible that the position may change significantly in the future, including no longer being elected, but that would be after this round of elections. This particular election has drawn a number of liberal to progressive candidates, and what little polling exists suggests that the race is wide open.
Here we’d recommend a vote for Frank Lara, a teacher and union leader from San Francisco. Lara is an organizer and open socialist, who seeks to not only fully fund public schools but also to build a path to free childcare and adult education as well. He also opposes the presence of police in schools, accurately viewing them as part of the school-to-prison pipeline and a source of harm to Black and Brown students. Nichelle Henderson and Richard Barrera both also have strong platforms, but Lara is our top pick.
Less desirable candidates are former Assemblymembers Al Muratsuchi and Anthony Rendon. Muratsuchi’s checkered record included voting against a bill to prevent the transfer of imprisoned people to ICE custody. Rendon, as Assembly Speaker, directly helped kill single payer healthcare for California, letting Gov. Newsom off the hook for a campaign promise he never cared to fulfil. Neither deserve this responsibility. Also in the race is Sonja Shaw, an anti-LGBT maniac who has no business being near or responsible for children.
State Senate
State Senate District 20: Caroline Menjivar
Caroline Menjivar has been a strong progressive advocate for this Burbank and San Fernando Valley district during her first term, and has earned a second. Roberto Lacarra is a community college professor who previously worked in the Los Angeles County Sheriff and Probation Departments. Republican Tony Rodriguez is also in the race. Vote Menjivar.
State Senate District 22: No Recommendation
Democrat Susan Rubio has a sad track record of supporting corporate interests, including failing to support restrictions on private equity takeovers of health facilities (AB 3129), a state tax on the sale of user data by large corporations (SB 1327), increased regulation of driverless cars (SB 915), and local control over oil and gas operations (AB 3233). She also failed to support a key criminal justice reform of the school-to-prison pipeline that would have ended a requirement that school principals must notify police of students caught possessing small amounts of narcotics (AB 2441).
Mike Netter is a Republican activist and conservative media personality and a strong supporter of President Trump. Independent Robert R. Jimenez advocates for failed reactionary policies like tying work requirements to social assistance, opposing laws allowing undocumented immigrants to work certain jobs, and stripping formerly incarcerated people of the right to vote.
None of these candidates deserve your vote.
State Senate District 24: John Erickson
Eight Democrats and two Republicans are running to replace Ben Allen in this Westside district stretching from Malibu to West Hollywood to Palos Verdes. West Hollywood City Councilman John Erickson is a longtime advocate for progressive priorities including renter protections, universal childcare, medicare-for-all, and safe streets for pedestrians and bicyclists. John is endorsed by numerous labor unions representing working people, as well many progressive politicians.
No other candidate has Erickson’s track record of progressive advocacy. Dr. Sion Roy is a cardiologist and associate professor of medicine at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. Ellen Evans is a former union carpenter who founded a neighborhood association in West Hollywood. Gen Z candidate Zennon Ulyate-Crow founded a nonprofit that advocated for affordable student housing. All three have decent policy priorities such as expanding healthcare access and protecting the environment, but none go as far as Erickson in supporting bold solutions.
The rest of the candidates lean more centrist or conservative. Venice real estate attorney Mike Newhouse is a former president of the Venice Neighborhood Council and has received numerous endorsements from police associations. Brian Goldsmith is a journalist, tech entrepreneur, and Democratic consultant who has endorsements from Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, and the LAPD police association. Healthcare executive Eric Alegria formerly served on the Palos Verdes City Council. Attorney Amaris Dordar and Republicans Kristina Irwin and G. Rick Marshall are also in the race.
State Senate District 26: Maebe Puldo
A crowded field of eight candidates is running to replace State Sen. Maria Elana Durazo in this Central LA district.
Silver Lake resident Maebe Pudlo, who currently works as the program manager for the local homeless nonprofit nonprofit SELAH, is an outspoken progressive and is refusing all corporate donations. Maebe is a fierce critic of ICE and supports universal healthcare through CalCare, universal childcare, strengthening renter protections, implementing a vacancy tax to push more housing units back to the market, and a housing-and-services-first approach to homelessness. Maebe would further vote against new leases for oil & gas drilling in California. She is also trans non-binary and was the first drag queen ever elected to public office in the United States after being elected to the Silver Lake Neighborhood Council in 2019.
Real estate attorney Sara Hernandez has served on the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees since 2022 and is a former LAUSD middle school teacher. She has endorsements from unions representing teachers, nurses, and other working people, as well as Dolores Huerta and the Sierra Club. She supports universal childcare, building denser housing near transit, and increasing incentives for film and TV productions in LA.
Wendy Carrillo is attempting to return to the state legislature after previously serving six years in the Assembly. During her previous tenure, she frustrated tenant advocates with her reluctance to support renter protections and collected large corporate donations from health insurance, pharmaceutical, and energy companies. Carrillo has also shown questionable judgment on multiple occasions, including a 2024 DUI and attending a lobbyist-funded conference in Hawaii in 2020 when everyone else was on COVID lockdown.
Glassel Park resident Sara Rascón was born and raised in El Sereno and has worked in the government offices of Mayor Karen Bass and then-Assemblymember Jimmy Gomez. Echo Park resident Juan Camacho formerly worked as a vice president for government relations at Fox Corporation and now leads a prominent LGBT organization. He has received campaign donations from three of the major movie studios and has relatively centrist political positions. No information is available regarding Paul Bowers. Two Republicans are also in the race.
Maebe is the antidote to politics as usual, which is exactly what this moment requires.
State Senate District 28: Lola Smallwood-Cuevas
Lola Smallwood-Cuevas is one of LA’s most progressive assemblymembers, passing legislation to increase worker protections, pushing to end oil drilling at the Inglewood Oil Field in her district, and supporting anti-displacement policies in South LA. She also co-authored a criminal justice bill that would have ended the requirement that schools report student behavioral or drug possession issues to law enforcement (AB 2441).
Independent Daphne D. Bradford and Republican Joe Lisuzzo voice outdated tough-on-crime positions and are out of step with the needs of working people. Lola deserves your vote.
State Senate District 30: No Recommendation
In two terms representing this southeast Los Angeles County district, Democrat Bob Archuleta has repeatedly favored corporate interests over his own constituents. He has failed to support new laws protecting renters, including limits on the deductions a landlord can take out of a security deposit, and failed to support proposed laws to increase transparency of corporate entities and to restrict private equity from taking over healthcare facilities. He also has a mixed record on criminal justice reform and the environment.
Unfortunately, the assemblymember’s lone opponent, Republican Araceli Martinez, is a right-wing agitator who has appeared at local colleges with a “Deport All Illegals” sign as part of a controversial debate tour. This district consistently votes for the Democratic Party by 20% margins, so it is not competitive. Send Bob a message and skip this race.
State Assembly
State Assembly District 34: Randall Putz
Four candidates are running to replace term-limited Republican Tom Lackey in this sprawling High Desert district. Democrat Randall Putz is an active leader in the Big Bear Lake community, serving as city councilmember, mayor, and school board member among other positions over the past 15 years. His platform includes ensuring big corporations pay their fair share, fighting to hold law enforcement accountable, more state support for affordable housing, and enacting tenant protections.
The Republicans in the race hardly cover themselves in glory. Former Democrat turned Republican Steve Fox was charged with sexually harassing two female employees during his one term in the Assembly in the 2010s. Republican Charles Hughes is a former prison guard who has locked up endorsements from police associations and Republican politicians. Republican Manny Lin is a public school teacher who supports anti-LGBTQ+ “parental rights” rules and increasing criminal sentences. Putz is the best candidate in this race.
State Assembly District 39: No Recommendation
Democrat assemblymember Juan Carrillo remains a disappointment in this Latine-majority district that includes parts of Palmdale, Lancaster, and Victorville. Carrillo, who immigrated from Mexico at age 15 and previously served on the Palmdale City Council, opposed or failed to support bills strengthening oversight over offshore drilling platforms, private equity takeovers of hospitals, and subcontracting of public jobs.
Carrillo faces Republican Paul Marsh in a rematch of 2022 and 2024, both of which Carillo won with 57% of the vote. Neither candidate deserves your vote in this uncompetitive race.
State Assembly District 40: Pilar Schiavo
Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo has represented this swing district in Santa Clarita and Northwest San Fernando Valley since 2022. Schiavo, a former union organizer for the California Nurses Association, has supported tenant protections, worker rights, and affordable housing, but has been an inconsistent ally on criminal justice reforms.
She faces off against three Republican challengers. Elizabeth Ahlers is a Christian far-right leader in the anti-trans “parental rights” movement. Electric lineman and former police officer Rickey Hayes wants to increase criminal sentences and restore conservative values. Andreas Farmakalidis speaks in cliches and fails to state any policy positions. Vote Schiavo.
State Assembly District 41: John Harabedian
Assemblymember John Harabedian compiled a strong voting record in his first term in the assembly, supporting progressive initiatives on affordable housing, criminal justice reform, and consumer protection. His Republican opponent, Adam Vena, is an anti-trans agitator who has faced domestic abuse allegations. Vote Harabedian.
State Assembly District 42: No recommendation
A bit of yikes in this open seat race. Only one Democrat qualified for the ballot after a well-funded Democrat filed their paperwork incorrectly and was booted from the race. That leaves voters to choose between Democrat Deborah Klein Lopez and two Republicans in this very blue Ventura County district that also includes Malibu, Pacific Palisades, and Brentwood. All three are running on platforms of increasing police funding. Skip this race.
State Assembly District 43: Celeste Rodriguez
Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez exceeded our expectations in her first term in office, amassing a good voting record on progressive priorities, including criminal justice reform, worker protections, and affordable housing. Her opponent is a MAGA Republican. Vote for Celeste Rodriguez.
State Assembly District 44: Nick Shultz
In his first term, progressive Nick Shultz authored and passed several criminal justice reforms, sponsored critical environmental protections bills, and had a perfect voting record in progressive priorities. He also rejected all corporate campaign donations from the real estate, oil & gas, healthcare, and tech industries. Vote Shultz.
State Assembly District 46: No recommendation
Jesse Gabriel continues to accept large amounts of corporate campaign donations from the real estate, healthcare, and oil & gas industries, as well from police associations. While we have given him lukewarm recommendations in the past, we are sick of this corporate influence. California remains one of 29 states that permit corporations to donate directly to candidates. And this will never change with Democrats like Gabriel in the Assembly. Skip this race.
State Assembly District 48: No Recommendation
Blanca Rubio remains one of the worst Democrats in the Assembly, with a track record for raking in egregious amounts of corporate donations and failing to support progressive legislation. In 2025, she voted against increased oversight over offshore oil drilling and did not support a bill to prohibit ICE agents from wearing masks. Unfortunately, a progressive challenger did not step up to challenge Rubio. Republican Dan Tran, a real estate business owner, can not be recommended either.
State Assembly District 49: Mike Fong
Mike Fong continues to be a reliable supporter of progressive legislation in this district stretching from Monterey Park to Arcadia. In 2025, he voted for bills increasing environmental protections for offshore oil drilling, limiting the terms and conditions of youth probation, and prohibiting investor-owned utilities from using ratepayer funds to pay for lobbying and political ads. Vote Fong.
State Assembly District 51: Colin Hernandez
Voters in this district that stretches from Santa Monica to East Hollywood have an exciting opportunity to send a progressive fighter to Sacramento. Colin Hernandez, a native Angeleno, is running on a platform of childcare for all, universal healthcare, improving public transit, and LGBTQ+ rights. He also advocates for a wealth tax on billionaires and raising taxes on the largest corporations.
Current Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur has been in establishment Democratic politics for decades, fundraising for then-governor Bill Clinton. He is in an enviable political situation: with massive financial support, well-worn political connections, and a bright blue district, there are few people in the state who could drive as much legislative progress as Zbur — at least in theory. The reality has been very different. With all this political capital, he focused on chairing a select committee on retail theft and has done the bare minimum with regard to progressive priorities.
With thousands in campaign donations coming from real estate and landlord lobbying associations, charter schools, gas companies, Amazon, and AirBnB, perhaps inaction is a feature and not a bug.
Independent Dick Lucas is a tech entrepreneur who wants to strip labor & employment protections from California workers and opposes the regulation of AI. Republicans Jake Head and Michael Geraghty support failed tough-on-crime policies and focus on lowering taxes. Hernandez is the easy choice here.
State Assembly District 52: Jessica Caloza
Jessica Caloza won a competitive race for this seat in 2024 and has compiled a solid voting record during her first term in the Assembly. Her opponent is a Republican pianist who favors cooperation with ICE agents. Caloza is the easy choice in this race.
State Assembly District 53: No recommendation
In her first term in office, Michelle Rodriguez sank to our low expectations. She voted against oversight for offshore drilling, against allowing judges to offer diversion programs, and opposed a prohibition on ICE agents wearing masks. Despite this conservative voting record, she faces no progressive challengers. Skip this race.
State Assembly District 54: Jordan King (Write-In)
In his first term, Mark Gonzalez passed a bill to make it easier for cities to seize and destroy recreational vehicles that thousands of unhoused residents rely on as their only home. He also voted to shield oil companies who expand oil drilling in Kern County from environmental review and litigation (SB 237) and failed to support a bill that would have banned all unnecessary uses of forever chemicals (SB 682). Voters in this Central LA district deserve better.
While no other candidates qualified for the ballot in this race, Green party candidate Jordan King is running as write-in. We recommend putting his name down to register your disapproval of Gonzalez.
State Assembly District 55: Isaac Bryan
Assemblymember Isaac Bryan continues to be an effective progressive advocate in Sacramento. Bryan achieved a monumental environmental justice victory in 2024 to close the Inglewood Oil Field by 2030. This oil field in the South L.A. has been linked with higher rates of asthma, heart conditions, and premature and low birthweight babies in the community for decades. Bryan has also been a consistent voice for criminal legal reform and prisoner rights. His advocacy ended the shameful practice of the state paying incarcerated firefighters only $1 per hour, despite fighting the same wildfires and facing the same dangers as other firefighters. Bryan’s bill raised their wage to $7.25 per hour.
Vote Bryan.
State Assembly District 56: No recommendations
Democrat Lisa Calderon remains a disappointment in this Dem-leaning district stretching from Pico Rivera to Diamond Bar. With a record of collecting large oil and gas contributions, Calderon surprised no one in 2025 with her failure to support bills to lower residents’ gas & electric bills by prohibiting utilities from spending ratepayer money on lobbying and political ads. Perhaps more surprising, she did not support a bill prohibiting ICE from wearing face masks. Her Republican opponent is a right-wing Christian nationalist. Neither deserves your vote.
State Assembly District 57: Sade Elhawary
Progressive Sade Elhawary, an LA native who was the first of her family to attend college, compiled a stellar voting record in her first term in the assembly. She also championed bills to allow judges to offer criminal diversion programs instead of punishment and to protect employees from invasive surveillance technology. Her only opponent is a Republican. Vote Sade.
State Assembly District 61: Tina McKinnor
Assemblymember Tina McKinnor is a prominent progressive voice in the State legislature, championing bills on renter protection, re-entry programs, and reparations. In 2025, McKinnor finally ended a bizarre California quirk by passing a law to require landlords to provide and maintain a working stove and refrigerator. This success built upon her 2023 bill to limit security deposits to one month’s rent.
McKinnor also authored a novel bill in 2025 to allow colleges to give admissions preference to descendants of slavery, which passed both the Assembly and State Senate before being vetoed by Gov. Newsom without explanation. Give Mckinnor your support.
State Assembly District 62: José Solache
While not a progressive, José Solache’s voting record in his first term was better than expected. We remain concerned about the corporate campaign donations he accepts, but he is a far better option than his anti-immigrant Republican opponent.
State Assembly District 64: No Recommendation
Blanca Pacheco is deceiving the residents of Downey and Norwalk by masquerading as a Democrat while voting like a Republican. In 2025, she had the most conservative voting record of any Democrat in the Assembly, which included blocking numerous criminal justice reforms and voting against a prohibition on ICE wearing face masks. Yet with only a Republican challenger in this blue district, Pacheco will skate to reelection. If you live in this District and are interested in organizing to oust Pacheco in 2028, please reach out to Knock LA.
State Assembly District 65: Fatima Iqbal-Zubair
After being poorly represented by corporate Democrat Mike Gipson for more than a decade, voters in Watts, Compton, Carson, Wilmington and San Pedro have a rare opportunity to choose a new representative.
Progressive Fatima Iqbal-Zubair, a former science teacher in Watts and climate justice leader, is running a people-powered campaign that takes no money from corporations. She supports closing corporate tax loopholes, increasing taxes on billionaires, strengthening rent control and tenant protections, investing in affordable housing to lower housing costs, increasing affordable health care access, and universal childcare to ease the financial burden on working families.
She also decries the environmental injustice that lowers life expectancy in this district, while also fighting to bring better-paying jobs to the community. She’s endorsed by the California Teacher Association, Working Families Party, and many other progressive organizations.
Her leading opponent, Ayanna Davis, is a former principal who has received large campaign donations from oil companies and AirBnB and is endorsed by police associations. Rarely do voters have such a stark choice between the two wings of the Democratic party.
Three other Democrats are also in race. Dr. Vinson Eugene Allen owns and operates a chain of 10 urgent care clinics in underserved parts of LA and Orange County. Wilmington resident Magali Sanchez-Hall is a former undocumented immigrant with a master’s degree in public policy from UCLA. San Pedro resident Lamar Lyons is a financial consultant and president of the San Pedro Neighborhood Council. While each of them brings something unique to the race, none of them can match Fatima’s policy positions and history of progressive advocacy. Vote Fatima.
State Assembly District 66: Sara Deen
Four moderate Democrats and two Republicans are competing to replace term-limited Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi in this South Bay district. Pakistani-American Sara Deen is a dentist and president of the Palos Verdes School Board. Scott Houston is a public relations consultant and El Segundo resident who is a board member of the LA County Business Federation.
Paul Seo is a former prosecutor for Los Angeles County and current Mayor of Palos Verdes who is endorsed by every major police association. Shannon Ruiz Ross comes from a family of dockworkers and serves on the Coastal San Pedro Neighborhood Council and the LA County Beaches and Harbors Commission. Republicans Jessica Maldonado and George Barks are also in the race.
Sara Deen separates herself from this group with her endorsements from unions that represent teachers and nurses, as well her opposition to Israel’s warmongering in Palestine and the Middle East.
State Assembly District 67: Ada Breciño
After fleeing Nicaragua with her family at age 7, Ada Breciño began working at age 14 to support her family, and at age 18 became a hotel desk clerk and union member. By age 26, she became president of that union, a position she continues to hold today as co-President of UNITE HERE Local 11. In this position, Ada has empowered thousands of hotel housekeepers and dishwashers to have a voice at their job and in their community, including successfully leading them through one of the largest hotel strikes in US history in 2024. She has also led successful union campaigns for legislation that benefited the whole community, including increasing the minimum wage, protecting housekeepers from sexual assault while on the job, building new affordable housing units, and protecting renter from being displaced.
Ali Taj is a financial advisor and co-founder of an investment fund who has also served as a Councilmember and Mayor of Artesia. He has endorsements from police associations and many centrist Democratic politicians. Cerritos Councilmember and former Mayor Mark Pulido is running on a record of assisting in bringing new retail businesses to Cerritos and reducing crime. Buena Park resident Pual Gonzalez and two Republicans are also in the race.
Ada Briceño’s track record of challenging corporate interests on behalf of working people makes her the easy choice in this race.
State Assembly District 69: No Recommendation
Incumbent Josh Lowenthal has compiled another decent voting record with his second term in office. While he supported good bills, like one that would have prevented price gouging under emergency declarations and the No Secret Police Act (preventing law enforcement from wearing masks while operating in California), a big red flag is that he has authored AB 1953, a bill that would require eligible dwellings to be made available for short-term rentals during declared disasters and tourism events.
After seeing the major price-gouging from AirBnB and other short-term rental businesses during the Eaton and Palisades fires in early 2025, it is reasonable to believe that this bill would open the door for continued abuses by the short-term rental market. Short-term rentals have been a contributor to LA’s housing crisis, driving up annual rents and removing units from the rental market.
Lowenthal is also endorsed by Democrats for Israel and refers to homeless encampments as “blight” and drivers of crime.
However, Lowenthal’s only opponent, Carolyn J. Essex, doesn’t have a defined policy platform available on her site or any social media. A flyer posted to her LinkedIn does mention her support of affordable housing with wraparound health services, but there isn’t much else to base a recommendation on.
So, we have no recommendation for this office.
US Congress
District 23: Karen Mathews
This deep red Republican district in the San Bernardino County high desert is represented by MAGA conservative Jay Obernolte. The strategic choice here is Independent Karen Mathews, who served more than 20 years in the U.S. Navy as a doctor. Democrat Tessa Lynn Hodge stands no hope of winning in this Democrat-averse district.
District 26: Chris Espinosa
Rep. Julia Brownley is retiring after representing this Ventura County-based district for 14 years. She has endorsed conservative Democrat Jacqui Irwin as her replacement. During Irwin’s 12 years in the State Assembly, she consistently failed to support progressive legislation, including failing to support bills tostrengthen eviction protections and to end indefinite probation for California youth.
Chris Espinosa is the co-founder of the environmental justice organization Green Latinos and longtime community advocate who was born and raised in Ventura County. He supports universal childcare, stronger tenant protections, abolishing ICE, medicare for all, and cracking down on corporate price gouging. Espinosa is endorsed by civil rights icon Dolores Huerta, local progressive community leaders, and environmental organizations.
Sasan Samadzadeh is a construction inspector whose family fled Iran to Ventura County when he was young. He supports progressive policies similar to Espinosa and also seeks to ban prediction markets, a corrosive new corporate industry that primarily exists to dodge sports betting regulations and taxes. Businessman Liam Hernandez also holds progressive positions.
Democrat Sonia Kacker is a family physician who owns and operates Westlake Village Urgent Care who has a standard Democratic Party platform of evidence-based healthcare policies, clean energy investments, and lower prescription costs. Republicans Michael Koslow, Daniel Miller, and William Scott are also in the race.
Knock LA recommends Espinosa based on his long track record of advocating for meaningful improvements for working people.
District 27: Caleb Norwood
Representative George Whitesides, a former Virgin Galactic CEO and self-described moderate, was a disappointment in first term in office. He voted for the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, which increased US military spending and failed to constrain Trump’s military deployments to Venezuela, Iran, and US cities. He also voted for an obnoxious GOP resolution opposing socialism and accepted more than $600,000 in donations from AIPAC.
Democrat Caleb Norwood is running on a progressive platform that includes investing in public housing, abolishing ICE, and ending arms sales to Israel. He is the best candidate in this race.
The remaining candidates are worse than Whitesides. Democrat Roberto Ramos supports MAGA bills to gut healthcare and prohibit gender affirming care to minors. Republicans Jason Gibbs and David Neidhart support failed tough-on-crime approaches and increased border security.
District 28: Judy Chu
Representative Judy Chu remains one of the only true progressives among LA County’s congressional delegation. She was one of only 37 congressional Democrats to vote against unconditional military aid to Israel and loudly opposed the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, which increased military spending. She also favors Medicare for All and citizenship for undocumented immigrants. Vote for Chu.
District 29: Angélica Dueñas
In August 2025, when residents of this San Fernando Valley district were being kidnapped by ICE, Representative Luz Rivas took an AIPAC-funded trip to Israel. In all, she has received more than $200k in support from AIPAC-aligned groups, in addition to large contributions from oil companies, Amazon, Airbnb, and Facebook. Valley residents are left to wonder whose interests Rivas really represent.
Fortunately, community activist Angélica Dueñas is not willing to let Rivas disappoint any longer. Born and raised in the San Fernando Valley, Dueñas is running a grassroots progressive campaign, and refuses all corporate and AIPAC donations. She supports abolishing ICE, housing as a human right, Medicare for All, and criminal justice reform. She also is raising five children who attend LAUSD schools. MAGA Republican Rudy Melendez is also in the race. Zachary Hunchar has suspended his campaign. Vote Dueñas.
District 30: Cameron Tennyson or Joel Lava
Representative Laura Freidman has a history of accomplishments on affordable housing, transit, and the environment. However, her position on Israel is disqualifying.
She refuses to condemn the genocide in Gaza, supports continued military aid to Israel, and failed to oppose a bill that imposed sanctions on the International Criminal Court and its employees because the Court issued an arrest warrant against Israeli leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Fortunately, voters have better options. Challenger Cameron Tennyson opposes US funding of the Israeli military, favors abolishing ICE, prosecuting ICE agents who violate human rights, protecting Trans rights, and enacting free universal healthcare. Director Joel Lava, who helped organize anti-Elon Musk protests in 2025, is also running on a progressive platform and criticizes Friedman for not calling for Trump’s impeachment or opposing the Warner Brothers / Paramount merger.
Lester “Pini” Herman is running a single-issue campaign to end gerrymandering by expanding the US House and limiting each district to 30K people. Independent “centrist” John Armenian wants to cut Federal spending and secure the border. Alan Starzinski is an actor with no campaign website. Republicans Scott Alan Meyers and Dennis Feitosa are also in the race. We recommend a vote for Cameron Tennyson or Joel Lava.
District 31: No Recommendation
Rep. Gil Cisneros does not deserve your vote. He took an AIPAC-funded propaganda trip to Israel in 2025, while voting in favor of sanctioning the International Criminal Court because the Court sought to arrest Israeli war criminals. He also voted in favor of the 2026 NDAA, which increased military funding and failed to constrain Trump’s military deployments, and in favor of a bogus GOP resolution denouncing socialism.
Unfortunately, no progressive entered this contest. Gil faces two Republicans who are even worse. It’s a depressing situation all around.
District 32: Christopher Ahuja
Brad Sherman is one of Israel’s strongest supporters in Congress, receiving over $600,000 in campaign spending from AIPAC and its allies, slandering pro-Palestine protesters as antisemitic terrorism supporters, and using his powerful position on the House Foreign Affairs Committee to increase military aid to Israel. He also voted for the dangerous H.R. 6090, which has censored and chilled speech critical of Israel on college campuses.
He also helped stall a subway line connecting the Valley and the West Side for years, catering to wealthy NIMBYs in his district at the expense of his working class constituents.
We recommend a vote for Christopher Ahuja, a labor-backed socialist whose extensive progressive platform includes Medicare for All, abolishing ICE, enacting Federal renter protections, and ending US military support for Israel.
District 34: Angela Gonzales-Torres
Voters in this Central and Northeast Los Angeles district have come agonizingly close three times since 2020 to tossing out their current corporate-funded representative in favor of a more progressive candidate. This year may finally be the year they succeed.
Angela Gonzales-Torres, a lifelong Angeleno from Highland Park and first-time candidate, is a self-described ‘fighter’ who grew up on SNAP and Medicaid and whose father was deported when she was 15. She currently works with formerly incarcerated individuals to find pathways to higher education. Her progressive platform includes Medicare for All, community-led climate solutions, and ending blank checks for war and military spending. She is refusing all corporate PAC and AIPAC money and has endorsements from the Working Families Party and Justice Democrats.
Rep. Jimmy Gomez is bankrolled by the same pharmaceutical, real estate, and financial services corporations who fund President Trump and raise prices on working class people. He supports unconditional military aid to Israel and has received an astonishing $2.5 million in campaign contributions and independent expenditures from AIPAC and the Pro-Isreal lobby. He has also repeatedly voted in favor of increasing US military spending. Perhaps most distressingly, Gomez vouched for and served as campaign co-chair for disgraced former Congressman Eric Swalwell, raising further questions about his judgment. Vote for Angela Gonzales-Torres.
District 35: No Recommendation
Representative Norma Torres has represented Pomona and parts of San Bernardino County since 2015. Torres voted for unconditional military aid to Israel, despite the ongoing genocide perpetuated with those weapons, and has benefited from over $800k in spending from AIPAC and its allies. She also voted to increase US military spending in 2025, in a bill that also failed to restrain Trump from deploying US military into US cities and into foreign countries.
Unfortunately, her only opponent is MAGA Republican Mike Cargile. Skip this race.
District 36: Marianne Shamma
Who does Rep. Ted Lieu represent? He is elected to represent Westside and South Bay residents. However, large corporate campaign donations and $2.2 million from AIPAC and pro-Isreal lobbyists reveal his true loyalty. He voted for unconditional military aid to Israel, supported a GOP stunt bill proclaiming socialism to be evil, and approved a military spending bill that placed no restrictions on Trump’s ability to deploy the military in US cities or foreign countries. Rep. Lieu remains a disgrace.
Fortunately, Rep. Lieu faces several progressive challengers. Marianne Shamma is a blue-collar worker and community advocate born in Santa Monica who opposes Rep. Lieu’s silence on the genocide in Gaza and funding of Isreali weapons. She favors Medicaid for All, abolishing ICE, and shifting power to working people by strengthening labor laws, fostering cooperative alternatives, championing worker ownership, restoring antitrust laws, and higher taxes on wealthy corporations and individuals. Rustin Knudston is a data engineer who also has an impressive progressive platform. Shamma gets the nod here for her foreign policy positions and lived experience.
Ivan Perkins is a business lawyer who supports the discredited broken windows theory and opposes teachers unions. Frederick Reardon is a manager at a global steel company who denies that the housing crisis is causing the homelessness crisis. Independent Claire Anderson offers vague complaints without stating any policies. No information is available on Fattaneh Jafarzadeh. Republicans Melissa Toomin and Houston Bignano are also in the race.
District 37: Samantha Mota
While Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove holds some progressive policy positions, she voted to continue weapons shipments to Israel, despite the use of those weapons to kill civilians in Gaza. This vote alone is disqualifying. She also accepts campaign donations from numerous large corporations, including Amazon.
27-year old Mexican-American Samantha Mota was born and raised in Los Angeles County in a single-family household that relied on WIC and SNAP benefits, medicaid, and other programs to survive. This lived experience and a decade of activism has led her to challenge the Democratic Party establishment with an urgent call to reverse the neglect toward low-income communities. She boasts a detailed progressive platform, including housing for all, universal healthcare, immigration reform, and student loan forgiveness. She also opposes military aid to Israel and our militarized foreign policy.
Knock LA recommended Juan Rey in this race in 2024, and we continue to approve his working-class policy agenda. However, Mota is the best candidate in this race.
Small business owner Todd Lombardo and real estate appraiser Steve Hill have detailed and impressive progressive policy ideas. However, neither has published their foreign policy positions, despite Trump’s current warmaking and this country’s continued arms sales to a genocidal regime.
Attorney Ryan Duckett’s vague policies do not differ from the incumbent, while Elizabeth Fenner fails to state any policy positions at all. Candidate John Thompson Parker is pro-Russia and socialist. No information is available regarding Justin Dillon. Republican Baltazar Fedalizo is also in the race. Vote Mota.
District 38: Hilda Solis
Last fall, voters in California voted to redraw the state’s congressional maps to counter President Trump’s cynical ploy to redraw congressional maps in Texas to rig the midterm elections. As a result, two Democrat-leaning districts (the new 38th and new 41st) were created in the rough area of the former 38th District, and a Republican-leaning District in Riverside County (the former 41st) disappeared. Rep. Linda Sanchez, the current representative of the 38th District, is running in the new 41st.
Longtime politician and current LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis quickly consolidated support in this race, leaving little drama. During her previous stints in the State Legislature and Congress, Solis was progressive voice on labor and environmental justice issues, and she voted against the Iraq war in 2002. As LA County Supervisor, she has consistently supported rent protections, criminal justice reform, and compassionate answers for the unhoused.
Democrat Monica Sanchez (who is not related to Rep. Linda Sanchez) is a Pico Rivera City Councilmember and Solis’s chief opponent, yet fails to distinguish herself with any policy positions other than generic Democratic Party platitudes. While we might have preferred this new seat be filled by a new face, Solis is the easy choice in this race.
District 41: Hector De La Torre
Democrat Rep. Linda Sanchez regularly votes to increase military spending and receives large amounts of campaign donations from landlord associations, banks, health insurance companies, and AIPAC. Southeast LA residents deserve someone better.
Fortunately, progressive voters have two strong options. Democrat Hector De La Torre boasts an impressive record protecting the environment and marginalized communities during his time in the State Assembly and on the California Air Resources Board, as well as fighting corruption in his hometown of South Gate.
Shonique Williams is a civil rights advocate and community organizer whose activism is informed by a past that includes foster care, homelessness, wrongful incarceration, and a survivor of domestic violence. She favors universal healthcare coverage, criminal justice reforms, and universal childcare coverage, and is not accepting AIPAC-related donations. Republican Mitch Clemmons is also in the race.
This is a tough call. De La Torre’s progressive track record and fundraising give him a real chance to reach the Top 2 and then topple Sanchez, while Williams has the leftist policies informed by life experiences that would benefit this district. We recommend De La Torre because Sanchez will never be as vulnerable as she is this year, so the time is now to vote for the most viable progressive.
District 42: No Recommendation
Long Beach Rep. Robert Garcia became the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee in 2025, yet whose interests he represents remains an open question. He has received significant amounts of corporate cash from the real estate, insurance, and healthcare industries, as well support from AIPAC and its allies. He also voted for unconditional military aid to Israel, despite the country’s slaughter of civilians in Gaza.
Independent Larissa Vermeulen advances Trump talking points, including falsely linking migrants to increases in crime. Three Republicans are also in the race. We cannot recommend any of these candidates.
District 43: Maxine Waters
Rep. Maxine Waters was one of only 37 congressional Democrats to take a stand against the genocide in Gaza and vote against unconditional military aid to Israel in April 2024. We wish more of her LA colleagues had such sense. She has also repeatedly called for a federal civil rights investigation into the violent LASD deputy gangs.
Challenger Myla Rahman does not offer the same bold progressive advocacy, and has hired a campaign consultant with a history of advising centrist and corporate-funded Democrats. Democrat David Sedlek and Republican Christian Morales are also in the race. Vote Waters.
District 44: No Recommendation
While Rep. Nanette Barragán purports to hold progressive views on many issues, her actual values became apparent in April 2024, when she voted to continue sending unconditional military aid to Israel, despite those weapons being used to kill thousands of Palestinian civilians. Yet Republican healthcare executive Genevieve Angel is a worse option. We decline to recommend either candidate in this safely blue district.
District 45: No Recommendation
In his first term, Rep. Derek Tran voted to increase military spending and favored cryptocurrency interests. We can’t recommend him in this primary. However, his five Republican challengers are all far worse.
Paid for by Ground Game LA. Not authorized by or coordinated with any candidate or a committee controlled by any candidate.
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