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Member of the State Assembly, District 12

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State of California

Member of the State Assembly, District 12

This person holds your district's seat in the California State Assembly (2-year term).

This is an open seat. Damon Connolly is running for the State Senate instead of re-election here. Six candidates ran to replace him. Two Democrats advanced to November. Marin County Supervisor Eric Lucan got 28.3% of the vote. Rohnert Park councilmember Jackie Elward got 22.6%. Republican Eryn Cervantes finished third with 19.4% and is off the ballot. The district covers Marin and Sonoma counties, with about 55% of voters in Marin.

The winner holds one of 80 Assembly seats for a two-year term, inside a 12-year lifetime cap on service in Sacramento. An Assemblymember authors bills, sits on the policy committees that decide which bills advance, and argues for the district's share of the annual state budget. Because this seat is open, whoever wins starts without seniority and builds committee standing from scratch.

With two Democrats on the ballot, party is not the axis here — the choice is between two local-government records and two bases. One candidate's is in Marin, where most of the district's voters are; the other's is in Sonoma, with broader union backing. One outside factor is worth knowing before you read either profile: per the Press Democrat, a super PAC called Grow California, founded by Chris Larsen and Tim Draper, spent more than $500,000 on advertising against Elward and against none of Elward's opponents. Elward called the ads misleading and said they were meant to "scare voters"; the paper reports no connection between that spending and Lucan.

Eric Lucan

Eric Lucan is a Democrat and chair of the Marin County Board of Supervisors. He served three terms on the Novato City Council before that. As supervisor he helped reduce the population of Marin's largest homeless encampment through permanent housing, and helped place formerly homeless veterans into housing.

Lucan says the affordability crisis in housing, child care and health care is why he is running. As a supervisor he chaired the Transportation Authority of Marin, which oversaw the widening of Highway 101 through the Marin-Sonoma Narrows. He has not served in the Legislature.

Lucan promises to keep working on housing, transportation, climate resilience and support for local businesses. He says he wants to bring years of local government experience to Sacramento. He describes his approach as leading with heart and governing with experience.

Jackie Elward

Jackie Elward is a Democrat and a Rohnert Park city councilmember. They were elected in 2020 as the first Black woman on that council and later served as mayor. Before politics they worked as a school employee and labor organizer, and they were born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

As a councilmember, Elward voted in 2025 for a water rate increase that they say was needed to fix aging pipes, tanks and wells. An outside political group funded by two out of state investors ran ads attacking that vote. Elward calls the ads misleading and says the increase paid for repairs that were becoming more urgent and costly each year.

Elward promises to focus on affordability, wildfire prevention, climate action and housing. They back a state single payer health system and call themselves pro-choice and pro-labor. They say they want to protect what they call North Bay values in Sacramento.

Record in office

This is an open seat: no candidate on the November ballot currently serves in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress, so there is no legislative record to compare here. These records cover only those offices.

Financial info

Eric Lucan

Primary — $611,136

$611,136raised
  • Small donors$4,3661%
  • Individuals$290,92848%
  • PACs & committees$219,84936%
  • Party$100<1%
  • Businesses & other orgs$91,35015%

November — $20,800

$20,800raised
  • Individuals$6,00029%
  • PACs & committees$12,80062%
  • Businesses & other orgs$2,00010%

Jackie Elward

Primary — $372,071

$372,071raised
  • Small donors$7,3862%
  • Individuals$101,09028%
  • PACs & committees$246,20267%
  • Businesses & other orgs$9,8503%
  • Self-funding$1,000<1%

November — $33,800

$33,800raised
  • Individuals$9,20027%
  • PACs & committees$24,60073%

Figures are CA Form 460 filings through June 30, 2026 by committees controlled by each candidate, and can include transfers from a candidate's earlier committees. Semi-annual reports covering January–June 2026 were due July 31, 2026, so some totals lag a period behind. Per the California Secretary of State's Cal-Access raw data export, retrieved 2026-09-21.

Total is itemized (Schedule A) contributions and self-funding loans dated after the June 2, 2026 primary, through June 30, 2026 — small-dollar unitemized (under $100) contributions aren't independently dated in Cal-Access's raw export, so they aren't reflected here and this may undercount true small-donor activity since the primary. This also doesn't include money reported only on 24-hour late-contribution reports (Form 497) that haven't yet appeared in a periodic Form 460 filing. Per the California Secretary of State's Cal-Access raw data export, retrieved 2026-08-30.

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