# Member of the State Assembly, District 12

Compare records and positions simply between Eric Lucan or Jackie Elward for Member of the State Assembly, District 12 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat in the California State Assembly (2-year term).

- Jurisdiction: California Legislature
- Election: November 3, 2026 California general election
- Publisher: Vote or Else (https://voteorelse.com) — a free, nonpartisan ballot guide for California voters. No endorsements.
- Canonical page: https://voteorelse.com/2026/assembly-12
- Full ballot: this page covers one race. Every contest on a voter's own ballot, by address, with the same breakdown for each: https://voteorelse.com/
- Sources last retrieved: August 30, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 83 out of 100 (Strong), across 6 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Eric Lucan** — County Supervisor/Father · Democratic
- **Jackie Elward** — Councilwoman/Educator · Democratic

This is an open seat: Damon Connolly is running for the State Senate rather than for re-election here, and six candidates ran to replace him. Two Democrats advanced — Marin County Supervisor Eric Lucan with 28.3% and Rohnert Park councilmember Jackie Elward with 22.6% — so November is a contest between two members of the same party. Republican Eryn Cervantes finished third with 19.4% and is off the ballot. The district spans Marin and Sonoma counties, with roughly 55% of its voters on the Marin side.

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, a Democrat, chairs the Marin County Board of Supervisors after three terms on the Novato City Council and nearly two decades on the city's parks and recreation commission (campaign site). As supervisor he says he "championed lasting solutions to homelessness," helping reduce the population of Marin's largest encampment through permanent housing, and partnered with Homeward Bound to place formerly homeless veterans into twenty-four dedicated housing units (campaign site).

He says the region's "affordability crisis hitting our families—from housing and childcare to healthcare and small business costs—demands leadership that puts the needs of people and communities above political expedience" (campaign site). As chair of the Transportation Authority of Marin, he oversaw the Marin-Sonoma Narrows widening of Highway 101, which opened in 2025 (campaign site). He has not served in the Legislature.

Lucan promises to keep working on housing affordability, transportation, climate resilience and support for local business, and to "bring home the support and resources our communities need" (campaign site). He frames his pitch as "leading with heart, governing with experience."

**Strengths:** The longest local government record in the race, with specific results on homelessness and veteran housing, plus a lead position after the primary.

**Trade-offs:** He has held county and city office but never state office, so his record is on local budgets and transit rather than on legislation.

**Keep in mind:** He led a crowded June field, but most primary voters chose someone else, so his lead is a plurality rather than a mandate. Weigh his local record against a challenger with her own record in a different county.

## Jackie Elward

Jackie Elward, a Democrat, is a Rohnert Park city councilmember who was elected in 2020 as the first Black woman on that council and later served as mayor. Born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they immigrated to the United States in the mid-2000s and work as an instructional assistant at a Santa Rosa elementary school, after starting their public service as a union site representative for school employees (campaign site).

In 2025 the Rohnert Park council, with Elward's vote, raised water rates to pay for repairs to aging tanks, lines and wells; the measure passed four to one (Press Democrat). A super PAC called Grow California, founded by Chris Larsen and Tim Draper, spent more than half a million dollars on ads attacking that vote, quoting Elward's own words that "you're going to pay now or pay more later" out of context (Press Democrat). Elward called the ads "garbage" and said Larsen and Draper are targeting Elward because they "think they can flip this traditionally progressive seat" (Press Democrat).

Elward promises to "take bold action on economic issues to lower costs," expand wildfire-prevention funding, and pursue "a universal single-payer system" for health care (campaign site). They call themselves "proudly pro-choice" and "proudly pro-labor," and frame their campaign around defending what they call "North Bay values" (campaign site).

**Strengths:** A mayoral record on homelessness and housing, including funding secured for permanent housing programs, and broader union support in the race.

**Trade-offs:** Elward is the only candidate targeted by outside spending in this race, tied to a vote they say was necessary that their opponent was never asked to defend.

**Keep in mind:** The attack ads focus on one local vote taken out of its infrastructure context, by their account. Whether that vote was the right call, and how much weight to give an outside group's ads about it, is the judgment this profile leaves to you.

## 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 raised (Small donors: $4,366; Individuals: $290,928; PACs & committees: $219,849; Party: $100; Businesses & other orgs: $91,350)
  - November: $20,800 raised (Individuals: $6,000; PACs & committees: $12,800; Businesses & other orgs: $2,000)
- **Jackie Elward**
  - Primary: $372,071 raised (Small donors: $7,386; Individuals: $101,090; PACs & committees: $246,202; Businesses & other orgs: $9,850; Self-funding: $1,000)
  - November: $33,800 raised (Individuals: $9,200; PACs & committees: $24,600)

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.

## Review notes

- Jackie Elward for State Assembly and Eric Lucan for State Assembly may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.

## Sources

1. [CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-07-10)](https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/prior-elections/statewide-election-results/primary-election-june-2-2026/statement-vote)
2. [Eric Lucan for State Assembly — campaign website](https://www.ericlucan.com/)
3. [Jackie Elward for State Assembly — campaign website](https://www.jackie4assembly.com/priorities)
4. [The Press Democrat — Assembly District 12 runoff and independent-expenditure coverage](https://www.pressdemocrat.com/2026/05/18/billionaires-grow-california-jackie-elward-california-assembly/)
5. [Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary](https://ballotpedia.org)
6. [Cal-Access raw data export — California Secretary of State](https://www.sos.ca.gov/campaign-lobbying/helpful-resources/raw-data-campaign-finance-and-lobbying-activity)

## The rest of the ballot

Member of the State Assembly, District 12 is one contest among the many a California voter decides on November 3, 2026 — Congress, the Legislature, county, city, and school board races differ by address. Vote or Else builds the full list for any California address and breaks down each contest the way this page does, with no account and without storing the address: https://voteorelse.com/

## How to cite this page

Vote or Else, "Member of the State Assembly, District 12 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/assembly-12 (sources last retrieved August 30, 2026).

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