# Member of the State Assembly, District 18

Compare records and positions simply between Andre Sandford or Mia Bonta for Member of the State Assembly, District 18 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-18
- 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: September 24, 2026
- Source-objectivity score: 90 out of 100 (Very strong), across 11 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **Andre Sandford** — Housing Program Director · Democratic
- **Mia Bonta** — California State Assemblymember, Assembly District 18 · Democratic · Incumbent

Assemblymember Mia Bonta took 76.9% of the June 2 vote; Andre Sandford took 10.9% to claim the second slot ahead of a Republican and a Green in the four-candidate field. Both finalists are Democrats. The district covers Alameda, Emeryville and part of Oakland.

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. Seniority compounds, and this district's current member already holds it.

With two Democrats on the ballot, party is not the axis. One candidate has the highest signed-into-law count of any Assembly incumbent on this ballot; the other is running from outside the party structure on housing, healthcare and childcare. Weigh legislative productivity inside the majority against a challenge to how that majority sets its priorities.

## Mia Bonta

Mia Bonta is the sitting Assemblymember for District 18 and chairs the Assembly Health Committee (assembly.ca.gov). Her campaign site says she also "founded" the California Legislative Children's Caucus and was "a former East Bay nonprofit leader" before her election (campaign site).

In 2026 she authored AB 2624, which creates an address confidentiality program for immigration support-services providers, employees and volunteers "who face threats of violence or harassment" over their work (legislative counsel's digest, leginfo.legislature.ca.gov). Governor Newsom signed it on August 22, 2026, as Chapter 117 of the 2026 Statutes (gov.ca.gov). She says her aim is a California that "actually delivers for working families, not just the powerful" (campaign site).

She promises continued "Real Safety" investments, defending health care against federal cuts, and "Putting Kids First" through child care and education funding (campaign site). She says she will stand up to "federal attacks on healthcare and schools" (campaign site).

**Strengths:** Chairs the Assembly Health Committee and this year got a bill protecting immigrant aid workers from doxxing signed into law.

**Trade-offs:** Her case rests on committee seniority and a productive session — the trade is continuity in a seat with little organized challenge this cycle.

**Keep in mind:** A 77 percent primary result reflects this district's registration as much as her record, and tells you little about how she has performed in office.

## Andre Sandford

Andre Sandford, a Democrat, describes himself as "a husband, father, and proud Oakland neighbor" with "over nine years of service in Child Protective Services, Foster Care, and Clinical Mental Health Management" (campaign site). He holds a "B.A. in Liberal Studies (Criminal Justice)" and a "Master of Behavioral Sciences" (campaign site). He first ran for this seat in 2024 as an American Independent Party candidate (Alameda Post) and is running again in 2026.

In a 2024 letter to the editor he wrote that he decided to run for the Assembly "due to a robbery that involved my family" (Alameda Post). Per Ballotpedia, he changed his party registration from independent to Democratic in January 2026. He has not held elected office.

His campaign promises rent caps, lower housing-construction costs, guaranteed child care and universal health coverage, plus "fentanyl accountability" and smaller class sizes (campaign site). He says "California's rising cost of living has placed an overwhelming burden on families" (campaign site).

**Strengths:** Nine years of direct work in child welfare and housing gives him firsthand knowledge of the systems the Legislature funds.

**Trade-offs:** He has no record in elected office, and his platform so far exists only as campaign promises.

**Keep in mind:** He ran for this seat in 2024 as an independent and switched to the Democratic Party in January 2026, which you can read as a change in strategy or in position.

## Record in office

Andre Sandford has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices.

Mia Bonta (Democratic) is the sitting Assemblymember for this district and is lead author of 35 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 14 of them signed into law.

Per the California Legislature's public bill data (leginfo bulk download), retrieved 2026-09-21.

## Record details

Bonta — AB 1153 (2026): Illegal disposal site abatement.

Bonta — AB 2161 (2026): Medi-Cal eligibility: work or community engagement.

Bonta — AB 2624 (2026): Privacy for immigration support services providers.

Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record.

## Financial info

- **Mia Bonta**
  - Primary: $646,763 raised (Small donors: $1,620; Individuals: $66,655; PACs & committees: $413,498; Businesses & other orgs: $163,200)
  - November: $42,900 raised (Individuals: $23,600; PACs & committees: $9,400; Businesses & other orgs: $9,900)

Andre Sandford has no contributions reported to Cal-Access for this race.

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.

Andre Sandford has no itemized contributions dated after the June 2, 2026 primary reported to Cal-Access yet.

Total is itemized (Schedule A) contributions and self-funding loans dated after the June 2, 2026 primary, through June 29, 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

- Mia Bonta campaign site and Andre Sandford for 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. [Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary](https://ballotpedia.org)
3. [California State Assembly — Mia Bonta member page (committee assignments)](https://www.assembly.ca.gov/assemblymembers/18)
4. [Mia Bonta campaign site — biography and 2026 priorities](https://www.miabonta.com/)
5. [California Legislature — AB 2624 (2025-2026) bill text and legislative counsel's digest](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB2624)
6. [Office of Governor Newsom — bill signing announcement listing AB 2624 (Bonta)](https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/08/22/governor-newsom-signs-legislation/)
7. [Andre Sandford for Assembly — campaign site (biography and platform)](https://www.andresandfordforassembly.com/)
8. [Alameda Post — "UPDATE: Alameda's Candidates Mostly Set for November 5 Election" (Sandford bio note)](https://alamedapost.com/news/alamedas-candidates-set-for-november-5-election/)
9. [Alameda Post — Letters to the Editor, May 17 2024 (Sandford's own letter on why he is running)](https://alamedapost.com/op-ed/letters-editor-05-17-2024/)
10. [California Legislative Information — public bill data (bulk download)](https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/)
11. [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 18 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 18 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/assembly-18 (sources last retrieved September 24, 2026).

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