California Legislature · Statewide General Election
Member of the State Assembly, District 20
Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.
This is one contest. Enter your address to see every race on your November ballot, and keep track of your picks.
On the ballot
- Liz Ortega — Democratic · Incumbent
- Patricia Muga — Republican
This person holds your district's seat in the California State Assembly (2-year term).
Assemblymember Liz Ortega took 75.1% of the June 2 vote and Republican Patricia Muga took 24.9%; they were the only two candidates on the primary ballot. The district covers Hayward, Union City and southern Alameda County.
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. A member two terms in has committee standing that a newcomer would spend years building.
June's margin tells you where this district's registration sits. The incumbent's funding profile is the most union- and committee-weighted on this part of the ballot, which is either the point or the problem depending on how you read the relationship between organized labor and this seat. Weigh that alongside a challenger about whom little has been published.
Liz Ortega
Democrat, the sitting Assemblymember for this district since December 2022 and a labor organizer before her election. She is lead author of 33 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 6 of them signed into law. She took three-quarters of the June vote.
Strengths
Two terms in the seat, 6 bills signed into law this session, and committee standing built over four years.
Trade-offs
Roughly 84 cents of every dollar came from PACs and committees, against a ballot median of about a third — the trade is a seat held on committee money.
Keep in mind
That funding concentration reflects her background in organized labor; whether it reads as a constituency or a dependency is a judgment we leave to you.
Patricia Muga
Republican, and the only other candidate on this district's ballot, with 24.9% of the June vote. She has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress.
Strengths
She gave this district a contested race rather than an unopposed one, and took roughly a quarter of the June vote doing it.
Trade-offs
Cal-Access shows no contributions reported for her committee, and she has no record in office to be judged on.
Keep in mind
Coverage surfaced almost no biographical or platform detail about her. That gap is what was available to us on 2026-08-10, not a comment on her candidacy.
Record in office
Liz Ortega (Democratic) is the sitting Assemblymember for this district and is lead author of 33 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 6 of them signed into law. Patricia Muga has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Per the California Legislature's public bill data (leginfo bulk download), retrieved 2026-08-10.
Record details
Ortega — AB 2156 (2026): Holidays: Farmworkers Day. Ortega — AB 339 (2025): Local public employee organizations: notice requirements. Ortega — AB 815 (2025): Vehicle insurance: vehicle classification. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record.
Financial info
- Small donors
- Individuals
- PACs & committees
- Businesses & other orgs
Liz Ortega
$538,994 raised
- Small donors$718<1%
- Individuals$51,0589%
- PACs & committees$454,51884%
- Businesses & other orgs$32,7006%
1Patricia Muga has no contributions reported to Cal-Access for this race.
2Figures 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 2026-08-22.
June 2 primary — how they advanced
Source review: Very strong (97/100) · 4 cited sources
Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.
- sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-07-10)
- ballotpedia.org (opens in a new tab)Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary
- downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Legislative Information — public bill data (bulk download)
- sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)Cal-Access raw data export — California Secretary of State
Last updated August 10, 2026.