# Member of the State Assembly, District 21 Compare records and positions simply between Diane Papan or Jabra J Muhawieh for Member of the State Assembly, District 21 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-21 - 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: 91 out of 100 (Very strong), across 7 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Diane Papan** — California State Assemblymember · Democratic · Incumbent - **Jabra J Muhawieh** — Enrolled Agent/Businessman · Republican Assemblymember Diane Papan took 78.7% of the June 2 vote and Republican Jabra J Muhawieh took 21.3%; they were the only two candidates on the primary ballot. The district covers San Mateo County's bayside cities. 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. Committee assignment is where most of the leverage sits, and it is handed out by the majority's leadership. A wide June margin and a two-candidate ballot mean the practical question is what the incumbent does with a seat she is likely to keep. Her bill count is high and her signed-into-law count is comparatively low, which is worth reading as a pair rather than separately — authoring is not the same as enacting. Weigh that against a challenger about whom little has been published. ## Diane Papan Diane Papan, a Democrat, is the sitting Assemblymember for this district. Before Sacramento she served on the San Mateo City Council and as deputy mayor, and she holds degrees from UCLA and UC Hastings College of Law (campaign site). She has authored bills on housing, wildfire prevention and consumer protection during her time in office. Her platform says she will "invest in game-changing strategies to address climate change, neighborhood safety and wildfire prevention" (campaign site). In January 2026 she introduced Assembly Bill 1557, which would have capped e-bike motors at 750 watts; she said, "We don't want to ban it altogether. We just want to make it where the bikes are safer" (Streetsblog California). The bill passed the Assembly Transportation Committee but, per Streetsblog, "didn't receive a vote in the Appropriations Committee before the deadline." She promises continued work on wildfire prevention, affordable housing and reproductive freedom, including a constitutional amendment barring the state from interfering with "an individual's right to reproductive freedom" (campaign site). Her platform also lists safer schools, expanded recycled water for drought and expanded mental health and homelessness services. **Strengths:** She has kept working on housing, wildfire and consumer-safety bills, and pushed an e-bike safety bill through its first Assembly committee this year. **Trade-offs:** Her one signature bill this year, capping e-bike motor power, passed committee but never got an Appropriations vote before the deadline. **Keep in mind:** Her platform repeats priorities from her earlier campaigns, like reproductive rights and wildfire prevention, alongside newer work like e-bike safety rules. ## Jabra J Muhawieh Jabra J Muhawieh, a Republican, is the only other candidate on this district's ballot. They have not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress, and their ballot designation lists them as an enrolled agent and businessman. No accessible news coverage of their campaign or their reasons for running could be located; a San Mateo Daily Journal headline noting their run could not be fetched past its headline. No campaign website or platform could be located for them. What is known about them comes from their ballot designation. **Strengths:** Muhawieh gave this district a contested race rather than an uncontested one. **Trade-offs:** No news coverage of their platform or record could be located, and they have no experience in the Legislature or Congress. **Keep in mind:** What is known about them comes only from their ballot designation, which lists them as an enrolled agent and businessman. ## Record in office Diane Papan (Democratic) is the sitting Assemblymember for this district and is lead author of 35 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 6 of them signed into law. Jabra J Muhawieh 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 2026-09-21. ## Record details Papan — AB 1250 (2025): Transit operators: paratransit: recertification of eligibility. Papan — AB 411 (2025): Livestock carcasses: disposal: composting. Papan — AB 60 (2025): Cosmetic safety. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Diane Papan** - Primary: $540,609 raised (Individuals: $19,900; PACs & committees: $300,400; Businesses & other orgs: $216,500) - November: $35,800 raised (PACs & committees: $18,900; Businesses & other orgs: $16,900) Jabra J Muhawieh 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. Jabra J Muhawieh 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 - Diane Papan for Assembly may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide 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. [Diane Papan for Assembly — campaign site, platform and biography pages (source for her stated priorities and background)](https://www.dianepapan.com/) 4. [Streetsblog California — Papan Wants to Draw a Legal Line Between E-Bikes and Electric Motorbikes (source for AB 1557 and her quotes)](https://cal.streetsblog.org/2026/01/15/papan-wants-to-draw-a-legal-line-between-e-bikes-and-electric-motorbikes) 5. [Streetsblog California — Legislative Update: The Good E-Bike Legislation Is Moving (source for AB 1557's outcome in Appropriations)](https://cal.streetsblog.org/2026/06/04/legislative-update-the-good-e-bike-legislation-is-moving) 6. [California Legislative Information — public bill data (bulk download)](https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/) 7. [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 21 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 21 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/assembly-21 (sources last retrieved September 24, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.