# Member of the State Assembly, District 25 Compare records and positions simply between Ash Kalra or Himat Singh Bainiwal for Member of the State Assembly, District 25 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-25 - 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: 87 out of 100 (Strong), across 7 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Ash Kalra** — State Assemblymember · Democratic · Incumbent - **Himat Singh Bainiwal** — Attorney · Republican Assemblymember Ash Kalra took 72.2% of the June 2 vote and Republican Himat Singh Bainiwal took 27.8%; they were the only two candidates on the primary ballot. The district covers central and east San Jose. 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 member is among the longer-serving on the ballot. This district's incumbent has the highest enacted-bill count of anyone on this ballot — 16 signed into law from 35 authored. That is the clearest single measure of legislative effectiveness available in the public record, and it is the thing to weigh here, alongside how little is published about their opponent. ## Ash Kalra Ash Kalra, the Democratic Assemblymember for this district, spent eleven years as a deputy public defender in Santa Clara County, work they say let them give clients "the opportunity to complete a rehabilitation program and turn their lives around" (campaign site). Kalra served on the San Jose City Council before their 2016 election to the Assembly, where they now chair the Judiciary Committee (campaign site) and have authored bills on criminal justice and workplace protections. They say health care "should never be determined by your employment, location, gender or sexual orientation, age, or pre-existing conditions" (National Nurses United). In February 2026 they introduced AB 1900, which would build CalCare, a state single-payer health system covering all residents regardless of immigration status; the bill remains active in the Legislature, well short of enactment (leginfo). They promise to keep pushing for single-payer health care, stronger renter protections and expanded workers' rights, and say their aim is a government "solving problems — not creating them" (campaign site). **Strengths:** Eleven years as a public defender and a decade in the Legislature, including a committee chairmanship, is more relevant experience than any other candidate here. **Trade-offs:** CalCare is a bill, not a law; how California would pay for a state single-payer system is still unresolved. **Keep in mind:** Kalra has pushed the same single-payer proposal for years without it passing. Whether a fresh introduction changes that is what November decides. ## Himat Singh Bainiwal Himat Singh Bainiwal is a Republican attorney and the only other candidate on this district's ballot. He has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress. No campaign website or news coverage of his platform could be located. What he would prioritize in office is not documented anywhere that could be located. What is known about him comes from his ballot designation as an attorney. **Strengths:** He gave this district a contested race rather than an uncontested one, and took more than a quarter of the June vote doing it. **Trade-offs:** He has no record in any office to be judged on, and no documented platform beyond his ballot designation. **Keep in mind:** Coverage surfaced almost no biographical or platform detail about him. That gap is what is publicly available, not a comment on his candidacy. ## Record in office Ash Kalra (Democratic) is the sitting Assemblymember for this district and is lead author of 35 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 16 of them signed into law. Himat Singh Bainiwal 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 Kalra — AB 1999 (2026): Veterinary medicine. Kalra — AB 1658 (2026): Local Agency Public Construction Act: change orders: County of Los Angeles: County of Santa Clara. Kalra — AB 1071 (2025): Criminal procedure: discrimination. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Ash Kalra** - Primary: $465,917 raised (Small donors: $334; Individuals: $67,771; PACs & committees: $354,021; Businesses & other orgs: $43,700) - November: $19,750 raised (Individuals: $8,200; PACs & committees: $10,900; Businesses & other orgs: $650) Himat Singh Bainiwal 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. Himat Singh Bainiwal 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 26, 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 - Ash Kalra for Assembly and National Nurses United 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. [Ash Kalra for Assembly — campaign site (biography, committee role, CalCare, priorities)](http://www.ashkalra.com/) 3. [National Nurses United — Assemblymember Ash Kalra, California Nurses Association Reintroduce CalCare Legislation](https://www.nationalnursesunited.org/press/assemblymember-ash-kalra-california-nurses-association-reintroduce-calcare-legislation) 4. [California Legislature — AB 1900 (2025-2026), Guaranteed Health Care for All / CalCare, text and history](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1900) 5. [Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary](https://ballotpedia.org) 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 25 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 25 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/assembly-25 (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.