# Member of the State Assembly, District 27 Compare records and positions simply between Brian Pacheco or Mike Murphy for Member of the State Assembly, District 27 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-27 - 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: 93 out of 100 (Very strong), across 8 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Brian Pacheco** — County Supervisor/Farmer · Democratic - **Mike Murphy** — Small Business Owner · Republican This is an open seat: Esmeralda Soria is running for the State Senate rather than for re-election here. Republican Mike Murphy led the June 2 primary with 43.4% and Democrat Brian Pacheco took 40.3%, a 3.1-point gap that makes this one of the closest legislative contests on the November ballot; Democrat Japjeet Singh Uppal finished third with 16.3% and is off the ballot. The district takes in parts of Fresno, Madera and Merced counties. 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 which party they belong to will determine whether they build it from inside the majority or outside it. Both candidates ran the same kind of campaign — local executive experience, Central Valley economy, water — so the substantive disagreements are narrower than the party labels suggest. Two things distinguish them beyond party: the money is structured very differently, with one candidate self-funding most of his campaign and the other drawing heavily on committees; and a Democrat finishing second in a district where two Democrats together outpolled the Republican means the November result depends on where Uppal's 16.3% goes. ## Mike Murphy Mike Murphy, a Republican and Georgetown-trained business attorney, is the former two-term mayor of Merced. He points to a city budget surplus, clean drinking water and safer routes to school from his time as mayor (Los Banos Enterprise). He has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress. He says "California's Central Valley is the backbone of our state, and for too long we've been ignored" by Sacramento (Los Banos Enterprise). During a candidate debate this year he called the state's high-speed rail project a "boondoggle" whose costs have "quadrupled" (The Merced FOCUS). He also argued state regulations like CEQA make housing needlessly expensive to build. He said immigration enforcement should distinguish between felons and farmworkers rather than target both alike (The Merced FOCUS). He promises to focus on public safety, cost of living, transportation, health care access and water supply, citing his record as mayor as evidence he can deliver (Los Banos Enterprise). **Strengths:** Two terms as Merced's mayor is executive experience closer to the Legislature's budget and public-safety work than most challengers can claim. **Trade-offs:** He has no legislative record, so how his views on statewide issues would hold up in Sacramento is untested. **Keep in mind:** He led the June primary, but the two Democrats in the race together took more votes than he did, so his lead may not hold in a two-person race. ## Brian Pacheco Brian Pacheco, a Democrat and fourth-generation dairy farmer, has been Fresno County's District 1 supervisor since 2015. He says the county secured funding for the Mendota Esperanza Commons affordable-housing project during his tenure, along with street improvements in Tranquility (Merced County Times). He has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress. He says he entered the race because "there's not one bona fide farmer" among the Legislature's 80 members (Merced County Times). He also sits on the board of Community Regional Medical Center. He was involved in the county's response when Madera Community Hospital closed in 2023, a closure that cut off emergency care for a large part of the region (Merced County Times). He did not join Mike Murphy and Japjeet Singh Uppal in a candidate debate hosted by The Merced FOCUS this spring (The Merced FOCUS). He promises to make life in the valley more affordable, protect water quality and quantity, fund law enforcement and expand health care access. He calls himself "a businessman who knows how to navigate the complexities of running a business in California, while still delivering results" (Merced County Times). **Strengths:** A decade as Fresno County supervisor and generations of farming give him direct experience with water and county budgets, the district's central issues. **Trade-offs:** He finished second in the June primary, and did not join his two opponents in a spring candidate debate. **Keep in mind:** He and the other Democrat in the June primary together outpolled the Republican candidate, so where that vote goes in November matters more than the primary order suggests. ## 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 - **Brian Pacheco** - Primary: $1,278,772 raised (Small donors: $915; Individuals: $153,999; PACs & committees: $514,167; Businesses & other orgs: $341,068) - November: $29,200 raised (PACs & committees: $22,200; Businesses & other orgs: $7,000) - **Mike Murphy** - Primary: $554,536 raised (Small donors: $2,040; Individuals: $205,181; PACs & committees: $130,200; Businesses & other orgs: $92,352; Self-funding: $400,000) - November: $40,781 raised (Individuals: $22,381; PACs & committees: $11,800; Businesses & other orgs: $6,600) 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. ## 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. [GV Wire — Central Valley election coverage, Assembly District 27](https://gvwire.com/2026/06/03/esmeralda-soria-brian-pacheco-adam-gray-advance-to-november-runoffs/) 3. [Los Banos Enterprise — Assembly District 27 candidacy announcement and priorities](https://losbanosenterprise.com/news/elections/2025/fmr-merced-mayor-mike-murphy-announces-candidacy-for-state-assembly-district-27/) 4. [The Merced FOCUS — Assembly District 27 candidate debate](https://themercedfocus.org/27thassemblydebate/) 5. [Merced County Times — Fresno County Supervisor Brian Pacheco announces campaign for District 27 Assembly seat](https://mercedcountytimes.com/fresno-county-supervisor-brian-pacheco-announces-campaign-for-district-27-assembly-seat/) 6. [Merced County Times — Pacheco says he's in position to deliver results for local residents](https://mercedcountytimes.com/pacheco-says-hes-in-position-to-deliver-results-for-local-residents/) 7. [Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary](https://ballotpedia.org) 8. [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 27 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 27 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/assembly-27 (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.