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California Legislature · Statewide General Election

Member of the State Assembly, District 31

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

This person holds your district's seat in the California State Assembly (2-year term).

This is an open seat. Democrat Annalisa Perea led the June 2 primary with 44.6% and Republican Jim Polsgrove took 34.4%. The district covers Fresno and its immediate surroundings.

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 builds committee standing from scratch.

Neither candidate has held state office, so there is no legislative record on either side. The gap that does exist is one of resources: one campaign has raised roughly twenty-six times what the other has. Weigh how much that difference reflects assembled support in the district versus access to the funding networks that back Central Valley campaigns.

Annalisa Perea

Democrat, who led the June primary with 44.6% of the vote. She raised $839,319, including $458,431 from PACs and committees, $209,850 from businesses and other organizations and $164,826 from individuals. She has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress.

Strengths

She led the field in June and assembled by far the larger campaign, which in an open seat is a measure of institutional backing.

Trade-offs

More than half her funding came from PACs and committees, and she has no record in office to be judged on.

Keep in mind

She led with 44.6%, short of a majority, so the November result depends on where the rest of the June field's support goes.

Jim Polsgrove

Republican, who advanced with 34.4% of the June vote. He raised $32,440, of which $25,000 is his own money and $7,100 came from individuals. He has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress.

Strengths

He took more than a third of the June vote on a budget of about $32,000, the widest gap between votes earned and money spent in any Assembly race here.

Trade-offs

Most of that money is his own, he has no institutional support to speak of, and no record in office to be judged on.

Keep in mind

Coverage surfaced little detail about his platform; we can document what his campaign raised and how it polled, not what he would do in office.

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

Jim Polsgrove

$32,440raised
  • Small donors$3401%
  • Individuals$7,10022%
  • Self-funding$25,00077%

Annalisa Perea

$839,319raised
  • Small donors$2,177<1%
  • Individuals$164,82620%
  • PACs & committees$458,43155%
  • Businesses & other orgs$209,85025%

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 2026-08-22.

June 2 primary — how they advanced

Annalisa Perea (Democratic)44.6% · 26,832 votes
Jim Polsgrove (Republican)34.4% · 20,682 votes
Sandra Celedon (Democratic)21.0% · 12,657 votes
Source review: Very strong (94/100) · 3 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

Last updated August 10, 2026.