California Legislature · Statewide General Election
Member of the State Assembly, District 34
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
- Charles Frederick Hughes — Republican
- Randall Putz — Democratic
This person holds your district's seat in the California State Assembly (2-year term).
This is an open seat and one of the closest legislative contests on the November ballot. Democrat Randall Putz led the June 2 primary with 39.2% and Republican Charles Frederick Hughes took 36.7%, a gap of 2.5 points. The district covers the eastern Sierra and the high desert.
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 district this geographically large and sparsely populated depends heavily on its representative's ability to claim budget attention it cannot command by population.
This is a genuinely close race between two candidates with no state legislative record, and the money runs opposite to the June result: the candidate who finished first raised roughly a third of what the candidate who finished second did. Weigh which matters more to you — the votes already cast, or the resources available for the four months between now and November 3.
Randall Putz
Democrat, who led the June primary with 39.2% of the vote. He raised $162,671, including $73,000 of his own money, $61,169 from individuals and only $12,150 from PACs and committees. He has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress.
Strengths
He led the field in June while raising less than a third of what his opponent did, and arrives with almost no committee funding attached.
Trade-offs
Nearly half his money is his own, he has no record in state office, and he is the underfunded candidate going into the general.
Keep in mind
He led with 39.2%, well short of a majority, so November depends on where the rest of the June field's support settles.
Charles Frederick Hughes
Republican, who advanced with 36.7% of the June vote, 2.5 points behind. He raised $555,808, including $310,760 from PACs and committees, $141,450 from businesses and other organizations and $85,651 from individuals. He has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress.
Strengths
He goes into November with roughly three and a half times his opponent's resources in a race decided by 2.5 points in June.
Trade-offs
More than half of that came from PACs and committees, and he has no record in state office to be judged on.
Keep in mind
He finished second despite the funding advantage, so the money has not yet translated into votes in this district.
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
- Small donors
- Individuals
- PACs & committees
- Businesses & other orgs
- Self-funding
Charles Frederick Hughes
$555,808 raised
- Small donors$3,4141%
- Individuals$85,65116%
- PACs & committees$310,76057%
- Businesses & other orgs$141,45026%
- Self-funding$550<1%
Randall Putz
$162,671 raised
- Small donors$3,4012%
- Individuals$61,16938%
- PACs & committees$12,1507%
- Businesses & other orgs$12,9508%
- Self-funding$73,00045%
1Figures 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 (94/100) · 3 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
- sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)Cal-Access raw data export — California Secretary of State
Last updated August 10, 2026.