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California Legislature · Statewide General Election

Member of the State Assembly, District 40

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).

Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo took 55.6% of the June 2 vote and Republican Rickey Tracy Hayes II took 22.3% to claim the second slot. At 55.6% the incumbent barely cleared a majority in her own primary. The district covers Santa Clarita and the northwestern edge of Los Angeles County.

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.

Two numbers frame this race. The incumbent took only 55.6% in her own primary, one of the weaker showings by a sitting member on this ballot; and she raised more than $1.3 million, of which $967,350 — roughly seven of every ten dollars — came from PACs and committees. Read together, they describe a seat that is considered competitive and is being defended with institutional money.

Pilar Schiavo

Democrat, the sitting Assemblymember for this district. She is lead author of 34 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 7 of them signed into law. She raised $1,335,478, among the larger Assembly totals on this ballot.

Strengths

Seven bills signed into law this session, and the resources to defend a seat her party evidently considers at risk.

Trade-offs

About 72 cents of every dollar came from PACs and committees, against a ballot median of about a third — a seat defended largely on committee money.

Keep in mind

She cleared a majority in the primary by just over half a point of margin, the second-narrowest incumbent showing on this ballot.

Rickey Tracy Hayes II

Republican, who advanced with 22.3% of the June vote. He raised $47,442, including $23,200 from PACs and committees and $20,895 from individuals. He has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress.

Strengths

He assembled a modest but real campaign with some committee backing, which most challengers on this ballot did not.

Trade-offs

$47,442 against $1,335,478 is roughly three cents on the dollar, and he has no record in office to be judged on.

Keep in mind

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

Record in office

Pilar Schiavo (Democratic) is the sitting Assemblymember for this district and is lead author of 34 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 7 of them signed into law. Rickey Tracy Hayes II 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 2026-08-10.

Record details

Schiavo — AB 2147 (2026): Criminal procedure: jurisdiction of public offenses. Schiavo — AB 301 (2025): Planning and zoning: housing development projects: postentitlement phase permits: state agencies. Schiavo — AB 656 (2025): Account cancellation. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record.

Financial info

Pilar Schiavo

$1,335,478raised
  • Small donors$1,018<1%
  • Individuals$42,7954%
  • PACs & committees$967,35080%
  • Businesses & other orgs$195,13316%

Rickey Tracy Hayes II

$47,442raised
  • Small donors$8652%
  • Individuals$20,89546%
  • PACs & committees$23,20052%

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

Pilar Schiavo (Democratic)55.6% · 74,496 votes
Rickey Tracy Hayes II (Republican)22.3% · 29,879 votes
Elizabeth Wong Ahlers (Republican)14.0% · 18,694 votes
Andreas Farmakalidis (Republican)8.1% · 10,855 votes
Source review: Very strong (97/100) · 4 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

Last updated August 10, 2026.