# Member of the State Assembly, District 41

Compare records and positions simply between John Harabedian or Adam Christopher Vena for Member of the State Assembly, District 41 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-41
- 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: 92 out of 100 (Very strong), across 7 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology

## On the ballot

- **John Harabedian** — California State Assemblymember · Democratic · Incumbent
- **Adam Christopher Vena** — Father/Sanitation Employee · Republican

Assemblymember John Harabedian took 63.3% of the June 2 vote and Republican Adam Christopher Vena took 36.7%; they were the only two candidates on the primary ballot. The district covers Pasadena and the western San Gabriel Valley.

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 first-term member is still building the committee position that determines how much of that agenda actually moves.

The incumbent raised more than $1 million in his first term while converting 9 of 33 authored bills into law — close to the median for Assembly incumbents on this ballot. Those two facts are worth weighing as a pair rather than separately, particularly against an opponent who has reported no fundraising at all.

## John Harabedian

John Harabedian, a Democrat, is the sitting Assemblymember for California's 41st District, first elected in 2024. Before Sacramento, he was a prosecutor with the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office and an attorney at Latham & Watkins, Stanford's Immigrants' Rights Clinic and the Equality Pro Bono Project. He served eight years on the Sierra Madre City Council, twice as mayor, leading the city's solar energy initiative and co-founding the Clean Power Alliance (campaign site).

In June 2026, his Assembly Bill 1950 — which lets Los Angeles County judges refer any civil case to mediation regardless of the amount in dispute — cleared the state Senate Judiciary Committee; Harabedian said it would help courts "minimize costly delays for litigants" (Pasadena Now). Governor Newsom signed it into law that August (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov).

He promises to keep building affordable housing, invest in renewable energy and water infrastructure, fund mental health treatment, strengthen K-12 schools with competitive teacher pay, and defend reproductive rights, including access to birth control and abortion care (campaign site).

**Strengths:** A bill he wrote on court mediation passed the Legislature and was signed into law, on top of eight years of city council and mayoral experience.

**Trade-offs:** His platform continues the priorities of his first term rather than marking a new direction for the district.

**Keep in mind:** His record so far is a first term of committee work and the mediation bill that became law. Weigh that against an opponent with no public record to compare it to.

## Adam Christopher Vena

Adam Christopher Vena is a Republican and the only other candidate on this district's ballot, with a ballot designation of father and sanitation employee. No campaign website, social media presence, or news coverage describing their background could be located. They have not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress.

No documented statement of why they are running could be found. Cal-Access, the state's campaign finance database, shows no contributions reported for their campaign committee.

No issues page, questionnaire response, or public statement of their platform could be located.

**Strengths:** Vena gave this district a contested race rather than an uncontested one.

**Trade-offs:** No money and no record in office leaves little for a voter to evaluate beyond party.

**Keep in mind:** No campaign website or news coverage of their platform could be located. What is known comes from their ballot designation.

## Record in office

John Harabedian (Democratic) is the sitting Assemblymember for this district and is lead author of 33 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 9 of them signed into law.

Adam Christopher Vena 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

Harabedian — AB 1642 (2026): Wildfires: contamination standards.

Harabedian — AB 1847 (2026): Mortgage forbearance: state of emergency: wildfire.

Harabedian — AB 1842 (2026): California Mortgage Relief Act.

Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record.

## Financial info

- **John Harabedian**
  - Primary: $1,056,690 raised (Individuals: $120,976; PACs & committees: $453,250; Businesses & other orgs: $475,850; Self-funding: $500)
  - November: $60,750 raised (Individuals: $18,200; PACs & committees: $15,250; Businesses & other orgs: $27,300)

Adam Christopher Vena 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.

Adam Christopher Vena 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 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.

## Review notes

- John Harabedian for Assembly may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide 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. [Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary](https://ballotpedia.org)
3. [John Harabedian for Assembly — campaign site (candidate bio and priorities)](https://www.johnharabedian.com/)
4. [Pasadena Now — Harabedian Bill to Expand Court Mediation Clears Senate Committee (AB 1950)](https://www.pasadenanow.com/main/harabedian-bill-to-expand-court-mediation-clears-senate-committee)
5. [California Legislature — AB 1950 bill text and status (signed into law, official record)](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB1950)
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 41 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 41 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/assembly-41 (sources last retrieved September 24, 2026).

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