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California Legislature · Statewide General Election

Member of the State Assembly, District 42

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 Deborah Klein Lopez led the June 2 primary with 52.7% and Republican Ted Nordblum took 25.7%. The district covers part of the San Fernando Valley and the northern Los Angeles basin.

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 and the available evidence is how each campaign was built. One raised more than five times the other, but both drew a substantial share from individuals rather than committees — an unusually individual-funded pair for an open Los Angeles-area seat. Weigh the scale of support against its composition.

Deborah Klein Lopez

Democrat, who led the June primary with an outright majority at 52.7%. She raised $927,602, including $453,200 from PACs and committees and $359,402 from individuals, with $8,963 from small donors. She has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress.

Strengths

A majority of the June vote in a multi-candidate open-seat primary, and a larger individual donor base than most candidates on this ballot assembled.

Trade-offs

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

Keep in mind

Winning a primary outright in an open seat usually means the party's coalition consolidated early behind her.

Ted Nordblum

Republican, who advanced with 25.7% of the June vote. He raised $168,080, of which $131,655 came from individuals and only $17,933 from PACs and committees. He has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress.

Strengths

A campaign funded overwhelmingly by individuals rather than institutions, which is uncommon on this ballot in either party.

Trade-offs

He finished 27 points behind on about a fifth of his opponent's money, and 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

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

Deborah Klein Lopez

$927,602raised
  • Small donors$8,9631%
  • Individuals$359,40240%
  • PACs & committees$453,20051%
  • Businesses & other orgs$72,2508%

Ted Nordblum

$168,080raised
  • Small donors$2,2421%
  • Individuals$131,65578%
  • PACs & committees$17,93311%
  • Businesses & other orgs$16,25010%

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

Deborah Klein Lopez (Democratic)52.7% · 85,368 votes
Ted Nordblum (Republican)25.7% · 41,522 votes
Rocky Rhodes (Republican)21.6% · 34,985 votes
Source review: Very strong (94/100) · 3 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

Last updated August 10, 2026.