# Member of the State Assembly, District 42 Compare records and positions simply between Deborah Klein Lopez or Ted Nordblum for Member of the State Assembly, District 42 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-42 - 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: 85 out of 100 (Strong), across 7 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Deborah Klein Lopez** — City Councilmember · Democratic - **Ted Nordblum** — Small Business Owner · Republican 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 Deborah Klein Lopez, a Democrat, is an Agoura Hills City Councilmember and Mayor Pro Tem who grew up "at the base of the Santa Monica Mountains" and returned to raise their own family there (campaign site). A graduate of Northwestern University, they began their career in financial analysis and project management at companies including Reuters and J.D. Power and Associates before moving into public service. "Costs are out of control," Lopez says. "I'm running to drive down the outrageous prices we pay for basics: housing, healthcare, childcare, gas and utilities, home insurance" (campaign site). Lopez was elected to the Agoura Hills council in November 2018, two days before the Woolsey Fire tore through the city, and as mayor Lopez led the council in passing the region's first Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (campaign site). Lopez promises to fight for infill and workforce housing, expand apprenticeship and workforce-development programs, restore health care funding, and "take on those who put profit over people" on wildfire and insurance policy (OC Register questionnaire; campaign site). **Strengths:** A decade of local government experience, including leading wildfire recovery and passing the region's first climate adaptation plan as mayor. **Trade-offs:** No experience in the state Legislature; Lopez's Assembly record would start from scratch like any newly elected member. **Keep in mind:** Lopez built their political identity partly around recovering from a wildfire that struck days after they took office. How much weight that deserves is your call. ## Ted Nordblum Ted Nordblum, a Republican, is the president of West Coast Medical Inc., a medical device company he built after starting his career as a union heavy equipment operator; he has never held elected office (campaign site; OC Register questionnaire). "My decision to run for State Assembly wasn't born in a political strategy session. It was forged in personal tragedy," Nordblum says. "In November 2021, my family's world was turned upside down when my brother died from a fentanyl overdose" (campaign site). In a Southern California News Group questionnaire, he said he would look at "cutting all entitlements for undocumented immigrants and the homeless for starters," called California's climate goals "a hoax," and said state lawmakers who limit local cooperation with federal immigration agents are being "seditious" (OC Register). He promises to "cut the gas tax, defend Prop 13, and bring fiscal sanity back to Sacramento"; he wants to privatize health insurance, restore in-state oil refining, and, in his words, "break the supermajority" of Democrats in the Legislature (campaign site; OC Register questionnaire). **Strengths:** Built a medical device company from a start as a heavy equipment operator, and speaks from personal loss on the fentanyl crisis. **Trade-offs:** No experience in government, and positions well to the right of this district's recent voting history. **Keep in mind:** He frames government mostly in terms of what to cut. Whether that fits a job that mainly involves writing and passing law is for you to weigh. ## 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** - Primary: $927,602 raised (Small donors: $8,963; Individuals: $359,402; PACs & committees: $453,200; Businesses & other orgs: $72,250) - November: $62,950 raised (Individuals: $3,600; PACs & committees: $41,650; Businesses & other orgs: $17,700) - **Ted Nordblum** - Primary: $168,080 raised (Small donors: $2,242; Individuals: $131,655; PACs & committees: $17,933; Businesses & other orgs: $16,250) - November: $10,200 raised (Individuals: $10,200) 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. 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 - Deborah Klein Lopez for Assembly and Ted Nordblum for Assembly may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides 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. [Deborah Klein Lopez for Assembly — campaign site, About Deborah page](https://deborahkleinlopez.com/about/) 4. [OC Register — Deborah Klein Lopez, AD-42 candidate, 2026 primary election questionnaire](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/05/06/deborah-klein-lopez-ad-42-candidate-2026-primary-election-questionnaire/) 5. [Ted Nordblum for Assembly — campaign site, Why I'm Running page](https://tednordblum.com/why-im-running) 6. [OC Register — Ted Nordblum, AD-42 candidate, 2026 primary election questionnaire](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/05/06/ted-nordblum-ad-42-candidate-2026-primary-election-questionnaire/) 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 42 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 42 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/assembly-42 (sources last retrieved September 24, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. Coverage is updated as the race develops, so quote it with its retrieval date.