# Member of the State Assembly, District 43 Compare records and positions simply between Ricardo Benitez or Celeste Rodriguez for Member of the State Assembly, District 43 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-43 - 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: 94 out of 100 (Very strong), across 9 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Ricardo Benitez** — Plumber/Electrical Contractor · Republican - **Celeste Rodriguez** — Assemblymember · Democratic · Incumbent Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez took 74.9% of the June 2 vote and Republican Ricardo Benitez took 25.1%; they were the only two candidates on the primary ballot. The district covers the northeast San Fernando 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. June's margin tells you where this district's registration sits. The incumbent authored fewer bills than most of her colleagues but converted a comparable share of them into law, and she raised less than most incumbents here. Weigh a lean first-term record against a challenger with no reported campaign. ## Celeste Rodriguez Celeste Rodriguez, a Democrat, is the sitting Assemblymember for California's 43rd District, raised in the northeast San Fernando Valley by immigrant parents who "instilled in her the values of service and social justice" (official biography). Before the Legislature she worked on the Los Angeles mayor's homelessness services team and, as deputy director of Community Development Strategies, oversaw the city's guaranteed basic income pilot and child savings accounts. She served on the San Fernando City Council and was twice elected mayor. "I think about California's budget the way I think about my own family's finances: you protect what matters most, and you don't spend what you don't have," Rodriguez said in a Southern California News Group questionnaire. In 2025 she authored AB 495, the Family Preparedness Plan Act, which lets parents designate a backup caregiver for their children if immigration enforcement, incarceration or military deployment separates the family; parental-rights groups rallied against it, warning it could make it easier to take children from parents, which Rodriguez calls "simply false and dangerous," saying "AB 495 is about one thing: keeping families together" (official press release). Governor Newsom signed it into law on October 12, 2025 (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov). She promises to "continue working to lower the cost of living," invest in early learning and workforce pathways, increase housing production at all income levels, and "oppose cooperation between local agencies and ICE" (OC Register questionnaire). **Strengths:** A signed law on family caregiving for children of separated families, plus prior terms as San Fernando's mayor and council member. **Trade-offs:** The same law drew organized opposition from parental-rights groups, who dispute her account of what it does. **Keep in mind:** Whether AB 495 protects families or weakens parental authority is contested by people who read the same bill text. That judgment is left to you. ## Ricardo Benitez Ricardo Benitez is a Republican and the only other candidate on this district's ballot, working as a plumber and electrical contractor. 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:** Benitez 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 Ricardo Benitez has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Celeste Rodriguez (Democratic) is the sitting Assemblymember for this district and is lead author of 28 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 9 of them signed into law. Per the California Legislature's public bill data (leginfo bulk download), retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Record details Rodriguez — AB 542 (2025): Continuation schools and classes: youth workforce development programs. Rodriguez — AB 799 (2025): Prisons: death benefit for incarcerated firefighters. Rodriguez — AB 777 (2025): Food assistance: disasters: utilities. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Celeste Rodriguez** - Primary: $403,033 raised (Small donors: $2,702; Individuals: $47,840; PACs & committees: $240,018; Businesses & other orgs: $111,800) - November: $19,118 raised (Individuals: $11,800; PACs & committees: $2,318; Businesses & other orgs: $5,000) Ricardo Benitez 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. Ricardo Benitez 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 - Celeste Rodriguez 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. [Celeste Rodriguez for Assembly — campaign site (bio and motivation)](https://www.votecelesterodriguez.com/) 4. [OC Register — Celeste Rodriguez, AD-43 candidate, 2026 primary election questionnaire](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/05/06/celeste-rodriguez-ad-43-candidate-2026-primary-election-questionnaire/) 5. [Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez — official biography](https://a43.asmdc.org/biography) 6. [Assemblymember Celeste Rodriguez — press release responding to AB 495 misinformation claims](https://crodriguez.asmdc.org/press-releases/20250825-assemblywoman-celeste-rodriguez-responds-misinformation-reaffirms-ab-495) 7. [California Legislature — AB 495 (Family Preparedness Plan Act) bill text and status, signed into law](https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=202520260AB495) 8. [California Legislative Information — public bill data (bulk download)](https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/) 9. [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 43 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 43 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/assembly-43 (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.