# Member of the State Assembly, District 51 Compare records and positions simply between Colin D. Hernandez or Rick Chavez Zbur for Member of the State Assembly, District 51 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-51 - 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 8 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Colin D. Hernandez** — Digital Communication Strategist · Democratic - **Rick Chavez Zbur** — California Assemblymember · Democratic · Incumbent Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur took 54.1% of the June 2 vote and fellow Democrat Colin D. Hernandez took 22.1%, so November is a contest between two members of the same party. The district covers West Hollywood, Beverly Hills and the Los Angeles Westside. 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. With two Democrats on the ballot, party is not the axis. The incumbent barely cleared a majority in his own primary while raising nearly $1.2 million, including the largest individual-donor base of any Assembly candidate on this ballot. The challenger is running on about one percent of that. Weigh a substantial enacted record against whatever case a same-party challenge is making. ## Rick Chavez Zbur Rick Chavez Zbur has represented the 51st Assembly District since his election in November 2022 (Assembly biography). In July 2023, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas appointed him Democratic Caucus Chair, one of the Speaker's key leadership posts (Assembly biography). He is a former executive director of Equality California, "the nation's largest statewide LGBTQ+ civil rights organization" (Assembly biography). He also spent twenty years on the board of the California League of Conservation Voters, serving six years as its president (Assembly biography). He grew up in a farming community in New Mexico before attending Yale College and Harvard Law School (Assembly biography). He says "it's time to end the homelessness crisis, restore California's social safety net, & ensure a brighter future for all Californians" (campaign site). His most consequential fight this year was Assembly Bill 715, a school antisemitism measure he co-authored (CalMatters). Gov. Gavin Newsom signed it in October 2025, after a coalition of teachers unions, school boards and civil rights groups warned it could chill classroom speech on Israel and Palestine (CalMatters). Zbur told colleagues, "We cannot hide from the profoundly unfortunate truth that Jewish kids are being isolated, made to feel unwelcome, and verbally and physically attacked" (CalMatters). He promises a "California Housing Corps" that would deploy recent graduates to homeless encampments to connect people with services (campaign site). He also promises affordable housing near transit and expanded rent subsidies (campaign site). His platform lists gun-safety measures, equal pay, paid family leave, and climate investment among his other priorities (campaign site). **Strengths:** A leadership post as Democratic Caucus Chair, and a signature bill this year that reached the governor's desk after months of negotiation. **Trade-offs:** The antisemitism bill he co-authored drew opposition from teachers unions and civil rights groups who feared it could chill classroom speech. **Keep in mind:** He faces a challenge from within his own party, a sign some Democratic voters here want a different direction than his record offers. ## Colin D. Hernandez Colin D. Hernandez is a Democrat mounting a same-party challenge to incumbent Rick Chavez Zbur in the 51st District. Hernandez works as a digital communications strategist and lives in Los Angeles (OC Register questionnaire). They have never held elected office. Hernandez names "affordability, homelessness, and environmental protection" as California's top three problems (OC Register questionnaire). Their central housing proposal is a vacancy tax on "private equity, corporate landlords, and other corporate investment entities" that keep units empty (OC Register questionnaire). They cite Los Angeles County figures of roughly 200,000 empty units against about 72,000 unhoused people (OC Register questionnaire). Hernandez promises to fight for "CalCare," California's proposed single-payer health system (OC Register questionnaire). They also promise universal childcare and "wealth, mansion, and other luxury taxes" on the wealthiest Californians (OC Register questionnaire). They would end "any and all partnerships that local authorities currently have with ICE," and they oppose state age limits on social media (OC Register questionnaire). **Strengths:** A detailed policy platform on housing, health care and taxes, published in their own words, running against a well-established incumbent of their own party. **Trade-offs:** No record in any office; Hernandez's platform includes a single-payer health plan that would require action well beyond Sacramento. **Keep in mind:** Hernandez is challenging an incumbent of their own party rather than running on a partisan divide, so their case rests on disagreement within it. ## Record in office Colin D. Hernandez has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Rick Chavez Zbur (Democratic) is the sitting Assemblymember for this district and is lead author of 35 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 7 of them signed into law. Per the California Legislature's public bill data (leginfo bulk download), retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Record details Zbur — AB 478 (2025): Accessibility to emergency information and services: evacuations: pets. Zbur — AB 309 (2025): Hypodermic needles and syringes. Zbur — AB 1084 (2025): Change of name and gender and sex identifier. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Colin D. Hernandez** - Primary: $11,769 raised (Small donors: $1,427; Individuals: $5,995; Self-funding: $2,130) - November: $5,920 raised (Individuals: $5,920) - **Rick Chavez Zbur** - Primary: $1,199,192 raised (Small donors: $1,144; Individuals: $450,684; PACs & committees: $411,100; Businesses & other orgs: $327,550) - November: $69,650 raised (Individuals: $33,850; PACs & committees: $14,400; Businesses & other orgs: $21,400) 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 - Rick Chavez Zbur 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. [Assemblymember Rick Chavez Zbur — Official Biography (career background, leadership role)](https://a51.asmdc.org/biography) 4. [Rick Chavez Zbur for Assembly — campaign site (reasons for running, priorities)](https://www.rickchavezzbur.com) 5. [CalMatters — Protecting Jewish students or chilling speech? Inside California's 'hardest' fight over antisemitism (AB 715, Zbur co-authorship, Garcia's abstention/quote)](https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/10/school-antisemitism-bill-signed/) 6. [Orange County Register — Colin Hernandez, AD-51 candidate, 2026 primary election questionnaire (his own words on platform)](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/05/06/colin-hernandez-ad-51-candidate-2026-primary-election-questionnaire/) 7. [California Legislative Information — public bill data (bulk download)](https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/) 8. [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 51 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 51 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/assembly-51 (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.