California Legislature · Statewide General Election
Member of the State Assembly, District 57
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
- Sade Elhawary — Democratic · Incumbent
- Constance Jewel Menzies — Republican
This person holds your district's seat in the California State Assembly (2-year term).
Assemblymember Sade Elhawary took 85.7% of the June 2 vote and Republican Constance Jewel Menzies took 14.3%; they were the only two candidates on the primary ballot. The district covers South Los Angeles.
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.
An 85.7% primary means the practical question is what the incumbent does with a seat she holds comfortably, not who holds it. Her first-session record and her funding sources are the substance here; the ballot itself will not test either.
Sade Elhawary
Democrat, the sitting Assemblymember for this district, in her first term. She is lead author of 31 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 6 of them signed into law. She took more than eight in ten votes in June.
Strengths
Six bills signed into law in a first session is a respectable start, and $2,222 in small donations is around the median for incumbents here.
Trade-offs
Most of her money came from PACs and committees, so a first-session record was built alongside those relationships rather than apart from them.
Keep in mind
One session is a short record to judge, and she faces no meaningful electoral pressure in this district.
Constance Jewel Menzies
Republican, and the only other candidate on this district's ballot, with 14.3% of the June vote. She has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress. Cal-Access shows no contributions reported for her committee.
Strengths
She gave this district a contested race rather than an unopposed one.
Trade-offs
No reported funding and no record in office leaves very little for a voter to evaluate beyond party.
Keep in mind
Coverage surfaced almost no biographical or platform detail about her. That gap is what was available to us on 2026-08-10, not a comment on her candidacy.
Record in office
Sade Elhawary (Democratic) is the sitting Assemblymember for this district and is lead author of 31 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 6 of them signed into law. Constance Jewel Menzies 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 2026-08-10.
Record details
Elhawary — AB 952 (2025): Youth Offender Program Camp Pilot Program. Elhawary — AB 822 (2025): Commission on the State of Hate. Elhawary — AB 681 (2025): California DREAM Loan Program: limits. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record.
Financial info
- Small donors
- Individuals
- PACs & committees
- Businesses & other orgs
Sade Elhawary
$701,781 raised
- Small donors$2,222<1%
- Individuals$82,77112%
- PACs & committees$425,39961%
- Businesses & other orgs$188,20027%
1Constance Jewel Menzies has no contributions reported to Cal-Access for this race.
2Figures 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
Source review: Very strong (97/100) · 4 cited sources
Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.
- sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-07-10)
- ballotpedia.org (opens in a new tab)Ballotpedia — June 2026 California primary
- downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Legislative Information — public bill data (bulk download)
- sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)Cal-Access raw data export — California Secretary of State
Last updated August 10, 2026.