Review note: Sade for Assembly may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide compared to other formal government and nonprofit journalism sources.
- 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
- elhawary.asmdc.org (opens in a new tab)Official Assembly site — Sade Elhawary biography (career background)
- elhawary.asmdc.org (opens in a new tab)Official Assembly site — Sade Elhawary 2025 legislative package (AB 952 youth firefighter program)
- sadeforassembly.com (opens in a new tab)Sade for Assembly — About Sade and Priorities pages (her own account of background, foster parenting and promises)
- 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 September 24, 2026.
State of California
Member of the State Assembly, District 57
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. Republican Constance Jewel Menzies took 14.3%, the only other candidate 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
Sade Elhawary is a former high school history teacher and youth organizer who helped found the Nelson Mandela School for Social Justice. She spent 12 years at Community Coalition, where she was mentored by Karen Bass and Marqueece Harris-Dawson. In the Assembly she has authored bills on foster care, hate crime prevention and student loans.
She is the daughter of Egyptian and Guatemalan immigrants, and in 2019 she became a foster parent to a teenager she had been mentoring. She authored a bill that would make permanent a program letting young people in state custody train as firefighters, building skills for life after release.
She promises to treat housing as a human right and expand access to health care and mental health treatment. She says she wants to phase out oil drilling in neighborhoods and target environmental resources to the communities that need them most.
Constance Jewel Menzies
Constance Jewel Menzies works as an in-home care provider. No campaign website or news coverage describes their background beyond that.
No statement about why Menzies is running could be located. They have not served in the California Legislature or Congress, so there is no record to point to.
No campaign website or platform could be located. What is known about their candidacy comes from the ballot.
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 2026-09-21.
Financial info
- Small donors
- Individuals
- PACs & committees
- Businesses & other orgs
Sade Elhawary
Primary — $701,781
- Small donors$2,222<1%
- Individuals$82,77112%
- PACs & committees$425,39961%
- Businesses & other orgs$188,20027%
November — $61,700
- Individuals$38,90063%
- PACs & committees$12,90021%
- Businesses & other orgs$9,90016%
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 2026-09-21.
3Constance Jewel Menzies has no itemized contributions dated after the June 2, 2026 primary reported to Cal-Access yet.
4Total 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.