# Member of the State Assembly, District 66 Compare records and positions simply between Sara Deen or Paul Seo for Member of the State Assembly, District 66 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-66 - 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 8 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Sara Deen** — School Boardmember/Businesswoman · Democratic - **Paul Seo** — Mayor/Corruption Prosecutor · Democratic This is an open seat, and both November candidates are Democrats: Paul Seo led the June 2 primary with 26.6% and Sara Deen took 24.6%, a 2-point gap that makes this one of the closest legislative contests on the ballot. The district covers Torrance and part of the South Bay. 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. This race is unusual twice over: two Democrats finishing within two points, and both funded overwhelmingly by named individuals rather than committees — $543,198 and $503,211 respectively, the two largest individual bases in any open Assembly seat on this ballot. Party is not the axis and institutional money is not the differentiator, so the choice comes down to the candidates themselves. ## Paul Seo Paul Seo, the mayor of Rancho Palos Verdes, is a U.S. Army veteran. He was raised by Korean immigrant parents who "owned a local small business" (campaign site). He built a career as a prosecutor, including as a deputy attorney general prosecuting violent crime. His campaign says he has taken on "corporations for price gouging and consumer exploitation" (campaign site). He says his top objectives are to "crack down on corruption in Sacramento," lower the cost of living and "keep communities safe" (campaign site). As deputy attorney general, he says his office "sued the Trump Administration more than 50 times" (Daily Breeze). He says California "must continue to stand up to Donald Trump." He accuses the administration of "separating families, and gutting programs working families rely on" (Daily Breeze). He promises to lower housing, health care and grocery costs. He says he would "increase funding for more police, deputy sheriffs, prosecutors, peace officers and Highway Patrol officers" (campaign site). He also promises to strengthen coastal protections and prevent new offshore oil drilling. He would upgrade the power grid and water infrastructure "to prepare for drought, wildfires, and other climate extremes" (Daily Breeze). **Strengths:** A career prosecutor, including as deputy attorney general, with a specific record of suing the Trump administration and pursuing price-gouging cases. **Trade-offs:** No experience in the Legislature, and his suing record comes from his own account rather than an independent tally. **Keep in mind:** As mayor he is also managing an ongoing land-movement emergency in Rancho Palos Verdes; that local record is not detailed here. ## Sara Deen Sara Deen is a family dentist and small business owner in Rancho Palos Verdes. By her own account, she has "spent my career serving this community as a small business owner, family dentist, mom, School Board President, and SoCal ROC Board Member" (campaign site). She is president of the Palos Verdes Peninsula school board and a board member of the SoCal Regional Occupational Center, which runs career-training programs across the South Bay. In 2024, before asking voters to approve a school bond, she says the board "proved the need, exhausted every option, and were transparent" (Daily Breeze). She says she wants to bring "fiscal discipline and accountability" to Sacramento (Daily Breeze). Her campaign says the South Bay "deserves a representative who knows how to get things done and puts our community first" (campaign site). She has signed a pledge to work with the community toward phasing out the use of modified hydrofluoric acid at the Torrance refinery. She says an emergency physician told her the chemical "puts South Bay residents at great risk." She adds, "we're not talking about shutting down a refinery" (Daily Breeze). She promises to "lower everyday costs, including fuel and energy prices" (campaign site). She also promises to expand housing for teachers, nurses, first responders, seniors and veterans. She promises to "expand access to quality, affordable healthcare." She also promises to "reduce the influence of special interests in our political system" (campaign site). **Strengths:** A working record on the Palos Verdes Peninsula school board, including a 2024 school bond, plus a health care background as a practicing dentist. **Trade-offs:** No experience in the Legislature or Congress, so her Sacramento-specific promises are untested against a record in state office. **Keep in mind:** She signed a pledge to phase out a refinery chemical while saying she does not want the plant closed; how you weigh that balance is yours to judge. ## 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 - **Sara Deen** - Primary: $827,961 raised (Small donors: $6,850; Individuals: $503,211; PACs & committees: $99,100; Businesses & other orgs: $18,800; Self-funding: $200,000) - November: $38,530 raised (Individuals: $32,630; PACs & committees: $5,900) - **Paul Seo** - Primary: $907,396 raised (Small donors: $6,243; Individuals: $543,198; PACs & committees: $246,849; Businesses & other orgs: $94,100; Self-funding: $12,800) - November: $35,610 raised (Individuals: $360; PACs & committees: $26,350; Businesses & other orgs: $8,900) 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 - Sara Deen for Assembly and Paul Seo 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. [Daily Breeze — District 66 Assembly candidates talk education, housing and environment](https://www.dailybreeze.com/2026/04/26/district-66-assembly-candidates-talk-education-housing-and-environment/) 4. [Daily Breeze — Sara Deen, AD-66 candidate, 2026 primary election questionnaire](https://www.dailybreeze.com/2026/05/06/sara-deen-ad-66-candidate-2026-primary-election-questionnaire/) 5. [Daily Breeze — Paul Seo, AD-66 candidate, 2026 primary election questionnaire](https://www.dailybreeze.com/2026/05/06/paul-seo-ad-66-candidate-2026-primary-election-questionnaire/) 6. [Sara Deen for Assembly — campaign site (biography, why running, priorities)](https://saradeenforca.com) 7. [Paul Seo for Assembly — campaign site (biography, why running, priorities)](https://www.paulseo.com) 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 66 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 66 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/assembly-66 (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.