California Legislature · Statewide General Election
Member of the State Assembly, District 69
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
- Josh Lowenthal — Democratic · Incumbent
- Carolyn J. Essex — Democratic
This person holds your district's seat in the California State Assembly (2-year term).
Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal took 68.6% of the June 2 vote and fellow Democrat Carolyn J. Essex took 28.5%, so November is a contest between two members of the same party. The district covers Long Beach 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. 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 authored 30 bills and had 4 signed into law, a middling conversion rate, and his challenger has reported no funding at all. Weigh the record on its own terms, and note how little is documented about the alternative.
Josh Lowenthal
Democrat, the sitting Assemblymember for this district. He is lead author of 30 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 4 of them signed into law. He took more than two-thirds of the June vote.
Strengths
An established seat with committee standing, and $145,345 from individual donors — an above-average individual base for this ballot.
Trade-offs
About half his money came from PACs and committees, and 4 of 30 bills signed is a middling conversion rate.
Keep in mind
He drew a same-party challenger rather than a Republican, which usually signals a disagreement inside the district's own coalition.
Carolyn J. Essex
Democrat, who advanced with 28.5% of the June vote against an incumbent of her own party. She has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress. Cal-Access shows no contributions reported for her committee.
Strengths
More than a quarter of the vote against a well-funded sitting member of her own party, with no reported funding at all.
Trade-offs
No money and no record in office leaves very little for a voter to evaluate.
Keep in mind
Coverage surfaced almost no detail about why she is challenging an incumbent Democrat; the disagreement she represents is not documented in the sources we cite.
Record in office
Josh Lowenthal (Democratic) is the sitting Assemblymember for this district and is lead author of 30 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 4 of them signed into law. Carolyn J. Essex 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
Lowenthal — AB 812 (2025): Recall and resentencing: incarcerated firefighters. Lowenthal — AB 772 (2025): Cyberbullying: off-campus acts: model policy. Lowenthal — AB 462 (2025): Land use: accessory dwelling units. 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
Josh Lowenthal
$709,942 raised
- Small donors$374<1%
- Individuals$145,34521%
- PACs & committees$362,92052%
- Businesses & other orgs$195,30028%
1Carolyn J. Essex 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.