California Legislature · Statewide General Election
Member of the State Assembly, District 72
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
- Chris Kluwe — Democratic
- Gracey Van Der Mark — Republican
This person holds your district's seat in the California State Assembly (2-year term).
This is an open seat with an unusual June result: Democrat Chris Kluwe led with 43.8% while Republican Gracey Van Der Mark took 37.7% having raised more than five times as much. The district covers Huntington Beach and part of coastal Orange County.
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 which party they belong to determines whether they build it inside the majority or outside it.
This is the largest open-seat fundraising gap on the ballot, and it did not decide June: the candidate who raised $415,143 finished six points ahead of the candidate who raised $2.2 million. Both drew unusually strong small-donor support. Neither has held state office, so the documented differences are party, funding scale and the composition of their support.
Chris Kluwe
Democrat, who led the June primary with 43.8% of the vote. He raised $415,143, including $89,327 from small donors — more than a fifth of everything he raised, where the median candidate is under one percent — and $156,120 from individuals, against $161,400 from PACs and committees. He has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress.
Strengths
He led the field while raising less than a fifth of what his opponent did, and more than a fifth of his money came from donors giving under $100.
Trade-offs
He goes into the general heavily outspent, and has no record in office to be judged on.
Keep in mind
He led with 43.8%, short of a majority, so November depends on where the rest of the June field's support settles.
Gracey Van Der Mark
Republican, who advanced with 37.7% of the June vote. Her campaign reports $2,228,098 in contributions, including $984,486 from PACs and committees, $517,246 from individuals and $22,756 from small donors — the largest total of any non-incumbent on this ballot. She has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress.
Strengths
By far the largest war chest of any open-seat candidate here, with meaningful individual and small-donor support alongside the committee money.
Trade-offs
All of that left her six points behind in June, and she has no record in state office to be judged on.
Keep in mind
Raising five times your opponent and finishing second is a fact about this district worth carrying into November.
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
- Small donors
- Individuals
- PACs & committees
- Businesses & other orgs
- Self-funding
Chris Kluwe
$415,143 raised
- Small donors$89,32721%
- Individuals$156,12037%
- PACs & committees$161,40038%
- Businesses & other orgs$1,850<1%
- Self-funding$15,9004%
Gracey Van Der Mark
$2,228,098 raised
- Small donors$22,7561%
- Individuals$517,24624%
- PACs & committees$984,48646%
- Businesses & other orgs$605,14328%
- Self-funding$500<1%
1Figures 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 (94/100) · 3 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
- sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)Cal-Access raw data export — California Secretary of State
Last updated August 10, 2026.