# Member of the State Assembly, District 72 Compare records and positions simply between Chris Kluwe or Gracey Van Der Mark for Member of the State Assembly, District 72 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-72 - 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: 88 out of 100 (Strong), across 12 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Chris Kluwe** — Businessman/Coach/Father · Democratic - **Gracey Van Der Mark** — Councilwoman/Business Owner · Republican 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. Neither candidate has held state office, so the record to weigh is local and personal. Van Der Mark spent four years on the Huntington Beach council, including a year as mayor, and two of her signature policies ended up before voters and judges. Kluwe's record is as an advocate, first inside the NFL and then at that same council's meetings. The fundraising gap ran five to one and did not decide June. Weigh which of those records you want carried to Sacramento. ## Chris Kluwe Chris Kluwe, a Seal Beach native, punted for the Minnesota Vikings for eight seasons and, by his campaign's account, "set nearly every punting record in the franchise's history." He is better known now for what he did off the field: as an active player he was among the first in the league to publicly champion marriage equality, writing a widely circulated open letter and joining a Supreme Court brief against Prop 8 (campaign site). In February 2025 he was arrested at a Huntington Beach council meeting after a public-comment speech against the library's MAGA plaque; he called it "peaceful civil disobedience" and said he was willing to protest again (NBC News). He says he is running because "we are at risk of losing our democracy. And if you can't stand up now, like when?" (The Handbasket). He promises to be "a fearless voice who fights for people, not politics or special interests." His priorities are affordability, housing, health care, public education and climate action, and he says he would "stand up to both parties in Sacramento." **Strengths:** Led the field on a fifth of the money, with the larger small-donor share of the two, and a documented record of taking public stands. **Trade-offs:** No record in any office; what voters can judge is advocacy and campaign promises. **Keep in mind:** The arrest was a planned protest over a council decision, and he says he would do it again. How you weigh that is the decision this profile leaves to you. ## Gracey Van Der Mark Gracey Van Der Mark has sat on the Huntington Beach City Council since 2022 and was sworn in as the city's mayor in December 2023 (Voice of OC). By her own account she is "the daughter of immigrants" who "grew up in a poverty-stricken immigrant neighborhood in Los Angeles," a survivor of domestic violence in her first marriage, and a property management business owner raising seven children in a blended family. She says she entered politics because "parents were not being given a strong enough voice in the local school system" (campaign site), and that concern runs through her record. As a council member she proposed the 2023 board to review children's library books, saying "let the community decide" what meets its standards; city voters abolished the board in June 2025 with nearly 60% (CalMatters, CBS Los Angeles). She counts the city's voter ID charter amendment as her work: it passed in March 2024, and the Attorney General and Secretary of State sued the city that April, alleging it is preempted by state election law (Attorney General's office). She also points to a declining homeless count, the city's "Best Run City" rankings and a "Parents' Right to Know" policy. Her stated priorities are fiscal responsibility, parental rights and public safety. **Strengths:** Four years of council votes to judge, a year as mayor, and the largest budget of any open-seat candidate here. **Trade-offs:** Her signature library policy was reversed by her own city's voters, and the state is suing over her voter ID measure. **Keep in mind:** The library board is her best-known council record. She defended it as letting the community decide; her city's voters ended it by nearly 60%. ## 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 - **Chris Kluwe** - Primary: $415,143 raised (Small donors: $89,327; Individuals: $156,120; PACs & committees: $161,400; Businesses & other orgs: $1,850; Self-funding: $15,900) - November: $47,475 raised (Individuals: $12,475; PACs & committees: $34,500; Businesses & other orgs: $500) - **Gracey Van Der Mark** - Primary: $2,228,098 raised (Small donors: $22,756; Individuals: $517,246; PACs & committees: $984,486; Businesses & other orgs: $605,143; Self-funding: $500) - November: $151,938 raised (Individuals: $34,738; PACs & committees: $71,600; Businesses & other orgs: $45,600) 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 - Chris Kluwe for Assembly and Gracey Van Der Mark 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. [Chris Kluwe for Assembly — campaign site, home and About pages (self-described NFL record, marriage-equality advocacy, reason for running and priorities)](https://www.kluweoc.com/about) 4. [Gracey Van Der Mark for Assembly — campaign site, home and About pages (self-described background, reason for entering politics, claimed council accomplishments and priorities)](https://graceyforassembly.com/about/) 5. [The Handbasket — The extremely online former NFL punter-turned-activist on his run for office (Kluwe interview: reason for running in his own words, Seal Beach roots, priorities)](https://www.thehandbasket.co/p/chris-kluwe-nfl-punter-california-assembly-candidate) 6. [OC Independent — Huntington Beach Councilwoman Gracey Van Der Mark running for State Assembly (2022 council election, former mayor, council term through 2026)](https://ocindependent.com/2025/05/huntington-beach-councilwoman-gracey-van-der-mark-running-for-state-assembly/) 7. [Voice of OC — What's On the Horizon For Huntington Beach? (Van Der Mark sworn in as mayor December 5, 2023; the council majority's housing suit against the state, library panel and voter ID proposal)](https://voiceofoc.org/2024/01/whats-on-the-horizon-for-huntington-beach/) 8. [NBC News — Former NFL punter Chris Kluwe arrested over anti-Trump protest at city council meeting (February 18, 2025 meeting; misdemeanor arrest; his own framing as civil disobedience)](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/former-nfl-punter-chris-kluwe-arrested-anti-trump-protest-city-council-rcna192978) 9. [CalMatters — Is it sex education or porn? Huntington Beach comes to blows over library books (Van Der Mark's 2023 review-board proposal and her defense of it)](https://calmatters.org/politics/2025/06/huntington-beach-library-books-election/) 10. [CBS Los Angeles — Huntington Beach voters reject library review board in special election (Measure A passed with nearly 60%, June 10, 2025)](https://www.cbsnews.com/losangeles/news/huntington-beach-special-election-library-review-board-rejected/) 11. [California Attorney General — Attorney General Bonta, Secretary of State Weber File Lawsuit Against Huntington Beach over Unlawful Municipal Voter ID Amendment (Measure A passed March 5, 2024; suit filed April 15, 2024, alleging state-law preemption)](https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-bonta-secretary-state-weber-file-lawsuit-against-huntington) 12. [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 72 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 72 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/assembly-72 (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.