# Member of the State Assembly, District 73 Compare records and positions simply between Cottie Petrie-Norris or Urson Russell for Member of the State Assembly, District 73 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-73 - 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: 90 out of 100 (Very strong), across 11 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Cottie Petrie-Norris** — California State Assemblymember · Democratic · Incumbent - **Urson Russell** — Businessman · Republican Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris took 60.9% of the June 2 vote and Republican Urson Russell took 39.1%; they were the only two candidates on the primary ballot. The district covers Irvine 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. Committee assignment is where most of the leverage sits, and it is handed out by the majority's leadership. The incumbent raised more than $1.4 million and converted 6 of 35 bills into law — a large campaign against a modest legislative return, and worth weighing as a pair. Her opponent is running on about three percent of that. ## Cottie Petrie-Norris Cottie Petrie-Norris, a Democrat, represents Irvine, Costa Mesa and Tustin as the Assemblymember for the 73rd District. A businesswoman and mother, she was first elected in 2018. She chairs the Assembly's Committee on Utilities and Energy. She also serves on the Budget and Insurance committees (official biography). In the Assembly she has authored legislation on housing production, healthcare access and coastal protection (official biography). Petrie-Norris says she ran for the Assembly in 2018 because she "was frustrated that Orange County was getting short-changed in Sacramento" (campaign site). In 2026 she led the Assembly's negotiations on Senate Bill 492, a wildfire liability package. It was meant to speed payouts to fire survivors, bar private-equity investment in wildfire claims, and deny bonuses to utility executives in years their companies cause fatal fires (CalMatters). The bill died without a floor vote on the last day of the session, after Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas chose not to bring it up. Petrie-Norris had cautioned against moving too fast. "We don't want to get this rushed," she said, adding, "we don't want to get it wrong and have unintended consequences that are going to hurt the people that we are here to represent" (CalMatters). Of the wider deal reached earlier that summer, she said: "We held the line to protect the people who needed it most" (CalMatters). Petrie-Norris promises to "keep neighborhoods safe" with fast emergency response. She promises to reduce homelessness "by addressing root causes," and to lower energy costs while strengthening grid reliability (campaign site). She also promises to protect reproductive rights, secure more education funding through the Local Control Funding Formula, and manage the state budget responsibly without raising taxes (campaign site). **Strengths:** Chairs a major policy committee and led her chamber's negotiations on one of 2026's most significant bills. **Trade-offs:** That bill, a wildfire liability package she helped negotiate, ultimately died without a floor vote this session. **Keep in mind:** Whether the bill's death reflects due caution, as she describes it, or a missed opportunity, is a judgment the record leaves open. ## Urson Russell Urson Russell, a Costa Mesa business owner, is running for the 73rd Assembly District for the first time. Their campaign site describes California as "once a beacon of opportunity and innovation" that has "strayed" from its former strengths. It asks, "can we get back there" (campaign site). They have not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress. Russell says government's core requirements are few: "Establishing Equal Blind Justice," "Ensuring Domestic Tranquility," "Providing for the Common Defense," "Promoting General Welfare," and "Securing our Current and Future Generations" (campaign site). On the budget, they argue the state's spending grew from about 215 billion dollars to nearly 350 billion dollars since 2018. They say "it's hard to find someone whose life in California has gotten better" (Orange County Register questionnaire). Beyond their campaign site and the Orange County Register's candidate questionnaire, no independent news coverage of their record or positions could be located. Russell promises "equal, blind justice," domestic order and a government focused on the public's benefit rather than its own growth (campaign site). They support independent, comprehensive audits of state spending. They say government "is not very complex" when it stays focused on those core duties (Orange County Register questionnaire, campaign site). **Strengths:** A clear, values-based framing of government's core duties, distinct from most candidates' issue-by-issue platforms. **Trade-offs:** No record in any office, and no specific district-level policy proposals beyond general principles. **Keep in mind:** Almost nothing beyond their own campaign site and a single candidate questionnaire could be located about their record or positions. ## Record in office Cottie Petrie-Norris (Democratic) is the sitting Assemblymember for this district and is lead author of 35 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 6 of them signed into law. Urson Russell 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. ## Record details Petrie-Norris — AB 2044 (2026): Building standards: approval or adoption: cost of compliance estimate. Petrie-Norris — AB 366 (2025): Ignition interlock devices. Petrie-Norris — AB 451 (2025): Law enforcement policies: restraining orders. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Cottie Petrie-Norris** - Primary: $1,422,568 raised (Small donors: $268; Individuals: $106,338; PACs & committees: $624,675; Businesses & other orgs: $671,950) - November: $82,400 raised (Individuals: $2,000; PACs & committees: $26,400; Businesses & other orgs: $54,000) - **Urson Russell** - Primary: $42,515 raised (Small donors: $4,706; Individuals: $27,259; Businesses & other orgs: $700; Self-funding: $9,150) - November: $6,000 raised (Self-funding: $6,000) 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 - Cottie Petrie-Norris for Assembly and Urson Russell 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. [Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris — Biography (official Assembly Democratic Caucus site)](https://a73.asmdc.org/biography) 4. [Cottie Petrie-Norris for Assembly — Priorities (campaign site)](https://www.cottie.com/priorities) 5. [CalMatters — California lawmakers strike wildfire deal that leaves out most of Newsom's big demands](https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/08/final-legislature-wildfire-deal-newsom/) 6. [CalMatters — Wildfire liability bill dies without a vote on final day of session](https://calmatters.org/economy/2026/09/wildfire-liability-bill-dies-without-a-vote-on-final-day-of-session/) 7. [Orange County Register — Cottie Petrie-Norris, AD-73 candidate, 2026 primary election questionnaire](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/05/06/cottie-petrie-norris-ad-73-candidate-2026-primary-election-questionnaire/) 8. [Orange County Register — Urson Russell, AD-73 candidate, 2026 primary election questionnaire](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/05/06/urson-russell-ad-73-candidate-2026-primary-election-questionnaire/) 9. [Urson Russell for Assembly — Good Government / Commitments (campaign site)](https://www.ursonrussell.com) 10. [California Legislative Information — public bill data (bulk download)](https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/) 11. [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 73 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 73 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/assembly-73 (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.