# State Senator, District 16 Compare records and positions simply between Melissa Hurtado or Guillermo Asuncion Gonzalez for State Senator, District 16 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat in the California State Senate (4-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/state-senate-16 - 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 9 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Melissa Hurtado** — State Senator · Democratic · Incumbent - **Guillermo Asuncion Gonzalez** — Small Business Owner · Republican The sitting Senator finished second. Republican Guillermo Asuncion Gonzalez led the June 2 primary with 45.2% and Democratic incumbent Melissa Hurtado took 35.6% — a 9.6-point deficit for a member defending her own seat. The district covers Kern County and part of the southern San Joaquin Valley. The winner holds one of 40 State Senate seats for a four-year term, inside a 12-year lifetime cap on service in Sacramento. Senate districts are twice the size of Assembly districts, terms run twice as long, and the Senate confirms the Governor's appointments. Which party wins here determines whether this district's member works inside the majority or the minority for the next four years. This is one of the most contested seats on the ballot and the numbers show it from both directions: the incumbent trails by nearly ten points while carrying $515,000 in direct party money — the largest party investment in any legislative race here. Her small-donor total is $5. Weigh a record and party backing against a challenger who outpolled her outright. ## Guillermo Asuncion Gonzalez Guillermo Gonzalez, a Republican, works as a field representative for Rep. David Valadao (R-Hanford). He also co-operates two family restaurants, the Idle Spur Cafe in McFarland and his own Guillermo's Steakhouse in Delano (SJV Sun; campaign site). He was born in Bakersfield and raised in Mexico, and he returned to the U.S. as a teenager to graduate from Bakersfield High School. He began working in his family's restaurant, and during the pandemic he started service in Valadao's office (campaign site). He says he is running to restore "the promise that brought his parents to California." He argues that "government works best when it listens to the people it serves," and that leaders should "put people before politics" (campaign site). He has not previously held elected office, so what's documented about him is his campaign platform and biography, not a legislative record (SJV Sun; campaign site). He promises to give local communities more say over water, energy and school decisions, and to ease rules on small businesses. He also wants to make owning a home affordable. He says preserving families' ability to "work, worship, and prosper," and securing opportunity for the next generation, are central to his campaign (campaign site). **Strengths:** A working restaurant owner and legislative field staffer with direct constituent-service experience, running as a first-time candidate. **Trade-offs:** No record in any office to judge; what's documented is his campaign platform and biography, not a voting or governing history. **Keep in mind:** Coverage of his candidacy outside his own campaign material is limited to one detailed local news profile; there is little independent reporting to check his claims against. ## Melissa Hurtado Melissa Hurtado, a Democrat, is the sitting State Senator for District 16. At her first election in 2018, she became the youngest woman ever elected to the California State Senate (sd16.senate.ca.gov). She chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee and has focused her work on groundwater transparency and water forecasting for the Valley, including SB 556, the Flood Protection and Groundwater Recharge Act (campaign site). On her campaign site she says: "Hard work should pay off. I'm fighting for fairness, opportunity, and a Central Valley where every family can thrive" (campaign site). In July 2023 she filed to run for the newly competitive 22nd Congressional District, rather than complete her Senate term unopposed. She finished fourth in the March 2024 primary with 15.3% of the vote, behind Rep. David Valadao, Rudy Salas and Chris Mathys. She conceded on March 7, 2024, saying she was "profoundly grateful to the friends, family, supporters and volunteers" who worked on the campaign, and that she would keep pressing Valley priorities, including water rights, as state senator (SJV Sun). She promises to crack down on "corporate price-fixing" and algorithm-driven pricing, and to protect consumers from utility rate spikes. Other stated priorities are firefighter training, wildfire-prevention funding, Valley Fever testing and support, and child protective services funding (campaign site). **Strengths:** Chairs the Senate Agriculture Committee and has built a water and groundwater record around consensus bills like the Flood Protection and Groundwater Recharge Act. **Trade-offs:** She left her Senate work in 2023 to run for Congress, finished fourth in that primary, and returns to this race after that loss. **Keep in mind:** An incumbent testing higher office and coming back is not unusual, but this term included a detour to a congressional bid that did not succeed before she refiled for this seat. ## Record in office Melissa Hurtado (Democratic) is the sitting State Senator for this district and is lead author of 32 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 5 of them signed into law. Guillermo Asuncion Gonzalez 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 Hurtado — SB 557 (2026): Child abuse: family resource centers. Hurtado — SB 593 (2025): Electrical corporations: significant voltage-related incidents: studies. Hurtado — SB 763 (2025): Conspiracy against trade: punishment. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Melissa Hurtado** - Primary: $1,921,547 raised (Small donors: $5; Individuals: $21,800; PACs & committees: $367,700; Party: $515,000; Businesses & other orgs: $179,950) - November: $38,900 raised (Individuals: $2,000; PACs & committees: $29,000; Businesses & other orgs: $7,900) - **Guillermo Asuncion Gonzalez** - Primary: $226,350 raised (Small donors: $1,190; Individuals: $105,335; PACs & committees: $77,679; Businesses & other orgs: $39,525) - November: $46,250 raised (Individuals: $23,950; PACs & committees: $11,800; Businesses & other orgs: $10,500) 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 - Gonzalez for Senate and Melissa Hurtado for State Senate 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. [Senator Melissa Hurtado — official Senate site (used for 'youngest woman ever elected' and district description)](https://sd16.senate.ca.gov/) 4. [Melissa Hurtado for State Senate — campaign issues page (used for her stated priorities and quote)](https://www.melissahurtado.com/issues) 5. [SJV Sun — Hurtado concedes defeat, endorses Salas against Valadao (used for her 2024 congressional run and concession)](https://sjvsun.com/news/politics/hurtado-concedes-defeat-endorses-salas-against-valadao/) 6. [Gonzalez for Senate — biography page (used for his background and quotes)](https://www.gonzalezforsenate.com/meet-guillermo) 7. [SJV Sun — Guillermo Gonzalez launches Senate challenge to Hurtado with GOP backing (used for his background and quote)](https://sjvsun.com/news/politics/guillermo-gonzalez-launches-senate-challenge-to-hurtado-with-gop-backing/) 8. [California Legislative Information — public bill data (bulk download)](https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/) 9. [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 State Senator, District 16 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, "State Senator, District 16 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/state-senate-16 (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.