# State Senator, District 38 Compare records and positions simply between Laura Bassett or Catherine S. Blakespear for State Senator, District 38 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-38 - 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: 89 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 - **Laura Bassett** — Small Business Owner · Republican - **Catherine S. Blakespear** — California State Senator · Democratic · Incumbent Senator Catherine S. Blakespear took 54.7% of the June 2 vote and Republican Laura Bassett took 45.3% — a 9.4-point gap and a narrow majority for a sitting member. The district covers coastal north San Diego County and part of south Orange County. 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 four years. A sitting Senator clearing a majority by under five points, against a challenger running on about an eighth of her money, is a signal about this district worth carrying into November. Weigh her enacted record against that softness. ## Catherine S. Blakespear Catherine S. Blakespear, a fourth-generation San Diegan, worked as a journalist and an estate-planning attorney before entering local government. She served eight years in Encinitas, including three terms as mayor and city councilmember (campaign site; official Senate biography). In Sacramento she chairs the Senate Environmental Quality Committee (KPBS). She has authored legislation on housing density bonus loopholes, gun safety, CEQA reform, and coastal and wildlife protection, according to her campaign and KPBS's candidate profile. Blakespear says she leads “with principle, puts people over politics, and delivers real results” (campaign site). In 2026 she authored SB 954, which would have added guardrails to broad CEQA exemptions for facilities such as the GKN Aerospace plant in Garden Grove. An earlier 2026 incident at that plant forced roughly 50,000 residents to evacuate. Governor Newsom vetoed the bill (Senate office statement). Blakespear said, “Protecting communities and workers is not an impediment to economic growth – it is part of responsible growth,” and pledged to keep pursuing the measure (Senate office statement). She promises to reduce the cost of child care, insurance and housing, and to support small businesses (campaign site). She also lists community safety, mental health services and homelessness reduction among her priorities (campaign site). She also promises to accelerate the clean-energy transition, protect natural resources, cut red tape for interim housing, and make transit more sustainable (campaign site). **Strengths:** Chairs the Senate Environmental Quality Committee and has authored bills on housing loopholes, gun safety and coastal protection, some already signed into law this session. **Trade-offs:** Her CEQA guardrails bill for high-risk industrial exemptions was vetoed this year, the same fate as some of her other priority legislation. **Keep in mind:** She points to a chemical-plant evacuation in Garden Grove as the reason for her vetoed bill; weigh that argument against the Governor's decision to reject it. ## Laura Bassett Laura Bassett, a lifelong Oceanside resident, raised six children with her spouse, Taylor. She built a career as a licensed real estate professional and licensed professional fiduciary, operating two local businesses (campaign site). She currently serves as a San Diego County Civil Service Commissioner and is active with the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce and local civic groups (campaign site). She has not held state legislative office. Bassett says she is running because “California should be a place where people can get ahead, not a place they feel forced to leave” (campaign site). She has no record in state office for voters to weigh. Her campaign instead points to her small-business and fiduciary background and her service on the county's Civil Service Commission. She promises to reduce “wasteful government spending,” oppose “unnecessary new taxes,” and cut “excessive fees and regulations” that slow home construction (campaign site). Her coastal-protection plan calls for “science-based planning” to address erosion. On public safety she says “every person deserves to feel safe in their home and neighborhood,” and cites a commitment to justice-system fairness (campaign site). **Strengths:** A licensed real estate professional and fiduciary who currently serves as a San Diego County Civil Service Commissioner, raising six children in Oceanside. **Trade-offs:** She has never served in the state Legislature, and her platform is stated in general terms without a specific legislative record to evaluate. **Keep in mind:** Coverage of this race beyond her own campaign material and a public-media candidate survey is thin. ## Record in office Laura Bassett has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Catherine S. Blakespear (Democratic) is the sitting State Senator for this district and is lead author of 35 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 11 of them signed into law. Per the California Legislature's public bill data (leginfo bulk download), retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Record details Blakespear — SB 1324 (2026): Passenger and freight rail: LOSSAN Rail Corridor: working group report. Blakespear — SB 92 (2025): Housing development: density bonuses. Blakespear — SB 477 (2025): California Fair Employment and Housing Act: enforcement procedures. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Laura Bassett** - Primary: $140,870 raised (Small donors: $1,845; Individuals: $91,075; PACs & committees: $27,722; Businesses & other orgs: $1,500; Self-funding: $10,000) - November: $30,090 raised (Individuals: $18,290; PACs & committees: $11,800) - **Catherine S. Blakespear** - Primary: $1,110,683 raised (Small donors: $5,660; Individuals: $191,940; PACs & committees: $451,600; Businesses & other orgs: $293,250) - November: $63,880 raised (Individuals: $15,680; PACs & committees: $30,800; Businesses & other orgs: $17,400) 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 - Laura Bassett for Senate and Catherine Blakespear for 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. [California State Senate — Senator Catherine Blakespear: official biography and record](https://sd38.senate.ca.gov/) 4. [California State Senate — Sen. Blakespear Issues Statement About Veto of SB 954](https://sd38.senate.ca.gov/news/sen-blakespear-issues-statement-about-veto-sb-954) 5. [Catherine Blakespear for Senate — campaign site (biography, record, priorities)](https://www.catherineblakespear.com/) 6. [KPBS — 2026 primary election explainer, including District 38 candidate profiles (Bassett and Blakespear)](https://www.kpbs.org/news/politics/2026/04/27/2026-primary-election-california-senate-races-explainer-district-32-anza-borrego-districts-38-40-in-north-county) 7. [Laura Bassett for Senate — campaign site (biography, priorities, quotes)](https://bassettforca.com/) 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 38 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 38 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/state-senate-38 (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.