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California Legislature · Statewide General Election

State Senator, District 8

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

This person holds your district's seat in the California State Senate (4-year term).

Senator Angelique Ashby took 68.1% of the June 2 vote and Republican Susan A Mason took 27.2% to claim the second slot. The district covers Sacramento and its northern suburbs.

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. A four-year term means the winner will not face voters again until 2030.

The incumbent has a strong enacted record and a heavily institutional funding profile; her opponent has reported no campaign funding at all. The practical question here is what this district is getting from a safe seat over the next four years.

Angelique Ashby

Democrat, the sitting Senator for this district. She is lead author of 32 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 9 of them signed into law — among the stronger conversion rates in the Legislature. She took more than two-thirds of the June vote.

Strengths

Nine bills signed into law this session, a strong conversion rate from authored to enacted.

Trade-offs

About half her money came from PACs and committees — an institutional base of the usual size for this chamber.

Keep in mind

A 68% primary is a fact about this district's registration as much as about her record.

Susan A Mason

Republican, who advanced with 27.2% of the June vote. She has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress. Cal-Access shows no contributions reported for her committee.

Strengths

She gave this district a contested November ballot rather than an uncontested one.

Trade-offs

No reported funding and no record in office leaves very little for a voter to evaluate beyond party.

Keep in mind

Coverage surfaced almost no biographical or platform detail about her. That gap is what was available to us on 2026-08-10, not a comment on her candidacy.

Record in office

Angelique Ashby (Democratic) is the sitting State Senator for this district and is lead author of 32 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 9 of them signed into law. Susan A Mason 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 2026-08-10.

Record details

Ashby — SB 8 (2025): Peace officers: injury or illness: leaves of absence. Ashby — SB 50 (2025): Connected devices: device protection requests. Ashby — SB 516 (2025): Enhanced infrastructure financing districts: California Capital City Downtown Revitalization Act. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record.

Financial info

Angelique Ashby

$1,056,744raised
  • Small donors$535<1%
  • Individuals$80,8008%
  • PACs & committees$539,00052%
  • Businesses & other orgs$421,70040%

Susan A Mason has no contributions reported to Cal-Access for this race.

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 2026-08-22.

June 2 primary — how they advanced

Angelique Ashby (Democratic)68.1% · 138,974 votes
Susan A Mason (Republican)27.2% · 55,573 votes
Linda "LR" Roberts (Peace and Freedom)4.7% · 9,538 votes
Source review: Very strong (97/100) · 4 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

Last updated August 10, 2026.