# State Senator, District 8 Compare records and positions simply between Angelique Ashby or Susan A Mason for State Senator, District 8 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-8 - 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: 97 out of 100 (Very strong), across 7 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Angelique Ashby** — California State Senator · Democratic · Incumbent - **Susan A Mason** — Retired Nurse · Republican 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 Angelique Ashby, a Democrat, is the sitting state senator for this district and the Senate's Majority Leader. She served twelve years on the Sacramento City Council, eight of them as vice mayor — the longest run in the city's history — after working as an attorney, including in the Sacramento County public defender's office (official biography). On the council, she says she helped attract "a Fortune 100 company" to the region and secured funding for schools, parks, fire stations, and flood control (official biography). She is running for a second term. In June 2025 she introduced SB 802, which would create a single Joint Powers Authority to run homelessness and housing services across Sacramento County in place of the current patchwork of city and county programs. "Providing resources for the unhoused population doesn't stop at city or county lines — and our response shouldn't either," she said (official Senate statement). The bill remains in the Legislature. She promises to keep expanding access to services. In February 2026 she introduced SB 961, the CalFresh for Students Act, to cut red tape around food assistance for college students as federal support is "scaled back" (official Senate statement). She has also called on Sacramento's regional leaders to act together on homelessness, writing that the region "has waited long enough" (official Senate commentary). **Strengths:** Twelve years on the city council, eight as vice mayor, plus a current push to build a single regional homelessness agency. **Trade-offs:** Her signature homelessness bill has not yet passed, so the regional agency remains a proposal, not a result. **Keep in mind:** She now leads the Senate's majority as well as representing this district. Whether that dual role serves this district is the decision this profile leaves to you. ## Susan A Mason Susan A Mason, a Republican, is running for this seat with the ballot designation "Retired Nurse" (Ballotpedia). Beyond that designation, a campaign website, biography, or news coverage describing their career or background could not be located. Mason has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress. No campaign website, public statement, or news coverage describing their candidacy could be found. No platform, promises, or stated priorities from Mason could be found. What can be documented is their name on the ballot and the "Retired Nurse" designation on their filing (Ballotpedia). **Strengths:** Mason gives this district a contested November ballot rather than an uncontested one. **Trade-offs:** No record in office and no documented platform leaves very little for a voter to evaluate beyond party and designation. **Keep in mind:** No record in office to judge; coverage of this race carries little beyond their ballot designation as a retired nurse. ## 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, 10 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 2026-09-21. ## Record details Ashby — SB 1050 (2026): False advertising: synthetic performers. Ashby — SB 8 (2025): Peace officers: injury or illness: leaves of absence. Ashby — SB 50 (2025): Connected devices: device protection requests. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Angelique Ashby** - Primary: $1,056,744 raised (Small donors: $535; Individuals: $80,800; PACs & committees: $539,000; Businesses & other orgs: $421,700) - November: $49,800 raised (Individuals: $9,700; PACs & committees: $12,500; Businesses & other orgs: $27,600) 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 2026-09-21. Susan A Mason has no itemized contributions dated after the June 2, 2026 primary reported to Cal-Access yet. 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. ## 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 Angelique Ashby — Biography](https://sd08.senate.ca.gov/biography) 4. [Senator Angelique Ashby — press release unveiling SB 802 regional housing/homelessness agency](https://sd08.senate.ca.gov/news/senator-angelique-ashby-unveils-historic-district-legislation-create-sacramento-area-housing) 5. [Senator Angelique Ashby — press release announcing SB 961, the CalFresh for Students Act](https://sd08.senate.ca.gov/news/senate-majority-leader-ashby-announces-sb-961-calfresh-students-act-address-urgent-access-food) 6. [California Legislative Information — public bill data (bulk download)](https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/) 7. [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 8 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 8 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/state-senate-8 (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.