# United States Representative, District 13 Compare records and positions simply between Kevin Lincoln or Adam Gray for United States Representative, District 13 at VoteOrElse.com. On the November 3, 2026 California general election ballot. This person holds your district's seat in the U.S. House of Representatives (2-year term). - Jurisdiction: Federal - 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/us-rep-13 - 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: 92 out of 100 (Very strong), across 8 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Kevin Lincoln** — Small Business Owner · Republican - **Adam Gray** — United States Representative/Educator · Democratic Representative Adam Gray took 42.0% of the June 2 vote and Republican Kevin Lincoln took 27.7%. Together the two campaigns have raised more than $6.4 million, among the most expensive contests on this ballot. The district covers the northern San Joaquin Valley. The winner holds one of 435 seats in the U.S. House for a two-year term. A member introduces bills, sits on committees that shape federal legislation, votes on the federal budget and on war powers, and handles casework between constituents and federal agencies. A first-term member is at the bottom of the seniority ladder that governs committee assignments. This is one of the genuinely competitive House seats in the state and the spending reflects it: $4.19 million against $2.24 million, with the incumbent short of a majority in his own primary at 42.0%. Both campaigns drew most of their money from individuals. Weigh a first federal term against a challenger with substantial resources of his own. ## Adam Gray Adam Gray, a Democrat, has represented California's 13th District in the House since January 2025, after roughly a decade in the California State Assembly representing Merced and Stanislaus counties (gray.house.gov). There he founded the California Problem Solvers Caucus and worked on a UC Merced medical school program and Central Valley water infrastructure. He was born and raised in Merced and has worked as an educator at UC Merced; in Congress he sits on the Agriculture and Natural Resources committees and serves as whip of the Blue Dog Coalition (gray.house.gov). Gray frames his work as delivering concretely for the Valley: in September 2026 he opposed a reported proposal to sell part of Yosemite National Park, saying "Yosemite isn't for sale... We must protect our public lands and ensure Yosemite remains accessible" (Rep. Gray press release). He and Rep. Zoe Lofgren also pressed the Trump administration to release 867.5 million dollars in delayed Medicaid payments owed to California (Rep. Gray press release). He promises to keep directing federal funding, water infrastructure and disaster and crop relief toward Central Valley farms and small towns (Rep. Gray press release). In July 2026 he introduced the bipartisan CURRENT Act to speed up federal permitting for local infrastructure projects while keeping Clean Water Act protections in place (Rep. Gray press release). He describes his approach as "bipartisan commonsense policy solutions" rather than partisan politics (gray.house.gov). **Strengths:** A decade of Central Valley legislative experience before Congress, and a documented habit of naming specific local funding fights by name. **Trade-offs:** Just one term in the House, in a competitive seat his party needs to hold, is a short federal record to weigh. **Keep in mind:** His public materials read almost entirely as delivery-for-the-district messaging; independent scrutiny of his record beyond these announcements was not found in this pass. ## Kevin Lincoln Kevin Lincoln, a U.S. Marine Corps veteran and pastor, served as mayor of Stockton from 2021 to 2024 after a career in the security industry; he describes himself as a third-generation Stocktonian and the grandson of a Mexican immigrant (campaign site). Before this race he ran unsuccessfully for California's 9th District in 2024. He has not served in the California Legislature or Congress. He says he is running because "D.C. politicians have done little to address the cost of groceries, gas, and housing for Valley families" (campaign site). As mayor, his campaign says he "backed the blue, delivering an 18% pay raise" and a large increase in the public-safety budget, alongside "thousands of new businesses and jobs, balanced budgets, and reductions in both violent crime and homelessness" (campaign site). Gray's campaign has countered that Lincoln "can't run from his record of skyrocketing housing and utility costs, rampant crime, and taxpayer-funded perks for himself" (Stocktonia); Lincoln's own materials point instead to the public-safety and budget figures above. He promises to "secure the border, enforce our immigration laws, and restore law-and-order," and to "fight soft-on-crime policies like early prisoner release and reduced sentences for repeat offenders" (campaign site). He also pledges to "cut wasteful government spending, lower taxes, and put more money back in the pockets of hardworking Central Valley families," and supports the current federal AI Action Plan as a way to keep the country ahead of China on artificial intelligence (campaign site). **Strengths:** A specific self-reported record as mayor: police pay raises, a larger public safety budget, and, by his account, lower crime and homelessness. **Trade-offs:** No record in state or federal office, and Gray's campaign disputes his portrayal of Stockton's cost of living and finances under his term. **Keep in mind:** Both sides' claims about his mayoral record are self-serving and contested; this profile gives you both without settling which one is right. ## Record in office Kevin Lincoln has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Adam Gray (Democratic) has served in the U.S. House since 2025 and has sponsored 8 bills in the 119th Congress; none of their bills have become law so far. Per Congress.gov and the public-domain congress-legislators roster, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Record details Gray — Committees: Agriculture; Natural Resources Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Kevin Lincoln** — $2,237,084 raised (Individuals: $1,194,409; PACs & committees: $251,621) - **Adam Gray** — $4,191,397 raised (Individuals: $2,422,914; PACs & committees: $1,265,075; Party: $4,808) Total raised is all receipts for the 2026 cycle; the breakdown lists direct contributions, so the pieces can sum below the total. Figures are FEC filings through June 30, 2026, per the FEC bulk campaign-finance summaries, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Review notes - Kevin Lincoln for Congress may have more bias because it is an advocacy voter guide 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. [Rep. Adam Gray — official House site (About page and press releases on Yosemite, Medicaid funding and the CURRENT Act)](https://gray.house.gov/about) 4. [Kevin Lincoln for Congress — campaign site (home and Issues page, used for biography, motivation and platform)](https://www.kevinlincolnforcongress.com/) 5. [Stocktonia — "Congress 2026: Kevin Lincoln to take on Rep. Adam Gray in District 13 after Proposition 50 passage" (used for the Gray campaign's counter-claim about Lincoln's mayoral record)](https://stocktonia.org/news/politics/2025/11/07/former-stockton-mayor-kevin-lincoln-vs-adam-gray-congress-2026/) 6. [congress-legislators — current members of Congress (unitedstates project)](https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-current.json) 7. [Congress.gov — member sponsored legislation (Library of Congress)](https://api.congress.gov/) 8. [FEC — 2026 House & Senate current-campaign financial summaries (bulk data)](https://www.fec.gov/files/bulk-downloads/2026/webl26.zip) ## The rest of the ballot United States Representative, District 13 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, "United States Representative, District 13 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-13 (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.