# United States Representative, District 21 Compare records and positions simply between Kyle Kirkland or Jim Costa for United States Representative, District 21 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-21 - 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: 98 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 - **Kyle Kirkland** — Entrepreneur/Nonprofit CEO · Republican - **Jim Costa** — Farmer/Representative · Democratic Representative Jim Costa led the June 2 primary with 42.2% and Republican Kyle Kirkland took 26.3%. The district covers Fresno and part of the central 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. Seniority governs committee standing, so a long-serving member carries influence a newcomer cannot. The incumbent has served since 2005 and took only 42.2% in his own primary, short of a majority — a modest showing for two decades of tenure. His funding is majority-committee. Weigh long seniority against that softness and against a challenger largely funding himself. ## Jim Costa Jim Costa's grandparents built a dairy from Portuguese immigrant roots in Fresno. He grew up working on the family farm and now grows almonds in the San Joaquin Valley (House website). He interned for Congress and worked as a legislative aide before he won election to the state Assembly in 1978, at age 26. He later served in the state Senate, for 24 years total in Sacramento, before his 2004 election to Congress (House website). He is a senior member of the House Agriculture Committee, where his office says he has "crafted three Farm Bills." He also serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee (House website). This September, after the White House barred CNN, MS NOW and Politico reporters from access, Costa said, "The First Amendment is clear: freedom of speech and freedom of the press are fundamental rights that are strongly stated in our Constitution and must be protected" (Sierra Sun Times). He has served in Congress since 2005. His two decades in office are themselves part of the record voters are weighing this cycle. His site lists strengthening Valley agriculture and the economy, expanding health care access, lowering housing costs, fixing the immigration system, and repairing infrastructure among his priorities. He also lists veterans, foreign affairs, national security and victims' rights (House website). **Strengths:** Four decades in elected office, senior standing on the Agriculture Committee, and a documented record of public statements on issues from farm policy to press freedom. **Trade-offs:** A soft showing in his own primary for a member of his tenure, and that many years in one seat is also a long time for one district to have one representative. **Keep in mind:** Long seniority brings influence, but most of what defines this race is his existing record rather than new promises. Weigh that record as you see fit. ## Kyle Kirkland Kyle Kirkland is the Republican candidate for this seat, listed on the ballot as entrepreneur/Nonprofit CEO. He has not served in elected office. No campaign website, interview or news coverage of his reasons for running could be located, and no vote, lawsuit or other public incident is on record. With no published platform to draw on, his promises cannot be listed here in his own words. That is a gap in what is public, not a comment on his candidacy. **Strengths:** He is giving this seat a contested general election rather than an uncontested one. **Trade-offs:** No record in office and no published platform leave little for a voter to judge beyond party and occupation. **Keep in mind:** No campaign website or news coverage of his candidacy could be located; that gap is what is public, not a comment on him. ## Record in office Kyle Kirkland has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Jim Costa (Democratic) has served in the U.S. House since 2005 and has sponsored 29 bills in the 119th Congress; 2 of their career bills have become law. Per Congress.gov and the public-domain congress-legislators roster, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Record details Costa — Committees: Agriculture; Foreign Affairs Costa — HR 6023 (2022): Multinational Species Conservation Funds Semipostal Stamp Reauthorization Act of 2021 Costa — HR 4389 (2013): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 19 East Merced Street in Fowler, California, as the "Cecil E. Bolt Post Office". Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Kyle Kirkland** — $338,971 raised (Individuals: $211,511; Self-funding: $127,459) - **Jim Costa** — $1,338,630 raised (Individuals: $527,722; PACs & committees: $796,717) 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. ## 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. Jim Costa — official House website (full biography and issue priorities)](https://costa.house.gov/about/full-biography) 4. [Sierra Sun Times — Costa statement on White House press access ban](https://goldrushcam.com/sierrasuntimes/index.php/news/local-news/81878) 5. [congress-legislators — current members of Congress (unitedstates project)](https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-current.json) 6. [Congress.gov — member sponsored legislation (Library of Congress)](https://api.congress.gov/) 7. [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 21 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 21 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-21 (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.