# United States Representative, District 23 Compare records and positions simply between Tessa Lynn Hodge or Jay Obernolte for United States Representative, District 23 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-23 - 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 10 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Tessa Lynn Hodge** — Social Worker/Businesswoman · Democratic - **Jay Obernolte** — Congressman/Business Owner · Republican Representative Jay Obernolte took 57.1% of the June 2 vote and Democrat Tessa Lynn Hodge took 21.3% to claim the second slot. The district covers the high desert and eastern San Bernardino County. 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 longer-serving member carries influence a newcomer cannot. The incumbent draws the majority of his funding from committees rather than individuals, and his opponent has raised about five percent as much. The practical question here is what this district gets from a safe seat. ## Jay Obernolte Jay Obernolte founded FarSight Studios in 1990, an independent video game developer whose titles include Scarface: Money. Power. Respect. and The Pinball Arcade. He later served as Mayor of Big Bear Lake and in the California State Assembly from 2014 to 2020 (Wikipedia; obernolte.house.gov). He holds an engineering degree from Caltech and a graduate degree in artificial intelligence from UCLA. Since 2024 he has co-chaired a bipartisan House task force on AI policy with Democrat Ted Lieu (Wikipedia; obernolte.house.gov). On January 6, 2021, Obernolte voted against counting Arizona's and Pennsylvania's electoral votes for president. In his own statement at the time, he said election changes in those states had been made "through unilateral court or executive actions" rather than by the legislature. He argued "only state legislatures have this power with respect to presidential electors." He called his position "not a partisan decision" (his January 2021 statement). His campaign promises to "balance the federal budget and stop the reckless spending that is driving inflation," along with lower taxes, a bigger child tax credit and relief for small businesses (campaign site). He says he has "authored legislation to hold fentanyl dealers accountable" and used his technology background to "draft and pass legislation to update our cyber security" (campaign site). **Strengths:** Deep technical background as the only member of Congress with a graduate degree in AI, now co-chairing the House's bipartisan AI task force, plus committee seats on energy, science and the budget. **Trade-offs:** His January 2021 vote against counting two states' electoral votes is a documented episode voters may weigh against the rest of his record. **Keep in mind:** He explained the electoral vote objection as a dispute over who changes election law, not over the outcome; whether that explanation satisfies you is the question this profile leaves open. ## Tessa Lynn Hodge Tessa Lynn Hodge is a licensed clinical social worker and small business owner based in Victorville. Hodge has not previously held elected office (Orange County Register questionnaire). They say their clinical work showed them how hard it is for High Desert and mountain community residents to get health care and keep up with the cost of living (OC Register). Hodge says Congress "has forgotten about us" in the high desert and mountain communities. They argue their top priority is "lowering the cost of living" by fighting tariffs and "giant international corporations that put profit over people" (OC Register). They say the incumbent, Jay Obernolte, "voted to gut our healthcare, leading to four local hospitals being on the verge of closing," referring to the 2025 federal budget reconciliation bill (OC Register). Hodge promises to push for "real investment in sustainable industries" rather than more warehouses. On immigration, they say the country should start "abolishing ICE" and build "a new immigration enforcement agency that is accountable to the people" (OC Register). They also support barring members of Congress and their families from trading individual stocks, calling it a top priority (OC Register). **Strengths:** A detailed, specific platform in their own words on cost of living, health care and government accountability, unusual for a first time challenger in this district. **Trade-offs:** No record in elected office to judge, and their central health care claim against the incumbent comes only from their own campaign material. **Keep in mind:** Coverage of this race outside their own questionnaire answers is thin; what you can judge here is what they say they would do, not a record. ## Record in office Tessa Lynn Hodge has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Jay Obernolte (Republican) has served in the U.S. House since 2021 and has sponsored 31 bills in the 119th Congress; 1 of their career bills have become law. Per Congress.gov and the public-domain congress-legislators roster, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Record details Obernolte — Committees: Energy and Commerce; Science, Space, and Technology; Budget Obernolte — HJRES 89 (2025): Providing congressional disapproval under chapter 8 of title 5, United States Code, of the rule submitted by the Environmental Protection Agency relating to "California State Motor Vehicle and Engine and Nonroad Engine Pollution Control Standards; The "Omnibus" Low NOX Regulation; Waiver of Preemption; Notice of Decision". Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Tessa Lynn Hodge** — $79,499 raised (Individuals: $70,273; Self-funding: $9,080) - **Jay Obernolte** — $1,455,868 raised (Individuals: $498,760; PACs & committees: $863,371) 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 - Jay Obernolte 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. [Wikipedia — Jay Obernolte (career timeline, January 2021 electoral vote and impeachment votes)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jay_Obernolte) 4. [Rep. Jay Obernolte — About (official biography, committee assignments)](https://obernolte.house.gov/about) 5. [Rep. Jay Obernolte — official statement on the January 6, 2021 electoral count objection (used for his direct quotes)](https://obernolte.house.gov/media/press-releases/rep-obernolte-statement-electoral-count) 6. [Jay Obernolte for Congress — campaign site (priorities and promises)](https://electjay.com) 7. [Orange County Register — Tessa Lynn Hodge, CA-23 candidate, 2026 primary election questionnaire](https://www.ocregister.com/2026/05/05/tessa-lynn-hodge-ca-23-candidate-2026-primary-election-questionnaire/) 8. [congress-legislators — current members of Congress (unitedstates project)](https://unitedstates.github.io/congress-legislators/legislators-current.json) 9. [Congress.gov — member sponsored legislation (Library of Congress)](https://api.congress.gov/) 10. [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 23 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 23 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-23 (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.