# United States Representative, District 39 Compare records and positions simply between Steve Manos or Mark Takano for United States Representative, District 39 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-39 - 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: 88 out of 100 (Strong), across 8 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Steve Manos** — Mayor/Business Owner · Republican - **Mark Takano** — U.S. Congressman · Democratic Representative Mark Takano took 61.0% of the June 2 vote and Republican Steve Manos took 39.0%; they were the only two candidates on the primary ballot. The district covers Riverside and part of the Inland Empire. 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 has 6 career bills enacted, among the stronger counts in the delegation, on a comparatively modest budget. His opponent has reported no funding and still took 39% of the vote. Both facts are worth weighing. ## Mark Takano Mark Takano has represented Riverside for more than 30 years in one office or another. His grandparents and parents were incarcerated as Japanese Americans during World War II before resettling in Riverside County; he graduated as valedictorian of La Sierra High School in 1979 and earned a government degree from Harvard in 1983. He taught in the Rialto Unified School District starting in 1988, then served on the Riverside Community College District board, becoming its president in 1991. In 2012 he was elected to Congress, "the first openly gay person of color" to serve there (marktakano.com). His campaign site does not give a direct quote on why he is running again, framing it instead as continuing three decades of service to the district. As chairman, and now ranking member, of the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, he authored the Sergeant First Class Heath Robinson Honoring our PACT Act, which expanded VA health care eligibility to more than 3.5 million veterans exposed to burn pits and was signed into law in 2022 (takano.house.gov). He promises to keep fighting for veterans, labor rights, LGBTQ+ equality and public education, and his campaign emphasizes voter registration and civic engagement in the Inland Empire (marktakano.com). **Strengths:** More than a decade in Congress capped by a major law, the PACT Act, expanding VA health care for burn pit exposure, built on decades of local education and board service. **Trade-offs:** He has not said publicly why he is seeking another term beyond continuing his current work. **Keep in mind:** A 61 percent primary result reflects district registration as much as his record. His clearest legislative achievement is one law; weigh that against three decades in public roles. ## Steve Manos Steve Manos has lived in the Inland Empire since 1987 and runs a business he started in 1996 (campaign site). He was elected to the Lake Elsinore City Council in 2012 and has served as mayor in 2015, 2019, 2024 and 2026, by his campaign's account. He also holds director positions with the Riverside County Habitat Conservation Authority and the Southern California Association of Governments, and was named the Lake Elsinore Chamber of Commerce's Citizen of the Year in 2015 (campaign site). He says that after making "incredibly positive change" in his hometown, "it is time to take on bigger, more difficult challenges" (campaign site). Beyond his campaign's own account of his time on the council and as mayor, independent coverage of his record in local office could not be located to check that account against. He promises to focus on national security and parental rights, and on housing affordability, including limits on investment firms buying up residential property to keep more of it at market rate for young families (campaign site). He also promises funding for repairs to the 215 freeway, expanded regional transportation capacity, and continued support for veterans and government accountability. **Strengths:** Real elected experience as a four-term mayor and council member, in a district where his opponent has held only federal office. **Trade-offs:** His record as mayor comes only from his own campaign account; no outside coverage of his time in local office could be fetched to check it against. **Keep in mind:** His campaign describes a local record that could not be independently verified. Whether that record supports a jump to Congress is the call this profile leaves to you. ## Record in office Steve Manos has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Mark Takano (Democratic) has served in the U.S. House since 2013 and has sponsored 27 bills in the 119th Congress; 6 of their career bills have become law. Per Congress.gov and the public-domain congress-legislators roster, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Record details Takano — Committees: Education and Workforce; Veterans' Affairs Takano — HR 366 (2023): Korean American VALOR Act Takano — HR 5983 (2021): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 4150 Chicago Avenue in Riverside, California, as the "Woodie Rucker-Hughes Post Office Building". Takano — HR 8247 (2020): Veterans COMPACT Act of 2020 Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Mark Takano** — $893,848 raised (Individuals: $477,990; PACs & committees: $404,800) Steve Manos has no fundraising on file with the FEC. 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 - Manos for Congress and Mark Takano campaign site (biography, priorities) may have more bias because they are advocacy voter guides 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. Mark Takano — official House biography](https://takano.house.gov/about/biography) 4. [Mark Takano campaign site (biography, priorities)](https://www.marktakano.com) 5. [Manos for Congress — campaign site (biography, priorities, why running)](https://www.manosforcongress.com) 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 39 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 39 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-39 (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.