# United States Representative, District 42 Compare records and positions simply between Brian Burley or Robert Garcia for United States Representative, District 42 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-42 - 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: 93 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 - **Brian Burley** — Trustee, Huntington Beach City School District · Republican - **Robert Garcia** — United States Congressman · Democratic Representative Robert Garcia took 56.5% of the June 2 vote and Republican Brian Burley took 20.6% to claim the second slot. The district covers Long Beach and part of the South Bay. 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 raised $2.6 million with three-quarters of it from individuals, an unusually individual-funded profile at that scale. His challenger is largely self-financed. The practical question is what this district gets from a seat held comfortably. ## Robert Garcia Robert Garcia immigrated from Peru with his mother at age five and became a U.S. citizen in his twenties, which he calls "his proudest moment" (campaign site). He founded the Long Beach Post, a local news site, and taught communication and public policy at USC, Cal State Long Beach and Long Beach City College. He served on the Long Beach City Council from 2009 to 2014, then as mayor from 2014 to 2022 — by his campaign's account, the city's first immigrant and first LGBTQ mayor — where he launched a tuition-free community college program and a universal basic income pilot (campaign site; robertgarcia.house.gov). He has represented this district in Congress since 2023, and in 2025 House Democrats elected him, in only his second term, ranking member of the Oversight Committee, the chamber's chief investigative panel (lbpost.com). He says "my mother brought me to this country and risked everything so I could succeed," and that he is "running for Congress so that every kid can have the same shot that she — and this country — gave me" (campaign site). In January 2026 he called for Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to resign over what he called "payments, contracts, gifts and a massive grift," and said he would help lead an impeachment inquiry into her agency if she did not (Long Beach Post). Noem did not resign, and President Trump publicly defended her record (Long Beach Post). As Oversight Committee ranking member he has pursued investigations into the Department of Justice's handling of the Epstein files and federal immigration operations in Los Angeles, and says that if Democrats win the House majority he would investigate "contract handling" at the Department of Homeland Security, vaccine programs and congressional stock trading (Long Beach Post). His campaign site lists port pollution, gun violence and government efficiency among his priorities, and he promises to keep pushing for the release of Epstein-related records. **Strengths:** Two terms in and already the top Democrat on the House's main investigative committee, with a documented record of high-profile inquiries. **Trade-offs:** As ranking member, not chair, his investigations lack subpoena power while Republicans hold the majority. **Keep in mind:** His public claims against Noem, including a threatened impeachment inquiry, have not led to her resignation or removal. How you weigh unresolved allegations is your call. ## Brian Burley Brian Burley is a member of the Huntington Beach City School District Board of Trustees, elected in November 2024 to represent Trustee Area 1, and the Republican candidate for this seat. He has worked in higher education at USC for more than a decade, managing learning management systems and virtual servers for USC Online and the Suzuki Dworak-Peck School of Social Work. He holds a bachelor's degree in political economy and two master's degrees, in public policy and digital media management, all from USC, and is pursuing a further USC degree in emergency management. Before joining the board he ran a small business in Huntington Beach (hbcsd.us). No source stating his reason for running for Congress could be located. The one documented fact on the record is that before his 2024 election he was "active in community advocacy, particularly regarding parental rights and local control," according to his official district biography, and he was elected to the school board on that record (hbcsd.us). No campaign website, interview or published platform for his congressional run could be located. That gap is what is public, not a judgment on his candidacy. **Strengths:** A documented record of local elected office and community advocacy on school policy — more public record than most first-time challengers on this ballot. **Trade-offs:** No record in state or federal office, and no documented platform for this congressional race beyond his school board background. **Keep in mind:** No campaign website or news coverage of his congressional run could be located; that gap is what is public, not a comment on him. ## Record in office Brian Burley has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Robert Garcia (Democratic) has served in the U.S. House since 2023 and has sponsored 21 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 Garcia — Committees: Oversight and Government Reform; Transportation and Infrastructure Garcia — HR 5301 (2024): Eliminate Useless Reports Act of 2024 Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Brian Burley** — $231,371 raised (Individuals: $44,857; Self-funding: $186,000) - **Robert Garcia** — $2,615,120 raised (Individuals: $1,958,612; PACs & committees: $625,683) 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 - Robert Garcia campaign site 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. Robert Garcia — About (career, education, committee record)](https://robertgarcia.house.gov/about) 4. [Robert Garcia campaign site — About (biography and stated priorities)](https://robertgarcia.com/about) 5. [Long Beach Post — Long Beach congressman to help lead impeachment inquiry of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem](https://lbpost.com/news/politics/impeachment-inquiry-kristi-noem-robert-garcia) 6. [Long Beach Post — Long Beach congressman may get huge power to antagonize Trump if Democrats take midterms](https://lbpost.com/news/politics/elections/robert-garcia-antagonize-trump-midterms-democrats) 7. [Huntington Beach City School District — Board of Trustees, Brian Burley bio](https://www.hbcsd.us/14533_2) 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 42 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 42 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-42 (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.