# United States Representative, District 43 Compare records and positions simply between Maxine Waters or Cristian Morales for United States Representative, District 43 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-43 - 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: 96 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 - **Maxine Waters** — United States Congresswoman · Democratic - **Cristian Morales** — Manufacturing Executive · Republican Representative Maxine Waters took 63.8% of the June 2 vote and Republican Cristian Morales took 16.9% to claim the second slot. Waters has held this seat since 1991 — the longest tenure of any candidate on this ballot. The district covers south Los Angeles and neighbouring communities. 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, and thirty-five years of it is the deepest any candidate on this ballot can offer. Thirty-five years of seniority is the central fact here, and it cuts both ways: it buys committee standing no newcomer could match, and it means this district has had the same representation since 1991. Waters's opponent has reported no funding. Weigh the value of that seniority on its own terms. ## Maxine Waters Maxine Waters has served in Congress since 1991, following 14 years in the California State Assembly, where they rose to Democratic Caucus chair (waters.house.gov). They became the first woman and first African American to chair the House Financial Services Committee, and remains a founding member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a past chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. In the Assembly they championed the state's largest divestment from apartheid-era South Africa's pension holdings and the nation's first statewide child-abuse-prevention training program (waters.house.gov). Waters has represented this district since 1991 — the longest tenure of any candidate on this ballot — and Waters's office says Waters will keep fighting for their constituents. In August 2026 a federal court blocked a Trump administration attempt to suspend roughly 241 million dollars in homeless services funding for Los Angeles, a fight Waters's office had publicly pushed; Waters's office said the ruling protected support for more than 11,000 people (waters.house.gov). Waters's recent bills include the Food for Palestinian Children and Families in Gaza Act and, with Senator Cory Booker, the Fair Competition Act, aimed at protecting small businesses from anti-competitive pricing (waters.house.gov). Waters promises to keep opposing what they call the administration's efforts to "weaponize federal resources" against sanctuary cities, and says they will continue pushing for accountability from the Trump administration (waters.house.gov). **Strengths:** Thirty-five years of seniority, a past committee chairmanship, and a concrete 2026 court win protecting local homeless services funding. **Trade-offs:** Long tenure means this district has had one representative for more than three decades. **Keep in mind:** How you weigh accumulated seniority against three and a half decades of one person representing this district is your call. ## Cristian Morales Cristian Morales is the Republican candidate for this seat, listed on the ballot as manufacturing Executive. They have not served in elected office. No campaign website, interview or news coverage of their reasons for running could be located, and no vote, lawsuit or other public incident is on record. With no published platform to draw on, their promises cannot be listed here in their own words. That is a gap in what is public, not a comment on their candidacy. **Strengths:** Morales 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 their candidacy could be located; that gap is what is public, not a comment on them. ## Record in office Maxine Waters (Democratic) has served in the U.S. House since 1991 and has sponsored 47 bills in the 119th Congress; 3 of their career bills have become law. Cristian Morales has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Per Congress.gov and the public-domain congress-legislators roster, retrieved 2026-09-21. ## Record details Waters — Committees: Financial Services Waters — HR 5569 (2010): National Flood Insurance Program Extension Act of 2010 Waters — HR 4573 (2010): Haiti Debt Relief and Earthquake Recovery Act of 2010 Waters — HR 289 (2005): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 8200 South Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles, California, as the Sergeant First Class John Marshall Post Office Building. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Maxine Waters** — $863,683 raised (Individuals: $338,657; PACs & committees: $400,500) Cristian Morales 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. ## 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. Maxine Waters — About (career and committee record)](https://waters.house.gov/about) 4. [Rep. Maxine Waters — Press Releases (recent bills and statements, including homeless-services funding ruling)](https://waters.house.gov/media-center/press-releases) 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 43 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 43 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-43 (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.