# United States Representative, District 5 Compare records and positions simply between Tom McClintock or Michael Masuda for United States Representative, District 5 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-5 - 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 10 cited sources. This grades the mix of sources, not the candidates. Rubric: https://voteorelse.com/about#methodology ## On the ballot - **Tom McClintock** — United States Representative · Republican - **Michael Masuda** — Foreign Affairs Officer · Democratic Representative Tom McClintock took 61.3% of the June 2 vote and Democrat Michael Masuda took 24.3% to claim the second slot. The district covers the Sierra Nevada and foothill counties. 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 an unusually individual-funded campaign for a long-serving member — $770,054 of $928,788 from named individuals — and 5 career laws, a solid House record. His challenger raised $361,735, also mostly from individuals. Weigh seventeen years of seniority against a comparatively well-funded challenge. ## Tom McClintock Tom McClintock, a Republican, has represented this district in Congress since 2009. He sits on the Budget, Judiciary and Natural Resources Committees (House.gov). He has pushed the Proven Forest Management Act and other wildfire-prevention bills. He argues that "water shortages are a choice we made a generation ago when we passed laws to make construction of new dams and reservoirs endlessly time consuming and inordinately cost-prohibitive" (Turlock Journal). McClintock is seeking another term to keep pressing that agenda in Washington. He has called tariffs "a big mistake" that hurts economic growth, saying "when you're trying to accelerate, it doesn't make any sense to keep tapping the brakes" (Turlock Journal). Yet he still supports using tariffs as leverage in trade negotiations. He also defended the administration's preemptive strike on Iran, acknowledging it went ahead without congressional authorization. He said intelligence showed Iran was weeks from producing enough enriched uranium for eleven bombs, and that the War Powers Act allows 60 days before withdrawal is required (Turlock Journal). McClintock promises continued investment in water infrastructure, including a federal plan to raise Shasta Dam by 18.5 feet (Turlock Journal). He backs the tax cuts in what he calls the "Big Beautiful Bill," stronger immigration enforcement, and eliminating what he calls wasteful government subsidies (House.gov). **Strengths:** Seventeen years in the House, seats on Budget, Judiciary and Natural Resources, and a documented push for water and forest-management legislation. **Trade-offs:** He calls tariffs a mistake but backs them anyway, and defended a military strike Congress never authorized. **Keep in mind:** Whether you weigh a policy he calls flawed, or his defense of executive action Congress didn't vote on, is a judgment this profile leaves to you. ## Michael Masuda Michael Masuda is an electrical engineer with seven years of defense research experience. He also spent three and a half years at the State Department, where he worked as a diplomat focused on science, technology and foreign policy (Turlock Journal). He grew up in rural Amador County and says he is "an engineer, not a politician" (Turlock Journal). He and his family are the only current candidates in the race who actually live within the district (Turlock Journal). Masuda says "voters in the 5th District are tired of being overlooked by Washington" (Oakdale Leader). He opposed the strikes on Iran, saying "this war is a disaster for Americans, for consumers." He pointed to gas prices that rose more than a dollar a gallon (Turlock Journal). He has held town halls and forums across the district, including a September 2026 gathering in Oakdale that McClintock declined to attend (Oakdale Leader). Masuda's platform treats affordability sector by sector. He argues "housing affordability is fundamentally a supply issue" (Turlock Journal). He wants increased federal investment in the Forest Service and prescribed burns to reduce wildfire fuel loads, more funding for underfunded special education programs, and an end to immigration enforcement he describes as carried out "through chaos and fear" (Turlock Journal). He opposes repealing the Affordable Care Act while supporting efforts to break up what he calls "corporate consolidation" in health care (Turlock Journal). **Strengths:** An engineer and former State Department diplomat on science and foreign policy, and the only candidate in the race who lives in the district. **Trade-offs:** No record in any office; what voters can judge is his professional background, town-hall record and campaign promises. **Keep in mind:** Coverage of his platform is thinner than the incumbent's. That gap reflects what local outlets have covered, not a comment on his candidacy. ## Record in office Tom McClintock (Republican) has served in the U.S. House since 2009 and has sponsored 26 bills in the 119th Congress; 5 of their career bills have become law. Michael Masuda 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 McClintock — Committees: Natural Resources; Budget; Judiciary McClintock — HR 1555 (2025): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 2300 Sylvan Avenue in Modesto, California, as the "Corporal Michael D. Anderson Jr. Post Office Building". McClintock — HR 381 (2018): To designate a mountain in the John Muir Wilderness of the Sierra National Forest as "Sky Point". McClintock — HR 2388 (2014): To take certain Federal lands located in El Dorado County, California, into trust for the benefit of the Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians, and for other purposes. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record. ## Financial info - **Tom McClintock** — $928,788 raised (Individuals: $770,054; PACs & committees: $156,551) - **Michael Masuda** — $361,735 raised (Individuals: $340,049; PACs & committees: $18,750) 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. [Congressman Tom McClintock — Official Site (biography, committees, priorities)](https://mcclintock.house.gov/) 4. [Turlock Journal — Rep. McClintock talks gas prices, war in Iran, tariffs and affordability](https://www.turlockjournal.com/news/government/rep-mcclintock-talks-gas-prices-war-in-iran-tariffs-and-affordability/) 5. [Turlock Journal — McClintock talks water, regulation at Turlock forum](https://www.turlockjournal.com/news/government/mcclintock-talks-water-regulation-at-turlock-forum/) 6. [Turlock Journal — Facing uphill climb against entrenched incumbent, Michael Masuda makes his case for the US House](https://www.turlockjournal.com/news/government/facing-uphill-climb-against-entrenched-incumbent-michael-masuda-makes-his-case-for-the-us-house/) 7. [Oakdale Leader — Congressional hopeful meets with local residents (Masuda town hall)](https://www.oakdaleleader.com/news/congressional-hopeful-meets-with-local-residents/) 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 5 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 5 — November 3, 2026 California general election," https://voteorelse.com/2026/us-rep-5 (sources last retrieved September 24, 2026). Link the canonical page above rather than this Markdown file. 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