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California Legislature · Statewide General Election

Member of the State Assembly, District 69

Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.

On the ballot

Josh Lowenthal — Democratic · Incumbent
Carolyn J. Essex — Democratic

This person holds your district's seat in the California State Assembly (2-year term).

Record in office

Josh Lowenthal (Democratic) is the sitting Assemblymember for this district and is lead author of 30 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 4 of them signed into law. Carolyn J. Essex has not served in the California Legislature or U.S. Congress; these records cover only those offices. Per the California Legislature's public bill data (leginfo bulk download), retrieved 2026-08-03.

Record details

Lowenthal — AB 812 (2025): Recall and resentencing: incarcerated firefighters. Lowenthal — AB 772 (2025): Cyberbullying: off-campus acts: model policy. Lowenthal — AB 462 (2025): Land use: accessory dwelling units. Committee assignments and the most recently signed-into-law bills each record-holder lead-authored, from the official legislative record.

Financial info

Small donors
Individuals
PACs & committees
Businesses & other orgs

Josh Lowenthal

$709,942 raised

Small donors$374<1%
Individuals$145,34521%
PACs & committees$362,92052%
Businesses & other orgs$195,30028%

Carolyn J. Essex has no contributions reported to Cal-Access for this race.

Figures are CA Form 460 filings through June 30, 2026 by committees controlled by each candidate, and can include transfers from a candidate's earlier committees. Semi-annual reports covering January–June 2026 were due July 31, 2026, so some totals lag a period behind. Per the California Secretary of State's Cal-Access raw data export, retrieved 2026-08-03.

June 2 primary — how they advanced

Josh Lowenthal (Democratic)68.6% · 63,944 votes

Carolyn J. Essex (Democratic)28.5% · 26,596 votes

Rachel Gunther (Republican) · write-in2.9% · 2,736 votes

Source review: Very strong (98/100) · 3 cited sources

Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.

sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-07-10)
downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)California Legislative Information — public bill data (bulk download)
sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)Cal-Access raw data export — California Secretary of State

Last updated August 3, 2026.