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California Legislature · Statewide General Election

Member of the State Assembly, District 78

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

On the ballot

Chris Ward — Democratic · Incumbent
Payton Galvez — Republican

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

Record in office

Chris Ward (Democratic) is the sitting Assemblymember for this district and is lead author of 35 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 8 of them signed into law. Payton Galvez 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

Ward — AB 2559 (2026): Solid waste: construction debris: diversion: deposits. Ward — AB 82 (2025): Health care: legally protected health care activity. Ward — AB 253 (2025): California Residential Private Permitting Review Act: residential building permits. 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

Chris Ward

$519,685 raised

Small donors$655<1%
Individuals$32,5756%
PACs & committees$278,20054%
Businesses & other orgs$202,95039%

Payton Galvez 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

Chris Ward (Democratic)68.5% · 93,750 votes

Payton Galvez (Republican)28.4% · 38,865 votes

Antonio Salguero (Libertarian)3.1% · 4,277 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.