California Legislature · Statewide General Election
State Senator, District 18
Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.
On the ballot
- Steve Padilla — Democratic · Incumbent
- Art Hodges — Republican
This person holds your district's seat in the California State Senate (4-year term).
Record in office
Steve Padilla (Democratic) is the sitting State Senator for this district and is lead author of 36 bills in the 2025–2026 session, 6 of them signed into law. Art Hodges 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
Padilla — SB 243 (2025): Companion chatbots. Padilla — SB 461 (2025): State real property: City of Imperial. Padilla — SB 57 (2025): Electrical corporations: data centers: report. 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
- Self-funding
Steve Padilla
$724,167 raised
- Small donors$180<1%
- Individuals$34,6605%
- PACs & committees$332,10746%
- Businesses & other orgs$355,08349%
Art Hodges
$40,574 raised
- Small donors$2,6687%
- Individuals$28,55072%
- PACs & committees$7,90020%
- Businesses & other orgs$2501%
- Self-funding$2061%
1Figures 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
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.