California’s 15th District House Race 2026

Voters in California's 14th congressional district head to the polls Tuesday to fill the seat vacated by former Rep. Eric Swalwell, who resigned amid sexual assault allegations he denies. State Sen. Aisha Wahab, a progressive who has called for ending U.S. military aid to Israel, faces Melissa Hernandez, a moderate Democrat and Bay Area Rapid Transit Board president. With two Democrats on the ballot, the seat will stay in Democratic hands. Wahab led the June 16 primary by more than 20 points and remains the favorite, though Hernandez has more than doubled her in fundraising.

The race has drawn heavy outside spending tied to AIPAC's influence in Democratic primaries. AIPAC's United Democracy Project and allied group Bold America have together spent roughly $3.7 million opposing Wahab and backing Hernandez, part of about $4.1 million in total outside spending on the race. Wahab has drawn counter-support from pro-Palestinian PAC American Priorities and J Street Action Fund, which accused AIPAC of trying to "buy a Democratic primary." Wahab has emphasized affordability and civil rights, while Hernandez has focused on public safety and cost of living.

Contra Costa County supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to adopt a policy restricting county cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, aligning the county with other Bay Area jurisdictions. The policy bars county resources from being used to assist federal immigration operations unless a judicial warrant is presented, and directs staff to route enforcement requests to legal counsel or designated officials. It largely follows a model policy released by state Attorney General Rob Bonta under Senate Bill 580, which requires local governments to adopt similar protections by the start of 2027.

Debate centered on whether to enact the protections as a policy or a stronger ordinance; an ordinance motion failed on a split vote, with supporters arguing it would offer more durable protection and opponents favoring a policy's faster implementation and easier amendment. Other Bay Area counties, cities, and a school district already have comparable measures in place. County employees who violate the policy face disciplinary action.

The contest to succeed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in San Francisco has become a proxy fight over housing policy between two Democrats who each claim the progressive mantle. State Sen. Scott Wiener, an "abundance" and YIMBY advocate who authored permit-streamlining legislation, faces San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, who has Pelosi's endorsement and has opposed several major development and zoning changes in her district, citing tenant displacement and small-business concerns. Median one-bedroom rents in the city have topped $4,000, intensifying the debate over whether state intervention or local control best addresses the shortage.

The race also touches on Gaza policy, corporate PAC money, and campaign conduct, including a now-defunct AI chatbot mocking Chan that Wiener's campaign disavowed after backlash from Pelosi and other Democrats. Voters who backed a third primary candidate, Saikat Chakrabarti, remain a swing bloc heading into November, with the outcome likely to signal how San Francisco Democrats balance progressive identity against pro-housing "abundance" politics nationally.

Progressive Aisha Wahab has won the special election runoff in California's 14th Congressional District, defeating moderate Melissa Hernandez to fill the remainder of former Rep. Eric Swalwell's term through January. The Associated Press called the race two days after polls closed, with Wahab taking 53.1% of the vote to Hernandez's 46.9%. The margin narrowed sharply from Wahab's double-digit primary lead after AIPAC's United Democracy Project and allied groups spent more than $2.5 million since August boosting Hernandez and attacking Wahab, largely on local issues like public safety rather than Israel policy. Wahab, a state senator, will become the first Afghan American in Congress, having earlier become the first Afghan American elected to any U.S. public office when she won a Hayward City Council seat in 2018; she said the result shows her district "cannot be bought."

Wahab has been critical of Israel's actions in Gaza but did not center the issue in her campaign; she has also championed housing affordability and previously wrote a caste-discrimination bill vetoed by Gov. Gavin Newsom. She drew support from labor unions, the state Democratic Party, and J Street, while Hernandez, a BART director, was backed by police unions, AIPAC-aligned groups, and several Jewish Democratic members of Congress. Wahab succeeds Swalwell, who resigned in April amid sexual assault and harassment allegations he denies; federal agents recently seized his devices at a San Francisco airport and searched his D.C. home as investigations continue. Wahab and Hernandez will face off again in November for a full term beginning in 2027, in a district reshaped by redistricting to include part of Hernandez's former mayoral base in Dublin.

John Turnacliff, chairman of the Marin County Republicans, has publicly retracted his claim that 73 dead people voted in the November Proposition 50 special election, which redrew California's congressional maps to favor Democrats. Speaking at a Marin County Board of Supervisors meeting, Turnacliff apologized to the board and to Registrar of Voters Natalie Adona, saying he could not substantiate the claim after further research.

The county had earlier reviewed the list Turnacliff's group submitted and found at most five deceased individuals on it, with no record of votes cast in their names after death. After buying subscriptions to Ancestry.com and another records database, Turnacliff found many people on his list were actually alive and said he "jumped the gun." He said he apologized to maintain a workable relationship with the registrar's office, though he stressed his retraction was not an admission that voter fraud doesn't exist. Turnacliff, who has scrutinized Marin's voter rolls since the 2020 election, said his group intends to keep investigating other alleged irregularities.

A Los Angeles-area state Senate race between labor-backed West Hollywood City Councilmember John Erickson and business-supported media consultant Brian Goldsmith has become California's most expensive state Senate general election contest this cycle, driven by heavy outside spending. The district, covering Malibu, Santa Monica, the Pacific Palisades, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, carries a 12-year term limit as both seek to succeed termed-out Sen. Ben Allen.

Business groups have targeted Erickson with attack spending, while tech-linked donors and Goldsmith's own personal funds have boosted his campaign; labor groups opposing Goldsmith have spent far less. Nancy Pelosi recently endorsed Goldsmith. Ads focus on affordability, housing, public safety and partisan loyalty, reflecting a broader business-labor struggle over California Democratic Party direction.

St. Johns County, Florida commissioners approved a tentative flat property tax rate during a budget hearing that turned into a public debate over automated license plate readers. Sheriff Rob Hardwick's proposed budget increase includes $3.9 million for deputy raises, which he said would give more than 420 deputies below sergeant a roughly $9,000 pay bump and fund five additional positions. Commissioners heard extensive public comment on Flock cameras, with residents citing civil liberties and Fourth Amendment concerns and questioning costs and accountability.

The debate comes after the Florida Department of Transportation revoked permits for license plate readers on state roads, prompting questions about the fate of county-installed cameras and roughly $500,000 earmarked for related software, which Hardwick said could be redirected to jail monitoring technology if the program is shut down. Cameras remain on county roads for now, and Hardwick pointed to ongoing conversations with state lawmakers and the governor's office about the technology's future beyond his tenure. The debate mirrors a broader national backlash against license plate readers, with hundreds of cities and agencies ending contracts with vendors like Flock Safety amid privacy and misuse concerns. The next budget hearing is set for September 15.

A state audit released this week found 57 California dams in poor or unsatisfactory condition as of May, a number expected to rise as officials reevaluate aging infrastructure. Of these, 40 are rated high or extremely high hazard and cluster near densely populated areas including the Bay Area, San Diego, and Los Angeles. The auditor warned these dams could collectively endanger up to 1.5 million people and cause more than $265 billion in economic damage if they failed, with the risk heightened by an approaching El Niño winter expected to bring heavy rain.

The report criticized the California Department of Water Resources for never using enforcement powers granted in 2017, after the Oroville spillway failure, despite referring 44 dam owners for violations. Most dam owners lack funds for repairs, which the audit estimates could cost $28 billion statewide, far outpacing recent funding infusions. The auditor urged lawmakers to set repair deadlines and expand condemnation authority. The Department of Water Resources said it disagrees with some findings but is reviewing recommendations as it prepares for the wet season.

California's Democratic-led Legislature approved a package of bills aimed at limiting federal immigration enforcement tactics in the state. One measure, authored by Assembly member Mark Gonzalez and dubbed the "Get the Feds Out" Act, would bar agents and contractors involved in immigration enforcement from future employment with state and local government agencies, including police departments, with limited exceptions. A related bill from Assemblymember Isaac Bryan would prohibit law enforcement officers from moonlighting as federal immigration contractors. Lawmakers also passed AB 2760, the nation's first law banning law enforcement from using electric-shock gloves, a response to a Trump administration plan to buy the devices for ICE agents; the Department of Homeland Security has said it won't comply, calling the measure unconstitutional.

Additional bills would bar arrests near courthouses, impose a 25% tax on private immigration detention operators' income to fund immigration services, and let individuals sue federal agents over alleged civil rights violations. Republicans and immigration-restriction groups criticized the measures as legally vulnerable and politically motivated. Gov. Gavin Newsom has until Sept. 30 to sign or veto the bills.

Texas voters will decide in November whether to keep the three Republican justices currently sitting on the state's 15th Court of Appeals, a court created by the Legislature in 2023 to hear civil appeals involving the state, challenges to state laws' constitutionality, and business court cases. Gov. Greg Abbott appointed all three justices in 2024, and this is their first time facing voters; a win secures a six-year term. All primaries were uncontested, with one Republican and one Democrat per race advancing to the general election.

The Republican incumbents — a chief justice and two associate justices — are being challenged by three Democrats with appellate and judicial backgrounds. In their first year and a half on the bench, the current justices have ruled on marijuana policy, abortion policy, and campaign finance disputes, at times drawing criticism from Attorney General Ken Paxton. Because the court reviews nearly all major civil cases involving the state before they reach the Texas Supreme Court, its composition carries significant weight for pending and future litigation over state policy.