California’s 18th District House Race 2026

Former Santa Clara County undersheriff Rick Sung pleaded guilty Monday to two felony bribery counts as part of a plea deal ahead of a scheduled retrial, the county District Attorney's Office announced. A previous trial ended in a mistrial after a hung jury. Sung, who was second in command under former Sheriff Laurie Smith, was accused of leveraging rarely issued concealed weapon permits in exchange for benefits including a promise of 200 Apple iPads and access to a luxury suite and tickets at SAP Center, home of the San Jose Sharks. A related bribery charge against businessman Harpreet Chadha, who held the suite license, was dismissed at the hearing.

The plea closes out an eight-year investigation that began after a tip about an unusually large contribution to a committee backing Smith's 2018 re-election. The probe produced six convictions, including former Captain James Jensen, and led to Smith's 2022 resignation. Sung must permanently surrender his California peace officer certification and complete 400 hours of community service.

The California attorney general's office has dropped all felony charges against five Stanford University students prosecuted over a June 2024 campus protest against Israel's actions in Gaza. The students were among 12 who barricaded themselves in the university president's office for an hour, demanding Stanford divest from companies tied to Israel. They had faced felony conspiracy to trespass and vandalism charges, first announced in April 2025 by Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen.

Five students went to trial in early 2026, which ended in a hung jury. A judge later ordered Rosen to recuse himself over a conflict of interest, after evidence emerged he was using the case to fundraise for his reelection campaign. The state attorney general's office then took over and reached a resolution dropping all charges in exchange for 100 hours of community service and roughly $50,000 in restitution. Three students who had earlier accepted plea deals will also have their convictions overturned. Civil rights groups, including CAIR's San Francisco Bay Area chapter, welcomed the outcome, arguing the felony charges were disproportionate to the protest activity.

San Jose held a Patriot Day ceremony marking 25 years since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, honoring those who died and the first responders who risked their lives that day. The commemoration began with a procession of San Jose Fire, San Jose Police, and Santa Clara County Sheriff's personnel marching from St. Joseph Cathedral Basilica to Fire Station No. 1, led by a pipe and drum band and vintage fire vehicles carrying local officials including Rep. Zoe Lofgren, Mayor Matt Mahan, and other city and county leaders.

Assistant Fire Chief James Dobson led a "last alarm" bell tribute to fallen first responders. Speakers, including Lofgren and Santa Clara County Supervisor Otto Lee, emphasized national unity after the attacks and the ongoing health struggles of responders. Lee, without naming him directly, criticized President Trump's disputed claim that firefighters carried him from an unstable building near Ground Zero, an account contested by a former fire official. Fire Chief Robert Sapien Jr. said the department remains committed to honoring 9/11's victims through its annual bell ceremony.

California voters head to the polls in November to decide statewide and local races alongside 14 ballot propositions, including a closely watched "billionaires tax" measure and a recall-process reform. San Diego County's voter guide outlines a packed slate of contests, with voter pamphlets mailed in late September and ballots beginning to arrive October 5.

Key federal races include five competitive U.S. House districts (48–52), pitting incumbents and challengers from both parties after redistricting reshaped several seats. State Senate and Assembly races feature multiple incumbents defending seats, while the California State Board of Equalization's District 4 race pits a local water official against a sitting state senator.

Locally, San Diego County voters will also choose county supervisors, school board members, and city officials across numerous municipalities including San Diego, Chula Vista, Carlsbad, Escondido, Oceanside, and others, alongside mayoral races and special district seats covering healthcare, water, and community college boards. The wide-ranging ballot reflects a highly competitive election cycle across Southern California.

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.

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.

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.

Gov. Gavin Newsom has signed Assembly Bill 1905, which restricts law enforcement from using "Perkins operations" against most people under age 26 who allegedly committed a crime at 17 or younger. These undercover stings place agents posing as incarcerated people in jail cells with suspects to elicit incriminating statements, a tactic the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1990 does not count as custodial interrogation, leaving it exempt from prior protections for minors. The new law, authored by Assemblymember Nick Schultz, closes that gap, with exceptions when someone's life may be at risk. It takes effect January 1.

A CalMatters investigation found the practice widespread across several California counties, often involving false evidence ploys, recording devices, and paid operatives who posed as violent gang members. Ten related cases challenging convictions are pending before the California Supreme Court. Defense attorneys and some lawmakers argue the tactic is coercive and risks false confessions, disproportionately affecting Black and Latino defendants, while law enforcement groups, including the California State Sheriffs' Association, opposed the bill as a loss of investigative tools. The measure passed largely along party lines.