Sara Hernandez Outpaces Fellow Democrats in California Senate District 26
20 seats in the California Senate are up this year.
The primaries occurred today in California to select candidates for the November 2026 general election. This post covers the races for 20 seats in the State Senate. Separate posts will be covering the primaries for federal races, statewide executive offices, all 80 seats in the State Assembly, mayoral seats, and county contests.
In California, all candidates compete on the same ballot today regardless of partisan affiliation. The top two finishers in the primary regardless of party will then advance to the general election. A candidate can’t avoid the second round by obtaining a 50%+1 majority today. All of the offices detailed below are partisan. As such, those party labels will be included.
The general election for 20 seats in the California Senate will be held on November 3, 2026.
District 2:
Democrat Damon Connolly and Republican Tief Gibbs will advance with 72.3% (150,739) and 17.0% (35,570) against Republican Aaron Smith with 10.7% (22,336). 208,645 votes counted.
District 4:
Democrat Jaron Brandon and Republican Alexandra Duarte will advance with 40.9% (99,848) and 32.1% (78,353) against Republican incumbent Marie Alvarado-Gil with 27.1% (66,153). 244,354 votes counted.
District 6:
Republican incumbent Roger Niello and Democrat Sean Frame will advance with 56.3% (153,567) and 28.5% (77,816) against Democrat Sara Velasco with 15.2% (41,622). 273,005 votes counted.
District 8:
Democratic incumbent Angelique Ashby and Republican Susan Mason will advance with 68.0% (130,887) and 27.4% (52,814) against Peace and Freedom’s Linda Roberts with 4.6% (8,803). 192,504 votes counted.
District 10:
Democrat Scott Sakakihara and Republican Linda Price will advance with 29.0% (51,256) and 23.3% (41,090) against Democrat Anne Kepner with 15.3% (26,969), Democrat David Cohen with 15.0% (26,581), Democrat Carmen Montano with 9.5% (16,811), and Democrat Raymond Liu with 7.9% (13,928). 176,635 votes counted.
District 12:
Republican Nathan Magsig and Libertarian William Brown will advance with 59.6% (112,257) and 26.1% (49,271) against Republican Louis Anthony Miramontes with 14.3% (26,897). 188,425 votes counted.
District 14:
Democrat Esmeralda Soria and Republican Darin DuPont will advance with 45.5% (51,157) and 41.0% (46,132) against Democrat Esmeralda Hurtado with 13.5% (15,150). 112,439 votes counted.
District 16:
Republican Guillermo Gonzalez and Democratic incumbent Melissa Hurtado will advance with 45.0% (44,728) and 35.7% (35,496) against Democrat Manpreet Kaur with 19.3% (19,119). 99,343 votes counted.
District 18:
Democratic incumbent Steve Padilla and Republican Art Hodges will advance.
District 20:
Democratic incumbent Caroline Menjivar and Republican Tony Rodriguez will advance with 62.1% (96,730) and 27.8% (43,402) against Independent Roberto David LaCarra with 10.1% (15,704). 155,836 votes counted.
District 22:
Democratic incumbent Susan Rubio and Republican Mike Netter will advance with 62.3% (106,866) and 34.6% (59,448) against Independent R.R. Jimenez with 3.1% (5,245). 171,559 votes counted.
District 24:
Democrat John Erickson and Democrat Brian Goldsmith will advance with 20.5% (62,077) and 18.3% (55,413) against Republican G. Rick Marshall with 17.5% (53,072), Republican Kristina Irwin with 14.1% (42,764), Democrat Sion Roy with 13.8% (41,768), Democrat Mike Newhouse with 4.5% (13,754), Democrat Eric Alegria with 4.1% (12,347), Democrat Amaris Dordar with 3.0% (9,248), Democrat Ellen Evans with 3.0% (8,959), and Democrat Zennon Ulyate-Crow with 1.1% (3,464). 302,866 votes counted.
District 26:
Democrat Sara Hernandez and Democrat Sarah Rascón will advance with 31.2% (54,381) and 19.4% (33,905) against Democrat Wendy Carrillo with 13.7% (23,937), Democrat Maebe Pudlo with 13.0% (22,725), Republican Claudia Agraz with 7.8% (13,647), Democrat Juan Camacho with 7.6% (13,255), Republican Sang Masog with 5.8% (10,109), and Democrat Paul Bowers with 1.4% (2,474). 174,433 votes counted.
District 28:
Democratic incumbent Lola Smallwood-Cuevas and Republican Joe Lisuzzo will advance with 77.5% (150,309) and 16.2% (31,403) against Independent Daphne Bradford with 6.3% (12,158). 193,870 votes counted.
District 30:
Democratic incumbent Bob Archuleta and Republican Araceli Martinez will advance.
District 32:
Republican incumbent Kelly Seyarto and Democrat Tiffanie Tate will advance.
District 34:
Democrat Avelino Valencia and Republican Rhonda Shader will advance.
District 36:
Republican incumbent Tony Strickland and Democrat Chris Duncan will advance.
District 38:
Democratic incumbent Catherine Blakespear and Republican Laura Bassett will advance.
District 40:
Democrat Mara Elliott and Republican Kristie Bruce-Lane will advance with 47.9% (124,406) and 27.8% (72,202) against Republican Ed Musgrove with 24.3% (63,236). 259,844 votes counted.