One of the most expensive open legislative races in California so far this 2026 election cycle is right in northern Orange County.
The 2026 race for the 67th Assembly District seat has drawn in $391,400 raised among the three candidates who have filed to run for the open seat as of Monday, May 12, more than any other open Assembly contest in the state.
The race has become so expensive, in part, because of how the political dynamic of the district has changed. For more than a decade, Democrats largely unified behind Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, D-Fullerton, who either ran unopposed among her party or didn’t face any serious challengers.
But with Quirk-Silva prevented from running again in 2026 due to term limits, the race has become a free-for-all, especially on the Democratic side, where candidates are expected to spend heavily to stand out in what’s likely to become a crowded primary.
In the district — which includes communities in Buena Park, Fullerton and La Palma and dips into Los Angeles County to include Artesia and Cerritos — about 42% of voters are registered Democrats, while 28% are Republicans. Roughly a quarter have no party preference.
“When there is an open seat … you have an opportunity to bring out money from political parties and interest groups,” said Fullerton College political scientist Jodi Balma.
The declared candidates so far all have deep local roots, having served as elected officials in their communities for years. Balma said that’s also a factor that’s helping them draw early financial support.
“This is going to be a wild, expensive primary on the Democratic side,” she said.
Artesia City Councilmember Ali Sajjad Taj, who is endorsed by Quirk-Silva, has raised more than $263,000 from 207 contributions so far, the most of any Assembly candidate in the county at this point.
Most of that funding has come from individual donors and local companies, including a $5,900 donation from the CEO of Premium Health Solution in Anaheim and $5,500 from Cornerstone Artesia Development in Upland.
Union leader and former Orange County Democratic Party chair Ada Briceño has raised $116,300, while Cerritos Councilmember Mark Pulido, the most recent Democratic candidate to enter the race, has raised $11,800, including a $5,900 contribution from a local business owner.
These early numbers fit a familiar pattern in open-seat races, said Rob Pyers, the research director for California Target Book, a subscription-based publication that analyzes and tracks political races in California.
“You generally see more activity earlier on when a legislator is about to be termed out, as people scramble to secure endorsements and raise enough money by the first mid-year report to demonstrate they’re viable candidates,” Pyers said. “Make a big enough splash early enough, and you can scare off other candidates and avoid a bruising primary later on.”
Taj has been raising money for the 67th District seat since September, getting out to a $212,000 head start before anyone else had even filed, Pyers noted.
But early money raised by Briceño right after she announced may also prove crucial, especially as outside groups enter the fray.
California’s hotel and lodging association launched a PAC against Briceño in March, which Balma said is pretty early for a down-ballot race.
The PAC hasn’t reported any fundraising or spending yet. Pete Hillan, a spokesperson for the California Hotel & Lodging Association, said the PAC hasn’t made a final call on how involved it’ll be in the race to oppose Briceño. For now, he said, they’re just laying the groundwork.
The association “absolutely sees her as a threat,” Balma said, pointing to her strong pro-union stance and her firsthand knowledge of labor issues from working in hotels.
In fact, much of Briceño’s early backing has come from unions, including five-figure contributions from the UNITE HERE Local 2 PAC and AFSCME Local 3299.
Balma said the early opposition suggests labor’s influence in Orange County has grown enough to provoke a preemptive strike.
“Campaigns are starting so much earlier that PACs are responding to that … but if they can get out in front and define her as an extremist before she’s able to define herself, that would be a strategic use of their money,” she said.
Hillan said the early opposition of Briceño isn’t out of the blue, given her support for policies the association has publicly opposed, including efforts to raise the minimum wage for hospitality workers.
“She has a strong track record of advocating for her day job as Unite Here Local 11 co-president … and unfortunately, that advocacy has had detrimental financial impacts even for those who she is representing,” Hillan said.
For example, Anaheim’s “hospitality worker bill of rights” ordinance in 2023, which called for a $25 minimum wage for hotel housekeepers and other hotel and event center workers with an annual increase in wage to reflect the cost of living, would’ve been unsustainable for businesses, Hillan said. In 2023, Anaheim voters overwhelmingly rejected the measure, with 66.3% voting no.
Unite Here Local 11, the hotel workers union co-led by Briceño, had backed the initiative, and Briceño publicly supported union hospitality workers at city council meetings and rallies.
Briceño said she is being targeted by the new PAC “because I’ve spent my career fighting for nurses, room attendants, hotel workers and the working class.”
Another expensive open race
While not every open legislative race in Orange County has attracted an early avalanche of campaign spending, the 34th Senate District contest has. That race is shaping up to be one of the more costly open Senate contests in California so far this cycle.
Altogether, donors have contributed around $244,000 so far in the 34th Senate District, where Sen. Tom Umberg, D-Santa Ana, is set to term out. Most of that money is backing Assemblymember Avelino Valencia, D-Anaheim, who’s raised roughly $208,000, including funds from his Assembly campaign account, which state law allows him to transfer.
Valencia’s financial support has come largely from interest groups, including PACs tied to health care, education and law enforcement. That includes five-figure checks from the United Nurses Associations of California and the Association of California School Administrators, along with support from the Los Angeles Police Protective League and the pharmaceutical industry.
On the local level, Valencia also has backing from Aitken Aitken & Cohn, a law firm co-founded by prominent Orange County Democrat Wylie Aitken.
“He got in early, racked up a lot of support and managed to prevent Josh Newman from gaining traction and prompting him to try for (state schools chief) instead,” Pyers said, referring to the former state senator who is now vying for California’s top schools chief.
The only other candidate in the race this early is former Placentia Mayor Rhonda Shader, who has raised about $36,000.
Shader, a Republican, announced her campaign in 2023, long before most other candidates jumped in. That timing, Balma said, was likely strategic.
“Some of that is to stake your claim,” Balma said of the early entry. “It also tells the Republican Party of Orange County, ‘I’ve got this. You don’t have to recruit.’”
Shader has drawn more support from individual Republican donors in her district, including former OC GOP chair Fred Whitaker and former Fullerton Republican Women president Cynthia Thacker.
Historically, fundraising picks up when there’s no incumbent.
In the 2006 race for a local Orange County Senate seat where Sen. Joe Dunn was set to term out, candidates raised six-figure totals early in the cycle. By comparison, in 2021, ahead of Shader’s challenge to then-incumbent Umberg, she hadn’t raised anything by May.