Vern’s 2026 Primary Picks (if you care)

By
Vern Nelson
– May 25, 2026Posted in: "The OC", 2026 California gubernatorial race, 2026 elections, Fresh Juice

Lopez, Steyer, Sarmiento: stand-outs this month.

Well, people have been asking, believe it or not. “Where is the damn Orange Juice Voters Guide?” they growl. Ballots are out, so here goes. A lot of these primary races it hardly matters how or if you vote but some it matters bigtime. And I hope to get a lot of feedback and input in the comments section, because I sure won’t pretend to know all these candidates or districts!

SHORT VERSION

(explained below; bold denotes enthusiasm)

State of California

  • Governor: Tom Steyer (Greg says Becerra, or write in Butch Ware)
  • Lt. Gov: Michael Tubbs
  • Secretary of State: Michael Feinstein
  • Controller: Meghan Adams
  • Treasurer: Tony Vasquez
  • AG: Marjorie Mikels
  • Insurance Comm. Jane Kim
  • Board of Eq. Cody Petterson

Congress

  • 38: Hilda Solis
  • 40: Lisa Ramirez
  • 41: Linda Sanchez
  • 42: Robert Garcia!
  • 45: Derek Tran
  • 46: Christian Mendez!! – won’t win but the guy is great!
  • 47: Dave Min
  • 49: Mike Levin

State Senate

  • 32: Tate
  • 34: Rhonda Shader (she won’t win, but a little dig at the local Dem aristocracy won’t hurt)
  • 36: write in Rick Foster for now, you can vote Duncan in November
  • 38: Blakespear!

Assembly

  • 59 – VICTOR HERNANDEZ!
  • 64 – Pacheco
  • 67 – ALI TAJ! (unless Ada quickly becomes an actual rent control heroine)
  • 68 – JESSIE LOPEZ!!!
  • 70 – Swift
  • 71 – Galvez
  • 72 – KLUWE!!!
  • 73 – Petrie-Norris
  • 74 – Farias

Judicial

  • 13: Robert Mestman!
  • 41: Charles Pell Ami Sagel

Education

  • State Superintendent of Public Instruction: Josh Newman
  • County Superintendent of Schools: Write in JEFF COLE!
  • OC Board of Ed Area 5: Jason Sams!

County of Orange

  • Supervisor District 2: Sarmiento!
  • Supervisor District 4: Fred Jung
  • Supervisor District 5: Foley!
  • Assessor: Janet Keo Conklin No good options it turns out. Let things go unassessed.
  • Auditor: write in John Moorlach
  • Clerk-Recorder: Hugh Nguyen!
  • Treasurer: Dana Schultz!

Now the LONG version, starting with what’s most important to me…

AD 68 (SA, east Anaheim, w. Orange) – JESSIE!

I’ve been outspoken about this, it’s where I live and if you’re still not sure about this race, PLEASE READ THIS PIECE. This is very much a race between the GOOD side of the Democratic Party (Jessie) and the BAD, big-money side (David Peñaloza, unfortunately backed not only by big money but most of the Democrat Establishment.) It would be tragic, for the Democratic Party, if David beat Jessie, and became the model of the successful 2026 Democrat.

Feeling the opposite way, that it would be tragic for Jessie to beat David, are the special interests who’ve sunk NEARLY A MILLION on this one race so far (which is why you see so many anti-Jessie ads) – Meta (FB/IG), Bitcoin billionaires & corporate landlords. They’re really only spending this much on 2 or 3 Calif. assembly races. Why are these pigs so afraid of Jessie? That really motivates me.

Here’s Fernando’s latest – take it away, Fernando!

ALSO for those in Jessieland: BE SURE TO RE-ELECT SARMIENTO FOR SUPERVISOR – if he beats 50% as he probably will, that race will be over and done, and then we can spend the summer & fall getting Jessie elected and getting rent control in Anaheim!

Governor! I’m with Steyer.

The best thing would be (far from what was expected a month ago) if we can knock BOTH MAGA candidates out of the top two, and spend the next five months with a real contest between Steyer and Becerra. And why not? The polls may not be measuring how dispirited and uninspired California Republicans are this year, as well they should be. I’m voting Steyer anyhow.

Forget about Katie Porter, and not just because she’s a mean person. More than that, she’s a value-free egomaniac. Exhibit Z, she endorsed David Penaloza over Jessie Lopez this year. And she’s a progressive? Exhibit M, she endorsed Kim Nguyen over Vince Sarmiento in ’22. And she’s a progressive? No, she does what she thinks will be good for Katie (never mind that she’s usually wrong about that.) Exhibit A was when she left her hard-won Congressional seat to run for Senate, sinking Barbara Lee, sticking us with Senator Adam Schiff for probably decades, and nearly losing us a Congressional seat (we dodged a bullet with Min’s victory, but that was close!) Katie is good at humiliating truth-challenged CEOs. She should have a TV show, I would watch it. Naturally it would be called “The White Board.”

A lot of my friends prefer Xavier Becerra, including Greg. They don’t trust Steyer because he’s “unvetted” and a billionaire, and Greg points out that a lot of the criticisms of XB are exaggerated and dishonest (welcome to politics!) But to me, Becerra is Biden. More of the same, put in his time, part of the establishment, it’s HIS turn now. All his backers point at his resume and experience – but what can anyone point to that he accomplished in all those years? Xavier is a placeholder when we need a disrupter.

Steyer is that disrupter. What do you mean he’s unvetted, his actions have been public for decades, and for at least 15 years they’ve been exemplary. Those wanting to discredit him have to go WAY back. Yeah there should not be billionaires, well there is no perfect choice but I think he’s the best. Of the three Dems who have half a chance, he’s the most opposed to Israel’s genocidal policies and rejects AIPAC. They all say they want single-payer healthcare, but Tom is the disrupter most likely to make it happen. Tom’s budget plan “will raise nearly 50 billion annually with the money coming from Multinational Corporations, large commercial property taxes, and a one-time Billionaires tax.”

Or, on principle, you could write in Butch Ware.

There are those, like my wife and like Fernando, who prefer to vote for the PERFECT candidate even if they have no chance of winning; who are tired of choosing between the “least of five evils.” And there’s the principle thing too – Butch had kicked ass in the last debate he was allowed to participate in – polls of those present (at the SEIU endorsement) put him above EVERYBODY. And then the Democratic establishment conspired, though all kinds of bureaucratic trickery, to keep him off the ballot. I can see voting for Butch as an act of defiance.

Except I’d rather make sure we have a Governor Steyer instead of a Governor Becerra or Hilton.

Other State Offices

  • Lite Guv: Michael Tubbs – the Working Families Party swears by him!
  • Secretary of State: I‘m sure Shirley Weber will have no problem getting re-elected, but I’ve got a problem with how her office kept Butch Ware off the ballot. So while we can, let’s give Green-Party “Electoral Reform Consultant” Michael Feinstein some love! (And then enjoy Shirley spanking Don Wagner in November. (subtle reference to a pro-corporal punishment article Wagner wrote years ago.))
  • Controller: I assume the Dem will win, so give a vote to Peace & Freedom’s Meghann Adams!
  • Treasurer – Tony Vasquez. – He would divest from Israel, and Eleni K would not.
  • AG: I’m sure Bonta will beat the insane MAGAt Mike E. Gates; but Bonta has been a big disappointment, so while you have a chance, give your vote to Green Marjorie Mikels (I did and it felt right.)
  • Insurance Commissioner: Jane Kim – the Working Families Party swears by her!
  • Equalizer: Full disclosure I signed Bilodeau’s nominating papers cuz he asked me to. Umberg’s nice to me and has done good things and bad things in his long long career, but I’m tired of these career politicians and their musical chairs, and how Tom pushed the worthy progressive Rick Foster out of the race for state senate instead anointing Chris Duncan for the race (and getting Duncan out of this Eq. race!) Cody Petterson looks good to me – and I like that he’s already a deputy there – knows what he’s doing – and not another politician addicted to the public teat no matter how he can reach it. (Although, as we ask every four years, what do these Equalizers even do?)

***CONGRESS!***

(or, “United States Representative”)

Nothing’s more important than Democrats taking back Congress this fall. But I’m not too worried about our (mostly) fine Democrat incumbents making it, ESPECIALLY through this June primary. Derek Tran, Dave Min, Mike Levin, Linda Sanchez will sail to re-election in November, and while none of them have been perfect I don’t know of any reason to vote against them (do you?) Then there’s:

The Fruits of Prop 50

  • Robert Garcia will be representing Huntington Beach, Newport & Costa Mesa – how great is that! Apparently this is so traumatic to the Register that they left his district 42 off their voters’ guide! So I’m not sure who’s running against him (Briscoe has passed on, RIP.) Garcia (whom we enthusiastically endorse) will now be OC’s best Congressmember.
  • Yorba Linda Republicans opened up their ballots to find they have now been shoved rudely into a Democrat-majority district, in which the probable frontrunner (and our pick) is LA County Supervisor Hilda Solis (from El Monte.) Hilda’s name is familiar because she was Labor Secretary under Obama and before that she represented this same district (But our researchers are looking into Monica Sanchez as well.) The howls of outrage from Yorba Linda are inducive of schadenfreude.
  • CA 40 is a tougher choice – Prop 50 made it a Republican ghetto, with two MAGA incumbents and a 9-point R advantage so it’s a real uphill battle for Democrats who have to choose between the BEST choice – Lisa Ramirez – and the candidate with the most money – Esther. Getting this unlikely seat could be key to a Democrat majority (any seat could) and there are no polls showing Lisa in striking distance of the two Republicans… ALTHOUGH the only 3 polls I could find are commissioned by Esther and the Republicans. I don’t know which way I’d go if I lived there, but right now Lisa’s essay on Pearlman’s blog has me wanting to root for the BEST choice. And that’s Lisa. I mean, WATCH

CA 46: What should we do about Homegrown Lou?

Most of us can’t stomach voting for Lou Correa, and it’s not like he’s gonna lose and cost Democrats a seat in Congress, he’s got this job as long as he wants it. But – just this year alone – he’s been just about the worst Democrat on the Middle East, raking in record amounts from AIPAC; he’s been close friends with El Salvador dictator / torture prison operator / Trump crony Bukele; he has endorsed MAGA OC School Superintendent Stefan Bean, and that’s just recently.

I’m casting a protest vote for 35-year old Democratic Socialist Christian Mendez. And he’ll be coming to talk to the Anaheim Democrats Club this Wednesday (with Vince Sarmiento and Ada.) Should be good! Here are Christian’s responses to the Register. And I hereby endorse him, even if he has no chance.

UPDATE May 14: The Club loved, and endorsed, Christian Mendez. I’ll be promoting him as well as I can.

State Senate

Four State Senate races, none of them exciting. I’ve always said (for a decade) that we don’t much need more Democrats in the state senate since we have a super-majority – UNLESS they are progressive, which none of these really are. So:

  • SD 32: Tiffany Tate, who probably doesn’t have a chance in this district against Republican incumbent Seyarto, so give her a little love
  • SD 34: to which Avelino has been anointed by termed-out Umberg. I don’t like that. Avelino’s a nice enough guy who’s done some good things but he is part of the machine and is doing his best to replace himself with the awful Penaloza, AND I met Rhonda Shader at the Black History Parade and she is also nice for a Republican, so I am voting Rhonda – HELP ME! (Don’t fret, the Big Guy will win in November.)
  • SD 36: Ugh. Chris Duncan, even though Umberg also anointed him, kicking OJ fave Rick Foster out of the race while getting Chris out of his own way in the BoE race… but incumbent Strickland is such a scumbag, I cannot encourage you not to vote for Chris. [On second thought – write in Rick Foster now, you can vote for Chris in November.]
  • SE 38. Blakespear has been pretty good from what I hear. That district is so far away, it’s like some never never land.

Assembly

Again, we really don’t need MORE Democrats in our Assembly Super-Majority, UNLESS they are bold progressives – and we DO have three exciting bold progressives running for Assembly in OC this year:

  • JESSIE LOPEZ in District 68 (who I keep writing about and whose opponent is a “business Democrat”)
  • CHRIS KLUWE in 72 running against the awful MAGA Republican Gracey;
  • and young GREEN candidate VICTOR HERNANDEZ running against longtime mediocre Republican Phillip Chen in district 59.

All three of these candidates are endorsed by the Anaheim Democrats Club, and our assembly will be much better with them taking the places of Avelino, Diane Dixon, and Chen!

No reason not to vote for these Democrats:

  • 64 Pacheco (incumbent)
  • 70 Paula Swift (plucky challenger)
  • 71 Galvez (plucky challenger)
  • 73 Petrie-Norris (incumbent)
  • 74 Farias (plucky challenger)

We still haven’t looked at District 67, where SQS is termed out, and the big Dems trying to take her place are Ada Briceno, Mark Pulido, and Ali Taj. All the many Democrats who have been wronged by Ada are split between Ali and Mark, I think I trust Ali more. But – hold the phones – Ada has agreed to speak at the Anaheim Democrats Club Wednesday. (Wasn’t actually my idea, or my call.) A Club she voted to un-charter! Day after tomorrow. Let’s see how that goes. YOU SHOULD COME! Wednesday night May 13, 7pm, Untold Story Bookstore, 301 N Anaheim Blvd. What if Ada could get her union, UNITE-HERE, to help us get rent control in Anaheim? Game changer.

UPDATE 5/14 Pulido is looking dirtier and dirtier, and is funded by the EXACT same krypto billionaires that are backing David P and attacking Jessie Lopez. But it’s really hard for the many of us Democrats who have been hurt by Ada over the years to get behind her. Ali Taj deserves our votes.

“Nonpartisan Races”

Judicial

  • Judge of the Superior Court Office No. 13 – Robert Mestman.
  • Office No. 41 – Charles E. Pell. On learning more, make that Sagel. I guess I’m with the Democrats on the judges!

Education

Superintendent of Public Instruction – Josh Newman, an old friend of the blog. He seems like he’d be as good as any of these other folks but I could be wrong. If there’s a good argument for someone better than Josh we’re all ears.

County Superintendent of Schools – what a shame that something went wrong and the Charter School zealot Dr. Bean is running unopposed. I am writing in the great Dr. Nancy Watkins NO! Write in JEFF COLE, who SHOULD have been in this race were it not for DIRTY TRICKS!

And even worse, it seems there’s no more appetite, on the SANE side, to take on the awful and wasteful OC Board of Education. West-county voters represented on that Board by the anti-education fanatic Mari Barke won’t see her on the ballot, because nobody filed to run against her! (Maybe nobody feels like being the next Beckie Gomez, sitting all alone up there surrounded by freaks who hate her.)

At least in the South County, you have a choice, against incumbent extremist Lisa Sparks: We’ve got Jason Sams who sounds much more reasonable. This race is not a primary, it’s over and done as of June 2, and Jason is not well known or funded. But let’s not go down without fighting – vote Jason Sams! (Count ME in the Sams Club.)

County of Orange

COUNTY SUPERVISOR district 2 & 5: Sarmiento & Foley both deserve re-election, and let’s get them over 50% this month so THOSE elections can be over and we can concentrate our resources on other good things.

County Supervisor district 4 is a little trickier: Connor Traut is so smooth and such a part of the Democrat establishment, I always trusted Fred Jung more even though I don’t agree with everything he does. Fullerton Democrats mostly hate Fred, but there is a contingent of Buena Park Democrats who have been burned by Connor so many times that they’re going with Fred. I think I would vote Fred. This race will probably go on to November. Whoever wins though, Connor or Fred, at least they’ll be better than Doug Chaffee!

  • Assessor – Janet Keo Conklin Turns out there are no good options. So let everything go UNASSESSED, we will live. We will rebuild.
  • Auditor-Controller – I wrote in John Moorlach. He’d be a good auditor.
  • Clerk-Recorder – Hugh Nguyen has been doing a knock-up job since we first helped get him elected 12 years ago.
  • Treasurer – Shari, once OC’s sweetheart, has gone blood simple; time for Dana Schultz!

Your Thoughts?

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About Vern Nelson

Greatest pianist/composer in Orange County, and official political troubadour of Anaheim and most other OC towns. Regularly makes solo performances, sometimes with his savage-jazz band The Vern Nelson Problem. Reach at vernpnelson@gmail.com, or 714-235-VERN.