Help us improve in just 2 minutes—share your thoughts in our reader survey.
Albert James Mora
Albert James Mora (No party preference) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent California's 48th Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election.[source]
Mora completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Albert James Mora was born in East Chicago, Indiana. He earned a high school diploma from Washington High School, a bachelor's degree from Purdue University, and a graduate degree from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. His career experience includes working as an investment banker. As of 2025, Mora was the treasurer of the Encinitas Historical Society.[1]
Elections
2026
See also: California's 48th Congressional District election, 2026
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for U.S. House California District 48
The following candidates are running in the general election for U.S. House California District 48 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Darrell Issa (R) | |
 | Ammar Campa-Najjar (D) | |
| Nicholas Davis (D) | ||
 | Anuj Dixit (D) | |
 | Curtis Morrison (D)  | |
 | Brian Nash (D) | |
 | Whitney Shanahan (D) | |
 | Suzanne Till (D) | |
| Marni von Wilpert (D) | ||
 | Albert James Mora (No party preference) | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. | ||||
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
Campaign themes
2026
Video for Ballotpedia
| Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released March 27, 2025 |
NOTE: Mora's campaign on July 21, 2025, revised its answer about bills for raising revenue. The revised response is contained in brackets.
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Albert James Mora completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Mora's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
| Collapse all
Albert was born and raised in East Chicago, Indiana and moved to Southern California in 1997. He is a maternal fourth-generation American and paternal second-generation Mexican-American. He has five children.
Albert received a bachelors degree in business administration from Purdue University and MBA from the University of Chicago. Albert’s 25-year Fortune 100 career involved travel and over $75 billion in currency, stock, bond, and derivatives transactions across the U.S., Canada, Latin America, Europe, Asia, and Africa.- I am humanity's biggest fan. We discovered everything from fire to relativity and proliferated to 8 billion beautiful, unique souls around the globe. We are the wonder of the sacred, infinite universe. I am here to connect, learn, inform, and inspire individuals, communities, and nations to hurdle every exciting new opportunity!
- The U.S. Constitution is the greatest document ever written. The Constitution laid the foundation for America evolving into the greatest nation in history and set the template for lovers of democracy and freedom around the world. I shall advocate for every American to support our magnificent Constitution.
- My first value is to value everyone. My first objective is to motivate every American to revere and live by the U.S. Constitution. My first principle is balance.
I am for a secure border balanced by humane treatment and increased legalization of immigrants. A strong economy balanced by smart regulation. Protection of the environment balanced with building a clean energy industry. Protection of unborn children balanced with respect for women’s rights. Support of the needy balanced with rewarding merit. Support of the right to bear arms balanced with protecting communities - especially students. We hurdle highest when in balance.
I am here for all Americans. This defines a leader in the spirit of freedom and democracy.
I’m not referring to balance of power among three branches of government. I am referring to balance of power between individuals and the government.
To the extent a people are self-determined, cooperative, and productive, they thrive with less government – they earn their freedom. And to the extent a government has skill, resources, and good intent, the more it will be embraced by its citizens.
The ideal is a system of government that strikes a sustainable balance between unhampered individual freedom and government involvement and control.
The Founding Fathers showed their trust in basic human decency by rejecting authoritarianism and pushing the balance of power to the individual, with the opportunity to participate in leadership. The millions who came from every corner to create the greatest nation in history proved that the Founding Fathers’ faith in universal human decency was well-placed.
Gradually in degrees the U.S. government’s power has increased at the expense of the individual, until Americans voted a non-politician into office in 2016 and 2024. But rather than empowering individuals, he is concentrating greater power in himself.
So where is the hope?
Right before our eyes. Look around as you go through your day, and most of us will plainly see the decency in which the Founding Fathers laid the fate of the nation. Knowing full well that we live among individuals with varying political views, most of us work, study, play, and love without reference to political orientation, as we have for generations, and as we shall for generations.
The long list of important characteristics for an elected official includes knowledge of world and U.S. history and the Constitution; knowledge of your respective geography / community; forming, communicating, and being guided by a cohesive philosophy, worldview, and decision-making framework; ability to negotiate; knowledge of 'how the world really works' and 'who to call' in government, business, and around the world; ability to multitask, partner, and delegate; knowledge of economics, public and private institutions, public finances, capital markets, and regulatory regimes; geo-military knowledge and strategy formation; knowledge of science and technology; understanding the U.S. education system, healthcare, energy, and other major industries; and support of public and private national and international humanitarian causes.
A successful elected official is empathetic, intelligent, hardworking, flexible, creative, resourceful, resilient, optimistic, energetic, and courageous.
The most important characteristic for an elected official is that they be driven by love.
I am balanced. I understand views and am a natural partner across the political spectrum. All of my friends and family who extend from extreme left to extreme right strongly support my candidacy because they trust and believe in me. I am a unifier in the face of 24/7 divisiveness.
I grew up in a diverse, blue collar steel mill community in East Chicago, Indiana, and I speak Spanish, which enables me to connect with constituents of any background.
I am a worker. I began working hard at age six and have never stopped. My many jobs include paperboy, bus boy, stock boy, steel mill laborer, mechanic, musician, research engineer, city cash manager, corporate treasurer, consultant, recruiter, and investment banker. In the course of my career I transacted and walked around the world.
I am a seasoned executive. In my profession I worked daily with leaders of Fortune 100 banks and corporations.
I enjoy public speaking. I enjoy sharing knowledge, interchange, banter, humor, and inspiring people.
I love the people of the United States of America as I do all of our human family. I love that we are the nation of immigrants who built the greatest nation on Earth. I live in deep gratitude to have been born and raised, and to someday die in the United States of America.
An effective congressperson has two-way communication with constituents, utilizes all media including web site, writing editorials, publishing books, and taking interviews. An effective congressman is present, accessible, and responsive to their community.
An effective congressperson recruits and leads skillful staff in performing daily congressional duties and partnering with other lawmakers.
I am profoundly impacted to this day with the sense that life is fragile for everyone from the meek to the powerful. Sentient life is the Universe's great miracle and I live in deep gratitude.
I value the energy, up-to-date education, current cultural connection, and skills of younger participants.
At the same time, numerous public servants have contributed robustly well into seniority, and the nation has benefitted from their experience, connections, and accumulated influence.
In terms of modeling myself, I hope I can rise to the dignity and patriotism of Liz Cheney, who I have watched place America before self and party. And although her father Dick Cheney was not a congressman and some of our views don’t align, I am also extremely inspired by his courage and patriotism.
I had a memorable conversation with a Republican voter who lives in Julian as she texted her husband about her increasing concern over the Trump administration’s unpredictability. When her husband texted pro-Trump answers, she wasn’t reassured.
At the same time, she shared that she was feeling intimidated by increasing peer pressure from Democratic friends and family. What a conundrum.
When I told her I respected her right to vote as she saw fit, her fearful expression gave way to a glimmer of hope, and she thanked me warmly.
"I was running late on my way to the set today through the casino hoping no one would recognize me. Inevitably some character yelled, ‘Mister Letterman! Mister Letterman!’ I ignored him and sped up, but of course he raced ahead and stopped me and said, ‘Mister Letterman I came here because my wife is very ill and she needs medicine immediately. I need three hundred dollars! Can you give me three hundred dollars?’ I said, ‘What do you take me for! Some fool? What assurance do I have that you won’t take the three hundred and gamble it at a crap table?’ The guy said, ‘Don’t worry, I got money for that.’”
[The Constitution gives the House the exclusive power to originate revenue-raising bills because members are directly elected by and accountable to the people. With my MBA and 25 years of global capital markets experience, if elected I will prioritize applying my specialized economic and analytical skills and diligence to this duty. I will ensure revenue policies are effective and accountable for my district and all Americans. I hope to fill this role serving as a member or by supporting relevant committees including Appropriations, Budget, and Financial Services.]
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf. Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at the FEC website. Click here for more on federal campaign finance law and here for more on state campaign finance law.
See also
2026 Elections
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on July 19, 2025
