California's 18th Congressional District election, 2026

The boundaries of this district will change as a result of California Proposition 50, which voters approved on November 5, 2025. Click here to read more about the mid-decade redistricting effort in California and other states.

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California's 18th Congressional District
General election
Election details
Filing deadline: March 6, 2026
Primary: June 2, 2026 General: November 3, 2026
How to vote
Poll times: 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Voting in California
Race ratings
Cook Political Report: Solid Democratic DDHQ and The Hill: Pending Inside Elections: Solid Democratic Sabato's Crystal Ball: Safe Democratic
Ballotpedia analysis
U.S. Senate battlegrounds U.S. House battlegrounds Federal and state primary competitiveness Ballotpedia's Election Analysis Hub, 2026
See also
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All U.S. House districts, including the 18th Congressional District of California, are holding elections in 2026. The general election is November 3, 2026. To learn more about other elections on the ballot, click here.

Candidates and election results

Note: The following list includes official candidates only. Ballotpedia defines official candidates as people who:

• Register with a federal or state campaign finance agency before the candidate filing deadline
• Appear on candidate lists released by government election agencies

Note: At this time, Ballotpedia is combining all declared candidates for this election into one list under a general election heading. As primary election dates are published, this information will be updated to separate general election candidates from primary candidates as appropriate.

General election

The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.

General election for U.S. House California District 18

Incumbent Zoe Lofgren and Zakaria Kortam are running in the general election for U.S. House California District 18 on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Zoe Lofgren (D)
		Zakaria Kortam (R)

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= 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.
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Candidate profiles

This section includes candidate profiles that may be created in one of two ways: either the candidate completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey, or Ballotpedia staff may compile a profile based on campaign websites, advertisements, and public statements after identifying the candidate as noteworthy. For more on how we select candidates to include, click here.

Zakaria Kortam

Party: Republican Party

Incumbent: No

Political Office: None

Submitted Biography:  "Zakaria Kortam is an AI Engineer and a Senior at the University of California, San Diego. He has a background in software development and engineering, with prior studies at Evergreen Valley College. He is active in student and tech communities, including being involved with UC San Diego’s engineering programs and broader initiatives in artificial intelligence and innovation."

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Key Messages

To read this candidate's full survey responses, click here.

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I will always put America first. Not Israel. Not China. Not any other nation. My commitment is to represent the interests of the American people, never a foreign government.

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Partisan politics is dangerous. The exploitation and abuse of the American people by greedy special interests must end.

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We need a fiscal overhaul. We must cut spending on foreign wars and corrupt special interests, and instead invest in our industrial and educational sectors to expand skills and opportunities in the workforce. It is time to bring back the industrial core of America.

Voting information

See also: Voting in California

Ballotpedia will publish the dates and deadlines related to this election as they are made available.

Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey responses

Ballotpedia asks all federal, state, and local candidates to complete a survey and share what motivates them on political and personal levels. The section below shows responses from candidates in this race who completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Survey responses from candidates in this race

Click on a candidate's name to visit their Ballotpedia page.

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.

Expand all | Collapse all

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

Zakaria Kortam (R)

I will always put America first. Not Israel. Not China. Not any other nation. My commitment is to represent the interests of the American people, never a foreign government.

Partisan politics is dangerous. The exploitation and abuse of the American people by greedy special interests must end.

We need a fiscal overhaul. We must cut spending on foreign wars and corrupt special interests, and instead invest in our industrial and educational sectors to expand skills and opportunities in the workforce. It is time to bring back the industrial core of America.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Zakaria Kortam (R)

Education, Healthcare, Foreign Policy, Investment in Technology, Infrastructure, Corruption

What characteristics or principles are most important for an elected official?

Zakaria Kortam (R)

A public official must be loyal to their constituents. If they are controlled by special interests that contradict the interests of their own constituents, then they have already failed. Second to that, they must be diligent, intelligent, as well as ambitious.

What do you believe are the core responsibilities for someone elected to this office?

Zakaria Kortam (R)

To represent their constituents and to fight for their needs on a national stage.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

Zakaria Kortam (R)

I worked at the school lunch-line for about half a year.

What qualities does the U.S. House of Representatives possess that makes it unique as an institution?

Zakaria Kortam (R)

Direct representation for local constituencies on the national stage.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

Zakaria Kortam (R)

There is benefit, though, there can also be more time to get corrupted.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

Zakaria Kortam (R)

Corruption at the hands of special interests and lobbies.

Do you believe that two years is the right term length for representatives?

Zakaria Kortam (R)

No, four is more reasonable.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

Zakaria Kortam (R)

Term limits are imperative.

Is there a particular representative, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

Zakaria Kortam (R)

Ron Paul

Do you believe that compromise is necessary or desirable for policymaking?

Zakaria Kortam (R)

Absolutely. Democracy is built on communication and establishing a common ground between disagreeing parties.

What role should the United States government have in the development or use of artificial intelligence?

Zakaria Kortam (R)

Direct investment in domestic energy production and transmission, applying in education, as well as utilizing it to enhance domestic output and production.

What legislation would you enact related to election administration in the United States?

Zakaria Kortam (R)

Term limits for the House. Term limits for the Senate.

You can ask candidates in this race to fill out the survey by clicking their names below:

• Zoe Lofgren

Campaign finance

Name	Party	Receipts*	Disbursements**	Cash on hand	Date
Zoe Lofgren	Democratic Party	$979,271	$469,053	$749,970	As of September 30, 2025
Zakaria Kortam	Republican Party	$0	$0	$0	Data not available***
Source: Federal Elections Commission, "Campaign finance data," 2026. This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). * According to the FEC, "Receipts are anything of value (money, goods, services or property) received by a political committee." ** According to the FEC, a disbursement "is a purchase, payment, distribution, loan, advance, deposit or gift of money or anything of value to influence a federal election," plus other kinds of payments not made to influence a federal election. *** Candidate either did not report any receipts or disbursements to the FEC, or Ballotpedia did not find an FEC candidate ID.

General election race ratings

See also: Race rating definitions and methods

Ballotpedia provides race ratings from four outlets: The Cook Political Report, Inside Elections, Sabato's Crystal Ball, and DDHQ/The Hill. Each race rating indicates if one party is perceived to have an advantage in the race and, if so, the degree of advantage:

• Safe and Solid ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge and the race is not competitive.
• Likely ratings indicate that one party has a clear edge, but an upset is possible.
• Lean ratings indicate that one party has a small edge, but the race is competitive.
• Toss-up ratings indicate that neither party has an advantage.

Race ratings are informed by a number of factors, including polling, candidate quality, and election result history in the race's district or state.

Race ratings: California's 18th Congressional District election, 2026
Race tracker	Race ratings
	11/4/2025	10/28/2025	10/21/2025	10/14/2025
The Cook Political Report with Amy Walter	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
Decision Desk HQ and The Hill	Pending	Pending	Pending	Pending
Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic	Solid Democratic
Larry J. Sabato's Crystal Ball	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic	Safe Democratic
Note: Ballotpedia reviews external race ratings every week throughout the election season and posts weekly updates even if the media outlets have not revised their ratings during that week.

Ballot access

The table below details filing requirements for U.S. House candidates in California in the 2026 election cycle. For additional information on candidate ballot access requirements in California, click here.

Filing requirements for U.S. House candidates, 2026
State	Office	Party	Signatures required	Filing fee	Filing deadline	Source
California	U.S. House	All candidates	40-60	$1,740	3/6/2026	Source

District history

The section below details election results for this office in elections dating back to 2020.

2024

See also: California's 18th Congressional District election, 2024

California's 18th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 top-two primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 18

Incumbent Zoe Lofgren defeated Peter Hernandez in the general election for U.S. House California District 18 on November 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Zoe Lofgren (D)	64.6	147,674
		Peter Hernandez (R)	35.4	80,832

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 228,506
= 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.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 18

Incumbent Zoe Lofgren and Peter Hernandez defeated Charlene Nijmeh, Lawrence Milan, and Luele Kifle in the primary for U.S. House California District 18 on March 5, 2024.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Zoe Lofgren (D)	51.2	49,370
✔		Peter Hernandez (R)	32.8	31,665
		Charlene Nijmeh (D)	11.0	10,631
		Lawrence Milan (D)	2.8	2,714
		Luele Kifle (D)	2.1	2,034

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 96,414
= 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.

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

• Fepbrina Keivaulqe Autiameineire (No party preference)

2022

See also: California's 18th Congressional District election, 2022

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 18

Incumbent Zoe Lofgren defeated Peter Hernandez in the general election for U.S. House California District 18 on November 8, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Zoe Lofgren (D)	65.9	99,776
		Peter Hernandez (R)	34.1	51,737

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 151,513
= 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.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 18

Incumbent Zoe Lofgren and Peter Hernandez defeated Luis Acevedo-Arreguin in the primary for U.S. House California District 18 on June 7, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Zoe Lofgren (D)	56.1	50,104
✔		Peter Hernandez (R)	31.3	27,935
		Luis Acevedo-Arreguin (Independent)	12.6	11,253

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 89,292
= 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.

2020

See also: California's 18th Congressional District election, 2020

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 18

Incumbent Anna Eshoo defeated Rishi Kumar in the general election for U.S. House California District 18 on November 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Anna Eshoo (D)	63.2	217,388
		Rishi Kumar (D)	36.8	126,751

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 344,139
= 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.

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 18

Incumbent Anna Eshoo and Rishi Kumar defeated Richard Fox, Phil Reynolds, and Bob Goodwyn in the primary for U.S. House California District 18 on March 3, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Anna Eshoo (D)	61.7	146,225
✔		Rishi Kumar (D)	16.4	38,826
		Richard Fox (R)	12.2	28,863
		Phil Reynolds (R)	7.8	18,600
		Bob Goodwyn (L)	1.9	4,462

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 236,976
= 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.

District analysis

This section will contain facts and figures related to this district's elections when those are available.

See also

California	2026 primaries	2026 U.S. Congress elections
California congressional delegation Voting in California California elections: 2026 • 2025 • 2024 • 2023 • 2022 • 2021 • 2020 • 2019 • 2018	Democratic primary battlegrounds Republican primary battlegrounds U.S. Senate Democratic primaries U.S. Senate Republican primaries U.S. House Democratic primaries U.S. House Republican primaries	U.S. Congress elections U.S. Senate elections U.S. House elections Special elections Ballot access

External links

• Search Google News for this topic

Footnotes

[show]

California's current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Alex Padilla (D)

Adam Schiff (D)

Representatives

District 1

Doug LaMalfa (R)

District 2

Jared Huffman (D)

District 3

Kevin Kiley (R)

District 4

Mike Thompson (D)

District 5

Tom McClintock (R)

District 6

Ami Bera (D)

District 7

Doris Matsui (D)

District 8

John Garamendi (D)

District 9

Josh Harder (D)

District 10

Mark DeSaulnier (D)

District 11

Nancy Pelosi (D)

District 12

Lateefah Simon (D)

District 13

Adam Gray (D)

District 14

Eric Swalwell (D)

District 15

Kevin Mullin (D)

District 16

Sam Liccardo (D)

District 17

Ro Khanna (D)

District 18

Zoe Lofgren (D)

District 19

Jimmy Panetta (D)

District 20

Vince Fong (R)

District 21

Jim Costa (D)

District 22

David Valadao (R)

District 23

Jay Obernolte (R)

District 24

Salud Carbajal (D)

District 25

Raul Ruiz (D)

District 26

Julia Brownley (D)

District 27

George Whitesides (D)

District 28

Judy Chu (D)

District 29

Luz Rivas (D)

District 30

Laura Friedman (D)

District 31

Gil Cisneros (D)

District 32

Brad Sherman (D)

District 33

Pete Aguilar (D)

District 34

Jimmy Gomez (D)

District 35

Norma Torres (D)

District 36

Ted Lieu (D)

District 37

Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D)

District 38

Linda Sánchez (D)

District 39

Mark Takano (D)

District 40

Young Kim (R)

District 41

Ken Calvert (R)

District 42

Robert Garcia (D)

District 43

Maxine Waters (D)

District 44

Nanette Barragán (D)

District 45

Derek Tran (D)

District 46

Lou Correa (D)

District 47

Dave Min (D)

District 48

Darrell Issa (R)

District 49

Mike Levin (D)

District 50

Scott Peters (D)

District 51

Sara Jacobs (D)

District 52

Juan Vargas (D)

Democratic Party (45)

Republican Party (9)

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