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California's 3rd Congressional District election, 2026 (June 2 top-two primary)

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← 2024
California's 3rd Congressional District
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Top-two primary
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
California's 3rd Congressional District
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California elections, 2026
U.S. Congress elections, 2026
U.S. Senate elections, 2026
U.S. House elections, 2026

A top-two primary takes place on June 2, 2026, in California's 3rd Congressional District to determine which two candidates will run in the district's general election on November 3, 2026.

Candidate filing deadline Primary election General election
March 6, 2026
June 2, 2026
November 3, 2026



California uses a top-two primary system, in which all candidates appear on the same ballot. The top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, move on to the general election. In states that do not use a top-two system, all parties are usually able to put forward a candidate for the general election if they choose to.[1][2]

Unlike the top-two format used in some states (Louisiana and Georgia special elections for example), a general election between the top-two candidates in California occurs regardless of whether the top candidate received 50% of the vote in the first round of elections.

As of October 2025, California was one of five states to use a top-two primary system, or a variation of the top-two system for some or all statewide primaries. See here for more information.

For information about which offices are nominated via primary election, see this article.

This page focuses on California's 3rd Congressional District's top-two primary. For more in-depth information on the district's general election, see the following page:

Candidates and election results


Nonpartisan primary

Nonpartisan primary election for U.S. House California District 3

The following candidates are running in the primary for U.S. House California District 3 on June 2, 2026.

Candidate
Image of Ami Bera
Ami Bera (D)
Image of Chris Bennett
Chris Bennett (D)  Candidate Connection
Image of Lyndon Cervantes
Lyndon Cervantes (D)
Image of Heidi Hall
Heidi Hall (D)
Image of Christine Bish
Christine Bish (R)
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Laura Koscki (R)
Silhouette Placeholder Image.png
Submit photo
Robb Tucker (R)
Image of Chris Richardson
Chris Richardson (G)

Incumbents are bolded and underlined.

Candidate Connection = 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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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

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.

Chris Bennett

Image of Chris Bennett

WebsiteFacebookXYouTube

Party: Democratic Party

Incumbent: No

Submitted Biography:  "I'm half Puerto Rican (mom née Rodriguez), a husband of 10 years (we met on tinder), a father of two cats (Monica and Rachel), a U.S. Army Veteran, and a West Point and Berkeley Haas MBA grad. I have 10 siblings from 5 different marriages and I'm the oldest brother and 2nd oldest overall. I wanted to be an architect when I grew up, moved more than a dozen times by age 18, and only applied to one college. I played football in high school and did track & field and cross country once I realized I wasn't big enough to play offensive center anymore. I wanted kids my whole life but my wife and I have been unable to have them ourselves so our focus is to help everyone else's kids and our 10+ nephews and nieces who we adore and spoil. I've worked in nonprofit healthcare at Kaiser Permanente and Sutter Health and I've worked for profit at PwC Strategy& as a management consultant and at Papa John's making pizzas. I like fixing people's computers and phones and I'm a big fan of the hierarchy of evidence and data-driven decision-making. I'm a recovering gamer and spent way too much of my life playing RuneScape and Counter Strike. I'm trying to relearn Spanish but I already miss the Duolingo Owl. And I've been an ethical vegan for more than two years because I have a naive belief that if we treat animals better, we'll treat humans better since "animal" is how we dehumanize them."

Key Messages

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

I'm running to bring ethics, accountability, and leadership back to Congress and the Democratic party to fight for everyone's well-being, not just corporate profits or billionaire yachts. I'm here to bring back a culture where everyone agrees genocide and preemptive strikes are bad and that corporate landlords should not be allowed to collude with one another to jack up rent prices and make people homeless. I'm here to give our seniors restful retirements where they can focus on their interests or grandchildren instead of working until they die. I'm here to fight for our kids and make sure they have a safe future to grow up in. The status quo has not been working and it's time for a change.

As an Army officer, I swore to defend the Constitution against all enemies. Right now, the President is violating people’s rights and bragging about it. Congress is supposed to check the power of the executive branch yet they have abdicated all responsibility. Republicans refuse to go against Trump and most Democrats serve the same wealthy donors that profit from the chaos. The result is voiceless, powerless minorities like immigrants and trans people getting scapegoated for things only the ruling class could do while our corrupt politicians help the wealthy steal from the poor and destroy the middle class. Unlike our current reps who stop at writing letters, I will do my job and use every resource to fight back for a better future.

Our system works great if you’re a billionaire or corrupt politician but it’s broken for everyone else. It’s time we get money out of politics and make the government work for all of us. That means public funding of elections, ending legalized bribery, banning members of Congress from abusing their positions of trust to insider trade on individual stocks like Nancy Pelosi or Tommy Tuberville, banning lobbying from foreign governments, and overturning the idea that money is speech which has been a complete disaster for our democracy. Whoever has the most money should not get the biggest say. It’s time we hold our politicians to the highest standard and make them work for all of us, not wealthy private interests, or foreign governments.

Voting information

See also: Voting in California

Election information in California: June 2, 2026, election.

What is the voter registration deadline?

  • In-person: June 2, 2026
  • By mail: Postmarked by May 18, 2026
  • Online: May 18, 2026

Is absentee/mail-in voting available to all voters?

N/A

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot request deadline?

  • In-person: N/A
  • By mail: N/A by N/A
  • Online: N/A

What was the absentee/mail-in ballot return deadline?

  • In-person: N/A
  • By mail: N/A by N/A

Is early voting available to all voters?

Yes

What are the early voting start and end dates?

May 23, 2026 to June 1, 2026

Are all voters required to present ID at the polls? If so, is a photo or non-photo ID required?

N/A

When are polls open on Election Day?

7:00 a.m. - 8:00 p.m. (PT)

Campaign finance

Name Party Receipts* Disbursements** Cash on hand Date
Ami Bera Democratic Party $741,094 $643,984 $1,970,482 As of December 31, 2025
Chris Bennett Democratic Party $76,245 $54,405 $21,840 As of December 31, 2025
Lyndon Cervantes Democratic Party $10,933 $9,616 $1,316 As of December 31, 2025
Heidi Hall Democratic Party $388,835 $309,237 $82,054 As of December 31, 2025
Christine Bish Republican Party $58,592 $19,919 $38,723 As of December 31, 2025
Laura Koscki Republican Party $0 $0 $0 Data not available***
Robb Tucker Republican Party $0 $0 $0 Data not available***
Chris Richardson Green 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.

District analysis

Click the tabs below to view information about voter composition, past elections, and demographics in both the district and the state.

  • District map - A map of the district before and after redistricting ahead of the 2026 election.
  • Competitiveness - Information about the competitiveness of 2026 U.S. House elections in the state.
  • Presidential elections - Information about presidential elections in the district and the state.
  • State party control - The partisan makeup of the state's congressional delegation and state government.


Below is the district map used in the 2024 election next to the map in place for the 2026 election. Click on a map below to enlarge it.

2024

2023_01_03_ca_congressional_district_03.jpg

2026

2027_01_03_ca_congressional_district_03.jpg
See also: Primary election competitiveness in state and federal government, 2026

This section contains data on U.S. House primary election competitiveness in California.

Post-filing deadline analysis

The following analysis covers all U.S. House districts up for election in California in 2026. Information below was calculated on March 6, 2026, and may differ from information shown in the table above due to candidate replacements and withdrawals after that time.

Two hundred eighty-nine candidates — 154 Democrats, 97 Republicans, and 38 independent or minor party candidates — ran for California’s 52 U.S. House districts. That’s the highest total number of candidates to run for the U.S. House since 2014. Two hundred forty-one candidates ran in 2024, 272 ran in 2022, 262 ran in 2020, 244 ran in 2018, 202 ran in 2016, and 209 ran in 2014.

In 2026, there were 5.6 candidates per district. There were 4.6 candidates in 2024, 5.2 in 2022, 4.9 in 2020, 4.6 in 2018, 3.8 in 2016, and 3.9 in 2014.

These were the first primary elections to take place since California voters approved Proposition 50 on Nov. 4, 2025, which authorized the state to adopt a new congressional map.

Six U.S. House districts were open in 2026. Seven districts were open in 2024, five in 2022, four in 2020, two in 2018, four in 2016, and six in 2014.

Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D) of California's 11th Congressional District, Rep. Julia Brownley (D) of California's 26th Congressional District, and Rep. Darrell Issa (R) of California's 48th Congressional District retired from public office. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D) of California's 14th Congressional District ran for governor of California. At the time of the primary elections, California's 1st Congressional District was vacant due to the death of Doug LaMalfa (R). California's 38th Congressional District was open because Rep. Linda Sánchez (D) ran for California's 41st Congressional District.

Rep. Ken Calvert (R) and Rep. Young Kim (R) ran against each other in the redrawn California's 40th Congressional District. Kim was the incumbent in California's 40th Congressional District, and Calvert was the incumbent in California's 41st Congressional District.

Twelve candidates — nine Democrats, two Republicans, and one independent — ran for California's 48th Congressional District. That's the most candidates who ran for a district in 2026.

Forty-eight primaries were contested in 2026. There were 42 contested primaries in 2024, 52 in 2022, 47 in 2020, 41 in 2018, 40 in 2016, and 38 in 2014.

Forty-two incumbents — 36 Democrats, five Republicans, and one independent — faced primary challenges in 2026. Thirty-six incumbents faced primary challengers in 2024, 47 in 2022, 32 in 2020, 39 in 2018, 36 in 2016, and 32 in 2014.

Democratic and Republican candidates filed to run in all 52 districts, meaning no districts were guaranteed to either party.

Partisan Voter Index

See also: The Cook Political Report's Partisan Voter Index

Heading into the 2026 elections, based on results from the 2024 and 2020 presidential elections, the Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district is R+2. This meant that in those two presidential elections, this district's results were 2 percentage points more Republican than the national average. This made California's 3rd the 212th most Republican district nationally.[3]

2024 presidential election results

The table below shows what the vote in the 2024 presidential election was in this district. The presidential election data was compiled by The Downballot.

2024 presidential results in California's 3rd Congressional District
Kamala Harris Democratic PartyDonald Trump Republican Party
53.4%43.2%

Presidential voting history

See also: Presidential election in California, 2024

California presidential election results (1900-2024)

  • 16 Democratic wins
  • 15 Republican wins
  • 1 other win
Year 1900 1904 1908 1912 1916 1920 1924 1928 1932 1936 1940 1944 1948 1952 1956 1960 1964 1968 1972 1976 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Winning Party R R R P[4] D R R R D D D D D R R R D R R R R R R D D D D D D D D D
See also: Party control of California state government

Congressional delegation

The table below displays the partisan composition of California's congressional delegation as of March 2026.

Congressional Partisan Breakdown from California
Party U.S. Senate U.S. House Total
Democratic 2 43 45
Republican 0 7 7
Independent 0 1 1
Vacancies 0 1 1
Total 2 52 54

State executive

The table below displays the officeholders in California's top four state executive offices as of October 2025.

State executive officials in California, October 2025
OfficeOfficeholder
GovernorDemocratic Party Gavin Newsom
Lieutenant GovernorDemocratic Party Eleni Kounalakis
Secretary of StateDemocratic Party Shirley Weber
Attorney GeneralDemocratic Party Rob Bonta

State legislature

California State Senate

Party As of October 2025
     Democratic Party 30
     Republican Party 10
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 40

California State Assembly

Party As of October 2025
     Democratic Party 60
     Republican Party 20
     Other 0
     Vacancies 0
Total 80

Trifecta control

California Party Control: 1992-2025
Twenty years with Democratic trifectas  •  No Republican trifectas
Scroll left and right on the table below to view more years.

Year 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
Governor R R R R R R R D D D D D R R R R R R R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
Senate D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D
Assembly D D D S R D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D

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

See also

External links

Footnotes

  1. ↑ California Legislative Information, "California Constitution, Article II, Section 5," accessed October 29, 2025
  2. ↑ California Secretary of State, "Primary Elections in California," accessed October 29, 2025
  3. ↑ Cook Political Report, "2025 Cook PVI℠: District Map and List (119th Congress)," accessed July 1, 2025
  4. ↑ Progressive Party


California's current delegation to the United States Congress
Senators
Alex Padilla (D)
Adam Schiff (D)
Representatives
District 1
Vacant
District 2
District 3
District 4
District 5
District 6
Ami Bera (D)
District 7
District 8
District 9
District 10
District 11
District 12
District 13
Adam Gray (D)
District 14
District 15
District 16
District 17
Ro Khanna (D)
District 18
District 19
District 20
District 21
Jim Costa (D)
District 22
District 23
District 24
District 25
Raul Ruiz (D)
District 26
District 27
District 28
Judy Chu (D)
District 29
Luz Rivas (D)
District 30
District 31
District 32
District 33
District 34
District 35
District 36
Ted Lieu (D)
District 37
District 38
District 39
District 40
Young Kim (R)
District 41
District 42
District 43
District 44
District 45
District 46
District 47
Dave Min (D)
District 48
District 49
District 50
District 51
District 52
Democratic Party (45)
Republican Party (7)
Independent (1)
Vacancies (1)


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