Darren Helton
Darren Helton (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent California's 11th Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the primary scheduled on June 2, 2026.[source]
Helton completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Darren Helton was born in Las Vegas, Nevada. He earned a high school diploma from Golden Sierra High School and a bachelor's degree from the California State University in 2012. His career experience includes working as an engineer.[1]
Elections
2026
See also: California's 11th Congressional District election, 2026
General election
The primary will occur on June 2, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary.
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 11
The following candidates are running in the primary for U.S. House California District 11 on June 2, 2026.
Candidate | ||
| Cole Bettles (D) | ||
 | Saikat Chakrabarti (D)  | |
 | Connie Chan (D) | |
| David Ganezer (R) | ||
 | Omed Hamid (D) | |
 | Darren Helton (D) | |
 | Marie Hurabiell (D) | |
| Daniel Wheeler (D) | ||
 | Scott Wiener (D) | |
 | Jingchao Xiong (D) | |
| ||||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates
- Nancy Pelosi (D)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Darren Helton completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Helton's responses.
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My great-grandparents came from the East Coast to San Diego in the 1940s to build a better life. From them, I grew up believing in the American dream: work hard enough, and anyone could make it. Even as a foster kid learning to prospect and pan for gold, I held onto that belief: determination and grit could still strike it rich in our state.
At eight, I was taken from my mother. The system taught me that those making decisions about our lives often know exactly what harm they're causing, they just don't care enough to stop it.
San Francisco changed everything for me. Our city gave me the chance to build a career in tech, to transform my life, to prove that where you start doesn't define where you end up. Now I'm running because I need to give back to the city that shaped me.
Sadly, the opportunities that lifted me are vanishing. Families can't make rent. Workers can't afford healthcare. Children can't afford hope.
We don't need another politician. We need someone who understands that power breaks when regular people stop fighting each other and start fighting together.
San Francisco gave me a chance. Now I'm fighting to make sure others get theirs.- The system isn't broken, it's working exactly as designed. Every crisis we face was engineered: unaffordable housing keeps people desperate, medical debt keeps them compliant, student loans keep them trapped. I'm not running to fix the system. I'm running to expose it, break it, and build something that actually works for people who work.
- Climate chaos, water wars, and resource collapse aren't coming, they're here. The same people who decided I'd go to foster care knowing it would likely destroy me are about to decide who gets water and who doesn't. We need to build parallel systems now, before those who only care about protecting their own wealth make those choices for the rest of us.
- Our real enemy has a name and an address. We need to stop fighting our neighbors over scraps. The billionaire class gained a trillion dollars last year while we argued about pronouns and vaccines. I'll name names, expose the actual mechanisms of extraction, and show you exactly how we make power too expensive to maintain.
• Making work pay. Your boss's boss makes more daily than you make yearly. We need universal healthcare and real safety nets so workers can walk away from exploitation.
• Climate survival. The rich are building their bunkers and buying water rights. We need neighborhood solar, community water systems, local food networks – now.
My manager took it. Kept it for himself.
One shift, two lessons: The customer believed hard work was enough. The manager knew an easier way - why work when you can just take?
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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 November 21, 2025
