David Ferrell

David Ferrell (Democratic Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent California's 34th Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election.^[source]

Biography

David Ferrell was born in Jacksonville, Florida. He earned a bachelor's degree from Savannah State University in 2018 and a law degree from Southwestern Law School in 2022. ^[1]

Elections

2026

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 34

The following candidates are running in the general election for U.S. House California District 34 on November 3, 2026.

		Candidate
		Jimmy Gomez (D)
		Arthur Dixon (D)
		David Ferrell (D)
		Angela Gonzales-Torres (D)
		Robert Lucero (D)
	Submit photo	Loren Colin (No party preference)

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined.
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

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2024

California's 34th Congressional District election, 2024 (March 5 top-two primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 34

Incumbent Jimmy Gomez defeated David Kim in the general election for U.S. House California District 34 on November 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Jimmy Gomez (D)	55.6	105,394
	David Kim (D)	44.4	84,020

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 189,414
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 34

Incumbent Jimmy Gomez and David Kim defeated Calvin Lee, Aaron Reveles, and David Ferrell in the primary for U.S. House California District 34 on March 5, 2024.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Jimmy Gomez (D)	51.2	41,611
✔	David Kim (D)	27.9	22,703
	Calvin Lee (R)	14.1	11,495
	Aaron Reveles (Peace and Freedom Party)	4.0	3,223
	David Ferrell (D)	2.8	2,312

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 81,344
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Endorsements

Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Ferrell in this election.

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

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2024

David Ferrell completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Ferrell's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

Expand all | Collapse all

Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a progressive, a lifetime democrat, an army veteran, and I’m running to get monied interests out of politics.

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?

Money out of politics
Economic and tax reform
Education reform

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

I am particularly passionate about foreign policy and national security, hoping to shift America away from Cold War tactics and into an age of international cooperation.

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

Not necessarily. Entrenched politicians are often disconnected from their constituents and are more worried about reelection or the next office. Fresh faces with fresh perspectives and ideas from varying backgrounds can have a great effect on policymaking.

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

The stalemate between parties preventing meaningful legislative work. That and the untrainable economic situation where the top one percent get wealthier while the majority of Americans struggle and the middle class disappears.

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

Yes.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

I’m opposed to term limits. Term limits without campaign finance reform and electoral reform merely give the perception of addressing corruption while strengthening incumbent power and allowing a revolving door of power texted officials picking their successor and entering the consulting/lobbying field after their term.

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

Jeff Jackson of NC is currently an amazing example of what a representative should be.

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

Compromise is necessary. With over 300 million Americans with varying needs and wants, elected officials must be able to compromise to enact policy. However, compromise should be done to enact legislation that provides the greatest possible good to the most people possible, not for the monied elite and corporate interests.

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 website

Ferrell’s campaign website stated the following:

“

Government Corruption
Beyond overhauling the campaign finance system, David believes that all civil servants should be required to place their assets in a blind trust during tenure in public office, as well as full financial transparency. David believes that elected officials have been hired by the people to serve a function. As such, they should be prohibited from engaging in commercial enterprise during tenure, including publishing books and publicity tours and paid speaking engagements.

David believes the bidding process for government contracts should be completely blind and as publicly accessible as possible. Unreasonable delays and exceeding the proposed budgets should be penalized.

Healthcare
David firmly believes that healthcare, including mental health care, is a fundamental human right, and human rights should not sit behind corporate paywalls. David grew up without insurance, and never had regular care until joining the army. No one should go without basic care. Universal healthcare is a priority. Immediate action can be taken through passing regulations to protect consumers. These regulations would include preventing a corporate entity from controlling both providers and insurers, preventing insurers from using AI to process claims and approvals, heavily regulating private capital management of care, and capping pharmaceutical prices when development was subsidized with taxpayer funding.

Education
An educated and informed electorate is essential to a functioning democracy. Beyond civic engagement, access to education encourages experimentation, innovation, and discovery. Access to quality education is supposed to provide all children with equal opportunity to advance regardless of background. Schools should also introduce children to ideas and individuals outside of various insular groups. These reasons are why David opposes charter and private schools. Such institutions serve no purpose but to drain resources from public schools and further disenfranchise those not a part of the socioeconomic elite.

We must forgive student debt and end the predatory loan system that saddles our youth with insurmountable debt; a debt that cannot be discharged for accessing higher education. David made a choice to join the Army to avoid taking on debt even though he believed the two wars at the time violated international law, and the benefits scheme meant that pursuing the first advanced degree in his family meant massive debt. All the while, elite private universities received billions in federal grants, contracts, and control endowments worth billions that further enrich a handful of individuals and corporations through compensation and tax breaks. These same private universities were shown to collude to block financial aid for low-income applicants and admit non-qualified applicants after receiving large donations. This system must end.

Housing
Housing is a human right. That is non-negotiable. Basic stable housing, with access to clean water, sanitation, and protection from the elements is not a privilege. The shelter system is not sustainable and provides no real solutions while more and more individuals are priced out of housing markets across the country. Creating a caucus that aligns with policy stances of the existing voting block is a publicity stunt to distract from continued failures to act. We must increase permanent public housing options that center around housing first. We must work to provide comprehensive services for those facing housing instability, including consolidating assistance programs, and eliminating the red tape to accessing assistance.

David cares deeply about housing rights; limited tenant protections and lack of access to services meant a childhood of housing insecurity and exploitation. A two-income household often went without adequate food or utilities to pay rent. There were periods without electricity where food was cooked, and bathwater heated, on a camp stove. His family was evicted when he was 12 years old, spending several months sleeping on the floor of a one-bedroom apartment. No one should grow up like that.

Substantive Due Process
The progressive era of the twentieth century established legal precedents protecting fundamental privacy rights. And the last decade has seen the culmination of coordinated efforts to dismantle legal frameworks, threatening all natural rights, from bodily autonomy to the surge of anti-LGBTQIA+ legislation. The progressive members of government have responded with speeches and soundbites instead of action. The incumbent is insisting that they are the only candidate that can stop the republican agenda, but their terms in office have failed to protect constituents from attack. This is not a time for publicity stunts. It is a time for coordinated legislative action and coalition building. David will work tirelessly to support competent and capable officials in offices to enshrine these rights and expand them.

Foreign Policy
David believes that international cooperation is fundamental to national security and economic prosperity. All peoples have the fundamental rights of self-determination, sovereignty, and security. The United States must work with the global community to prevent violations of these rights. Instead, administration after administration continues the Cold War standard of political and economic interference, exploitation, tacit support of human rights violations, and violent intervention. We must abandon this approach. The countless billions funneled to oppressive regimes and proxy wars is merely an evolution of imperialism. It creates a less safe world, fosters patterns of resource scarcity in vulnerable populations, and funnels taxpayer money to the military industrial complex. The consequences of these failed policies are playing out as refugees flee the violence and instability we caused. And instead of working to rectify the suffering we created, our leaders demonize our victims seeking safety and security.

We should instead work to build literal and figurative bridges globally. As we work to modernize our domestic infrastructure, we should also commit to public investment in developing nations, completely free of political or economic conditions. After all, lack of development and stalled advancement are the lasting consequences of colonial subjugation and western interference. Ethical resource management, accessible and stable renewable energy sources, efficient transportation systems, and access to economic opportunities foster global security and economic prosperity. Military action should only be used for individual and requested collective self-defense. The use of force should be proportional to the threat, be limited to stopping the immediate hostilities, operate within the framework of international humanitarian including prevention of civilian casualties and destruction of non-military targets. We must pledge to only use Security Council veto power to prevent unnecessary intervention and human rights abuses, and we must rejoin the Rome Statute and support the ICC.

Economics
David believes that blended economic systems provide the greatest stability and nurtures innovation. Tax structures and financial regulations established in the interwar period facilitated massive economic expansion and a thriving middle class. Monied interests gradually chipped away at these regulations promising economic freedom and career options for workers, leading to rampant corruption and exploitation. Most Americans struggle to survive as corporations declare record profits and soaring stock prices reminiscent of the Gilded Age.

The current conditions are not sustainable. We must break up the ever-expanding monopolies that dominate every sector, stifling competition and creating barriers to new enterprise. The nominal tax rate for corporations must return to post-war levels, only allowing offsets for investment in the workforce through profit sharing, pension plans, benefits, and regular wage increases that meet or exceed inflation. Worker protections must be strengthened, and corporations must face catastrophic penalties for interference with labor organizing and employment law. Executive compensation should be capped to a ratio of lowest pay rates within publicly traded companies. Any organizations that attempt to avoid taxes through offshore operations should face import tariffs based on domestic market share.

Veterans
Military recruitment relies heavily on the promise of benefits guaranteed to all service members upon discharge. These incentives are presented as automatic and lucrative. The reality is that the claims process is difficult to navigate and overly burdensome to veterans transitioning to civilian life, and there is no official guidance provided to service members during out processing. Congressional members on both sides of the aisle are quick to cut VA budgets and services in fiscal negotiations. Disability benefits are arbitrarily assessed, appeals are discouraged under threat of diminished ratings, and healthcare is irregularly available by location and need. Veteran Housing Association loans are treated inconsistently by lenders and sellers. Education benefits are cut by percentages, including housing allowances, and tuition payouts are capped by degree programs. David has experienced the VA system and witnessed the struggles of those he served with. We must fully fund the department, tying the budget to defense spending. VA claims should begin during transition to civilian life, and medical networks should be expanded and include access to facilities on all military installations.^[2]

”

—David Ferrell’s campaign website (2024)^[3]

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.

David Ferrell campaign contribution history
Year	Office	Status	Contributions	Expenditures
2026*	U.S. House California District 34	Candidacy Declared general	$0	N/A**
2024*	U.S. House California District 34	Lost primary	$9,078	$9,078
Grand total			$9,078	$9,078
Sources: OpenSecrets, Federal Elections Commission *This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC).
* Data from this year may not be complete
** Data on expenditures is not available for this election cycle
Note: Totals above reflect only available data.

External links

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Candidate

U.S. House California District 34

Personal

Footnotes

↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on December 20, 2023
↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
↑ David M. Ferrell, Congress 2024, CA District 34, “Our Vision,” accessed February 9, 2024

[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)

[1] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on December 20, 2023

[quotedisclaimer-2] Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.

[3] David M. Ferrell, Congress 2024, CA District 34, “Our Vision,” accessed February 9, 2024

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David Ferrell

Contents

Biography

Elections

2026

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 34

Endorsements

2024

General election

General election for U.S. House California District 34

Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for U.S. House California District 34

Endorsements

Campaign themes

2026

Ballotpedia survey responses

2024

Campaign website

Campaign finance summary

See also

External links

Footnotes

Information about voting

2025 Elections

2026 Elections

2024 Election analysis

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Public Policy

Information for candidates

Get Engaged

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