Zakaria Kortam
Zakaria Kortam (Republican Party) is running for election to the U.S. House to represent California's 18th Congressional District. He declared candidacy for the 2026 election.
Kortam completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. Click here to read the survey answers.
Biography
Zakaria Kortam was born in Mountain View, California. He earned a high school diploma from Silver Creek High School.[1] He earned an associate degree from Evergreen Valley College in 2024. His career experience includes working as a software engineer.[2]
Elections
2026
See also: California's 18th Congressional District election, 2026
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)  | |
| ||||
| = 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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Endorsements
Ballotpedia is gathering information about candidate endorsements. To send us an endorsement, click here.
2024
See also: United States Senate election in California, 2024
General election
General election for U.S. Senate California
Adam Schiff defeated Steve Garvey in the general election for U.S. Senate California on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Adam Schiff (D) | 58.9 | 9,036,252 |
 | Steve Garvey (R) | 41.1 | 6,312,594 | |
| Total votes: 15,348,846 | |||
| = 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. Senate California
The following candidates ran in the primary for U.S. Senate California on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Adam Schiff (D) | 31.6 | 2,304,829 |
| ✔ | | Steve Garvey (R) | 31.5 | 2,301,351 |
 | Katie Porter (D) | 15.3 | 1,118,429 | |
 | Barbara Lee (D) | 9.8 | 717,129 | |
 | Eric Early (R) | 3.3 | 242,055 | |
 | James P. Bradley (R) | 1.4 | 98,778 | |
 | Christina Pascucci (D) | 0.8 | 61,998 | |
 | Sharleta Bassett (R) | 0.8 | 54,884 | |
 | Sarah Sun Liew (R) | 0.5 | 38,718 | |
| Laura Garza (No party preference) | 0.5 | 34,529 | ||
 | Jonathan Reiss (R) | 0.5 | 34,400 | |
 | Sepi Gilani (D) | 0.5 | 34,316 | |
 | Gail Lightfoot (L) | 0.5 | 33,295 | |
 | Denice Gary-Pandol (R) | 0.4 | 25,649 | |
 | James Macauley (R) | 0.3 | 23,296 | |
 | Harmesh Kumar (D) | 0.3 | 21,624 | |
 | David Peterson (D) | 0.3 | 21,170 | |
 | Douglas Howard Pierce (D) | 0.3 | 19,458 | |
 | Major Singh (No party preference) | 0.2 | 17,092 | |
 | John Rose (D) | 0.2 | 14,627 | |
 | Perry Pound (D) | 0.2 | 14,195 | |
 | Raji Rab (D) | 0.2 | 13,640 | |
 | Mark Ruzon (No party preference) | 0.2 | 13,488 | |
 | Forrest Jones (American Independent Party of California) | 0.2 | 13,140 | |
| Stefan Simchowitz (R) | 0.2 | 12,773 | ||
 | Martin Veprauskas (R) | 0.1 | 9,795 | |
 | Don Grundmann (No party preference) | 0.1 | 6,641 | |
 | Michael Dilger (No party preference) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 7 | |
 | Carlos Guillermo Tapia (R) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 5 | |
| John Dowell (No party preference) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 3 | ||
 | Danny Fabricant (R) (Write-in) | 0.0 | 3 | |
| Total votes: 7,301,317 | |||
| = 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
- Lexi Reese (D)
- Alexander Norbash (D)
- Renee Martinez (No party preference)
- Dominick Dorothy (D)
- Joshua Bocanegra (D)
- Barack Obama Mandela (R)
- Joe Sosinski (No party preference)
- James Shuster (R)
- Rommell Montenegro (D)
- Zakaria Kortam (R)
- John Pappenheim (R)
- Jacob Farmos (D)
- Roxanne Lawler (R)
- Jessica Resendez (D)
- Jeremy Fennell (D)
- Carson Franklin Jr. (D)
- Fepbrina Keivaulqe Autiameineire (Vienmerisce Veittemeignzce USA)
- Paul Anderson (G)
- Peter Liu (R)
- Dana Bobbitt (No party preference)
- Zafar Inam (D)
- Jehu Hand (R)
- Eduardo Berdugo (No party preference)
- Frank Ferreira (No party preference)
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Kortam in this election.
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Zakaria Kortam completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2025. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kortam's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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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.
- 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.
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.
2024
Zakaria Kortam completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2023. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Kortam's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.
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- Bring back the real California. California has been in an unfortunate decline. Our economy has begun to slip, while people are leaving our state in growing waves. We have the highest taxes in the nation, yet our infrastructure is falling apart. The mismanagement must be eliminated, if not minimised. The corruption and abuse of taxpayer money must end.
- Protect American interests and to bring back logic and reality to the Chambers of congress. A dissociation has occurred between Congress and its constituents. Congress has lost its touch and has begun to vote in very unrealistic and questionable manners. It's about time that we call them all to account and bring in sensible people.
- Fight corruption across the board. Stock trading of any member should be banned in Congress. Our state and federal government must be more transparent and direct about where all of the money is going. Additionally, there should be as little taxes as possible.
- Taxation
- Corruption
- Making good decisions. Good judgement.
- Leaving room for comprimise and discussion.
- Maintaining composure.
I'd say it would be better gone than present.
Who's there
Yodelehi
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
