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Catherine Blakespear
Catherine Blakespear (Democratic Party) is a member of the California State Senate, representing District 38. She assumed office on December 5, 2022. Her current term ends on December 7, 2026.
Blakespear (Democratic Party) is running for re-election to the California State Senate to represent District 38. She declared candidacy for the 2026 election.[source]
Biography
Catherine Blakespear was born in and lives in Encinitas, California. Blakespear earned a bachelor's of science and a master's of science in journalism from Northwestern University in 1999 and a J.D. from the S.J. Quinney College of Law at the University of Utah in 2006. Her career experience includes working as a journalist for the Los Angeles Times and for the Associated Press. She was an attorney at Ray Quinney & Nebeker and the traffic commissioner for the City of Encinitas. She was elected to serve as the mayor of the City of Encinitas in 2016.[1]
Committee assignments
2025-2026
Blakespear was assigned to the following committees:
- Climate Change Policies Committee
- Budget and Fiscal Review Committee
- Environmental Quality Committee, Chair
- Senate Governmental Organization Committee
- Senate Transportation Committee
2023-2024
Blakespear was assigned to the following committees:
- Banking and Finance Committee
- Human Services Committee, Chair
- Jobs, Economic Development, and the Economy Committee
- Military and Veterans Affairs Committee
- Revenue and Taxation Committee
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according to BillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2026
See also: California State Senate elections, 2026
General election
The general election will occur on November 3, 2026.
General election for California State Senate District 38
Incumbent Catherine Blakespear is running in the general election for California State Senate District 38 on November 3, 2026.
Candidate | ||
 | Catherine Blakespear (D) | |
| ||||
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Endorsements
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2022
District 38
See also: California State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for California State Senate District 38
Catherine Blakespear defeated Matt Gunderson in the general election for California State Senate District 38 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Catherine Blakespear (D) | 52.2 | 190,992 |
 | Matt Gunderson (R) | 47.8 | 174,581 | |
| Total votes: 365,573 | |||
| = 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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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for California State Senate District 38
Matt Gunderson and Catherine Blakespear defeated Joe Kerr in the primary for California State Senate District 38 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Matt Gunderson (R) | 45.9 | 106,358 |
| ✔ | | Catherine Blakespear (D) | 43.0 | 99,583 |
 | Joe Kerr (D) | 11.2 | 25,908 | |
| Total votes: 231,849 | |||
| = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
District 36
See also: California State Senate elections, 2022
General election
General election for California State Senate District 36
Janet Nguyen defeated Kim Carr in the general election for California State Senate District 36 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Janet Nguyen (R) | 56.9 | 196,488 |
 | Kim Carr (D) | 43.1 | 149,114 | |
| Total votes: 345,602 | |||
| = 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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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for California State Senate District 36
Janet Nguyen and Kim Carr advanced from the primary for California State Senate District 36 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Janet Nguyen (R) | 56.7 | 125,053 |
| ✔ | | Kim Carr (D) | 43.3 | 95,655 |
| Total votes: 220,708 | |||
| = 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
Campaign themes
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also: Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
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2022
Catherine Blakespear did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
Catherine Blakespear did not complete Ballotpedia's 2022 Candidate Connection survey.
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
Scorecards
A scorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of California scorecards, email suggestions to editor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, the California State Legislature was in session from January 3 to August 31. A special session in the Assembly was from August 31, 2024 to October 14, 2024 and another special session started on December 2, 2024.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, the California State Legislature was in session from January 1 to September 14.
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External links
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Candidate California State Senate District 38 |
Officeholder California State Senate District 38 |
Personal |
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Brian Jones (R) |
California State Senate District 38 2022-Present |
Succeeded by - |
