Voters in Los Angeles County will help decide the winners of a handful of state Senate seats in this year’s California legislative races.
Of those five races, at least three will be won by non-incumbents since the current officeholders are termed-out.
Here are the state Senate races that are on the Nov. 5 ballots in L.A. County:
District 23: Republican small business owner Suzette Martinez Valladares is running against Democratic workers’ rights attorney Kipp Mueller. Valladares lives in Acton, near the Antelope Valley. She served in the Assembly from 2020 to 2022 and was a founder of the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus. Mueller lives in Canyon Country in Santa Clarita. He ran for this office in 2020 but lost to the current officeholder, Republican Sen. Scott Wilk. Wilk is not seeking reelection this year due to term limits. This district represents an area spanning from Santa Clarita and Palmdale in northern L.A. County to Wrightwood and Hesperia in San Bernardino County.
District 25: Crescenta Valley Town Councilmember Elizabeth Wong Ahlers, a Republican, is battling it out with Alhambra Mayor Sasha Renée Pérez, a Democrat, for the District 25 seat. The two beat out three other candidates in the primary to advance to the general election. Whoever wins will replace Sen. Anthony Portantino, who is termed-out. Senate District 25 represents parts of the San Fernando, San Gabriel and Pomona valleys in northeastern L.A. County. It includes all or parts of Burbank, Glendale, Pasadena, Monrovia, Glendora and Claremont.
District 27: Incumbent Sen. Henry Stern, a Democrat, is facing a challenge from Republican Lucie Volotzky. Stern, of Sherman Oaks, was first elected to the Senate in 2016 and currently chairs the Joint Legislative Committee on Climate Change Policies. Volotzky, a resident of Chatsworth, is a longtime business owner. The two are running to represent a district that includes western portions of the San Fernando Valley in L.A. County as well as Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Moorpark in Ventura County.
District 33: Democratic Sen. Lena Gonzalez is seeking another term, but to be reelected, she’ll have to fend off Republican Mario Paz. Gonzalez was first elected to the Senate in 2019 after five years on the Long Beach City Council. Paz, also a resident of Long Beach, is a chief financial officer and has over three decades of experience as an accountant. The district the two candidates are competing to represent includes southern L.A. County’s Long Beach as well as Lynwood, Southgate, Huntington Park, Maywood and Bell Gardens.
District 35: Democrats Laura Richardson and Michelle Chambers are vying to replace termed-out state Sen. Steven Bradford. Richardson, of San Pedro, is a housing advocate and small business owner who previously served on the Long Beach City Council and in the state Assembly and U.S. House of Representatives. Chambers, who lives in Compton, is a community justice advocate. She previously served on the Compton City Council and was an aide to then-U.S. Rep. Janice Hahn. Senate District 35 represents residents in South L.A. County. It includes all or parts of Inglewood, Hawthorne, Compton, Carson and San Pedro.
