No Recommendation
Based on our analysis, there is no progressive candidate to recommend for your vote in this race.
About the Position
State Assembly Members form part of the California State Legislature, and work alongside the governor to establish laws and a state budget. They hold the power to pass bills that affect public policy, set state spending levels, raise and lower taxes, and uphold or override the governor’s vetoes. The California State Assembly has 80 districts. Each represents a population of at least 465,000 Californians. Representatives are elected to the Assembly for a two-year term. Every two years, all 80 seats are subject to election. Members elected before 2012 are restricted to three two-year terms (six years) in the Assembly. Those elected in or after 2012 are allowed to serve 12 years total across both the State Senate and Assembly. This term, Democrats currently hold a two-thirds supermajority of 61 seats in the California State Assembly, while Republicans hold 17 seats. One seat is held by an Independent, and one seat is currently vacant.
About the District
California's 42nd Assembly District includes parts of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. Republicans typically hold this district, and incumbent Chad Mayes has held this seat as a Republican since 2014. That said, Mayes left the Republican Party this year and is running as an independent. The most recent election results show 49.7 percent of AD-42 voted for Trump for president in 2016, and 52.2 percent of the district voted for Cox for governor in 2018.
About the Race
In the primary, now-Independent incumbent Representative Mayes led Republican challenger Andrew Kotyuk by a margin of 1.5 percent. Neither candidate has pledged to refuse corporate PAC, fossil fuel, and police money. Mayes’s campaign has raised $740,040 and is funded by all three groups, including Anheuser-Busch Co., the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, and Chevron Corp. Opponent Kotyuk’s campaign has raised $298,738.27 and is backed by individuals, local businesses, and some labor groups.
About the Incumbent
Rep. Mayes, the incumbent, was first elected to the Assembly in 2014. According to campaign materials, Rep. Mayes is running for re-election to represent the people, not a party. Chad Mayes was first elected to the Assembly in November 2014 to represent the 42nd District in the California State Assembly. This Inland Empire district encompasses parts of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.
Rep. Mayes’s priorities for AD-42 this year include individual freedom, shared responsibility, and educational excellence. He scores a lifetime score of 4 out of 100 on Courage Score, our annual analysis of legislators’ progressive voting records. Based on our Courage Score analysis, Rep. Mayes has supported a very small number of progressive bills that made it to a vote. He has voted consistently against workers’ rights and environmental protection.
Neither candidate demonstrates a commitment to equitable or representative leadership. Keep reading for progressive recommendations in other key races and on ballot measures where your vote can make a critical difference.
No Progressive Candidate - AD42
Based on our analysis, there is no progressive candidate to recommend for your vote in this race.
About the Position
State Assembly Members form part of the California State Legislature, and work alongside the governor to establish laws and a state budget. They hold the power to pass bills that affect public policy, set state spending levels, raise and lower taxes, and uphold or override the governor’s vetoes. The California State Assembly has 80 districts. Each represents a population of at least 465,000 Californians. Representatives are elected to the Assembly for a two-year term. Every two years, all 80 seats are subject to election. Members elected before 2012 are restricted to three two-year terms (six years) in the Assembly. Those elected in or after 2012 are allowed to serve 12 years total across both the State Senate and Assembly. This term, Democrats currently hold a two-thirds supermajority of 61 seats in the California State Assembly, while Republicans hold 17 seats. One seat is held by an Independent, and one seat is currently vacant.
About the District
California's 42nd Assembly District includes parts of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties. Republicans typically hold this district, and incumbent Chad Mayes has held this seat as a Republican since 2014. That said, Mayes left the Republican Party this year and is running as an independent. The most recent election results show 49.7 percent of AD-42 voted for Trump for president in 2016, and 52.2 percent of the district voted for Cox for governor in 2018.
About the Race
In the primary, now-Independent incumbent Representative Mayes led Republican challenger Andrew Kotyuk by a margin of 1.5 percent. Neither candidate has pledged to refuse corporate PAC, fossil fuel, and police money. Mayes’s campaign has raised $740,040 and is funded by all three groups, including Anheuser-Busch Co., the California Correctional Peace Officers Association, and Chevron Corp. Opponent Kotyuk’s campaign has raised $298,738.27 and is backed by individuals, local businesses, and some labor groups.
About the Incumbent
Rep. Mayes, the incumbent, was first elected to the Assembly in 2014. According to campaign materials, Rep. Mayes is running for re-election to represent the people, not a party. Chad Mayes was first elected to the Assembly in November 2014 to represent the 42nd District in the California State Assembly. This Inland Empire district encompasses parts of San Bernardino and Riverside Counties.
Rep. Mayes’s priorities for AD-42 this year include individual freedom, shared responsibility, and educational excellence. He scores a lifetime score of 4 out of 100 on Courage Score, our annual analysis of legislators’ progressive voting records. Based on our Courage Score analysis, Rep. Mayes has supported a very small number of progressive bills that made it to a vote. He has voted consistently against workers’ rights and environmental protection.
Neither candidate demonstrates a commitment to equitable or representative leadership. Keep reading for progressive recommendations in other key races and on ballot measures where your vote can make a critical difference.
There are two candidates for this seat. Courage California does not have enough information to recommend one over the others in this race and other progressive organizations are split on their endorsements, so we have compiled basic biographical information for your reference. The two candidates for this position have distinct visions for Los Angeles County. Challenger David Berger promises to prioritize juvenile justice reform and drug offender rehabilitation. Challenger Klint James McKay promises to promote fairness and impartiality in the court, and resolve disputes with competence and empathy.
About the Position
Judges of the California Superior Courts are elected in nonpartisan, county-wide elections to six-year terms. Once voted in, a judge can run for retention at the expiration of their term. A retention election is a process by which voters decide whether an incumbent judge should remain for another term. If the judge, when not facing an opponent, does not obtain a certain percentage of voters (often 50 percent), they are removed from the position. Many judges join the court through a gubernatorial appointment. Once a judge is appointed, they compete in the next general election following the appointment.
California has 58 trial courts, or superior courts, one in each county. In the more than 450 courthouses of the superior courts, a judge and sometimes a jury hears witness testimony and other evidence. These courts hear civil, criminal, family, probate, small claims, traffic, and juvenile cases. The judge decides cases through the application of relevant law to the relevant facts.
About the Jurisdiction
The Superior Court of Los Angeles comprises the appellate, civil, criminal, family law, juvenile, mental health, probate, small claims, and traffic courts. The court system sees 2.7 million new cases per year. As of 2016, Los Angeles County’s incarceration rate was 609 per 100,000 adults aged 18–69, higher than California’s overall 486 per 100,000 average.
About the Race
In the primary, challenger David A. Berger led challenger Klint James McKay by a margin of 7.4 percent. Berger’s campaign has raised $105,396.11 and is 47 percent self-funded, with the rest primarily made by individual donors. Berger’s campaign has received contributions from the Los Angeles Police Protective League and Govern For California (GFC), a donor network led by Stanford professor David Crane, who lost his position on the UC Board of Regents after criticizing the value of collective bargaining rights for California's teachers, nurses, firefighters, university employees, and other public sector workers. Berger’s campaign has not signed on to any pledges to avoid money from fossil fuels, police unions, or corporate PACs, and has not received funding from these sources. McKay’s campaign has not filed any public reports with the California Secretary of State and has not signed on to any pledges to avoid money from fossil fuels or police unions.