Election 2026 · State of California

California Assembly District 42

Published September 29, 2026 · Updated October 2, 2026

Deborah Klein Lopez and Ted Nordblum are the candidates for California Assembly District 42 on the November 3, 2026 ballot.

The State Assembly is one of the two houses of the California Legislature, which holds the state's lawmaking power. The Assembly has 80 members. Its members write and vote on state laws and, with the Senate, pass the state budget, which the Constitution requires by June 15 each year.

Summary by CityHallPass, not the official text or legal advice. The official text controls: LA County's official election information.

What it means for the City of LA

State laws bind the City, and the state budget funds programs the City runs. Example: state law requires the City to plan housing for all income levels and update that plan on a set schedule (Government Code sections 65580 and 65588). About 76,000 of the district's 517,500 residents live in the City of Los Angeles, in the Pacific Palisades and Bel Air area. Parts of the district were heavily hit by the January 2025 Palisades Fire.

Primary results, June 2, 2026

Three candidates. Klein Lopez and Nordblum, the top two, advanced to November 3. Total votes: 161,875 (50,780 in Los Angeles County, 111,095 in Ventura County). District totals from the Secretary of State's certified Statement of Vote. Certified results

The candidates

The job

The district. The 42nd Assembly District spans Ventura and Los Angeles counties. It includes Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks, Moorpark, part of Camarillo, Oak Park, Westlake Village, Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Malibu and Topanga (district map page).

• Counties. Of its roughly 517,500 residents in the 2020 Census, 357,790 live in Ventura County and 159,715 in Los Angeles County (district map page).
• City of LA. 76,049 residents live in the City of Los Angeles (district map page). An overlay of the County’s district map on the City’s Neighborhood Council map puts most of the City portion in the Bel Air-Beverly Crest council area (County district layer; City Neighborhood Councils). LAist lists Pacific Palisades in the district and says parts of the district were heavily affected by the Palisades Fire (LAist). The Palisades is not in the City’s list of certified Neighborhood Councils, so the overlay does not show it (City Neighborhood Councils).
• People. The Census Bureau’s 2020-2024 survey estimates 509,665 residents: about 62% white (not Latino), 20% Latino, 9% Asian and 2% Black, with a median household income of $142,840 (Census Reporter).
• Voters. On May 18, 2026 the district had 355,609 registered voters: 40.0% Democratic, 31.3% Republican and 21.1% no party preference (Secretary of State). In the June primary 161,875 votes were cast in this race, about two thirds of them in Ventura County (Statement of Vote).
• Open seat. Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin is termed out and ran for Congress (Daily News).

What an Assemblymember does.

• Laws. The Constitution gives the state’s lawmaking power to the Senate and Assembly (art. IV, sec. 1). A bill passed by both houses becomes law when the Governor signs it, or if the Legislature overrides a veto by two thirds of each house (art. IV, sec. 10).
• Budget. The Legislature must pass the budget by midnight on June 15, and a simple majority of each house is enough (art. IV, sec. 12). CalMatters reported the 2026-27 budget deal at $352 billion (CalMatters).
• Taxes. Any state tax increase needs two thirds of each house (art. XIII A, sec. 3).
• What it means for the City. State law sets the City’s housing planning duties (Gov. Code 65588).

Records

Neither candidate has served in the Legislature, so neither has a state voting record (Klein Lopez questionnaire; Nordblum questionnaire).

Deborah Klein Lopez

Agoura Hills City Council. Klein Lopez was elected in November 2018, two days before the Woolsey Fire reached Agoura Hills, and is a former mayor (campaign bio). Her campaign says the council passed the region’s first Climate Action and Adaptation Plan while she was mayor, and that she helped launch the Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing (campaign bio). She sits on the council’s Law Enforcement/Fire/Emergency Response committee and the League of California Cities public safety committee (SCNG questionnaire).

Clean Power Alliance. She is immediate past chair of the board of Clean Power Alliance, which her campaign describes as a public, not-for-profit alternative to Southern California Edison. Her campaign credits her with helping create “over 4,000 jobs” there (campaign bio).

Other public roles. She has been a board member of the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains since 2017. Her campaign says she led Measure E, a school funding measure that voters in four cities and two counties approved, and that she ran a weekly winter shelter program in the Conejo Valley for nearly 20 years (campaign bio).

Career. She did financial analysis and project management at Reuters and J.D. Power, then legislative staff work in the State Senate and Assembly (campaign bio). The bio does not name the legislators she worked for.

Ethics and court records. The FPPC lists no enforcement case or penalty against her. No City Ethics Commission orders, FEC enforcement cases (searched Oct. 1, 2026), State Bar license or court case naming her as a party (CourtListener) were found (searched Sept. 30, 2026).

Ted Nordblum

Career. His campaign says he began as a union heavy equipment operator, then started Titan Medical, a medical device company he has owned for more than 20 years (campaign site). He gave his job in 2026 as president of West Coast Medical Inc. (SCNG questionnaire). The Daily News described him in 2024 as a businessman who started his own medical device business (Daily News).

Why he is running. He says he decided to run after his brother died of a fentanyl overdose in November 2021 (campaign site).

Past races. He was the Republican nominee for this seat in 2024. The Daily News’s election-night count had Irwin at 53.5% and Nordblum at 46.5% (Daily News).

Public office. He listed no other political positions held (SCNG questionnaire).

Ethics and court records. No City Ethics Commission orders, FEC enforcement cases (searched Oct. 1, 2026), State Bar license or court case that can be tied to him (CourtListener) were found (searched Sept. 30, 2026).

Where they stand

The issues are the ones the Southern California News Group asked every legislative candidate about in its 2026 questionnaire, plus topics from the April 28 League of Women Voters forum. Sources: SCNG questionnaires (Klein Lopez; Nordblum; both May 6, 2026) and the Thousand Oaks Acorn forum report.

On the other ballot measures

Source: the candidates’ SCNG questionnaires (Klein Lopez; Nordblum) and forum coverage (Acorn); measure list from the Secretary of State’s voter guide. Neither candidate is a legislator, so neither voted to place Props 1, 2, 4, 5 or 43 on the ballot. Nordblum’s call to eliminate property taxes and Klein Lopez’s defense of Prop 13 limits (Acorn) are not tied to any measure on this ballot.

Endorsements

Deborah Klein Lopez

• Party: The California Democratic Party endorsed her for the November election (CDP general election endorsements, Aug 5, 2026). It also gave her campaign $165,504 in in-kind support (Cal-Access).

From her campaign’s endorsement page, which is undated and was checked Sept 30, 2026:

• Federal: U.S. Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff; Representatives Julia Brownley, Laura Friedman, Ted Lieu, Luz Rivas and Brad Sherman (endorsement page).
• State: Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas; Senate President pro Tem Monique Limón; Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin, who holds the seat now; State Senators Henry Stern and Ben Allen; Treasurer Fiona Ma; dozens of other legislators (endorsement page).
• County and City: LA County Sheriff Robert Luna; Supervisor Lindsey Horvath; Ventura County Supervisors Matt LeVere and Vianey Lopez; Ventura County District Attorney Erik Nasarenko; LA City Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky; Agoura Hills Mayor Jeremy Wolf (endorsement page).
• Groups: the page quotes leaders of California Environmental Voters (“we are thrilled to support her”), the California Teachers Association (“members are delighted to recommend Deborah’s candidacy”) and the National Union of Healthcare Workers (“proudly endorses Deborah Klein Lopez”) (endorsement page). The Thousand Oaks Acorn reported she cited endorsements from firefighters, teachers, nurses and environmental groups (Acorn).
• Newspapers: none found.

Ted Nordblum

From his campaign’s endorsement page, which is undated and was checked Sept 30, 2026:

• Elected officials: Ventura County Sheriff Jim Fryhoff; Ventura County Supervisors Jeff Gorell and Janice Parvin; Ventura County Treasurer-Tax Collector Steve Hintz; Moorpark Mayor Chris Enegren; Simi Valley Councilmember Mike Judge; Malibu Councilmember Marianne Riggins; Westlake Village Councilmember Kelly Honig (endorsement page).
• Party and groups: Ventura County Republican Party; Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association; California Rifle and Pistol Association; LA County and Ventura County California Republican Assembly; Pacific Palisades Republican Club (endorsement page). The California Republican Party also lists him (CAGOP).
• Others: former California Republican Party chair Frank Visco; Lt. Governor candidate Gloria Romero (endorsement page).
• Newspapers: none found.

Polls

No public polls of this race were found.

Money

Source: each committee’s Form 460 reports and later late-contribution reports (Klein Lopez; Nordblum), from the Secretary of State’s Cal-Access campaign data, downloaded Sept 29, 2026. The limit is $5,900 per donor per election, so $11,800 for the primary and general together. Small contributor committees may give twice that (FPPC).

Who is giving

Method: every itemized contribution (money and in-kind) on the Form 460s for the period, plus later late-contribution reports. A donor is a normalized name plus ZIP code. A donor’s location comes from the ZIP code: “City of LA” means at least half the ZIP code’s area is inside the City. Most of this district is in Ventura County, which counts as “elsewhere in California” below.

Deborah Klein Lopez. 857 donors gave $1,380,093 in itemized money (Cal-Access).

• Who gave (Cal-Access):
  • Individuals: 715 donors, $477,942 (34.6%).
  • Unions and public-employee groups: 53, $388,100 (28.1%). SEIU California, the California Teachers Association’s committee and the school administrators’ PAC gave $23,600 each.
  • Business, trade and other PACs: 38, $173,822 (12.6%).
  • The California Democratic Party: $165,504 (12.0%).
  • Businesses and other organizations: 31, $114,476 (8.3%). Other candidates’ committees: 17, $51,350 (3.7%). Tribes: 2, $8,900 (0.6%).
• Where from. 21.5% of dollars came from City of LA ZIP codes and 21.7% from the rest of LA County. 53.0% came from elsewhere in California, which includes Ventura County and Sacramento-based committees. 3.9% came from out of state (Cal-Access).
• Size. 61 donors gave $5,900 or more, for $772,004 (55.9%). 319 donors gave under $250 in total, $40,298 (2.9%) (Cal-Access).
• Industries (Cal-Access):
  • Law firms and lawyers: 82 donors, $150,925 (10.9%), including the Consumer Attorneys of California PAC and KTBS Law ($11,800 each).
  • Real estate: 29 donors, $36,350 (2.6%), led by the Realtors’ CREPAC ($11,800) and the California Apartment Association PAC ($5,900).
  • Employers: Disney had the most employee donors (11). Seven donors listed the Las Virgenes Unified School District.
• Same-employer timing and lobbyists. No group of five or more donors from one employer within three days was found in her committee’s filings. Three donor records, giving $5,250, match state-registered lobbyists (Cal-Access lobbying data).

Ted Nordblum. 271 donors gave $271,156 in itemized money (Cal-Access).

• Who gave (Cal-Access):
  • Individuals: 246 donors, $219,357 (80.9%). 114 of them listed themselves as retired or not employed.
  • Business and other PACs: 6, $22,165 (8.2%), led by Move the Needle PAC ($11,265). The Apartment Association of Greater Los Angeles PAC gave $3,000.
  • Businesses: 16, $18,700 (6.9%). Other candidates’ committees: 3, $10,933 (4.0%), including $4,533 carried over from his 2024 committee.
• Where from. 6.8% of dollars came from City of LA ZIP codes and 19.9% from the rest of LA County. 70.2% came from elsewhere in California, mostly Ventura County. 3.1% came from out of state (Cal-Access).
• Size. 8 donors gave $5,900 or more, for $72,365 (26.7%). 85 donors gave under $250 in total, $11,752 (4.3%) (Cal-Access).
• Largest donors: three individuals ($11,800 each); Move the Needle PAC ($11,265); one individual ($8,000); and $5,900 each from Californians For A Better Future, Flora for Assembly 2026 and one individual. Another individual gave $5,000 (Cal-Access).
• Same-employer timing and lobbyists. No group of five or more donors from one employer within three days was found in his committee’s filings. One donor, giving $100, matches a state-registered lobbyist (Cal-Access lobbying data).

Outside spending

Source: independent expenditure reports (Form 496) filed since Jan 1, 2025 by the two committees linked in the table, from the Cal-Access raw data.

Who funds them, contributions from Jan 1, 2025 through Sept 19, 2026 (Cal-Access raw data):

• Democratic Club of the Conejo Valley reported $94,455 in contributions. Its largest donor was Jacqui Irwin’s 2030 Lieutenant Governor committee ($6,000); no other donor gave more than $5,721.
• Golden State Revival reported $128,297. Its largest donor was Anna Kramer of Pacific Property ($70,000).

Key moments

Debates and forums.

• April 28, 2026, Moorpark: the League of Women Voters of Ventura County and the Moorpark Chamber of Commerce hosted Klein Lopez and Nordblum; Rocky Rhodes did not attend. They disagreed on immigration, AB 1955, property taxes and energy. The Acorn says a replay is on the League’s website (Thousand Oaks Acorn).
• May 15, 2026, Simi Valley: the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce hosted Nordblum and Rhodes; Klein Lopez had a prior engagement. A recording is on the Chamber’s YouTube page (Simi Valley Acorn).
• No debate between the two finalists since the primary was found.

Palisades rebuilding. At the May 15 forum Nordblum said he opposed adding density in the Palisades because of evacuation risk in a future fire: “We lost 12 people that died because they couldn’t get out” (Simi Valley Acorn). No response from Klein Lopez on this point was found.