Election 2026 · State of California

California Assembly District 51

Published September 29, 2026 · Updated October 2, 2026

Colin D. Hernandez and Rick Chavez Zbur (incumbent) are the candidates for California Assembly District 51 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

About 70% of the district's land and 61% of its LA County voting precincts are in the City of Los Angeles, from Hollywood and the Hollywood Hills to Westwood, Bel Air and Atwater Village. It also includes Santa Monica, Beverly Hills and West Hollywood. 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).

Primary results, June 2, 2026

Five candidates. The top two, Rick Chavez Zbur and Colin D. Hernandez, both Democrats, advanced to November 3. Total votes: 131,409. Certified results

The candidates

The job

Powers. The California Constitution gives the state’s lawmaking power to the Legislature, which is the Senate plus the 80-member Assembly (art. IV, sec. 1). A bill needs a majority of each house to pass (art. IV, sec. 8). The Legislature can override a Governor’s veto with two-thirds of each house (art. IV, sec. 10). Tax increases need two-thirds of each house (art. XIII A, sec. 3). The Legislature can put constitutional amendments on the ballot by a two-thirds vote of each house (art. XVIII, sec. 1). The Legislature placed five of the 14 statewide measures on this ballot: Props 1, 2, 4, 5 and 43 (Secretary of State voter guide).

Budget. The Legislature must pass the budget bill by midnight on June 15, and a majority vote is enough (art. IV, sec. 12). CalMatters reported that the 2026-27 budget deal totaled $352 billion, added taxes, including a sales tax on everyday computer software, and gave counties $900 million for homelessness (CalMatters).

The district.

• About 488,000 people live in the 51st District, and the Census Bureau’s 2020-2024 survey estimates the population as 55% white, 18% Latino, 14% Asian and 5% Black, with a median household income of $95,767 (Census Reporter).
• LAist describes it as stretching from Santa Monica to Griffith Park, including Beverly Hills and West Hollywood, with voter registration 57.2% Democratic, 22.9% no party preference and 13.6% Republican (LAist).
• Other cities in the district: Santa Monica (434 precincts), Beverly Hills (159) and West Hollywood (155) (County Registrar precinct map). The City of LA has 1,190 of the district’s 1,944 precincts (County Registrar precinct map).
• City neighborhoods, by share of the district’s land (Neighborhood Council areas): Hollywood Hills West (13%), Atwater Village (12%), Bel Air-Beverly Crest (9%), Westside (6%), Greater Wilshire (6%), Westwood (4%), Mid City West (4%), Hollywood United (4%), West LA-Sawtelle (3%), plus parts of the Hollywood Studio District, North Westwood, Central Hollywood and East Hollywood (City Neighborhood Councils).
• City Council districts, by share of land: CD 4 (Nithya Raman, 33%), CD 5 (Katy Yaroslavsky, 24%), CD 13 (Hugo Soto-Martinez, 10%) and CD 11 (Traci Park, 3%) (City council district map).
• Land shares come from overlaying the County’s Assembly district map on the City’s Neighborhood Council and Council district maps. They measure area, not people.

Records

Rick Chavez Zbur

Office and roles. Zbur was elected to the Assembly in November 2022 and has been Democratic Caucus Chair since July 2023 (Assembly biography). His office lists these committees: Arts, Entertainment, Sports and Tourism; Education; Judiciary; Natural Resources; Rules; and Utilities and Energy (committee page).

Bills, 2025-26 session. The Legislature’s bill data lists Zbur as a lead author of the final version of 38 bills, alone or jointly; resolutions are left out. Two of them he co-led: AB 1803, led by Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal, and AB 2038, led by Assemblymember John Harabedian. As of the Oct 1, 2026 data file, after the Governor’s Sept 30 deadline to act on bills (art. IV, sec. 10), 19 had become law and 1 was vetoed (bill data; Governor’s Sept 30 update). The Governor vetoed AB 1967, on juveniles, on Sept 27 (Governor’s Sept 27 update). The other 18 did not pass. His bills include:

• AB 1138 (Chapter 27, 2025, with Sen. Ben Allen) on the film and TV tax credit. The LA Times reported the program now allocates $750 million a year (LA Times).
• AB 715 (Chapter 428, 2025, with Assemblymember Dawn Addis), on antisemitism prevention in schools (see Key moments).
• AB 1084 (2025) on court petitions to change name and gender, and AB 1930 (2026) on subpoenas seeking information about abortion or gender-affirming care.
• AB 648 (2025), which exempts community college housing from local zoning rules, and AB 39 (2025), the Local Electrification Planning Act.
• AB 2383 (Chapter 435, 2026) on electricity for data centers. In his questionnaire he describes it as protecting ratepayers from data centers’ energy costs.
• Signed Sept 27 and 28, 2026: AB 1887 (drug coverage for rare diseases), AB 2039 (attorneys), AB 2417 (retirement for part-time community college faculty), AB 2634 (high road training partnerships) and AB 1609 (customer service chatbots) (Governor’s Sept 27 update; Governor’s Sept 28 release).
• Signed Sept 30, 2026: AB 1740 (Santa Monica’s coastal program, with a signing message), AB 2181 (density bonus rents) and AB 2038 (home insurance cancellations, co-led) (Governor’s Sept 30 update), and AB 1693 (building plan approval for retail tenants) (Governor’s office).
• The LA Times reported he and Sen. Ben Allen carried the August 2026 budget bill that exempted independent filmmakers from a new $5 million cap on corporate tax credits (LA Times).

Bills, 2023-24 session. He was a lead author of the final version of 28 bills, alone or jointly; resolutions are left out. Of those, 13 became law, 3 were vetoed and 12 did not pass (Legislature’s bill data). The 28 include SB 948, a Senate bill on contribution limits that he co-led with Sen. Monique Limón. His laws include AB 5, the Safe and Supportive Schools Act; AB 2943 on shoplifting, with Speaker Robert Rivas; AB 1620 on rent-controlled units for tenants with disabilities; AB 2907 and AB 2917 on firearm restraining orders; and AB 2889 on the City of LA’s Employee Relations Board.

Key floor votes.

Source: Assembly floor votes on each bill’s votes page at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (linked in each row) and the Legislature’s bill data download.

Past races. He ran for the U.S. House in the 38th Congressional District in 1996 as a Democrat. His committee, Rick Zbur for Congress, reported raising $1,009,305 for the 1995-96 cycle (FEC).

Ethics and court records. The State Bar lists Richard Stanley Zbur, at the Assembly’s Sacramento address, as active since 1985 with no discipline. No complaints or enforcement actions were found in FPPC or FEC records (FEC searched Oct. 1, 2026), or in City Ethics Commission records from his 2022 City Attorney race. The Assembly Legislative Ethics Committee posts no complaint decisions. No court case naming him as a party was found in CourtListener federal dockets and opinions or in web searches of Justia and PacerMonitor (searched Oct. 1, 2026).

Colin D. Hernandez

Career. Hernandez works in digital communications (questionnaire). His campaign’s June 2026 report lists his employer as Vantage Public Affairs (Cal-Access). He says his work has included LGBTQ+ rights, tax policy, criminal justice and immigration reform, and homelessness (campaign site). He told the Daily Bruin he is part of the working class and younger than most Assembly members (Daily Bruin).

Record. He lists no prior political positions, so he has no voting record (questionnaire).

Ethics and court records. No complaints or enforcement actions were found in FPPC, City Ethics Commission or FEC records (FEC searched Oct. 1, 2026), and no license in his name at the State Bar. No court case naming him as a party was found in CourtListener federal dockets and opinions or in web searches of Justia and PacerMonitor (searched Oct. 1, 2026).

Where they stand

Issues come from the Southern California News Group’s 2026 primary questionnaire, which both candidates answered (Zbur; Hernandez), and from Hernandez’s issues page (checked Sept 29, 2026).

On the other ballot measures

State propositions are listed in the Secretary of State’s voter guide. For measures the Legislature placed on the ballot, the incumbent’s floor vote is shown. A vote to place a measure on the ballot is not the same as an endorsement.

Source: measure names and numbers from the Secretary of State’s voter guide; floor votes from each bill’s votes page (linked in the row); Hernandez’s positions from his issues page. “No stated position” means none was found on the candidates’ campaign sites or questionnaires.

Endorsements

Rick Chavez Zbur

• Unions and groups named in 2026 coverage: The Daily Bruin reported his endorsements include the California Young Democrats and the California Nurses Association (Daily Bruin).
• Campaign endorsement page (undated, from earlier campaigns): His endorsement page, checked Sept 29, 2026, sits under a “Past endorsements” heading. It lists the California Democratic Party, the California Labor Federation, the LA County Federation of Labor, the California Teachers Association, the California Federation of Teachers, UNITE HERE Local 11, IBEW Local 11, Equality California, California Environmental Voters, Sierra Club California, Planned Parenthood Advocacy Project LA County, Abundant Housing LA and Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights, among others. It also names officials by titles they no longer hold, such as City Attorney Mike Feuer, Councilmember Mike Bonin and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, and lists the Los Angeles Times editorial board, so it is not a 2026 list. No 2026 LA Times endorsement in this race was found.
• Party: The California Democratic Party endorsed him for the November election (CDP general election endorsements, Aug 5, 2026). The LA County Democratic Party reported outside spending supporting him before the primary (Cal-Access; see Money).

Colin D. Hernandez

• Organizations: The Daily Bruin reported in May 2026 that he is endorsed by UCLA’s chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America (Daily Bruin). His endorsement page lists voter-guide recommendations from DSA-LA, Knock LA and Travis Helwig.
• Elected officials, unions, parties, newspapers: None found.

Polls

No public polls of this race were found.

Money

Source: Form 460 summary pages for Zbur’s committee and Hernandez’s committee in the Cal-Access raw data, downloaded Sept 29, 2026. Hernandez’s only Form 460 in the data covers May 17 to June 30, 2026; the calendar-year totals above come from that report’s year-to-date column. The Assembly contribution limit for 2025-26 is $5,900 per person per election (FPPC).

Who is giving

Method: itemized contributions (money and in-kind) on each committee’s Form 460s from Jan 1, 2025, plus late contribution reports filed after the last Form 460. A donor is a normalized name plus ZIP code for people, or a normalized name for organizations. A ZIP counts as City of LA if at least half its area is in the City. Unitemized gifts under $100 have no donor detail. For Hernandez, only his May 17 to June 30 report has itemized detail in the data.

Source: itemized contributions on the Form 460s and late contribution reports of Zbur’s committee and Hernandez’s committee, from the Cal-Access raw data.

Rick Chavez Zbur.

Source: Zbur’s committee filings in the Cal-Access raw data.

• Geography. 27.5% of itemized dollars came from City of LA ZIP codes, 20.3% from the rest of LA County, 36.5% from elsewhere in California and 15.7% from out of state. Among individual donors, 48.8% of dollars came from the City and 1.4% from out of state (Cal-Access).
• Largest donors. ILWU Local 13’s committee ($16,800). $11,800 each from the California Dental Association PAC, Sony Pictures, Warner Bros. Discovery, Google, Amazon, Airbnb, Comcast, CVS Health, PG&E, the Motion Picture Association’s California PAC, the Pechanga Band of Indians, the State Building Trades PAC, SEIU Local 721 and the LGBT Caucus Leadership Fund (Cal-Access).
• Industries (individual donors). Not employed or retired $200,306; law $94,960; real estate $28,110; entertainment and media $22,370; health care $21,500 (Cal-Access).
• Real estate and development: 31 donors, $64,610 (4.8%), including the California Building Industry Association PAC ($7,500), the California Apartment Association PAC ($7,000) and the Realtors’ CREPAC ($6,000) (Cal-Access).
• Lobbying interests. 50 donor organizations, giving $186,205, are registered state lobbyist employers (Cal-Access lobbying data). Eleven individual donors, giving $11,830, match a person on the City lobbyist registry by name and firm.
• Clusters. No group of five or more donors from one employer within three days was found in his committee’s filings.

Colin D. Hernandez. All 31 itemized donors were individuals (Cal-Access); he told the Daily Bruin he does not take donations from corporations or super PACs (Daily Bruin). The largest itemized gift was his own $2,130; the next three donors gave $1,000, $1,000 and $915 (Cal-Access). By address, 30.6% of itemized dollars came from the City, 31.4% from the rest of LA County, 15.6% from elsewhere in California and 22.4% from out of state (Cal-Access).

Outside spending

Source: Form 496 reports filed by Meta California, Advance California and the LA County Democratic Party’s state candidate and issues committees, from the Cal-Access raw data. No outside spending for or against Hernandez was found.

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

• Mobilizing Economic Transformation Across (Meta) California: $17 million, all from Meta Platforms, Inc.
• Advance California: $5.44 million, including $5.25 million from the California Apartment Association Independent Expenditure Committee, $45,000 each from two individuals and Google. The Apartment Association’s committee raised $12.4 million, led by Essex Property Trust ($3.0 million), Equity Residential ($2.17 million), AvalonBay Communities ($1.96 million), Prime Residential ($823,339), Apartment Income REIT ($594,694) and Prometheus Real Estate Group ($553,447).
• LA County Democratic Party (Cal-Access): see the 46th District page for its top funders; they include Fabian Núñez’s treasurer campaign, Allied Physicians, UTLA, SEIU locals and the Carpenters.

Key moments

Debates and forums

No debates or candidate forums for this race were found.

Events

• AB 715 and teaching about Israel (2025-26).

  • What happened: Zbur wrote AB 715 with Assemblymember Dawn Addis, and Gov. Newsom signed it in October 2025. CalMatters called it the year’s “biggest, most emotional legislative fight.” Teachers unions, school boards and Muslim community groups opposed versions of it, saying it could censor pro-Palestinian views (CalMatters). J. The Jewish News of Northern California reported it passed “overwhelmingly” in September 2025 (J.).
  • Zbur’s position: “Jewish kids are being isolated, made to feel unwelcome, and verbally and physically attacked,” he said at a May 2025 hearing (CalMatters).
  • Hernandez’s position: his issues page says AB 715 “attacks free speech in our K-12 schools” (issues page).

• Santa Monica coastal permits bill (2026).

  • What happened: Zbur’s AB 1740 began as a bill to give a handful of cities more local permitting power in the coastal zone and was narrowed to Santa Monica (Streetsblog California). The Governor signed it on Sept 30, 2026, with a signing message (leginfo; signing message).
  • Zbur’s position: he and other supporters say the bill answers complaints that coastal review brings long, unpredictable delays for routine projects in built-up areas (Streetsblog California).
  • Hernandez’s response: none found.

• Film tax credit cap (July-August 2026).

  • What happened: the 2026 budget capped corporate tax credits at $5 million, which the film industry said would undercut the state’s film credit. Zbur pushed for an exemption, and the Legislature exempted independent filmmakers in a late-August bill (LA Times, July 12; LA Times, Aug 31).
  • Zbur’s response: “this was a crucial first step” (LA Times, Aug 31).
  • Hernandez’s response: his questionnaire says AI “is clearly trying to destroy what’s left of the entertainment industry”; no statement on the credit was found.