Election 2026 · Federal

U.S. House, California District 28

Published September 29, 2026 · Updated October 2, 2026

Judy Chu (incumbent) and April A. Verlato are the candidates for U.S. House, California District 28 on the November 3, 2026 ballot.

U.S. Rep. Judy Chu, a Democrat, faces April A. Verlato, a Republican, for the U.S. House seat in the 28th Congressional District. Only 154 City of Los Angeles residents live in the district, at the City's northeast edge.

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

Congress writes the budgets for federal grant programs that pay for some City of Los Angeles services. One example is the Community Development Block Grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. The City's 2026-27 Proposed Budget says the City gets these funds based on its population, poverty and housing overcrowding, and uses them for housing, economic development and social services for low- and moderate-income residents. The same budget estimates $749,787,681 in grant receipts for City departments in 2026-27, from federal, state, local and other sources. Only 154 City residents live in this district, but its member also votes on disaster aid for the January 2025 fires, which hit Altadena in this district and Pacific Palisades in the City.

Primary results, June 2, 2026

Three candidates. Judy Chu and April A. Verlato, the top two, advanced to November 3. Total votes: 186,925 in the Los Angeles County and San Bernardino County parts of the district. Percentages are each candidate's share of all votes cast for the office, from the certified Statement of Vote. Certified results

The candidates

The job

What a House member does. The House makes and passes federal laws; the Senate is the other chamber of Congress (House.gov). Members serve on committees, which consider bills and oversee federal agencies and programs (House.gov). A member’s office also helps constituents with problems involving federal agencies (Chu’s casework page).

Pay and staff. A member earns $174,000 a year, a rate unchanged since 2009 (Congressional Research Service, Sept. 10, 2026). Each member gets a Members’ Representational Allowance for staff, offices, district travel and mail. Since 2023 these allowances have ranged from $1,849,149 to $2,088,499 per member, and the levels did not change for 2026. A member may hire up to 18 permanent staff plus up to four more in set categories such as part-time or shared employees (Congressional Research Service).

Why it matters to the City. Congress funds grant programs the City relies on. The City’s proposed 2026-27 budget estimates $749.8 million in grant receipts for City departments from federal, state and other sources, including HUD’s Community Development Block Grant (City proposed budget). On disaster aid for the January 2025 fires, Chu wrote in May 2026 that of 6,000 homes burned in the Eaton Fire, 3,500 homeowners had not started the permit process (SCNG questionnaire).

The new district. Proposition 50 redrew the lines for 2026 through 2030 (Secretary of State).

• It takes in all of Alhambra, Arcadia, La Cañada Flintridge, Monterey Park, Rosemead, San Gabriel, San Marino, Sierra Madre, South Pasadena and Temple City, almost all of Pasadena (130,262 of 139,254 residents), and parts of Rancho Cucamonga and Upland in San Bernardino County (Statewide Database city splits report). Verlato wrote that the area burned by the Eaton Fire is in the district (SCNG questionnaire).
• City of Los Angeles: 154 residents, the smallest City share of any district (Statewide Database city splits report). We matched the Statewide Database block file to the City’s council district and neighborhood council maps. That places these residents at the City’s edge near Highland Park, in Council District 14. The placement is approximate.
• Voters: 469,363 registered as of May 18, 2026: 45.00% Democratic, 23.19% Republican and 25.63% no party preference (Secretary of State).

Records

Judy Chu

Committees (House Clerk; House bio):

• Ways and Means, which handles taxes, Social Security and Medicare. She sits on its Health, Work and Welfare, and Oversight subcommittees (House Clerk).
• Budget (House Clerk).
• Her office says she is on the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee and founded and co-chairs the Congressional Creative Rights Caucus (House bio).

Bills and laws.

• She sponsored 42 bills and resolutions in the 119th Congress through Sept. 24, 2026 (Congress.gov). One, H.R. 754, the Investing in Main Street Act, passed the House and went to the Senate (H.R. 754).
• Others include H.R. 6842, the Disaster Survivors Tax Relief and Recovery Act (H.R. 6842); H.R. 2928, the Mortgage Relief for Disaster Survivors Act (H.R. 2928); H.R. 6783, the San Gabriel Mountains, Foothills, and Rivers Protection Act (H.R. 6783); H.R. 6565, the Reuniting Families Act on visa backlogs (H.R. 6565); H.R. 12, the Women’s Health Protection Act on abortion rights (H.R. 12); and H.R. 924, the NO BAN Act (H.R. 924).
• Eaton Fire tax relief. On Sept. 11, 2026 the Doug LaMalfa Federal Disaster Tax Relief Certainty Act became law. Chu’s office says it lets qualifying wildfire relief payments, including Eaton Fire settlements, be excluded from federal taxable income whenever they are received. She was not its lead sponsor; her office says her own H.R. 6842 addressed the same issue (Chu release, Sept. 12, 2026).
• Earlier record her office lists: the House resolution of regret for the Chinese Exclusion Act, the push for the San Gabriel Mountains National Monument, and a Defense Department military hazing requirement (House bio).

Voting record. From the Clerk’s 676 roll calls between Jan. 3, 2025 and Sept. 16, 2026 (House Clerk roll call votes):

• She missed 2 votes (0.3%) and voted with most House Democrats on 98.4% of the votes she cast (CityHallPass count of the Clerk’s roll call records).
• No on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1), May 22 and July 3, 2025; no on the SAVE Act, Apr. 10, 2025; no on the Laken Riley Act, Jan. 7, 2025 (roll calls 145, 190, 102, 6).
• No on the GENIUS and CLARITY crypto bills, July 17, 2025 (roll call 199; roll call 200).
• Yes on the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 on Jan. 22, 2026, and no on the final version on Feb. 3 (2026 roll call 45; roll call 53).
• Yes on all nine 2026 war powers resolutions: Venezuela (roll call 48), Iran (85, 114, 170, 199, 282, 307) and Lebanon (201, 232).
• No on H.R. 5334, a Russia and Iran sanctions bill, Sept. 16, 2026. She said it gave the president “the largest transfer of tariff authority Congress has ever given a president” (roll call 308; Chu release).

Ethics and court records.

• House Ethics reproval (2014). The House Ethics Committee investigated after it received information in June 2011 that Chu’s chief of staff and legislative director had required other staff to do campaign work in the House office during working hours. Its December 2014 report found that the two aides directed staff to do such work “on a sporadic and limited basis,” but found no evidence that Chu knew of it. The committee found that Chu “took actions that interfered with the Committee’s investigation” by contacting two staff members about matters under investigation, and that she violated the House rule requiring members to act in a way that reflects “creditably on the House.” It issued her a public letter of reproval and closed the matter (Committee report, H. Rept. 113-665; Committee statement, Dec. 11, 2014). Chu said the committee “acknowledged that my intention was to ease the staff member’s anxiety” and that she had since put “strong measures in place” to separate official and volunteer work (Roll Call, Dec. 11, 2014).
• No Office of Congressional Conduct referral names her. No public enforcement actions were found in FEC enforcement records (MURs, administrative fines and ADR cases, searched by her name, her committee’s name and ID, C00458125, and her leadership PAC, Together We Rise, C00667360), or in FPPC and City Ethics Commission records. She holds no State Bar license. No court case naming her as a party was found in CourtListener federal and appellate records (searched Sept. 30, 2026).

April A. Verlato

Arcadia City Council. Her campaign says she won her seat in 2016 by defeating a multi-term incumbent and served as mayor during the COVID-19 period and the 2020 Bobcat Fire (campaign bio). The council selected her mayor in April 2019 (Arcadia Weekly). She was still on the council in October 2024 (SGV Tribune questionnaire). Her campaign says the city ran a $9 million budget surplus under her leadership and that she served as vice president of the San Gabriel Valley Council of Governments’ executive board (campaign bio). These are her campaign’s claims.

Tiny homes proposal (2021). ABC7 reported in May 2021 that Verlato backed a plan for a tiny-home village for homeless people in Arcadia and quoted her: “It’s a better model for addressing this emergency issue” (ABC7). The Real Deal, citing the LA Times, reported that the council voted in February 2021 to study 15 units (The Real Deal).

Law practice. Her campaign says she is an attorney who took over her father’s practice in 2000 (campaign bio). Her ballot designation is “Small Business Owner” (Secretary of State certified list); she gave her job as “Attorney” to SCNG (SCNG).

2024 race. She ran against Chu in 2024 (SGV Tribune questionnaire).

Ethics and court records. The State Bar lists her license (No. 207451, admitted June 2000) as active with no discipline (State Bar). No public enforcement actions were found in FEC enforcement records (MURs, administrative fines and ADR cases, searched by her name, her committee’s name and its ID, C00858845), or in FPPC and City Ethics Commission records. No court case naming her as a party was found in CourtListener federal and appellate records (searched Sept. 30, 2026).

Where they stand

Issues come from the Southern California News Group questionnaire, which both candidates answered (Chu; Verlato; both May 4, 2026). We found no debate.

On the other ballot measures

Neither candidate stated a position on any measure in the sources we checked: the SCNG questionnaires (Chu; Verlato), Chu’s House site and campaign site, and Verlato’s campaign site.

Source: measure lists from the Secretary of State’s qualified ballot measures page and the County’s list of measures on the ballot.

Endorsements

Judy Chu

• Party: California Democratic Party, primary endorsement ratified in February 2026 (CDP endorsement list).
• Unions: California Federation of Labor Unions, general election (Labor Fed list, Aug. 4, 2026); SEIU California (SEIU California); California Faculty Association (CFA); National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW).
• Organizations: Giffords (Giffords); J Street PAC (J Street PAC); End Citizens United (ECU).
• Elected officials: We found no current list. Her campaign site had not been updated for 2026; its only press item is about a Biden administration eviction moratorium.
• Newspapers: None found.

April A. Verlato

• Party: California Republican Party (CAGOP endorsements).
• Other endorsements listed on her campaign’s undated endorsement page (campaign endorsements page), among others: Michelle Steel (listed as representative for CA-45) and Rep. Don Bacon; Grover Norquist of Americans for Tax Reform; former LA County Supervisor Michael Antonovich; Steve Cooley and Alex Villanueva, listed as district attorney and sheriff, offices they no longer hold; the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association; the Monterey Park, San Gabriel, El Monte and Alhambra police officers’ associations; the Los Angeles and San Bernardino County Republican Parties; and mayors and council members in Alhambra, Arcadia, Glendora, La Verne, Rosemead, San Gabriel and San Marino. Because the page is undated and some titles are out of date, it may be left over from her 2024 race.
• Newspapers: None found.

Polls

No public polls of this race were found.

Money

Source: FEC candidate summaries (Chu; Verlato). Chu’s cash on hand is larger than what she raised this cycle because she started 2025 with $3,602,004.95 (FEC). The next reports, covering July 1 to Sept. 30, are due Oct. 15 (FEC 2026 reporting dates). The limit on gifts from one person is $3,500 per election (FEC contribution limits).

Who is giving

Method: CityHallPass analysis of itemized individual contributions to each candidate’s campaign committee in the FEC bulk contribution files for 2025-2026, latest amendment of each entry, refunds netted. A donor is a name plus ZIP code. Gifts of $200 or less need not be itemized; unitemized money is estimated as FEC individual receipts minus itemized totals. Location is by ZIP code; a ZIP code counts as City of LA when at least half its area is inside the City.

Judy Chu

Source: FEC itemized contributions to Chu’s committee (FEC), analyzed by CityHallPass; locations placed by donor ZIP code using the City’s boundary map and Census ZIP code areas.

• Largest donors: four donors gave $7,000 each, the maximum for both elections. Others gave $5,000 each (FEC).
• Industries (share of itemized dollars): retired or not employed 16.2%; health care 9.8%; law 7.1%; real estate 5.0%; finance 4.7%; nonprofits 3.6%. 37.6% could not be assigned an industry. No group of five or more donors from one employer gave within three days (CityHallPass coding of FEC employer and occupation fields).
• Tribal governments: six tribes gave $19,500 directly: the Poarch Band of Creek Indians ($6,000), Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians ($3,500), Santa Ynez Band of Mission Indians ($3,500), Chickasaw Nation ($2,500), Morongo Band of Mission Indians ($2,000) and Oneida Nation ($2,000) (FEC receipts).
• City of LA lobbyists and contractors: one donor, who gave $3,250, matches the City lobbyist registry by name and firm (City lobbyist registry). Nine donors ($17,175, 3.5%) work for firms on City contract reports, including Gruen Associates, Chinatown Service Center and Special Service for Groups (City Ethics contract data).
• PACs and other committees: the giving committees reported $421,000 to Chu from 144 committees through August 2026 in their own FEC reports (FEC bulk committee-to-candidate file; FEC committee receipts). That is more than the $379,775 on her own report through June 30, partly because it includes gifts made in July and August. By type: labor union PACs $119,750; trade associations $90,250; corporations $77,750; membership groups $56,500; leadership and other PACs $53,250. $10,000 gifts came from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the American Psychological Association’s PAC, AFSCME, AFT, LiUNA, IBEW, the Machinists, the Air Line Pilots Association and American Crystal Sugar (FEC).

April A. Verlato

Verlato’s campaign reported $250 in contributions for 2025-2026, none itemized. It spent $7,882.46, more than it raised, using $7,837.65 left from earlier (FEC). No PAC gifts were reported.

Outside spending

No independent expenditures for or against either candidate had been reported to the FEC as of Sept. 30, 2026 (FEC, Chu; FEC, Verlato; FEC independent expenditure file).

Key moments

Debates and forums

We found no debate or candidate forum with both Chu and Verlato for 2026 as of Sept. 30.

Events

• Eaton Fire aid and tax relief (2025-2026).
  • What happened: after the January 2025 Eaton Fire, Chu pushed for supplemental disaster aid (SCNG) and for tax-free treatment of fire settlements. The tax change became law on Sept. 11, 2026 (Chu release).
  • Verlato’s response: she said she would work with the Trump administration and Republican leaders to get aid and would “put politics aside” (SCNG).