Election 2026 · Federal

U.S. House, California District 29

Published September 29, 2026 · Updated October 2, 2026

Angélica María Dueñas and Luz Maria Rivas (incumbent) are the candidates for U.S. House, California District 29 on the November 3, 2026 ballot.

U.S. Rep. Luz Maria Rivas and Angélica María Dueñas, both Democrats, are running for the U.S. House seat in the 29th Congressional District. In the City of Los Angeles, the district covers most of the east and northeast San Fernando Valley, from Sylmar and Pacoima to Van Nuys, North Hollywood and Toluca Lake.

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. More City residents live in this district, about 735,000, than in any other congressional district.

Primary results, June 2, 2026

Three candidates. Luz Maria Rivas and Angélica María Dueñas, the top two, advanced to November 3. Dueñas finished 1,107 votes ahead of Republican Rudy Melendez. Total votes: 122,216, all in Los Angeles County. 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 (Rivas’s casework page). Members can request community project funding in spending bills; Rivas told SCNG she secured nearly $15 million of it last year (SCNG).

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). Federal water projects also reach the City: a House committee’s 2026 water resources bill includes a $22 million authorization for City of Los Angeles water infrastructure in the east San Fernando Valley, according to Rivas’s office (Rivas release, July 17, 2026).

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

• Almost the whole district is inside the City of Los Angeles. The only other city is San Fernando, with 24,056 residents (Statewide Database city splits report).
• City of Los Angeles: 735,383 City residents live here, 18.8% of the City’s 3,912,115 (2020 Census; Statewide Database city splits report). That is more than in any other district.
• Neighborhoods include Sylmar, Pacoima, Arleta, Mission Hills, Panorama City, North Hills, Sun Valley, Van Nuys, North Hollywood, Valley Village, Valley Glen, Toluca Lake, Lake View Terrace, Shadow Hills and part of Lake Balboa. They fall mostly in Council Districts 2, 6 and 7, with small parts of 4 and 12. We placed them by matching census tracts in the Statewide Database block file to the City’s council district and neighborhood council maps, so the edges are approximate.
• The Daily News reported that the new lines dropped parts of the Kagel and Lopez Canyon areas and extended east along the 210 Freeway toward Sunland (Daily News).
• Voters: 404,415 registered as of May 18, 2026: 52.27% Democratic, 16.31% Republican and 24.71% no party preference (Secretary of State).

Records

Angélica María Dueñas

Neighborhood council and party roles. Board member of the Sun Valley Area Neighborhood Council, two terms as president and one as first vice president; member of the LA County Democratic Party Central Committee (SCNG; campaign bio). Her campaign says she was a delegate for Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2016 (campaign bio).

Previous runs for this seat. The LA Times reported that she ran as a Green Party candidate in 2018 and lost in the primary, and lost “by wide margins” to Rep. Tony Cárdenas in 2020 and 2022. She ran again in 2024 (LA Times, Feb. 1, 2024), when Rivas won the seat (House Clerk).

Career. Human resources specialist (SCNG). The public offices she lists are neighborhood council and party committee posts; she has not held city, state or federal office (SCNG).

Ethics and court records. No public enforcement actions found in FPPC, City Ethics Commission or FEC enforcement records (MURs, administrative fines and ADR cases, searched by her name, her committee’s name and its ID, C00697391), and no license in her name at the State Bar. Results for her name in CourtListener federal records could not be tied to her, and no news coverage of a case involving her was found (searched Sept. 30, 2026).

Luz Maria Rivas

Committees and roles (House Clerk; House bio):

• Natural Resources, on the Energy and Mineral Resources and the Water, Wildlife and Fisheries subcommittees (House Clerk).
• Science, Space, and Technology, on the Research and Technology and the Investigations and Oversight subcommittees (House Clerk).
• Elected by House Democrats as the Freshman Leadership Representative for the 119th Congress. Member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, the Congressional Progressive Caucus and the Democratic Women’s Caucus (House bio).

Bills she introduced. She has sponsored 16 bills and resolutions; as of Sept. 30, 2026 none had gone beyond referral to committee (Congress.gov). They include:

• Methane Pollution Accountability Act (H.R. 10065, Aug. 2026), aimed at venting, flaring and leaks at oil and gas sites (release).
• HEART Act (H.R. 9365, June 2026), which would create an HHS office for mental health services in communities affected by immigration enforcement, paid for by redirecting ICE money from H.R. 1 (release).
• The INFORM Act (H.R. 5073), to notify families when detainees are moved between facilities, and the Multigenerational Family Tax Credit Act (H.R. 7584) (SCNG; H.R. 5073; H.R. 7584).

Federal money for the district. Her office says she secured $50 million in authorizations in the House committee’s 2026 water resources bill ($28 million for the City of San Fernando and $22 million for the City of Los Angeles) (release). It also announced $1,039,000 in fiscal 2026 funding for a technology center at CSUN (release). She told SCNG she secured $2 million to expand the City of Los Angeles’s CIRCLE program, which sends specialized teams to non-violent calls (SCNG). Authorizations still need Congress to appropriate money (release).

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

• She missed 7 votes (1.0%) and voted with most House Democrats on 98.0% of the votes she cast (CityHallPass count of the Clerk’s roll call records).
• No on H.R. 1 (May 22 and July 3, 2025), the SAVE Act, the Laken Riley Act, and the GENIUS and CLARITY crypto bills (roll calls 145, 190, 102, 6, 199, 200).
• Impeachment: she voted against tabling articles of impeachment against President Trump on June 24, 2025, Dec. 11, 2025 and Sept. 15, 2026 (roll call 175; roll call 322; 2026 roll call 298). Her office said the September vote was “to proceed on the process to impeach Donald Trump” (release).
• War powers: yes on all nine 2026 resolutions: Venezuela (roll call 48), Iran (85, 114, 170, 199, 282, 307) and Lebanon (201, 232).
• Where she split from most Democrats: no on the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2026 on Jan. 22, 2026 (149 Democrats voted yes); no on H.Res. 1099 reaffirming Iran as the largest state sponsor of terrorism, March 5, 2026 (157 Democrats voted yes); no on the HALT Fentanyl Act, June 12, 2025 (104 Democrats voted yes, 103 no) (2026 roll call 45; 2026 roll call 84; roll call 166).
• On July 15, 2026 she voted no on an amendment by Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) to the State and foreign operations spending bill; 103 Democrats voted yes and 98 no (2026 roll call 243). She called it “poorly drafted and hyper-partisan” and said the amendment “endangers the delivery of crucial humanitarian aid” (release).

Ethics and court records. No public enforcement actions found in House Ethics Committee statements and reports, Office of Congressional Conduct referrals, FEC enforcement records (MURs, administrative fines and ADR cases, searched by her name, her committee’s name and its ID, C00857417), or FPPC and City Ethics Commission records. She holds no State Bar license. Results for her name in CourtListener federal records could not be tied to her, and no news coverage of a case involving her was found (searched Sept. 30, 2026).

Where they stand

Both candidates answered the Southern California News Group questionnaire (Rivas; Dueñas; both May 4, 2026). The issues below come from those answers and from Dueñas’s campaign platform, which centers on ICE, U.S. aid to Israel and campaign money (angelica4congress.com, checked Sept. 30, 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 (Rivas; Dueñas), Dueñas’s campaign site, and Rivas’s House site and 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

Angélica María Dueñas

From her campaign’s 2026 endorsement page (campaign endorsements page, checked Sept. 30, 2026):

• Organizations: Northridge Indivisible, Feel the Bern LA, Organize for Peace, Feel the Bern SFV, Track AIPAC / Citizens Against AIPAC, Courage for Democracy / Citizens Impeachment, Progressive Voter Network and CAIR Action (campaign endorsements page).
• Elected officials, parties and unions: None listed (campaign endorsements page).
• Newspapers: None found.

Luz Maria Rivas

From her campaign’s undated endorsement page (campaign endorsements page, checked Sept. 30, 2026) unless another source is linked. Some entries date from her 2024 race: the page lists Adam Schiff both as a senator and as a House member.

• Elected officials: U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff; Mayor Karen Bass; Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis; Treasurer Fiona Ma; former Rep. Tony Cárdenas; Reps. Aguilar, Chu, Clark, Robert Garcia, Kamlager-Dove, Khanna, Neguse, Sherman and Vargas; LA County Supervisors Hilda Solis and Lindsey Horvath; City of LA: Councilmembers Imelda Padilla, Bob Blumenfield and Tim McOsker (campaign endorsements page).
• Parties: California Democratic Party, primary endorsement ratified in February 2026 (CDP endorsement list), and the Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley (campaign endorsements page).
• Unions: California Federation of Labor Unions, general election (Labor Fed list, Aug. 4, 2026). Her campaign page also lists SEIU California, although SEIU California’s own 2026 list names no one in the 29th District (SEIU California). Also on her page: LA/OC Building and Construction Trades Council; Operating Engineers Local 12; Laborers Local 300; IBEW Local 11; United Firefighters of Los Angeles City (IAFF Local 112); UFCW; National Nurses United; ILWU Local 13; UAW (campaign endorsements page).
• Organizations: Giffords (Giffords); California Environmental Voters; Congressional Progressive Caucus; CHC BOLD PAC; Equality California; EMILYs List; Elect Democratic Women; Latino Victory Fund; League of Conservation Voters; Sierra Club; Planned Parenthood Action Fund; Reproductive Freedom for All (campaign endorsements page).
• Newspapers: None found.

Polls

No public polls of this race were found.

Money

Source: FEC candidate summaries (Dueñas; Rivas). Rivas raised more from PACs and other committees than from individuals. 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.

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

Angélica María Dueñas

Dueñas’s campaign reported $37,153 from individuals and nothing from PACs (FEC). About 44% of it ($16,269) was unitemized, meaning gifts from people who gave $200 or less. Her 20 itemized donors gave $20,884. Three gave $3,500 each (FEC). About 58% of itemized money came from City ZIP codes.

Luz Maria Rivas

• Donors: 287 itemized donors gave $266,218. Of those, 16 gave the $3,500 maximum. Four donors gave $7,000 each, the most from any individual (FEC).
• Industries (share of itemized dollars): retired or not employed 19.7%; law 9.2%; health care 8.8%; real estate and development 7.0%; entertainment 6.2%; finance 5.8%; lobbying, public affairs and political consulting 5.3% (16 donors, $14,171). 17.6% could not be assigned an industry (CityHallPass coding of FEC employer and occupation fields).
• Through conduits: $208,662 of her individual money came through ActBlue (FEC). Another $42,506 from 42 people was earmarked through the AIPAC PAC, which also gave $9,994 directly, for $52,500 in all (FEC, AIPAC PAC disbursements to Rivas). Dueñas’s campaign says Rivas “has taken nearly $85,000 from AIPAC and other pro-Israel PACs just this cycle” (Dueñas statement). FEC data through June 30 show the $52,500 figure above for AIPAC; we did not total other pro-Israel committees.
• PACs and other committees: giving committees reported $387,833 to Rivas from 131 committees through August 2026 in their own FEC reports (FEC bulk committee-to-candidate file; FEC committee receipts). By type: labor union PACs $124,000; corporate PACs $99,289; leadership and other PACs $70,500; trade associations $43,500; membership groups $31,044. $10,000 gifts came from Edison International, CHC BOLD PAC, SMART, the Democrats Win Fund, LiUNA, IBEW, the Machinists and American Crystal Sugar (FEC).
• Tribal governments: nine tribes gave $21,500 directly, led by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians ($5,500) and the Pechanga Band ($3,500) (FEC receipts).

Outside spending

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

Key moments

Debates and forums

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

Events

• Two Democrats in the runoff (June 2026).
  • What happened: Dueñas finished second, 1,107 votes ahead of Republican Rudy Melendez (24.93% to 24.02%), so two Democrats are on the November ballot (Statement of Vote). In partial results the afternoon after the election, the Daily News had Melendez in second (Daily News).
  • Responses: we found none.