Election 2026 · State of California

California State Senate District 28

Published September 29, 2026 · Updated October 2, 2026

Joe Lisuzzo and Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (incumbent) are the candidates for California State Senate District 28 on the November 3, 2026 ballot.

The State Senate is one of the two houses of the California Legislature, which holds the state's lawmaking power. The Senate has 40 members elected to four-year terms, with half of the seats up every two years; even-numbered districts are on the 2026 ballot. Senators write and vote on state laws and, with the Assembly, 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 926,000 of the district's 986,000 residents live in the City of Los Angeles, from downtown and South LA to the Westside.

Primary results, June 2, 2026

Three candidates. Smallwood-Cuevas and Lisuzzo, the top two, advanced to November 3. Total votes: 195,049. District totals from the Secretary of State's certified Statement of Vote. Certified results

The candidates

The job

The district. The 28th Senate District runs from downtown Los Angeles and South LA to the Westside. The senator’s office lists Arlington Heights, Baldwin Hills, Carthay, Century City, Cheviot Hills, Crenshaw, Culver City, Del Rey, Downtown, Exposition Park, Florence, Hyde Park, Jefferson Park, Ladera Heights, Leimert Park, Mar Vista, Mid City, Playa Vista, Pico-Robertson, South Los Angeles, USC University Park, Vermont Square, View Park-Windsor Hills, West Adams, Westchester and West Los Angeles (Senate District 28 page).

• People. The 2020 Census count is 985,823. About 46% of residents are Latino, 21% white (not Latino), 19% Black and 9% Asian (Senate District 28 page).
• City of LA. 926,192 residents live in the City of Los Angeles, about 24% of the City’s population (Senate District 28 page). The rest live in Culver City (40,893), View Park-Windsor Hills (11,465), Ladera Heights (6,673) and other unincorporated areas (604) (Senate District 28 page).
• Voters. On May 18, 2026 the district had 561,934 registered voters: 61.5% Democratic, 9.7% Republican and 22.0% no party preference (Secretary of State). In the June primary 195,049 votes were cast in this race (Statement of Vote).

What a senator does.

• Laws. The Senate and Assembly write and pass state laws. A bill becomes law when both houses pass it and the Governor signs it (Constitution, art. IV).
• 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).
• Appointments. Only the Senate votes to confirm many of the Governor’s appointees. Its Rules Committee holds those hearings (Senate Rules Committee).
• What it means for the City. The same budget deal gave counties $900 million for homelessness, CalMatters reported (CalMatters). State law also sets the City’s housing planning duties (Gov. Code 65588).

Records

Joe Lisuzzo

Career. Lisuzzo describes himself as a businessman with 32 years in food manufacturing who “created hundreds of jobs” (campaign site; SCNG). His site says he helped his parents open their Los Angeles restaurant, Al Gelato, and that over 32 years in business he learned food manufacturing and packaging (campaign site). Neither source names a food manufacturing company.

Civic record. He is an elected member of the South Robertson Neighborhood Council, by his account (SCNG).

Pledges. In February 2021, when he ran in the special election for Senate District 30, U.S. Term Limits announced that he had signed its pledge to support congressional term limits (U.S. Term Limits).

Party. The California Republican Party endorsed him for this seat (CAGOP).

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 and appellate records (searched Sept. 30, 2026).

Lola Smallwood-Cuevas

Office. She chairs the Senate Labor, Public Employment and Retirement Committee. She also sits on Budget and Fiscal Review, Budget Subcommittee 4 on State Administration, Business and Professions, Governmental Organization and Health, and on the Joint Rules Committee and Joint Committee on the Arts (committees page). Her office says she serves on the California Workforce Development Board, the State Public Works Board and the Senate’s special committee on the Olympics and World Cup (Senate bio).

Bills. Counts are from the Legislature’s bill data as of Oct 1, 2026, after the Governor’s Sept 30 deadline to act on bills (leginfo data downloads). A bill counts if she is a lead author of its final version, alone or jointly; resolutions are left out. That counts SB 150 (2023), which she co-led, and SB 36 (2025), which she co-led with Sen. Tom Umberg. It leaves out SB 828 and SB 423, which she introduced but which passed under other senators’ names (Sen. Maria Elena Durazo and Sen. Lena Gonzalez).

Source: the Legislature’s bill status and author data (leginfo data downloads): the full 2025-26 file dated Oct 1, 2026, which includes the Governor’s actions through Sept 30, and the Governor’s Sept 30 legislative update; each bill’s status is on its leginfo page. Sept 30 was the Governor’s deadline to sign or veto bills passed this session (Constitution, art. IV, sec. 10).

Laws she wrote include:

• SB 497 (2023): protected employee conduct. Her office says it lets workers report wage theft or pay discrimination “without fear of retaliation” (Senate bio).
• SB 572 (2024): lets the state sell surplus property in South LA for housing, with priority for community land trusts.
• SB 1137 (2024): discrimination claims based on a combination of protected traits.
• SB 1089 (2024): notice rules when grocery stores and pharmacies close.
• SB 150 (2023, with Sen. Durazo and others): workforce rules for public construction contracts. Her office says it opened union career paths for historically excluded workers (Senate bio).
• SB 464 (2025): employer pay data reporting.
• SB 648 (2025): enforcement of tip rules.
• SB 303 (2025): bias mitigation training.
• SB 909 on public works, SB 964 on prescription drug dose adjustments and SB 1405 on unclaimed employee benefit plan payouts, all signed Sept 27, 2026 (Governor’s Sept 27 update).

The Governor signed five more of her bills on Sept 30, 2026: SB 1203 on security guards, SB 1030 on the CalWORKs “unrelated adult male” rule, SB 1073, a tax-form donation fund for the Black Cultural District, SB 626 on perinatal health screenings and SB 1012 on employment of people in prison (Governor’s Sept 30 update). Vetoed bills include SB 36 on price gouging during emergencies (with Sen. Umberg), SB 627 on notice for workers when chain stores close, SB 725 on grocery workers and SB 756 on film tax credit tracking. SB 560, on welfare overpayments, died in the Senate in February 2026 (SB 560).

Key floor votes (Senate floor, from the Legislature’s vote records; each bill links to its vote history on leginfo):

District work her office lists. The Historic South LA Black Cultural District, $1 million for the Play Equity Fund for new recreation space in South LA, and $1.85 million in CA RISE grants to six job-training enterprises (Senate bio).

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 her name at the State Bar. The Senate Legislative Ethics Committee posts no complaint decisions. No court case naming her as a party was found in CourtListener federal and appellate records (searched Sept. 30, 2026).

Where they stand

The issues are the ones the Southern California News Group asked legislative candidates about in its 2026 questionnaire. Lisuzzo answered (SCNG, May 6, 2026). No Smallwood-Cuevas questionnaire was found, so her column uses her bills, votes and statements.

On the other ballot measures

Five of the 14 state propositions were placed on the ballot by the Legislature. For those, the table shows Smallwood-Cuevas’s Senate floor vote to place them, from the Legislature’s vote records (SB 417; ACA 20; SB 42; SCA 1; ACA 22). A vote to place a measure is not the same as an endorsement.

No position from either candidate on the City or County measures was found.

Endorsements

Joe Lisuzzo

• Party: California Republican Party (CAGOP).
• Elected officials, unions, organizations: none listed on his campaign site (campaign site).
• Newspapers: none found.

Lola Smallwood-Cuevas

From her campaign’s endorsement page (campaign site), checked Sept 29, 2026:

• Elected officials:
  • Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, Rep. Laura Friedman and Rep. Rhodesia Ransom (campaign site).
  • Mayor Karen Bass, Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Supervisor Holly Mitchell (campaign site).
  • Secretary of State Shirley Weber (campaign site).
  • Sens. Maria Elena Durazo, Scott Wiener and Henry Stern (campaign site).
  • Assemblymembers Isaac Bryan, Akilah Weber, Tina McKinnor, Sade Elhawary, Ash Kalra, Alex Lee, Lashae Sharpe-Collins, Mike Fong, Lori Wilson, Tasha Boerner, Lena Gonzalez and Mia Bonta (campaign site).
• Unions:
  • LA County Federation of Labor and the LA/Orange Counties Building Trades Council (campaign site).
  • SEIU California, SEIU-USWW and SEIU Locals 99, 121RN, 721, 1000 and 2015, plus SEIU-UHW and CIR/SEIU (campaign site).
  • California Teachers Association, California Federation of Teachers, AFT 1521 and the California Faculty Association (campaign site).
  • AFSCME District Council 36, UNITE HERE Local 11, UFCW 770, NUHW, United Farm Workers and UAW Region 6 (campaign site).
  • IBEW Local 11, IATSE Local 80, ILWU Local 13, IUOE Locals 12 and 501, and Laborers Locals 300, 652 and 1309 (campaign site).
  • Carpenters, sheet metal, plumbers and pipe trades locals, roofers and painters (campaign site).
• Organizations: the California Democratic Legislative Women’s Caucus, California Legislative Black Caucus, Culver City Democratic Club, Smart Justice California and the Stonewall Democratic Club (campaign site).
• Other people: Dolores Huerta and Susan Burton (campaign site).
• Party: the Los Angeles County Democratic Party paid for member communications supporting her before the primary (LACDP State Candidate Committee).
• Newspapers: none found.

Polls

No public polls of this race were found.

Money

Source: Form 460 reports of Lola Smallwood-Cuevas for Senate 2026 in the Secretary of State’s Cal-Access campaign data, downloaded Sept 29, 2026; the latest report, July 1 to Sept 19, 2026 has the closing cash and debts. She also reported $5,000 in late contributions after Sept 19 (late contribution reports). No committee for Lisuzzo appears in Cal-Access. State law makes a candidate a committee once they receive $2,000 in contributions in a year (Gov. Code 82013). The limit is $5,900 per donor per election, and 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. “City of LA” means at least half the donor’s ZIP code area is inside the City (City list of ZIP codes). Donor types come from the filer’s entity code and name.

Lola Smallwood-Cuevas. 402 donors gave $837,629.40 in itemized money (Cal-Access).

• Who gave.
  • Unions and public-employee groups: 76, $405,631 (48.4%) (Cal-Access).
  • Businesses and other organizations: 77, $202,399 (24.2%) (Cal-Access).
  • Business, trade and professional PACs: 48, $109,856 (13.1%) (Cal-Access).
  • Individuals: 193, $93,143 (11.1%) (Cal-Access).
  • Tribes: 7, $26,100 (3.1%) (Cal-Access).
  • Other candidates’ committees: 1, $500 (0.1%) (Cal-Access).
• Where from. 58.4% of dollars came from California outside LA County. 17.8% ($148,703, 128 donors) came from City of LA ZIP codes, 12.0% from the rest of LA County and 11.8% from out of state. Of 193 individual donors, 93 had City ZIP codes (Cal-Access).
• Size. 49 donors gave $5,900 or more, for $417,900 (49.9% of itemized dollars). 89 donors gave under $250 in total, $3,631 (0.4%). Unitemized gifts under $100 added $2,884 (Cal-Access).
• Largest donors.
  • Unions: California Professional Firefighters ($19,600), United Domestic Workers ($19,600), the State Council of Laborers ($17,700), the California-Nevada Operating Engineers ($14,400) and the California Nurses Association ($13,200). At $11,800 each: CFT, CTA, the SEIU State Council, SEIU 721, SEIU 1000, SEIU-UHW and Operating Engineers Local 3. At $10,000 each: the California Labor Federation’s political committee and the State Pipe Trades Council (Cal-Access).
  • Others: the Viejas Band of Kumeyaay Indians ($11,800), Al Malaikah Auditorium Co. ($10,900), the California Orthopaedic Association PAC ($8,400), Turo ($8,400), PG&E ($7,800) and Comcast ($7,800) (Cal-Access).
• Industries.
  • Tobacco companies gave $16,800: Altria ($5,900), Philip Morris USA ($5,900) and R.J. Reynolds ($5,000) (Cal-Access).
  • Technology companies gave $15,459, including Amazon ($5,000), Anthropic ($3,000), Google and Airbnb (Cal-Access).
  • Real estate: the California Apartment Association PAC ($3,000), Hudson Pacific Properties ($1,000) and the Realtors’ CREPAC ($900) (Cal-Access).
• Individuals. The largest individual totals are $5,900 each. The most common employers were UCLA (10 donors, plus 4 at the UCLA Labor Center) and LAUSD (6) (Cal-Access).
• Clusters and lobbyists. No group of five or more donors from one employer gave within three days of each other. No individual donor matched a state-registered lobbyist (Cal-Access lobbying data).

Joe Lisuzzo. He reported no contributions, and no committee for him appears in the Cal-Access data.

Outside spending

Independent expenditure reports (Form 496) filed with the Secretary of State since Jan 1, 2025, from the Cal-Access data export:

Source: the committee’s Form 496 report (Cal-Access filing).

No outside spending for or against Lisuzzo was found.

Key moments

Debates and forums. No debate or candidate forum for this race was found.

Welfare overpayment bill, SB 560 (April 2025 to February 2026).

• What happened: Newsweek and Contra Costa News reported on her bill to end criminal penalties for welfare overpayments under $25,000 that result from administrative errors. Counties would handle them instead (Newsweek; Contra Costa News). The bill died in the Senate on Feb 2, 2026 (SB 560).
• Her response: “This bill is about keeping families out of the criminal justice system for making administrative errors” (Newsweek).
• Lisuzzo’s view: his campaign site cites SB 560 and says it would “Decriminalize Welfare Fraud” (campaign site).

Security guard bill, SB 1203 (2026).

• What happened: CalMatters reported that security companies, including Allied Universal, oppose the bill. The bill ties arrest and use-of-force training to union contracts that pay at least 30% above minimum wage (CalMatters). The Legislature sent it to the Governor on Sept 10, 2026, and he signed it on Sept 30 (SB 1203; Governor’s Sept 30 update).
• Her response: the bill asks lawmakers “to stand up with these officers to strengthen and improve these working conditions” (CalMatters).
• Lisuzzo’s response: none found.