Election 2026 · Los Angeles County

LA County Superior Court Judge, Office 131

Published September 29, 2026 · Updated October 2, 2026

David Ross and Donna Tryfman are the candidates for LA County Superior Court Judge, Office 131 on the November 3, 2026 ballot.

Superior court judges run the trial courts in California, where a judge, and sometimes a jury, hears testimony and other evidence and decides cases by applying the law to the facts. Each county has one superior court that handles all types of cases. Office No. 131 is one seat on the Los Angeles County Superior Court.

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

Superior court judges are elected by voters across the whole county, so every City of Los Angeles voter gets this contest. The Los Angeles County Superior Court is the trial court for the entire county, including the City.

Primary results, June 2, 2026

4 candidates. No one won a majority, so the top two, Donna Tryfman and David Ross, advanced to November 3. Total votes: 1,642,753. Results as posted by the County Registrar on June 26, 2026. Certified results

The candidates

The job

What a judge does. Superior courts have trial jurisdiction over all criminal and civil cases in the county. Judges serve six-year terms and are elected on a nonpartisan ballot. When a seat opens between elections, the Governor fills it by appointment (Judicial Council fact sheet). LAist lists the kinds of cases the LA court hears: child custody and divorce, landlord and tenant disputes, contract fights, theft and murder trials, probate and small claims. Judges have discretion over things like sentence length and damage awards (LAist).

Size. Hoodline, citing the court, calls it the nation’s largest trial court system and reports 36 courthouses in 12 judicial districts, more than 580 judicial officers and about 5,000 full-time employees serving 9.5 million residents (Hoodline). LAist counts more than 400 judges (LAist). Superior courts also have commissioners and referees, according to the Judicial Council fact sheet. The court says it receives about 1.3 million filings a year (ABC7).

Budget. The court’s funding comes through the state budget. In September 2026 the court said it is underfunded by $233.7 million, that the current state budget covers 76.77% of its calculated need (the lowest level since 2021), and that it would offer $35,000 to employees who agree to leave. It warned of longer lines and slower processing (ABC7).

Pay. The LA Times reports a superior court judge’s salary is more than $244,000 a year (LA Times).

Rules for candidates. The Code of Judicial Ethics bars judicial candidates from making statements “that commit the candidate … with respect to cases, controversies, or issues that are likely to come before the courts” (Canon 5B(1)(a), Code of Judicial Ethics). As a result, candidates talk about how they would do the job rather than where they stand on issues.

Discipline. The Commission on Judicial Performance handles complaints against judges. In 2025 it received complaints about 1,116 judges and justices, opened 99 preliminary investigations and took 15 public actions, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise reported from its annual report (MetNews).

Bar ratings. The Los Angeles County Bar Association’s Judicial Elections Evaluation Committee rates candidates Exceptionally Well Qualified, Well Qualified, Qualified or Not Qualified. It issued its 2026 ratings on April 22, 2026, for the primary (LACBA report). LAist notes the LACBA is a private, volunteer membership group separate from the State Bar (LAist). No separate general-election report was found.

This seat. Office No. 131 is an open seat. Judge Joseph Brandolino, who held it, announced he would retire effective March 31, 2026, the Metropolitan News-Enterprise reported (MetNews, Jan 30, 2026).

Records

David Ross

Legal career. Ross was admitted to the State Bar on Dec. 12, 1994 (bar number 174591). His profile lists the University of West Los Angeles law school and the Alternate Public Defender’s office in Torrance, and shows no public discipline (State Bar profile).

• He was a Riverside County deputy public defender for five years. In 2000 he joined the Los Angeles County Alternate Public Defender’s office, working in branches including Long Beach and Compton, and has been in Torrance since 2018 (LA Times).
• His campaign says he has represented more than 10,000 indigent defendants, tried 113 jury trials and handled more than 2,000 preliminary hearings (Beverly Hills Standard, citing the campaign). The LA Times reports “more than 110 jury trials” from his website (LA Times).
• His title is Grade IV deputy alternate public defender (Beverly Hills Standard). The campaign also says he taught as an adjunct professor at Western State University College of Law from 2002 to 2006 and served as a judge pro tem in small claims and limited civil cases (Beverly Hills Standard).

Before law. He was a legislative aide to Rep. Floyd J. Fithian of Indiana, produced segments of the PBS series “Congress: We The People,” and worked as a TV reporter in Tennessee and Kansas (CityWatch; Daily News questionnaire).

Ballot designation. His designation on the ballot is “Deputy Alternate Public Defender, County of Los Angeles” (final candidate list).

Prior campaigns. None found. He was the first candidate to file for this seat, in January 2026 (MetNews, Jan 30, 2026).

Ethics and court records. His State Bar history shows only his 1994 admission, with no discipline or administrative actions (State Bar profile). No public enforcement actions were found in FPPC or FEC records that refer to him (FPPC case search; FEC legal search). He has sat as a judge pro tem; the Commission on Judicial Performance’s list of public decisions by judge’s name includes no David Ross (CJP). Searched Sept. 30, 2026.

Donna Tryfman

Legal career. Tryfman was admitted to the State Bar on June 12, 1995 (bar number 176744). Her profile lists the University of La Verne College of Law, criminal law as her practice area, and Hebrew and Spanish as languages, and shows no public discipline (State Bar profile).

• She has been a Los Angeles County deputy public defender since 1998. From 2016 to 2019 she was deputy in charge at Eastlake Juvenile Court, supervising 25 lawyers. She has worked in collaborative drug court. She is now in the Major Crimes Unit, handling only special-circumstances homicides (LA Times). She says she has tried more than 100 jury trials (Daily News questionnaire).
• The Metropolitan News-Enterprise reports her office performance evaluations give her an overall rating of “competent,” with comments that she “asks for the most serious cases and never backs down from a challenge” (MetNews editorial, Apr 1, 2026).
• She was president of the statewide Public Defenders Association from 2015 to 2020 (MetNews editorial). Her campaign bio says she received the Gideon Award as felony attorney of the year in 2025 (LA Times).
• She has served as a judge pro tem in traffic and small claims cases and on the court’s Mediation Volunteer Panel (Daily News editorial). She is vice chair of the LACBA delegation to the California Conference of Bar Associations and has chaired its Criminal Justice Section (MetNews editorial).

Public roles. She served on the Beverly Hills Rent Stabilization Commission from 2019 to 2024 and chaired it in 2022 (MetNews editorial).

Prior campaign. She ran for the Beverly Hills Unified School District board in 2020 and lost (Daily News editorial).

Ethics and court records. Her State Bar history shows only her 1995 admission, with no discipline or administrative actions (State Bar profile). No public enforcement actions were found in FPPC or FEC records, including for her 2020 school board campaign (FPPC case search; FEC legal search). She is not a judge, so the Commission on Judicial Performance has no record on her. Searched Sept. 30, 2026.

Where they stand

Under the Code of Judicial Ethics, judicial candidates may not commit themselves on issues likely to come before the court (Code of Judicial Ethics, Canon 5B). The rows below come from the questions the LA Times and the Southern California News Group asked every candidate (Ross questionnaire; Tryfman questionnaire), plus a CityWatch interview with Ross.

On the other ballot measures

Positions on the state propositions and, for City voters, the City measures were not found for either candidate.

Endorsements

David Ross

From his campaign site, checked Sept 30, 2026. Titles are listed “for identification purposes only.”

• Judges: about 90 current and retired judicial officers, including Supervising Judge Yvette Verastegui of the Criminal Division, Judges Pat Connolly, Lynn Olson, Richard Goul and Ericka Wiley, and Judge Eric C. Taylor, a past president of the California Judges Association. Carlos Dammeier, who finished third in the primary, is also listed (campaign list).
• Former and current officials: former District Attorney Steve Cooley; former state Controller Betty Yee; former Attorney General Bill Lockyer; Assemblymembers Nick Schultz and Pilar Schiavo; former City Councilmembers Paul Koretz and Joel Wachs; Glendale Mayor Ardy Kassakhian; West Hollywood Mayor John Heilman; Rancho Palos Verdes Mayor Paul Seo; South Pasadena Mayor Sheila Rossi; Long Beach City Prosecutor Doug Haubert; Burbank Councilmember Konstantine Anthony (campaign list).
• Unions and prosecutors’ group: IUOE Local 12; IBEW Local 47; Ironworkers Locals 416 and 433; UNITE HERE Local 11; IATSE 33; APWU Local 64; ILWU Locals 13, 20, 27, 56, 63, 65 and 94 and the ILWU Southern California District Council; Los Angeles Association of Deputy District Attorneys (campaign list).
• Organizations: La Defensa, LA Forward, Knock LA, Working Families Party, Women’s March Action, CA NOW, Americans for Democratic Action, and more than 20 Democratic clubs, including East Area Progressive Democrats, Stonewall Young Democrats and Black Los Angeles Young Democrats (campaign list).
• Newspapers: the Los Angeles Sentinel is listed (campaign list). The Southern California News Group chose Tryfman and said it did not back Ross “due to his touting of support from the far-left groups,” naming La Defensa; it called the two “both solid candidates” (Daily News, May 19, 2026).

Donna Tryfman

From her campaign site, checked Sept 30, 2026. Titles are listed “for identification purposes only.”

• Judges: Court of Appeal Justice Anne H. Egerton and about 45 current and retired Superior Court judges and commissioners, including Judges David Berger, Wendy Segall, Lauren Weis Birnstein and David Walgren. Troy Slaten, who finished fourth in the primary, is also listed (campaign list).
• Elected officials: Assemblymembers Rick Chavez Zbur and Jesse Gabriel; former state Sen. Robert Hertzberg; former District Attorney Steve Cooley; Beverly Hills Councilmember John Mirisch; Beverly Hills school board President Judith Manouchehri and other board members (campaign list).
• Public Defender’s office: Public Defender Ricardo D. García, Chief Deputy Justine Esack and other office leaders; several head deputy and deputy district attorneys (campaign list).
• Unions and prosecutors’ group: SEIU Local 721, UNITE HERE Local 11, Western States Regional Council of Carpenters, IBEW Local 11, Local 250, and the Association of Deputy District Attorneys (campaign list).
• Organizations: Mexican American Bar Association, National Women’s Political Caucus, Thrive LA, Crime Survivors PAC, Citizens for Accountable Leadership (her committee paid it $4,000 for slate mailers, Cal-Access filings), Stonewall Democratic Club, Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley and about 15 other Democratic clubs (campaign list).
• Newspapers: Southern California News Group, which publishes the Daily News and 10 other papers (editorial, May 19, 2026); Metropolitan News-Enterprise (editorial, Apr 1, 2026); Colorado Boulevard and LA Progressive are listed on her page.

Both lists: Steve Cooley, UNITE HERE Local 11 and a prosecutors’ association (listed as the “Los Angeles Association of Deputy District Attorneys” by Ross and “Association of Deputy District Attorneys” by Tryfman) appear on both pages. So do two judges, Abby Baron and Osman Abbasi (Ross list; Tryfman list; both checked Sept 30, 2026). No LA Times endorsement was found for this race.

Polls

No public polls of this race were found.

Money

Judicial candidates file with the California Secretary of State. Figures are from each committee’s Form 460 reports through Sept 19, 2026, in the state’s Cal-Access campaign finance database (bulk export of Sept 29, 2026): David Ross for Judge 2026 and Donna Tryfman for Judge 2026.

Source: Cal-Access committee pages for Ross and Tryfman; Form 460s for Jul 1 to Sep 19, 2026 (Ross, Tryfman).

Ross. He told CityWatch before the primary that he had raised about $22,000 and hoped to raise up to $75,000 (CityWatch). His largest expense is a campaign consultant (Cal-Access filings): $28,852.15 through Sept 19, including $10,000 listed as web costs. He paid Renee Nahum and Associates $4,016.13 for consulting from July to September. He paid the East Area Progressive Democrats club $1,959 twice in May for “voter education materials,” gave $350 to the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, and gave $100 to Tal Valbuena’s judicial campaign (Cal-Access filings).

Tryfman. Her largest expense is digital ads from NAK Strategies ($9,000 on May 14 and $5,000 on May 27). She paid Citizens for Accountable Leadership $2,000 twice for slate mailers (April and September), LP Campaigns $3,000 for consulting, and Crummitt & Associates $575 a month. In August she paid CityWatch Publishing $2,500 for digital ads and Colorado Boulevard Network $1,000 for printing (Cal-Access filings).

Who is giving

Method: every itemized contribution (money and in-kind) on the Form 460s since Jan. 1, 2025, deduplicated across amended reports. A donor is a normalized name plus ZIP code. Location is by ZIP code (LA County is 900 to 918). Loans are left out. Gifts under $100 that were not itemized ($2,865.09 for Ross, $399 for Tryfman) are left out.

Source: itemized contributions on the Form 460s filed with Cal-Access by Ross’s committee and Tryfman’s committee.

David Ross

• Most donors give small amounts: 98 of 150 gave under $250. Sixty-four list themselves as retired or not employed and gave $15,218 (40.4%) (Cal-Access filings).
• Out of state: 25 donors gave $6,868 (18.2%) (Cal-Access filings).
• Judges: 12 donors appear on his judicial endorsement list, most of them retired, and gave $3,950 (10.5%). The largest of those gifts was $1,000 (Cal-Access filings; campaign list).
• Unions: ILWU Local 13’s PAC ($1,000, April) and the Marine Clerks’ ILWU Local 63 PAC ($500) (Cal-Access filings).
• Other donors: the largest single donor, an individual, gave $2,000; a law corporation and a family trust gave $1,000 each; Angie Christides for Superior Court Judge 2026, another judicial candidate’s committee ($507.12); Carson Bail Bonds ($200) (Cal-Access filings).

Donna Tryfman

• The largest donor, an individual, gave $2,500 on March 13 (Cal-Access filings).
• Judges: four sitting judges on her endorsement list gave $2,750 (17.8%): David Berger ($1,000), Wendy Segall ($1,000), Deborah Horowitz ($500) and Daniel Zeidler ($250) (Cal-Access filings; campaign list).
• Lawyers in private practice: 11 donors gave $5,700 (36.8%). Eight donors list a public defender job and gave $1,346 (Cal-Access filings).
• Beverly Hills: school board members Judith Manouchehri ($500), Russell Stuart and Howard Goldstein ($100 each), all on her endorsement list, gave (Cal-Access filings; campaign list).
• Tryfman gave $25 in cash and $1,500 in kind (consulting) to her own campaign. Other donors include one law firm ($750), two individuals ($500 each) and the Women Leading Change Democratic Club ($250) (Cal-Access filings).

Outside spending

No independent expenditure or party spending for or against Ross or Tryfman was found in state filings (Form 496 and Schedule D, all filers) through the Sept 29 bulk export, or in LA County filings (Ross committee; Tryfman committee; County campaign finance portal).

Key moments

Debates and forums

No debate or candidate forum for this seat was found. Ross’s committee paid for candidate events held by the Criminal Courts Bar Association, the Italian American Lawyers Association and the Japanese American Bar Association in early 2026 (Cal-Access filings); no reports of those events were found.

Events

• Primary (June 2, 2026). Tryfman finished first with 37.31% and Ross second with 33.24%. Administrative law judges Carlos Dammeier (14.97%) and Troy W. Slaten (14.48%) were eliminated (County Registrar). Dammeier now appears on Ross’s endorsement list and Slaten on Tryfman’s (Ross campaign; Tryfman campaign).