Several AAPI candidates ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in the June 2 primary.
Under the open primary system, the top two finishers advance to the general election in November, even if they are from the same party.
Results as of this week are as follows:
District 3: Rep. Ami Bera (D-Sacramento) led with 53,653 votes (34.2%), followed by Repubican Robb Tucker with 49,427 (31.5%), Democrat Heidi Hall with 19,299 (12.3%) and Republican Christine Bish with 18,815 (12%). The other four candidates finished in single digits.
Bera, a doctor, has served in the House since 2013. He currently represents the 6th Congressionsal district but chose to run in the new 3rd Congressional District.
District 5: Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Modesto) led with 109,088 votes (61.6%), followed by Democrats Michael Masuda with 42,559 (24%), Micahel Barkley with 16,091 (9.1%) and Dan Stroud with 9,335 (5.3%).
Masuda grew up in Amador County, graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and worked as an engineer at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. His paternal grandparents were incarcerated at Topaz, Utah during World War II.
District 6: Rep. Kevin Kiley (NPP-Rocklin) was in first place with 33,351 votes (25.4%), followed by Democrat Richard Pan with 29,903 (22.8%), Republican Michael Stansfield with 27,775 (21.2%), Democrat Lauren Babb Tomlinson with 14,472 (11%), Democrat Thien Ho, Sacramento County district attorney, with 14,315 (10.9%), Democrat Martha Guerrero, mayor of West Sacramento, with 9,371 (7.1%) and Democrat Tyler Vandenberg with 1,903 (1.5%).
Pan is a pediatrician who served in the State Senate from 2014 to 2022. He is an opponent of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s policies, calling them an attack on health care and science.
The newly redrawn district includes ares of Citrus Heights, North and East Sacramento, the city of West Sacramento, Rocklin and Roseville.
District 7: Rep. Doris Matsui (D-Sacramento) faces a serious challenge by fellow Democrat Mai Vang, finishing with 58,648 votes (29.1%) to Vang’s 62,153 (30.8%). Republican Zachariah Wooden was third with 44,551 (22.1%) and Republican Ralph Swobi fourth with 30,683 (15.2%). Two other candidates finished in single digits.
Matsui, 81, has served in Congress since 2005, when she won a special election to succeed her late husband, Rep. Robert Matsui, and has been re-elected continuously since then. She currently serves on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The region has been represented in the House by a Matsui since Robert was first elected in 1979.
Vang, 41, is the first person of Hmong descent and the first Asian American woman to be elected to the Sacramento City Council, where she has served since 2020. Her campaign has focused on new leadership.
District 11: In the race to succeed former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), who is retiring, State Sen. Scott Wiener was ahead with 92,284 votes (41.1%), followed by Connie Chan, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, with 67,029 (29.8%) and Democrat Saikat Chakrabarti, former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), with 39,335 (17.5%). Eight other candidates finished in single digits. Pelosi, who has been in office since 1987, endorsed Chan.
District 14: State Sen. Aisha Wahab (D-Fremont), the first Afghan American woman elected to public office in the U.S., led with 56,684 votes (38.5%), followed by Democrat Melissa Hernandez, president of the BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) Board of Directors, with 25,140 (17.1%); Republican Wendy Huang, a member of the Alameda County Republican Central Committee, with 19,457 (13.2%); Democrat Rakhi Israni Singh, an educator, with 18,954 (12.9%); and Republican Dana Maldonado, a business owner, with 17,955 (12.2%). The other four candidates were single digits.
The seat was held by Democrat Eric Swalwell, who didn’t seek re-election because he was running for governor. He dropped out of the gubernatorial race and resigned from Congress because of sexual assault allegations.
District 17: Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Santa Clara) was far ahead with 82,208 votes (52.3%), followed by Republicans Ritesh Tandon, an entrepreneur, with 19,651 (14.9%) and Jennie Ha Phan, a retired accountant, with 14,143 (10.7%). Three other candidates were in single digits.
Khanna was first elected in 2016, defeating eight-term Democratic incumbent Mike Honda. He has drawn national attention through town halls in Republican-held districts and has been called a potential contender for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2028.
District 20: Rep. Vince Fong (R-Bakersfield) had a comfortable lead with 108,622 votes (68.4%), followed by Democrat Sandra Van Scotter, a healthcare worker, with 45,334 (28.6%). Two other candidates finished in single digits.
Fong, a former member of the Assembly and district director for then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, has served in Congress since 2024.
District 22: Rep. David Valadao (R-Bakersfield) was in first place with 30,217 votes (40.7%), followed by Democrats Randy Villegas, a political scientist and educator, with 23,911 (32.2%) and Assemblymember Jasmeet Bains with 20,193 (27.2%).
Bains, a physician, has been serving in the Assembly since 2022 and is the first Sikh American to be elected to a California state office and the first South Asian woman elected to the State Legislature.
District 28: Rep. Judy Chu (D-Pasadena) was in the lead with 115,506 votes (62.2%), followed by Republican April Verlato, mayor of Arcadia, with 59,654 (32.1%) and a Democratic candidate who finished in single digits.
Chu has been in office since 2009, when she became the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress. She is chair emerita of the Congressional Asian Pacific American caucus. She previously served on the Monterey Park City Council (including three terms as mayor), in the State Assembly and on the California Board of Equalization.
District 31: Rep. Gil Cisneros (D-Covina), with 94,190 votes (61.1%), finished ahead of Republicans Eric Ching, former mayor of Walnut, with 36,767 (23.8%) and Erskine Levi, a retired history teacher from Glendora, with 23,280 (15.1%).
District 36: Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Manhattan Beach) had 141,981 votes (61%), followed by Republicans Houston Brignano, a technology executive, with 35,585 (15.3%) and Melissa Toomim, Lieu’s opponent in the 2024 election, with 30,4440 (13.1%). Four other challengers finished in single digits.
Lieu has represented the South Bay and Westside regions of Los Angeles County since 2015 and is an outspoken critic of the Trump Administration. He previously served in the State Assembly and State Senate and is vice chair of the House Democratic Caucus.
District 39: Rep. Mark Takano (D-Riverside) had the lead over Republican challenger Steve Manos, a member of the Lake Elsinore City Council, 65,028 (60%) to 43,291 (40%).
Takano has been in office since 2013, when he became the first gay person of Asian descent in Congress. He serves on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce and co-chairs the Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus. He previously served on the Riverside Community College Board of Trustees.
District 40: Redistricting resulted in a face-off between two Republicans, Rep. Ken Calvert of Corona and Rep. Young Kim of Mission Viejo, who garnered 68,203 votes (35%) and 40,711 votes (20.9%), respectively. Democrat Esther Kim-Varet was third with 32,290 (16.6%) and Democrat Lisa Ramirez was fourth with 26,974 (13.8%). Four other candidates were in single digits.
Kim as been in office since 2021 and is one of the first Korean American women elected to Congress. She previously served in the State Assembly.
Kim-Varet is the founder and director of the contemporary art gallery Various Small Fires (VSF), which has galleries in Los Angeles and Orange counties.
District 42: Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Long Beach) was far ahead with 112,531 votes (56.4%), followed by Republicans Brian Burley, a Huntington Beach City School District trustee, with 41,156 (20.6%); Noah Von Blom, a Newport Beach chef, with 33,483 (16.8%); and Long Pham, a nuclear engineer, with 9,834 (4.9%). Larisa Vermeulen (NPP) was in last place with 2,475 (1.2%).
District 45: Five of the six candidates were Vietnamese Americans. Rep. Derek Tran (D-Cypress) was on top with 84,024 votes (53.7%), followed by Republicans Chuong Vo, former Cerritos mayor and retired police officer, with 24,075 (15.4%); Westminster Mayor Chi “Charlie” Nguyen with 18,421 (11.8%); Vietnam veteran Tom Vo with 13,378 (8.5%); entrepreneur Mark Leonard with 9,325 (6%); and Westminster City Councilmember Amy Phan West with 7,360 (4.7%).
In 2024, Tran defeated Rep. Michelle Steel, a Korean American Republican, to become the first Vietnamese American to represent the district. He previously served on the Orange Traffic Commission.
District 46: Rep. Lou Correa (D-Santa Ana), who recieved 58,758 votes (51.8%), is being challenged by Republican David Pan with 37,608 (33.2%). Three other candidates were in single digits.
Pan, a professor of German at UC Irvine, has been a management consultant at McKinsey and Company and editor of the journal Telos.
District 47: Rep. Dave Min (D-Costa Mesa), in a field of nine candidates, was well ahead with 86,010 votes (45.3%). His nearest competitor was Republican business owner Jenny Rae La Roux, executive director of Cal DOGE, with 47,736 (25.1%).
Min, who has served in Congress since 2025, was previously a state senator representing portions of Orange County and an assistant law professor at UC Irvine.
District 50: Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego) led with 101,119 votes (48.1%) to 83,793 (39.9%) for Republican Steve Cohen, former news director of KUSI. Democrat Aishwarya “Sparky” Mitra, a scientist and research fellow, was a distant third with 16,671 (7.9%), ahead of three other candidates.