Voting guides

A side-by-side comparison of recommendations for the November 3, 2026 general election in Los Angeles County, from three progressive and civic guides: LA Forward, the Progressive Voters Guide (Courage California) and La Defensa.

How to read this page

Each row is a race or ballot measure; each column is one source. An empty cell means that source does not cover it.
Select a recommendation to read that source’s reasoning on its analysis page.
“No recommendation” means the source looked at the race but chose not to pick, which is different from not covering it.
La Defensa labels some picks “harm reduction” (the least bad option) or “endorsed” (its strongest rating).
LAist is nonpartisan and takes no positions, so it is not in the grid; see its summaries.
LA Forward’s guide is partial as of October 7, 2026; its full guide is due October 9, 2026.

Download: comparison grid (Word) · full analysis (Word)

Recommendations by source for each race and measure
Race or measure	LA Forward	Progressive Voters Guide	La Defensa
County of Los Angeles	LA Forward	Progressive Voters Guide	La Defensa
LA County Measure A	No	Not covered	No
LA County Measure E	Yes	Not covered	Yes (endorsed)
LA County Sheriff	Robert Luna	Not covered	Robert Luna (harm reduction)
Superior Court Judge, Office 64	Maria Ghobadi	Not covered	Rhonda Haymon (endorsed)
Superior Court Judge, Office 65	Justin A. Clayton or Anna S. Reitano (either)	Not covered	Justin A. Clayton (endorsed); Anna S. Reitano (recommended)
Superior Court Judge, Office 87	Anthony (A.J.) Bayne	Not covered	Not covered
Superior Court Judge, Office 131	David Ross	Not covered	David Ross
City of Los Angeles	LA Forward	Progressive Voters Guide	La Defensa
LA City Mayor	Nithya Raman	No recommendation	Nithya Raman
LA City Attorney	Marissa Roy	Marissa Roy	Marissa Roy (endorsed)
LA City Council District 3	Barri Worth Girvan	Not covered	Barri Worth Girvan (harm reduction)
LA City Council District 9	Estuardo Mazariegos	Estuardo Mazariegos	Estuardo Mazariegos (endorsed)
LA City Measure TE – Fire-victim transfer tax exemption	Not covered	Not covered	No
LA City Measure LA – Infrastructure, budget and contracting charter amendment	Not covered	Not covered	Yes
LA City Measure PL – City planning charter amendment	Not covered	Not covered	No
LA City Measure EE – Ethics, elections and governance charter amendment	Not covered	Not covered	Yes
LA City Measure PRK – Recreation and parks budget	Not covered	Not covered	Yes
LA City Measure PRT – Airports, Harbor, and DWP charter amendment	Not covered	Not covered	No recommendation
LA City Measure FD – Fire Department half-cent sales tax	Not covered	Not covered	Yes
LA City Measure SC – School board campaign finance	Not covered	Not covered	Yes
Other cities	LA Forward	Progressive Voters Guide	La Defensa
Burbank City Council (3 seats)	Not covered	Mike Van Gorder; Nikki Perez; Nolan Southerland	Not covered
West Hollywood City Council (3 seats)	Not covered	Chelsea Byers; Helen Krieger; Stephen Post	Not covered
California ballot propositions	LA Forward	Progressive Voters Guide	La Defensa
Prop 1 – Affordable housing bond	Yes	Yes	Yes
Prop 2 – Rainy day fund	Yes	Yes	Yes
Prop 3 – High-earner income tax permanent	Yes	Yes	Yes
Prop 4 – Public financing of elections	Yes	Yes	Yes (endorsed)
Prop 5 – Recall election reform	Yes	Yes	No recommendation
Prop 37 – Homeownership housing bond	No	No recommendation	Yes
Prop 38 – Immunology research bond	No	No	No
Prop 39 – Voter ID	No	No	No
Prop 40	Yes	Yes	Yes
Prop 41	No	No	No
Prop 42 – Personal asset tax ban	No	No	No
Prop 43 – Local tax requirements	No	No	No
Prop 44 – Health center spending	No	No	No
Prop 45 – CEQA changes	No	No	No
State courts	LA Forward	Progressive Voters Guide	La Defensa
CA Supreme Court justices	Retain all	Not covered	Not covered
2nd District Court of Appeal justices	Retain all	Not covered	Not covered
Statewide offices	LA Forward	Progressive Voters Guide	La Defensa
Governor	Xavier Becerra	Xavier Becerra	Xavier Becerra
Lieutenant Governor	Fiona Ma	Fiona Ma	Fiona Ma
Attorney General	No recommendation	Rob Bonta	Rob Bonta
Secretary of State	Shirley Weber	Shirley Weber	Shirley Weber
Treasurer	No recommendation	Eleni Kounalakis	Eleni Kounalakis
Controller	Malia Cohen	Malia Cohen	Malia Cohen
Insurance Commissioner	Jane Kim	No recommendation	Jane Kim (endorsed)
Superintendent of Public Instruction	No recommendation	Richard Barrera	Richard Barrera
Board of Equalization, District 1	Not covered	Nelson Esparza	Not covered
Board of Equalization, District 2	Not covered	Sally Lieber	Not covered
Board of Equalization, District 3	Samuel Sukaton	Sam Sukaton	Sam Sukaton (endorsed)
Board of Equalization, District 4	Not covered	Tom Umberg	Not covered
State Senate	LA Forward	Progressive Voters Guide	La Defensa
State Senate District 20	Caroline Menjivar	Caroline Menjivar	Caroline Menjivar
State Senate District 22	No recommendation	No recommendation	Susan Rubio (harm reduction)
State Senate District 24	John Erickson	John Erickson	John Erickson (endorsed)
State Senate District 26	Sarah Rascón	Sarah Rascón	Sarah Rascón (endorsed)
State Senate District 28	Lola Smallwood-Cuevas	Lola Smallwood-Cuevas	Lola Smallwood-Cuevas
State Senate District 30	No recommendation	No recommendation	Bob Archuleta (harm reduction)
State Senate District 34	Not covered	No recommendation	Avelino Valencia (harm reduction)
State Senate District 36	Not covered	Chris Duncan	Not covered
State Assembly	LA Forward	Progressive Voters Guide	La Defensa
Assembly District 34	Randall Putz	Randall Putz	Randall Putz
Assembly District 39	No recommendation	Juan Carrillo	Juan Carrillo (harm reduction)
Assembly District 40	Pilar Schiavo	Pilar Schiavo	Pilar Schiavo (harm reduction)
Assembly District 41	John Harabedian	John Harabedian	John Harabedian
Assembly District 42	Deborah Klein Lopez	Deborah Klein Lopez	Deborah Klein Lopez
Assembly District 43	Celeste Rodriguez	Celeste Rodriguez	Celeste Rodriguez
Assembly District 44	Nick Schultz	Nick Schultz	Nick Schultz (harm reduction)
Assembly District 46	No recommendation	Jesse Gabriel	Jesse Gabriel (harm reduction)
Assembly District 48	No recommendation	No recommendation	Blanca Rubio (harm reduction)
Assembly District 49	Mike Fong	Mike Fong	Mike Fong
Assembly District 51	No recommendation	Rick Chavez Zbur	Rick Chavez Zbur; Colin Hernandez (both recommended)
Assembly District 52	No recommendation	Jessica Caloza	Jessica Caloza
Assembly District 53	No recommendation	No recommendation	Michelle Rodriguez (harm reduction)
Assembly District 54	Not covered	Mark Gonzalez	Mark Gonzalez (harm reduction)
Assembly District 55	Isaac Bryan	Isaac Bryan	Isaac Bryan (endorsed)
Assembly District 56	No recommendation	Lisa Calderon	Lisa Calderon (harm reduction)
Assembly District 57	Sade Elhawary	Sade Elhawary	Sade Elhawary
Assembly District 61	Tina McKinnor	Tina McKinnor	Tina McKinnor
Assembly District 62	José Solache	José Solache	José Solache (harm reduction)
Assembly District 64	No recommendation	No recommendation	Blanca Pacheco (harm reduction)
Assembly District 65	No recommendation	Ayanna Davis	Ayanna Davis (harm reduction)
Assembly District 66	Sara Deen	Sara Deen	Sara Deen
Assembly District 67	No recommendation	Mark Pulido	Mark Pulido
Assembly District 69	Josh Lowenthal	Josh Lowenthal	Josh Lowenthal
U.S. House of Representatives	LA Forward	Progressive Voters Guide	La Defensa
Congressional District 23	Not covered	Tessa Hodge	Tessa Hodge
Congressional District 26	Not covered	Jacqui Irwin	Jacqui Irwin (harm reduction)
Congressional District 27	Not covered	George Whitesides	Not covered
Congressional District 28	Not covered	Judy Chu	Judy Chu (harm reduction)
Congressional District 29	Not covered	Luz Rivas	Angélica María Dueñas
Congressional District 30	Not covered	Laura Friedman	Laura Friedman (harm reduction)
Congressional District 31	Not covered	Gil Cisneros	Gil Cisneros (harm reduction)
Congressional District 32	Not covered	Brad Sherman	Brad Sherman (harm reduction)
Congressional District 34	Not covered	Angela Gonzales-Torres	Angela Gonzales-Torres
Congressional District 35	Not covered	Norma Torres	Norma Torres (harm reduction)
Congressional District 36	Not covered	Ted Lieu	Ted Lieu (harm reduction)
Congressional District 37	Not covered	Sydney Kamlager-Dove	Sydney Kamlager-Dove
Congressional District 38	Not covered	Hilda Solis	Hilda Solis
Congressional District 41	Not covered	Linda Sánchez	Not covered
Congressional District 42	Not covered	Robert Garcia	Robert Garcia (harm reduction)
Congressional District 43	Not covered	Maxine Waters	Maxine Waters
Congressional District 44	Not covered	Nanette Barragán	Nanette Barragán (harm reduction)
Congressional District 45	Not covered	Derek Tran	Derek Tran (harm reduction)