This voter guide is a labor of love.

Every entry in these pages reflects hours of research, interviews, questionnaire review, and deliberation by La Defensa staff. We did this work because we believe our community deserves more than a name and a party affiliation. We believe you deserve to know where candidates actually stand on the issues that define safety, dignity, and justice in Los Angeles — and we believe that difference matters at every level of government, from the halls of Congress to the courtrooms of the Los Angeles Superior Court.

La Defensa is a femme-led organization dedicated to shifting Los Angeles County’s reliance on criminalization and incarceration toward systems of care that center human dignity. Our work is informed by the legacy of the communities we belong to: Chicanx, Black, queer, immigrant, undocumented, working class people with incarcerated loved ones. This guide reflects those commitments.

To inform our analysis, we developed a detailed endorsement questionnaire covering criminal justice reform, immigration and sanctuary policy, reproductive rights, housing, harm reduction, racial justice, reparations, participatory budgeting, and foreign policy. We sent that questionnaire to candidates across every level of government on this ballot and crafted a subset of questions tailored to La Defensa’s priorities and each office’s powers. Where candidates responded, we have drawn directly from their own words. Where they did not, we conducted independent research, reviewing their campaign websites, voting records, campaign donations, and endorsements.

Our recommendations fall into four categories:

• Endorsed: La Defensa has vetted the candidate through our research, candidate survey, and an interview, and highly recommends this candidate as a community champion on critical issues.
• Recommended: Based on our research, La Defensa finds this candidate to be generally aligned with our values and priorities compared to those in their field, even where full alignment does not exist.
• Harm Reduction: Although La Defensa is unable to recommend any of the candidates in the field, voters can choose this candidate to reduce the possible negative consequences that the alternative candidate could have on progressive policies we care about. It is a pragmatic recognition that in some races, the alternative is worse.
• No Recommendation: La Defensa is neutral in this race. However, voters may consider these candidates as the marginally preferable option when making their decision, recognizing that the alternatives could have a more detrimental impact on progressive issues we care about.

The November 3, 2026 General Election ballot is long and demanding. We hope this guide makes it a little easier to navigate — and a little clearer why every race, including the ones at the bottom of your ballot, matters to the communities we are fighting for.

With love and solidarity,
La Defensa Staff

Monday, October 5, 2026