From top left : Rob Bonta, Jessica Caloza, Baltazar Fedalizo, Kenneth Mejia and Mark Pulido are among the Filipino American candidates who figured prominently in California’s June 2 primary.
Rob Bonta, Jessica Caloza, Mark Pulido and Baltazar Fedalizo remain positioned to advance to November, while Kenneth Mejia is on track to win reelection outright after clearing the majority threshold in the Los Angeles city controller race.
LOS ANGELES — Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia is on track to win reelection outright after clearing the majority threshold in the June 2 primary, emerging as the most decisive Filipino American candidate outcome in California as several others remain positioned to advance to the November general election.
Updated unofficial Los Angeles County returns showed Mejia with 291,734 votes, or 59.38%, against challenger Zach Sokoloff, who had 199,550 votes, or 40.62%. Because the controller’s race is a local nonpartisan contest, a candidate who receives more than 50% can avoid a November runoff. Mejia’s result remains pending final certification, but his majority puts him on track to secure another term without a runoff.
A certified public accountant elected in 2022, Mejia has built his office around audits, financial reports, budget tools and public-facing data on city spending and services. His showing gives Filipino American representation a citywide anchor in Los Angeles, where the controller serves as the city’s elected financial watchdog.
Mejia’s result stands apart from most state and federal races, where California’s top-two primary system sends the two leading candidates to November regardless of party or whether one candidate receives a majority. That rule shaped the outcomes for Attorney General Rob Bonta, Assemblymember Jessica Caloza, Assembly candidate Mark Pulido and congressional candidate Baltazar Fedalizo.
Bonta, California’s Democratic attorney general, led the statewide race and was on track to advance to November. The latest unofficial state count showed Bonta with 2,897,430 votes, or 53.3%, ahead of Republican Michael E. Gates, who had 2,269,947 votes, or 41.8%. Bonta’s majority does not end the race in June because attorney general is a statewide voter-nominated office subject to the top-two system.
Bonta, who was born in Quezon City and immigrated to California with his family as an infant, became the first person of Filipino descent to serve as California attorney general when he was appointed in 2021. A former state assemblymember, deputy city attorney in San Francisco and Yale Law School graduate, he entered the primary as an incumbent with statewide name recognition and institutional backing.
In Assembly District 52, Democratic incumbent Jessica Caloza overwhelmingly led Republican Andrea Lee Anderson, making her the clear November frontrunner. Updated unofficial returns showed Caloza with 57,201 votes, or 82.6%, while Anderson had 12,040 votes, or 17.4%. With two candidates on the ballot, both advance to the general election.
Caloza represents a Los Angeles County district and entered the race with a background in local and federal government. Before joining the Legislature, she served on the Los Angeles Board of Public Works and worked in the Los Angeles mayor’s office and the Obama administration’s Department of Education. Her primary margin underscored the advantage of incumbency in a district where she is already positioned as the dominant November candidate.
In Assembly District 67, Democrat Mark Pulido was in second place and positioned to advance, though the count remained unofficial. Republican Paulo Morales led with 21,390 votes, or 34.3%, followed by Pulido with 16,051 votes, or 25.7%. Democrat Ada Briceño was third with 12,699 votes, or 20.4%. Pulido’s standing depends on remaining among the two leading candidates after all eligible ballots are counted.
Pulido, mayor pro tem of Cerritos and a former two-time mayor, brought a long local-government résumé to the Assembly race. He was first elected to the Cerritos City Council in 2011, returned to the council in 2025 after sitting out because of term limits, and previously served on the ABC Unified School District Board of Education. His second-place position kept him viable in one of the more competitive fields involving a Filipino American candidate.
In California’s 37th Congressional District, Republican Baltazar Fedalizo was in second place behind Democratic Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove and was positioned to advance if the order holds. Unofficial results showed Kamlager-Dove leading with 42,525 votes, or 52.7%, while Fedalizo had 10,403 votes, or 12.9%. Under California’s top-two system, the race proceeds to November with the two leading candidates.
Fedalizo, whose ballot designation is entrepreneur and lobbyist, has described himself as having Native American and Filipino heritage and has cited work connected to employment and reintegration for formerly incarcerated people. His showing placed him in position for a November race against an incumbent Democrat in a heavily watched Los Angeles congressional district.
The results placed Filipino American candidates across several levels of California politics: statewide office, the Legislature, Congress and Los Angeles city government. They also underscored the different election rules operating on the same ballot. Mejia’s local race can be decided in June because he crossed the majority threshold. Bonta, Caloza, Pulido and Fedalizo, by contrast, remain in races that continue to November under the state’s top-two system.
Vote-by-mail, provisional and other ballots continue to be processed during the canvass period, and results may change. Vote-by-mail ballots postmarked by Election Day may still be received through June 9. County elections officials must complete final official results by July 2, and the Secretary of State is scheduled to certify results on July 10.
For Filipino American candidates, the primary results suggested a shift from visibility to staying power. Bonta and Caloza led from positions of incumbency and institutional strength. Pulido and Fedalizo remained in contention through competitive fields. Mejia is on track to secure an outright citywide win in Los Angeles. Taken together, the results showed Filipino American candidates not as symbolic entrants, but as consequential contenders in races that will help shape California’s political map in November and beyond.
