Voters in the western part of Pleasanton will choose between a two-term Democrat and a first-time Republican challenger for the 20th Assembly District on Nov. 3.
Besides the western edges of Pleasanton and Dublin, the district includes Hayward, San Leandro and Union City and the unincorporated areas of San Lorenzo, Castro Valley, Cherryland, Ashland and Fairview, the Pleasanton Weekly reports. Under California's top-two system, Assemblymember Liz Ortega and challenger Patricia Muga advanced from the June primary, in which Ortega ran far ahead.
The incumbent
Ortega, who lives in San Leandro, won the seat in 2022 and kept it in 2024. She grew up in Oakland and has long worked in the labor movement; her campaign site says she was the Alameda Labor Council's first Latina executive secretary-treasurer. She has sat on Assembly committees covering labor and employment, consumer privacy, insurance and the budget.
Ortega told the Weekly she is concentrating on road safety, transit access and helping small businesses and working families keep up. Among bills she said reach the Tri-Valley directly, she named AB 2168, which she said could fund better transit connections, and SB 78, which she said could move highway safety projects such as Interstate 580 work along faster.
She also cited public-safety measures she supported on sideshows and impaired driving.
