Liz Ortega
Liz Ortega (Democratic Party) is a member of theCalifornia State Assembly, representingDistrict 20. She assumed office on December 5, 2022. Her current term ends on December 7, 2026.
Ortega (Democratic Party) ran for re-election to theCalifornia State Assembly to representDistrict 20. She won in the general election onNovember 5, 2024.
Biography
Liz Ortega lives inSan Leandro, California. Her career experience includes working as a political and legislative director with AFSCME Local 3299, one of the University of California’s employee unions. Grayson served on the Alameda Labor Council, including as executive secretary-treasurer. She also volunteers on the Alameda County Vaccine Equity Task Force and the Alameda County Workforce Investment Board.[1]
Committee assignments
2025-2026
Ortega was assigned to the following committees:
- Arts, Entertainment, Sports, and Tourism Committee
- Budget Committee
- Insurance Committee
- Labor and Employment Committee,Chair
- Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee
2023-2024
Ortega was assigned to the following committees:
- Higher Education Committee
- Insurance Committee
- Labor and Employment Committee
- Public Safety Committee
- Rules Committee
- Rules Committee
Sponsored legislation
The following table lists bills this person sponsored as a legislator, according toBillTrack50 and sorted by action history. Bills are sorted by the date of their last action. The following list may not be comprehensive. To see all bills this legislator sponsored, click on the legislator's name in the title of the table.
Elections
2024
See also: California State Assembly elections, 2024
General election
General election for California State Assembly District 20
IncumbentLiz Ortega defeatedSangeetha Shanbhogue in the general election for California State Assembly District 20 on November 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ |  | Liz Ortega (D) | 72.9 | 126,615 |
 | Sangeetha Shanbhogue (R) | 27.1 | 47,060 | |
| Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 173,675 | ||
 = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
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Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for California State Assembly District 20
IncumbentLiz Ortega andSangeetha Shanbhogue advanced from the primary for California State Assembly District 20 on March 5, 2024.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Liz Ortega (D) | 99.5 | 57,083 |
| ✔ | | Sangeetha Shanbhogue (R) (Write-in) | 0.5 | 284 |
| Incumbents arebolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 57,367 | ||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
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Campaign finance
Endorsements
Ballotpedia did not identify endorsements for Ortega in this election.
2022
See also: California State Assembly elections, 2022
General election
General election for California State Assembly District 20
Liz Ortega defeatedShawn Kumagai in the general election for California State Assembly District 20 on November 8, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Liz Ortega (D) | 62.2 | 68,853 |
 | Shawn Kumagai (D) | 37.8 | 41,917 | |
| There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 110,770 | ||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team. | ||||
Nonpartisan primary election
Nonpartisan primary for California State Assembly District 20
Liz Ortega andShawn Kumagai defeatedJennifer Esteen andJoseph Grcar in the primary for California State Assembly District 20 on June 7, 2022.
Candidate | % | Votes | ||
| ✔ | | Liz Ortega (D) | 32.2 | 23,503 |
| ✔ | | Shawn Kumagai (D) | 23.9 | 17,481 |
 | Jennifer Esteen (D) | 22.2 | 16,211 | |
 | Joseph Grcar (R) | 21.7 | 15,869 | |
| There were noincumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source | Total votes: 73,064 | ||
| = candidate completed theBallotpedia Candidate Connection survey. | ||||
| If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you,complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. | ||||
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data?Contact our sales team. | ||||
Campaign finance
Endorsements
To view Ortega's endorsements in the 2022 election, pleaseclick here.
Campaign themes
2024
Ballotpedia survey responses
See also:Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection
Liz Ortega did not completeBallotpedia's 2024 Candidate Connection survey.
2022
Video for Ballotpedia
Released May 13, 2022 |
Liz Ortega completedBallotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Ortega's responses.
Expand all |Collapse all
The first Latina in history to be elected Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Alameda Labor Council, Liz has been an East Bay leader in the fight for an equitable minimum wage to support working families as housing and cost of living has skyrocketed in our region. During the pandemic, Liz fought to secure paid sick leave and hazard pay for essential workers and healthcare providers as a member of the Alameda County Vaccine Equity Task Force .
When Liz was three, her undocumented mother traveled hundreds of miles to California with Liz and her infant brother to seek the American dream. “My family has struggled to achieve our American dream through hard work, community support and a belief that we could have a better life,” says Liz “I’m running for Assembly to level the playing field so every family has a chance of achieving that dream.”
Liz, husband Jason (a former School Board Member) and daughter Yamara live in San Leandro, where Yamara attends local public schools.- Liz is a strong advocate for women's reproductive freedoms and healthcare. That is why she is the only Assembly District 20 candidate endorsed by both Planned Parenthood and the California Democratic Party.
- Liz has taken the No Corporate Money pledge. She's spent more than two decades challenging the status quo to stand up for working families--and winning. She's a coalition builder who gets results.
- If elected, Liz will stand up for our reproductive freedoms and women's healthcare, and fight for affordable housing, environmental justice, and safer neighborhoods.
“I’m honored to have the sole endorsement of Planned Parenthood Advocates of Mar Monte for protecting access to the care that gives individuals power over their own bodies. Join me in voting YES on Proposition 1 to preserve these rights!”
Housing
“I’ve fought the system for housing affordable for teachers, nurses and first responders. My daughter and your future generations should be able to live in the community where they were raised.”
Job Creation
“I have a proven track record of placing hundreds of people into well-paying jobs --and I’ll champion our small East Bay businesses, who make us stronger by creating great jobs in the communities we love.”
Environmental Justice
“Climate change and environmental racism are the urgent issues of our generation. Join me in the fight to keep polluters and toxins out of our neighborhoods and ensuring clean air for all of us.”
Neighborhood Safety
“Every family deserves to live in a safe neighborhood. I support funding anti-gang and drug prevention, quality education and job placement to address the root causes of crime and neighborhood policing approaches where trained, accountable officers are working with the community to fight gun violence.”
Homelessness
Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.
Campaign finance summary
Note: The finance data shown here comes from the disclosures required of candidates and parties. Depending on the election or state, this may represent only a portion of all the funds spent on their behalf.Satellite spending groups may or may not have expended funds related to the candidate or politician on whose page you are reading this disclaimer. Campaign finance data from elections may be incomplete. For elections to federal offices, complete data can be found at theFEC website. Clickhere for more on federal campaign finance law andhere for more on state campaign finance law.
| Year | Office | Status | Contributions | Expenditures |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | California State Assembly District 20 | Won general | $911,618 | $732,705 |
| 2022 | California State Assembly District 20 | Won general | $1,079,155 | $1,081,628 |
| Grand total | $1,990,773 | $1,814,333 | ||
| Sources:OpenSecrets, Federal Elections Commission ***This product uses the openFEC API but is not endorsed or certified by the Federal Election Commission (FEC). | ||||
Scorecards
Ascorecard evaluates a legislator’s voting record. Its purpose is to inform voters about the legislator’s political positions. Because scorecards have varying purposes and methodologies, each report should be considered on its own merits. For example, an advocacy group’s scorecard may assess a legislator’s voting record on one issue while a state newspaper’s scorecard may evaluate the voting record in its entirety.
Ballotpedia is in the process of developing an encyclopedic list of published scorecards. Some states have a limited number of available scorecards or scorecards produced only by select groups. It is Ballotpedia’s goal to incorporate all available scorecards regardless of ideology or number.
Click here for an overview of legislative scorecards in all 50 states. To contribute to the list of California scorecards, email suggestions toeditor@ballotpedia.org.
2024
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2024, click [show]. |
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In 2024, theCalifornia State Legislature was in session from January 3 to August 31. A special session in the Assembly was from August 31, 2024 to October 14, 2024 and another special session started on December 2, 2024.
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2023
| To view all the scorecards we found for this legislator in 2023, click [show]. |
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In 2023, theCalifornia State Legislature was in session from January 1 to September 14.
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See also
2024 Elections
External links
Candidate California State Assembly District 20 | Officeholder California State Assembly District 20 | Personal |
Footnotes
| Political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Bill Quirk (D) | California State Assembly District 20 2022-Present | Succeeded by - |
- 2022 challenger
- 2022 general election (winner)
- 2022 primary (winner)
- 2024 general election (winner)
- 2024 incumbent
- 2024 primary (winner)
- California
- California State Assembly candidate, 2022
- California State Assembly candidate, 2024
- Current member, California State Assembly
- Current state legislative member
- Current state representative
- Democratic Party
- State House candidate, 2022
- State House candidate, 2024
- State house candidates
