John Garamendi
DIncumbentFEC H0CA10149
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Raised this cycle$583K
Cash on hand: $1.2M
2026 race
CA-08 — U.S. House
2 candidates on the November ballot. Incumbent: John Garamendi.
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See where these candidates stand — and who's funding them.
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How we got here · 1 earlier contest
Primary · Tuesday, June 2, 2026
Called by audit: web-verified
Top-two primary — John Garamendi and Rudy Recile advanced to the general election.
- DJohn Garamendi· inc.Advanced to general53.4%
- RRudy RecileAdvanced to general31.8%
- DNicolas CarjuzaaDefeated10.3%
- DAaron RowdenDefeated4.6%
Election held
Counting
Tuesday, November 3, 2026
Results appear here once a race is called and verified. Official returns from the California Secretary of State.
Make sure you can vote
Disclosed money in race
$666K
Candidate + outside spending. See finance breakdown below.
Incumbent
Currently in office
Challengers
Sorted by fundraising
Nicolas Carjuzaa
DChallengerFEC H6CA08231
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Raised this cycle$33K
Cash on hand: $5K
Rudy Recile
RChallengerFEC H2CA00153
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Raised this cycle$20K
Cash on hand: $235
Aaron Rowden
DChallengerFEC H6CA08256
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Raised this cycle$15K
Cash on hand: −$800
Harinder Singh Lamba
DChallengerFEC H6CA08249
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Raised this cycle$14K
Cash on hand: $0
Local signal
Early read on CA-08 — U.S. House
A directional read on where this seat is trending, from the signals we have so far. This is an early scaffold — more inputs light up as coverage and constituent activity accrue.
Coverage tone · mixed
Recent news coverage of John Garamendi over the last 90 days.
0 positive2 neutral0 negative
2 articles · AI-assessed sentiment toward the rep. A media signal, not a poll of the district.
Constituent stakes
No one here has staked a position on a tracked vote yet. As neighbors weigh in on /pressure campaigns, the district's lean will show up here.
Money in the race
Finance breakdown
Disclosed funding shaping this race — both the money candidates raise themselves and the outside spending dropped by independent groups. Issue-ad spending by 501(c)(4) groups is excluded; the FEC doesn't require disclosure of it. See the note below for details.
Candidate fundraising: FEC reports through October 14, 2026 · 2025–26 cycle
Total disclosed
$666K
Candidate fundraising + independent expenditures (FEC).
Candidate-direct (Schedule A)
$666K
Raised by candidate committees themselves.
Outside spending (Schedule E)
$10
$10 for · $0 against
| Candidate | Raised directly | Outside for | Outside against | Net in corner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
John Garamendi(D)incumbent + SIERRA CLUB INDEPENDENT ACTION $10 | $583K | $10 | — | $583K |
Nicolas Carjuzaa(D) | $33K | — | — | $33K |
Rudy Recile(R) | $20K | — | — | $20K |
Aaron Rowden(D) | $15K | — | — | $15K |
Harinder Singh Lamba(D) | $14K | — | — | $14K |
Where the money comes from
In-state vs out-of-state
Share of each candidate's itemized individual contributions from donors inside CA versus the rest of the country. Excludes sub-$200 unitemized donations (no geography on file) and PAC money — see note below.
John Garamendi(D)78% in-state · $147K itemized
$115K in-state$32K out-of-state
Nicolas Carjuzaa(D)86% in-state · $14K itemized
$12K in-state$2K out-of-state
Rudy Recile(R)88% in-state · $8K itemized
$7K in-state$1K out-of-state
Aaron Rowden(D)16% in-state · $7K itemized
$1K in-state$6K out-of-state
What's counted, what isn't
Candidate-direct is each campaign's reported receipts on FEC Schedule A — individual contributions plus PAC contributions to the candidate's own committee — through the most recent filing.
Outside spending is independent expenditures on FEC Schedule E: money spent by PACs, super PACs, and party committees for or against a candidate, without legal coordination with the campaign. The committees listed under each candidate are the largest disclosed spenders on either side.
In-state vs out-of-state covers only itemized individual contributions — donations over $200, which are the only ones that carry a contributor address at the FEC. Sub-$200 unitemized donations (often a large share for grassroots campaigns) have no geography on file and are excluded, as is PAC money. So the percentages describe where a candidate's itemized individual money comes from, not where every dollar raised comes from.
Not counted: 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organizations run issue ads that frequently mention candidates by name but aren't classified as express advocacy under FEC rules — they file no Schedule E and don't appear in this breakdown. Press reporting on a race may cite figures that include this dark-money spending; ours doesn't.
Where they stand
Issue-by-issue comparison
Positions extracted from each candidate's campaign issues page by AI. Contested rows — where candidates disagree with each other — appear first.
| Statement | Garamendi | Carjuzaa | Recile | Rowden | Lamba | You |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Economy The federal minimum wage should be raised. | — | |||||
Economy The federal government should require employers to provide paid family and medical leave. | — | |||||
Education Parents should be able to use public funds — through vouchers — to send their kids to private or charter schools. | — | |||||
Education The government should forgive some federal student loan debt. | — | |||||
Environment The government should set legally enforceable limits on greenhouse gas emissions. | — | |||||
Healthcare Medicare should be allowed to negotiate lower prescription drug prices. | — | |||||
Healthcare States, not the federal government, should decide who gets Medicaid and what it covers. | — | |||||
Healthcare A government-run public health insurance option should be added to the ACA marketplace. | — | |||||
Infrastructure The government should invest in expanding passenger rail, including high-speed rail. | — | |||||
Governance & Other Voters should be required to show photo ID, with the same rule in every state. | — | |||||
Social Security Workers should be able to invest part of their Social Security in the stock market. | — | |||||
Trade Federal procurement should give strong preference to U.S.-made goods, even at higher cost. | — |
SupportsOpposesNo public positionRinged = confirmed by the campaign
About this race page
Candidate roster is sourced from the FEC's active-candidate list for the 2026 cycle. Fundraising totals reflect committee filings through the last reporting period.
Alignment % compares the candidate's extracted policy positions against your quiz answers. Positions are pulled from the candidate's campaign issues page by AI; we save the source quote for each position so you can verify the extraction. Candidates without a campaign issues page show position data pending — we're working through the roster and re-checking stale extractions every 90 days.
News coverage is from the GDELT 2.0 global news feed, filtered to a curated list of national, political, and regional outlets.