2026 race

CA-18 — U.S. House

2 candidates on the November ballot. Incumbent: Zoe Lofgren.

Read the record. Not the rhetoric.

See where these candidates stand — and who's funding them.

DeepSyte tracks the money and the record in every race against the issues you care about — not party, not press releases. Take the 2-minute values quiz to see your alignment.

How we got here · 1 earlier contest
Primary · Tuesday, June 2, 2026
Called by audit: web-verified
Top-two primary — Zoe Lofgren and Shane Lewis advanced to the general election.
  • DZoe Lofgren· inc.Advanced to general59.0%
  • RShane LewisAdvanced to general27.2%
  • DLuis Antonio Acevedo-ArreguinDefeated10.8%
  • Christopher DemersDefeated3.0%
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.

Disclosed money in race
$2.3M
Candidate + outside spending. See finance breakdown below.
Incumbent

Currently in office

LOFGREN, ZOE official portrait

Zoe Lofgren

D
IncumbentFEC H4CA16049

Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.

Raised this cycle$2.0M
Cash on hand: $602K
Challengers

Sorted by fundraising

Christopher Demers

I
ChallengerFEC H6CA18164

Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.

Raised this cycle$116K
Cash on hand: $15K

Shane Lewis

R
ChallengerFEC H6CA18172

Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.

Raised this cycle$115K
Cash on hand: $4K

Luis Antonio Acevedo-Arreguin

D
ChallengerFEC H2CA18171

Sign in + take the quiz to see alignment.

Raised this cycle$18K
Cash on hand: $8K
Local signal

Early read on CA-18 — 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 Zoe Lofgren over the last 90 days.
0 positive5 neutral0 negative
5 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
$2.3M
Candidate fundraising + independent expenditures (FEC).
Candidate-direct (Schedule A)
$2.2M
Raised by candidate committees themselves.
Outside spending (Schedule E)
$110K
$110K for · $0 against
CandidateRaised directlyOutside forOutside againstNet in corner
Zoe Lofgren(D)incumbent
+ PROTECT PROGRESS $109K
+ SOUTH BAY AFL-CIO LABOR COUNCIL $258
+ SIERRA CLUB INDEPENDENT ACTION $10
$2.0M$110K—$2.1M
Christopher Demers
$116K——$116K
Shane Lewis(R)
$115K——$115K
Luis Antonio Acevedo-Arreguin(D)
$18K——$18K
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.

Zoe Lofgren(D)75% in-state · $834K itemized
$622K in-state$211K out-of-state
Christopher Demers5% in-state · $40K itemized
$2K in-state$38K out-of-state
Shane Lewis(R)60% in-state · $39K itemized
$23K in-state$16K 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.

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.