Esmeralda Soria
Esmeralda Soria was elected to the State Assembly in 2022. She serves as Chair of the Assembly Agriculture Committee, a position she has held since 2023. Before the Assembly she served two terms on the Fresno City Council. She is a first-generation American and the daughter of farmworkers who immigrated from Michoacan, Mexico, and she worked alongside her parents in the Central Valley's agricultural fields as a child. Her priorities are rural healthcare access, affordable housing, public safety, and support for Central Valley agriculture and small business.
Why We Endorsed: Esmeralda Soria is a sitting Assemblymember and Chair of the Agriculture Committee who has delivered hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding to the Central Valley and built one of the strongest legislative records on rural healthcare, housing, and flood recovery in Sacramento.
Alignment With NCC Priorities: Esmeralda's Assembly record reads like an NCC builder list. She authored AB 112, which created the Distressed Hospital Loan Program and secured $300 million to keep hospitals open, including Madera Community Hospital. She delivered $140 million for public safety, emergency operations centers, and housing, $120 million for flood recovery in communities like Planada after the 2023 storms, and millions more for parks, student housing, and Central Valley agriculture. As Chair of the Agriculture Committee, she sits at the intersection of NCC's water and energy and middle class jobs priorities, since Central Valley agriculture lives or dies by reliable water supply and stable input costs.
Learn More: soriaforcalifornia.com
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Senate District
14
The Race
District 14 covers the western Central Valley, including Merced County, the western half of Fresno County, and parts of Madera County. It takes in the cities of Fresno, Madera, Merced, Atwater, Los Banos, Chowchilla, Reedley, Sanger, and Selma. The seat is open because Senator Anna Caballero is termed out and running for State Treasurer. Once a Democratic stronghold, the district has trended rightward in recent cycles and is a Republican target in 2026. Soria faces fellow Democrat Esmeralda Hurtado, a Sanger City Councilmember and sister of Senator Melissa Hurtado, and Republican Darin DuPont, a Merced City Councilmember.
A New California Starts With This Slate
Together, these fourteen candidates are the slate NCC believes can move California forward in 2026. They come from cities and counties up and down the state, from different backgrounds and different parties, and from different chapters of California's story. What they share is a commitment to getting things done: finding solutions to homelessness, building the housing, securing the water and energy, and growing the middle class jobs that working Californians need now. NCC stands behind each of them, and we are asking voters in their districts to join us. The California Dream is worth fighting for, and these are the leaders who will help us bring it back within reach.
June 2026 NCC Races: the map highlights Senate Districts 12, 14, 22, 26, and 34, and Assembly Districts 12, 31, 34, 35, 47, 65, 66, 67, and 68