By Sara Beth Williams–
Residents of Citrus Heights voted in the primary midterm elections on Tuesday June 2 selecting their choice for a variety of positions, including California Governor, lieutenant governor, California Secretary of State, Attorney General, State Controller, and various other state and county position.
Only two candidates for California governor will emerge from a massive field of 61 candidates.
Voters will also select U.S. House nominees using a new map approved in a November 2025 ballot measure.
California State Senate District 6, Assembly District 7, Congressional District 6 represent Citrus Heights and other cities and unincorporated areas. In primary elections, the top two candidates who receive the most votes move on to the genera election, held on Nov. 3, 2026.
As of April 3, there were roughly 23.1 million registered voters in California, including 10.4 million Democrats, 5.8 million Republicans and about 5.3 million not registered with any party. Local news reports indicate only one third of registered voters voted in the 2024 primary.
Almost 90 percent of votes in the 2024 U.S. Senate primary were cast before primary day.
As of last Thursday, about 2.6 million ballots had already been cast prior to election day.
Races to watch:
California State Senate District 6 (representing Citrus Heights) Incumbent and Republican Roger Neilo is running against two other candidates, Democrat Sean Frame, and Democrat Sara Velasco.
Congressional District 3: Republican Kevin Kiley, who is running as an independent, withdrew from District 3 to run in District 6 as this district moved sharply to the left with newly drawn district maps.
Local resident and Republican Christiana Bish is now running in District 3, having withdrawn from District 6. Bish is the only Republican among four other Democratic candidates.
Congressional District 4: Local resident and businessman Ray Reihle is running for Congress again as a Republican, against eight other candidates, including two Democrats, six Republicans, and one candidate listed as No Party Preference.
Congressional District 6: (representing Citrus Heights) This district shifted a few points to the right in redistricting, although still favors Democrats. Kevin Kiley left the GOP and became an independent in hopes of succeeding in this district.
Other candidates in District 6 include
- Lauren Babb Tomlinson, a woman’s health executive is running as a Democrat. See Tomlinson’s bio here.
- Martha Guerrero, Mayor of West Sacramento, and a social worker, is running as a Democrat. See Guerrero’s bio here.
- Thien Ho, Sacramento County District attorney, is running as a Democrat. See Ho’s bio here.
- Richard Pan, a physician, health advocate, and former state senator, is running as a Democrat. See Dr. Pan’s bio here.
- Tyler Vandenberg, running as Democrat. See Vandenberg’s bio here.
- Michael Stansfield, an Applications Engineer and author, is running as a Republican. No campaign website or photo were available.
Assembly District 7 (representing Citrus Heights) Incumbent and Republican Josh Hoover has been elected to the State Assembly twice, most recently defeating local candidate Vice Mayor Porsche Middelton in the 2024 primary elections by a narrow margin. Other candidates include:
- Sanaz Motamedi, running as an American Independent, a Sacramento local, who is passionate about her community, the environment and the animals, according to her online bio.
- Amy Slavensky, running as a Democrat, born and raised in the Fair Oaks and Carmichael communities according to her online biography
Results will begin to come in once polling stations close at 8 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.
New state laws aiming to shorten the timeline for counting ballots are also affecting local election offices.
Follow The Sentinel for the latest local election results for both the primary and general election. Find the best subscription plan for you here.
