Rep. Judy Chu, a Democrat, is running for reelection to California's 28th Congressional District. She faces Republican April A. Verlato in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election.
Chu has held the seat since 2009. She became the first Chinese American woman elected to Congress that year, according to the Congressional Research Service's record of Asian and Pacific Islander Americans in Congress. Both candidates are certified for the ballot, according to BallotReady election data.
Candidate information
- Party: Democratic
- Born: July 7, 1953, in Los Angeles
- Education: Bachelor's degree in mathematics, University of California, Los Angeles (1974); master's degree in psychology, California School of Professional Psychology, Los Angeles (1977); doctorate in clinical psychology, Alliant International University (1979)
Experience and public service
Chu's career in elected office spans four decades. She served on the Garvey School District Board of Education from 1985 to 1988, then won a seat on the Monterey Park City Council, where she served from 1988 to 2001. She served as mayor of Monterey Park from 1988 to 1994, according to BallotReady profile data.
She served in the California State Assembly representing District 49 from 2001 to 2006. She then served as a board member for District 4 on the California State Board of Equalization from 2007 to 2009, before winning her congressional seat.
In Congress, Chu sits on the House Ways and Means Committee, which she joined in 2017, and the House Budget Committee, according to her congressional biography. She chaired the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus from 2011 to 2025. She is also founder and co-chair of the Congressional Creative Rights Caucus.
Before entering politics, Chu worked as a psychology instructor at the Los Angeles Community College District starting in 1988 and as a faculty member at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center.
On the issues
Civil rights and Asian American history: Chu said she introduced and passed a congressional resolution of regret for the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. In 2012, both the House and Senate unanimously passed the resolution to acknowledge the injustice of the act and express regret for the lives it destroyed, according to her candidate response.
Immigration: Chu said she has advocated for comprehensive immigration reform. In the 113th Congress, she said she was one of five original House cosponsors of H.R. 15, a comprehensive immigration reform bill. She said she has continued efforts to bring about immigration reform as the representative of a large immigrant and minority constituency.
Endorsements
Chu has received endorsements from the California Democratic Party, the California Teachers' Association, the Sierra Club, the AFL-CIO, Planned Parenthood of Pasadena and San Gabriel Valley, the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the California Professional Firefighters, the National Education Association, Reproductive Freedom For All and End Citizens United, among others, according to BallotReady data. The endorsements are claimed by the endorsing organizations.
Issue responses attributed to the candidate are drawn from her published candidate questionnaire and congressional record. They reflect the candidate's own statements and have not been independently verified by the Pasadena Ledger.
