California’s 67th Assembly District stretches across parts of Orange and Los Angeles counties, connecting some of the region’s most dynamic and diverse suburban communities. It includes the entire cities of Cerritos, La Palma, Hawaiian Gardens, Artesia, Buena Park, and Cypress, as well as portions of Fullerton and Anaheim.

Drawn to satisfy Voting Rights Act obligations in neighboring areas and to balance population, this assembly district captures the essence of modern Southern California, a blend of cultures, economies, and political perspectives sharing the same busy corridors.

This has historically been a strongly Democratic, plurality Asian district that mirrors California’s changing demographics. 

The 67th Assembly District contains about 142,000 households, and its demographics have shifted dramatically over the past decade. About 32 percent of eligible voters are Asian, 31 percent are White, 30 percent are Latino, 5 percent are Black, and roughly half a percent are Indigenous. 

Families here work in education, health care, and hospitality, and the area is home to one of the largest commercial districts serving Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian communities in the nation. 

It also hosts the headquarters of a major international humanitarian relief organization. 

The district’s economic backbone is tourism, anchored by Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm, two of California’s most iconic destinations that employ thousands of local residents and shape the region’s identity.

Nearly half of residents are renters, with a median rent of about $2,100 a month and household income below $100,000 a year. The district reflects California’s affordability crisis in real time, where the cost of living, transportation, and housing pressure middle-class families across political lines.

For the past decade, Assemblymember Sharon Quirk Silva has represented this area. A former teacher and mayor of Fullerton, Quirk Silva first won the seat in 2012. Now, at 63, she is termed out, leaving one of the most competitive open seats in Southern California. Born in Los Angeles and raised in Fullerton, she spent 24 years teaching in the Fullerton School District, where she and her husband, Jesus Silva, also an educator, raised four children.

In Sacramento, she gained attention for her successful effort to reintroduce cursive instruction in public schools, a bill she pursued for nearly a decade before its passage in 2023. The law now requires cursive writing to be taught in grades one through six. 

Quirk Silva also authored AB 480, signed into law by Governor Newsom in October 2025, which helps developers build more affordable homes by expanding the flexibility of California’s housing tax credits. 

She has long advocated for Orange County’s first veterans cemetery, noting that the county remains the largest in the state without one. With her departure, the race to succeed her has drawn some of the region’s most prominent local leaders.

Ali Sajjad Taj, a Democrat and longtime Artesia City Councilmember, enters the race with strong local support. Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Taj attended The British School at The Hague and earned a degree in economics from the University of the Punjab before immigrating to the United States in the mid-1990s. He completed a master’s degree in public administration at the University of the Pacific and built a career in finance, working with American Express, Ameriprise Financial, Waddell and Reed, and TD Ameritrade. 

Fluent in six languages, Taj brings an international perspective to local governance. He was first elected to the Artesia City Council in 2013 and made history four years later as the city’s first Pakistani American mayor. 

He has served as president of the League of California Cities and previously ran for State Senate in 2018.

Taj is endorsed by Assemblymember Quirk Silva, Senator Adam Schiff, Representatives Linda Sanchez, Derek Tran, Dave Min, and Norma Torres, as well as former lawmakers Loretta Sanchez and Josh Newman. 

He has raised more than $450,000 for his campaign, with $418,000 cash on hand.

Ada Briceño, co-president of UNITE HERE Local 11 and former chair of the Orange County Democratic Party, is another leading contender. Born in Nicaragua in 1973, she immigrated to California with her family at age seven and began working at 14. By 18, she was a hotel desk clerk and soon joined the union that would define her career. 

At 26, she became the first Latina to lead UNITE HERE Local 11. Briceño has spent decades organizing service and hospitality workers and is a recognized voice for economic justice and immigrant rights. 

She lives in Cypress and is endorsed by Representative Derek Tran, former Representative Katie Porter, and Assemblymembers Rick Chavez Zbur, Liz Ortega, and Pilar Schiavo, as well as by her own union, UNITE HERE. She has raised nearly $400,000, ending the mid-year filing period with $324,000 cash on hand.

Mark Pulido, a Democrat and longtime Cerritos City Councilmember, brings deep experience in public policy and local government. Born in 1968, he grew up in Cerritos. He graduated from Whitney High School before earning a bachelor’s degree in history and Asian American Studies from UCLA, where he served as student body president. He later earned a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Chicago. 

Pulido was first elected to the ABC Unified School Board in 2001 and served three terms before joining the Cerritos City Council in 2011. He was reelected in 2015, served until term limits in 2020, and returned to office in 2025. 

Over nearly three decades, he has worked at every level of government, including as an Assembly consultant, a district director for Senator Alan Lowenthal, and chief of staff in Lowenthal’s congressional office. Governor Jerry Brown appointed him to several state commissions between 2013 and 2019. 

Pulido is endorsed by Attorney General Rob Bonta, Senator Christopher Cabaldon, Assemblymembers Josh Lowenthal, Mia Bonta, Jessica Caloza, Corey Jackson, and Al Muratsuchi, former Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, former Treasurer John Chiang, and former Representatives Alan Lowenthal and Mike Honda. He has raised about $322,000 and has $343,000 cash on hand.

Adrian O. Ayub, a 28-year-old Republican and entrepreneur from Cerritos, represents the youngest voice in the race. 

Born in 1997, he studied at Long Beach City College and Cerritos College and now works as a self-employed real estate investment advisor. 

He ran for Cerritos City Council in 2025, finishing tenth out of ten candidates with 1.4 percent of the vote.

Ayub’s campaign focuses on business growth, entrepreneurship, and reducing regulatory barriers that he argues stifle opportunity in California.

As of October 2025, there are 264,000 registered voters in AD 67. Democrats make up 41.63 percent of the electorate, Republicans 27.86 percent, and 24.8 percent are registered with no party preference. While the district remains solidly Democratic, it has inched slightly to the right in recent cycles, with Republicans often holding above 40 percent in statewide contests.

From Fullerton’s historic downtown to the entertainment corridors of Anaheim and Buena Park, AD 67 is a microcosm of California’s political evolution, young, diverse, and increasingly defined by affordability rather than ideology. 

For the one in four voters who decline to register with either party, this race will be less about labels and more about who can deliver real results for a region that anchors the state’s tourism industry yet struggles with the everyday costs of living.

Source note: This article draws on publicly available information from the California Secretary of State’s voter registration database, CalMatters, the California Target Book, Ballotpedia, California FPPC campaign finance filings, candidate websites, and reporting from local news outlets.