Sen. Melissa Hurtado (D–Bakersfield) has a Democratic challenger for her seat.
Bakersfield City Councilwoman Manpreet Kaur filed paperwork with the California Secretary of State’s Office to form a committee to run in Senate District 16.
Driving the news: Kaur was elected to the Bakersfield City Council in 2022 to represent Ward 7, the district that covers southern Bakersfield.
She founded the Kern County chapter of Jakara Movement in 2016
State of the race: Hurtado is currently in her second term in the Senate and can serve one more four-year term if she is reelected to represent the 16th district in November.
She narrowly defeated Republican David Shepard by a margin of 22 votes four years ago and ran for Congress against Rep. David Valadao (R–Hanford) in 2024 but did not make it out of the primary.
Hurtado had been running for reelection unopposed until Republican Guillermo Gonzalez recently launched his campaign for the seat with widespread GOP support. Gonzalez is a field representative for Valadao.
The 16th district spans parts of Fresno, Kern and Tulare counties and contains all of Kings County.
While Democrats have an eight-point advantage in voter registration, President Donald Trump won the district by nearly nine points in 2024.