Brad Sherman faces Hollywood producer in California House race

Brad Sherman’s easy march into November underscored how little genuine electoral suspense remains in much of one-party California, even as a Republican challenger tries to make the race about relevance, not just party labels.

Sherman, the 15th-term congressman, advanced from California’s top-two primary with Larry Thompson, a Hollywood talent manager and film producer running as a Republican, setting up a November 3, 2026 general election in California’s 32nd Congressional District. The district covers Malibu and Los Angeles County neighborhoods and communities including Brentwood, Encino, Pacific Palisades, Sherman Oaks, Studio City, Tarzana, Topanga, West Hills and Woodland Hills, an electorate that stretches across some of the region’s most affluent Westside and western San Fernando Valley enclaves.

For Sherman, who has served in Congress since January 3, 1997, the result reflected durability that has become the defining feature of his political career. His office says he has held more than 250 town halls, a scale of constituent outreach that has helped make him one of the longest-serving House members in California. In a district where top-two primary rules send the two highest vote-getters to November regardless of party, Sherman’s route to the general election was never likely to hinge on a broad ideological battle.

The top-two system can produce same-party runoffs, but in this case it created a Democrat-versus-Republican fall race in a district where the broader question is whether any challenger can break through the weight of incumbency. Thompson has tried to frame his campaign around a more bipartisan California and Hollywood-friendly policies, an argument aimed at voters who may not be looking for a partisan confrontation so much as a candidate who can speak to business, culture and governing at once.

The 2026 race is also the first congressional cycle under the new maps approved by Proposition 50, which will remain in place through 2030 and will be used in the 2026, 2028 and 2030 House elections. California’s redistricting process is set by the Citizens Redistricting Commission, and the new lines have reset the political geography without changing the larger reality that many districts remain structurally uncompetitive. In California’s 32nd, Sherman’s long tenure and Thompson’s Hollywood profile have produced a contest with clear contrast, but still a steep climb for anyone trying to turn it into a true race.