Loading this candidate’s profile from the FEC filings and campaign records.
Where They Stand is a nonpartisan guide to everyone running for Congress: their money, their own words and how incumbents voted. Find your ballot →
Candidates › CA-14 race › 2025–2026
Melissa Hernandez
D Democratic nominee for U.S. House, CA-14
Has not served in Congress
- On the ballot
- On the general election ballotNov 3, 2026 · California US House 14
- Where to vote
- Find your polling place (opens in a new tab) · More ways to vote
- Top priorities
- Cost of Living
- Crime & Public Safety
- Housing Affordability
- Childcare
- Access to Healthcare
- Money
- $2.1M raised, $2M spent, $108.4K cash on hand (through Oct 14, 2026). Where it comes from
- Who gives
- 4% of individual money from donors at $200 or less · 55% from California · largest committee giver CHC BOLD PAC, $15K
- Outside groups
- $3.8M supporting, $410.3K opposing Hernandez
- Backed by
- Alameda County Firefighters · IAFF Local 55 · Fremont Police Association and 154 more. As the campaign lists them
8 priorities from melissahernandez2026.com, in the order they are listed there. Every heading and the text under it is copied exactly, as one passage for each page it is from, and links to that place on the page; hover a source to see which passage it opens.
We are in a cost-of-living crisis, and East Bay families feel it every day — at the grocery store, at the gas pump, and in every rent or mortgage payment. Melissa knows these challenges firsthand: her parents were migrant farmworkers, and she paid her way through college while raising her kids as a single mom.
In Congress, Melissa will use her experience and energy to drive down the costs of housing, healthcare, and childcare, protect Social Security and Medicare from cuts, and prioritize growing small businesses to strengthen our local economy. As Mayor, she kept Dublin financially strong without raising taxes — and she’ll bring that same fiscal discipline to Washington. Lowering costs and expanding economic opportunity for working families will be her first priority.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · melissahernandez2026.com/issues
Heading as listed on melissahernandez2026.com ↗ (opens melissahernandez2026.com at this heading)
Public safety is not a partisan talking point. It is the foundation that everything else rests on. Parents should be able to let their kids walk to school, workers should be able to ride BART home after a late shift, and small business owners should be able to keep their doors open without fear. As a mom and a local leader, Melissa knows that keeping families safe is the most basic job government has, and for too long people across the East Bay have watched that job go undone while officials in Sacramento and Washington argue past each other.
Melissa does not believe we have to choose between supporting law enforcement and demanding it works fairly for everyone. We can do both, and we have to. She will fight to give our police officers, firefighters, and emergency responders the training, staffing, and resources they need to do their jobs well, and to be held to the high standards our communities expect. Real safety comes from trust, and trust is built when residents and the people who protect them are genuine partners. That’s why Melissa is the only candidate endorsed by local public safety and local firefighters.
Just as important is stopping crime before it starts. Melissa will invest in the things that are proven to make neighborhoods safer over the long run: mental health crisis response so police are not the only option when someone is in distress, real treatment for the fentanyl and addiction crisis taking lives across the Bay Area, and opportunities for young people that keep them on the right path. She will push to shut down the organized retail theft rings hurting local businesses and to cut off the fentanyl supply chain at its source.
Melissa has done this work up close. As Mayor she partnered with local law enforcement and neighbors to respond to residents’ concerns, and as BART Board President she has taken on the challenge of making transit safe and reliable for every rider. That is the kind of practical, on-the-ground leadership she will bring to Congress: solutions that come from listening to the community, not from scoring political points.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · melissahernandez2026.com/issues
Heading as listed on melissahernandez2026.com ↗ (opens melissahernandez2026.com at this heading)
As Mayor of Dublin, Melissa led it to a “Best Places to Live” designation, building housing at every level of affordability. In Dublin, she oversaw one of the largest housing expansions in the region, including affordable housing for seniors and residents with disabilities alongside market-rate rentals. She pushed to create walkable neighborhoods and more homes close to BART and other public transit. She knows what it takes to cut red tape, lower building costs, and make housing more affordable because she’s already done it. In Congress, Melissa will work to lower the costs of raw materials, provide incentives to build new housing, and make it easier for first-time homebuyers to afford a down payment and get a home loan.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · melissahernandez2026.com/issues
Heading as listed on melissahernandez2026.com ↗ (opens melissahernandez2026.com at this heading)
As a single mom raising two children while working and putting herself through college, Melissa balanced childcare, bills, and making ends meet. She knows firsthand that the rising cost of childcare is putting tremendous pressure on families — sometimes costing as much as a monthly rent or mortgage payment.
Melissa supports expanding the Child Tax Credit, recruiting and training qualified childcare workers, and paying them more. She also supports Paid Family and Medical Leave.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · melissahernandez2026.com/issues
Heading as listed on melissahernandez2026.com ↗ (opens melissahernandez2026.com at this heading)
As Director of Healthcare Services for an Alameda County Supervisor, Melissa works to expand access to affordable, quality healthcare. Melissa knows we can do better at driving down costs and improving health outcomes. In Congress, Melissa will prioritize patient health and preventative care, lower prescription drug costs, protect and expand Medicare, restore insurance subsidies to reduce the cost of insurance premiums, and restore funding for health programs that serve vulnerable families. There are also cost savings to be had by requiring national standards of care, creating national data sharing, and making costs and care more transparent and standard to drive down costs. Melissa will also fight to protect reproductive healthcare and restore reproductive freedom by supporting legislation like the Women’s Health Protection Act.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · melissahernandez2026.com/issues
Heading as listed on melissahernandez2026.com ↗ (opens melissahernandez2026.com at this heading)
ICE has become a symbol of an immigration system that’s broken and out of control, and it needs fundamental reform. Melissa believes we can secure our communities without tearing families apart. ICE is deporting immigrants who are contributing members of our communities, many of whom are already working their way through the legal immigration process in good faith.
Melissa knows this fight personally: as the daughter of a Mexican immigrant, it took her own father years to become a U.S. citizen. That’s why she’s fighting for real immigration reform, so that earning citizenship isn’t a process that takes years, costs a fortune, and keeps families in limbo. Melissa supports a real pathway to citizenship for DREAMers and undocumented community members who are already contributing to our economy and our neighborhoods.
At the same time, Melissa supports smart border security and regional cooperation to address the root causes driving migration, not political stunts that put families in danger.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · melissahernandez2026.com/issues
Heading as listed on melissahernandez2026.com ↗ (opens melissahernandez2026.com at this heading)
Melissa is deeply concerned about the current climate crisis and supports a transition towards a diverse array of renewable energy sources to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. She supports legislation that fully restores the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), the largest piece of climate legislation in modern times. The Trump administration’s rescission of programs created by the IRA set the country back on the progress we’ve made to reduce emissions. It also eliminated programs that seek to make decarbonization more accessible for low-income Americans who already struggle with the high cost of living. Melissa also supports legislation that reverses the staff cuts made to the EPA and the DOT.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · melissahernandez2026.com/issues
Heading as listed on melissahernandez2026.com ↗ (opens melissahernandez2026.com at this heading)
The East Bay helped build the modern economy, from the national labs in Livermore to the engineers, founders, and small tech companies who call our district home. Melissa believes America should lead the world in the technologies that will define the next generation. In Congress, she will fight to keep good-paying tech and advanced-manufacturing jobs here in our community and to invest in the research, from clean energy to biotechnology, that keeps the United States ahead of global competitors.
On artificial intelligence, Melissa supports commonsense federal standards, not a 50 state patchwork, that allow us to harness AI to lower costs and improve services while protecting workers, students, and children. On cryptocurrency and other emerging financial technologies, she supports clear rules of the road that give innovators regulatory certainty while protecting consumers from scams, fraud, and abuse. Melissa will ensure the future is built here in the East Bay.
source ↗ (opens the page at this passage) · melissahernandez2026.com/issues
Heading as listed on melissahernandez2026.com ↗ (opens melissahernandez2026.com at this heading)