Alexandra Duarte Wants to Be “a Senator for the People Who Can’t Afford to Buy One.” She and Her Husband Have Given More Than $100,000 in Political Contributions Since 2016.

At a candidate forum hosted by the Stanislaus Latino Chamber of Commerce, Alexandra Duarte closed her opening statement by describing the kind of state senator she wants to be: “A senator for the families who can’t afford their groceries. A senator for the families who can’t afford their gas.” She finished by saying she was running “to be a senator for the people who can’t afford to buy one.”

Federal, state, and local records show that since 2016, Duarte and her husband, former Rep. John Duarte, have given $123,360 to campaigns, party committees, and political action committees: $101,395 to federal committees, $18,515 to state ones, and $3,450 to local candidates. That averages nearly $1,000 a month for over 10 years.

Who gave, and when

Most of the money came from John Duarte. The records credit about $24,970 to Alexandra Duarte and about $98,390 to him. Her share includes $13,850 from two federal contributions that were later partly credited to her, a routine practice for married donors. Her own direct contributions ranged from $50 to $2,700 and went to Denham, Heng, Rep. Tom McClintock, congressional candidate Bob Elliott, and Republican Party committees.

The largest single gift came on May 17, 2021: $25,000 to the Nunes Leadership Fund, a joint fundraising committee for then-Rep. Devin Nunes. Half of it was later credited to Alexandra Duarte.

In 2019 and 2020, John Duarte gave $8,000 to committees supporting seven Republican U.S. Senate candidates in other states: Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Susan Collins of Maine, Martha McSally of Arizona, Joni Ernst of Iowa, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, and David Perdue and Kelly Loeffler of Georgia.

In California, his contributions went mostly to Republican candidates for governor and the Legislature. They include $5,000 to John Cox’s 2018 campaign for governor, $2,500 to Steve Hilton’s 2026 campaign for governor, and $5,209 to Reform California, a committee run by Carl DeMaio.

Locally, John Duarte gave $3,250 to candidates for the Modesto Irrigation District board, including $2,500 in August 2026 to Dominic Giorgi. Alexandra Duarte gave $200 to Jeff Dirkse’s 2018 campaign for sheriff.

Most of the giving happened before 2022. Since the start of 2022, the year John Duarte first ran for the House, the couple has given $22,245 to other campaigns and committees: $11,845 at the federal level, $7,150 at the state level, and $3,250 locally.

Beyond their own checks

Two other sources of money tied to the Duartes are not counted in the totals above. In August 2025, John Duarte’s congressional campaign committee gave her State Senate campaign $11,800, which its federal report describes as covering the primary and general elections. And Duarte Nursery, the family business, gives on its own: since 2016, state and county records list more than $70,000 in contributions from the nursery to state and local candidates, party committees, and political action committees, including $10,000 to the California Republican Party in 2020 and $5,000 to Sheriff Jeff Dirkse’s 2022 campaign. Since May 2026, her campaign has also reported $300 a month in non-monetary contributions from the nursery.

What these numbers include

These contributions were legal and publicly disclosed. The totals cover contributions to federal and state campaigns and committees recorded by the Federal Election Commission and the California Secretary of State, and to local campaigns that file with Stanislaus County. They include five federal contributions, totaling $15,800, listed under John Duarte’s name at the Duarte Nursery business address in Hughson with the nursery as his employer, and a $5,000 contribution to John Cox’s campaign listed under a John Duarte of Modesto in the couple’s ZIP code. They do not include money John Duarte put into his own congressional campaigns or Alexandra Duarte’s $70,000 loan to her own State Senate campaign. Local filings with Stanislaus County are searchable online only from 2018, and filings with city governments and other counties were not reviewed. Contributions made by other people named John or Alexandra Duarte, including John Duarte’s father, Jim, were excluded.

Alexandra Duarte is a Republican candidate for California State Senate District 4 on the Nov. 3, 2026 ballot.