Governor
No endorsement
Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra (D) faces commentator and businessman Steve Hilton (R) to replace Governor Gavin Newsom, who is term-limited.
We looked closely at both candidates, and neither has earned our recommendation. California’s next governor will face a structural budget deficit, a housing shortage, an insurance market in crisis, and major decisions about how the state grows. We have not seen either candidate make a convincing case for how they would handle those challenges. We would rather make no recommendation than endorse a candidate we are not confident in.
Voters should weigh the candidates for themselves. The official state voter guide at voterguide.sos.ca.gov and the nonpartisan CalMatters voter guide at calmatters.org both have more information.
Lieutenant Governor
No endorsement
State Treasurer Fiona Ma (D) faces former State Sen. Gloria Romero (R).
The lieutenant governor has very little power. The job is mostly ceremonial: standing in when the governor is out of state, breaking tie votes in the state Senate, and serving on the University of California and California State University boards. Neither candidate’s platform connects closely to the issues this guide focuses on, and we are not making a recommendation in this race.
Secretary of State
Recommendation: Shirley Weber
The Secretary of State runs California’s elections: certifying candidates and ballot measures, publishing the voter guide, and making sure votes are counted correctly. Shirley Weber has held the office since 2021. Her challenger is Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner.
We recommend Yes on Proposition 39, the voter ID measure. It may seem inconsistent to also recommend Weber, who opposes it. It isn’t. Voter ID is a question for voters, and Prop 39 puts it directly on the ballot. If it passes, it becomes part of the state constitution, and the Secretary of State is required to carry it out, whoever holds the office. Voters and the courts will hold the office to that.
The question for this race is who should run elections day to day. Weber has managed statewide elections through a period of major change, including the move to universal mail voting and a statewide recall election. She has pledged to strengthen cybersecurity and improve transparency in election filings.
Wagner’s agenda goes further than voter ID. He also wants to require mail ballots to arrive by Election Day and to ban paid ballot collection. As a county supervisor, he pushed to release sensitive voter information to the federal Justice Department over claims of voting irregularities. That is a more aggressive approach than we think the office should take. Election administration works best when it is steady and trusted by voters of all parties.
If Prop 39 passes, Weber will be responsible for implementing a measure she opposed. That is a fair concern, and voters should watch how she does it. But a Secretary of State who respects the voters’ decision while protecting access is a reasonable balance, and we believe Weber is the better choice to strike it.
Controller
Recommendation: Herb Morgan
The Controller is California’s chief accountant. The office audits state spending, pays state employees, and reports on the state’s finances. In a state with a budget of nearly $350 billion, it is one of the main checks on whether public money is spent as promised.
Malia Cohen was elected Controller in 2022. During that campaign, she promised to scrutinize the state’s spending on homelessness and take a critical look at the Employment Development Department. She did not follow through on either. Her explanation is that the State Auditor had already reviewed those agencies, so she focused on modernizing the state’s financial and payroll systems instead. That work matters, but it is not what she told voters she would do. The state’s annual financial report, which investors and credit agencies rely on, has also been published late in recent years.
Herb Morgan founded a San Diego investment firm that was later acquired by Cantor Fitzgerald. He is running on exposing waste and fraud, and he has committed to the homelessness spending review Cohen promised and did not deliver. He also proposes publishing state spending in near real time so the public can see where the money goes.
Our recommendation comes down to accountability. We are supporting Proposition 41 because programs funded by taxpayers should be reviewed to see whether they are working. The Controller’s office is where that review should happen, and it did not happen under Cohen. Morgan’s proposals are ambitious and untested, and voters should hold him to his commitments just as closely. But an official who does not deliver on the core promise of her campaign should not be rehired for the job.
Treasurer
Recommendation: Eleni Kounalakis
The Treasurer is California’s chief banker. The office manages and invests the state’s money and oversees its borrowing and debt. This year the seat is open, since current Treasurer Fiona Ma is term-limited.
Eleni Kounalakis has served as Lieutenant Governor since 2019. In that role, she has sat on many state boards, which are a large part of the Treasurer’s job. On the University of California Regents and the California State University Trustees, she has regularly voted against tuition increases. Before holding office, she was president of ATK Development, a Sacramento land development company, and she served as a U.S. diplomat.
That background matters this year. We are recommending Yes on Propositions 1 and 37, which would authorize billions of dollars in bonds for housing and home loans. The Treasurer would be responsible for issuing and managing that debt. Experience with both state finance and real estate development is a strong fit for the work ahead.
Her opponent, Jennifer Hawks, is a retired Silicon Valley executive who has never held elected office. She has made a fair point: the office has been held only by Democrats for nearly thirty years, and fresh scrutiny of how the state invests its money has value. Her focus on judging investments by performance and keeping politics out of retirement fund decisions is a reasonable standard, and we would expect Kounalakis to meet it. But managing the finances of one of the world’s largest economies calls for experience, and Kounalakis brings more of it.
Attorney General
Recommendation: Rob Bonta
The Attorney General is California’s top lawyer and law enforcement official. The office represents the state in court, enforces state laws, oversees state law enforcement, and protects consumers. Rob Bonta has held the office since 2021. His challenger is Michael Gates, the former Huntington Beach city attorney.
Our recommendation comes down to housing. California’s housing shortage drives up costs for everyone, and it has held back cities like Vallejo for years. The state has passed laws requiring cities to plan for and approve new housing, but those laws only work if someone enforces them. Bonta has done that, taking on cities that refused to build. Gates, as Huntington Beach’s city attorney, fought those same laws to keep his city from having to build more affordable housing. His campaign calls for more local control over zoning, which in practice is often how cities avoid building. We are supporting Propositions 1, 37, and 45 to help California build more homes, and the Attorney General is one of the main officials who makes sure cities do their part.
We recognize this race involves other issues that matter to voters. Gates is running on stronger support for law enforcement. He also supports voter ID, which we recommend through Proposition 39, while Bonta has opposed it in court. If Prop 39 passes, it becomes part of the state constitution, and we expect the Attorney General to defend it in court as he would any other part of the constitution. Voters should hold him to that.
On balance, getting California building again is one of the most important things the next Attorney General can do, and Bonta has the record to show he will.
Insurance Commissioner
Recommendation: Ben Allen
California’s insurance market has been in trouble for years. Major insurers have stopped writing new policies or pulled back from high-risk areas, and more homeowners have been pushed onto the FAIR Plan, the state’s insurer of last resort. Both candidates are Democrats, and both want to get people off the FAIR Plan and back into the regular market. They differ on how.
Ben Allen, a state senator since 2014, would work within the existing system and make it more accountable. He would require insurers to report claim delays and backlogs in real time after a disaster and to explain denials. He would add staff to handle consumer complaints, appoint a consumer advocate inside the Department of Insurance, and increase oversight of the FAIR Plan. He would also bring together local officials, firefighters, builders, and insurers to reduce wildfire risk and rethink where the state builds. After the Los Angeles fires hit his district, he wrote legislation giving the department more enforcement power. He is endorsed by the California Professional Firefighters and the California Democratic Party.
Jane Kim’s central proposal, “Natural Disaster Insurance for All,” would create a state-run fund to guarantee wildfire and flood coverage, paid for by diverting part of homeowners’ premiums to the state. The goal is understandable, but there are too many unknowns:
- She has not said how much money the fund would need, or how it would cover a major fire season, when losses can reach tens of billions of dollars.
- The programs she cites as models, such as New Zealand’s, do not cover fire. Wildfire is the main driver of California’s insurance crisis.
- She has not said whether rates would be based on risk. If not, homeowners in lower-risk areas, including most of Vallejo, could end up paying more to cover high-risk areas.
- The plan would need approval from the Legislature. A commissioner cannot create it alone.
Even consumer advocates who usually side against insurers have questioned whether the plan is workable. Some of Kim’s other ideas have merit, including a public dashboard of insurers’ claims records and penalties for slow payments. But her campaign is built on a plan that is not ready to deliver.
One note on Allen: he pledged not to take insurance industry money, but his campaign was later found to have accepted several donations from insurers, which it said it would refund. Voters should expect him to keep that pledge in office.
Superintendent of Public Instruction
No endorsement
Richard Barrera, president of the San Diego Unified school board, faces Sonja Shaw, president of the Chino Valley Unified school board. The office is nonpartisan.
The two candidates hold sharply different views on how California’s schools should be run. But the office itself is losing most of its authority. Starting in 2027, a governor-appointed education commissioner will run the state Department of Education, and many of the superintendent’s duties will move to the State Board of Education. Local school boards also control most decisions about budgets and curriculum.
Given how little authority the office will have, we are not making a recommendation in this race. Voters who want to weigh the candidates’ positions can find more in the official state voter guide at voterguide.sos.ca.gov.
Board of Equalization, District 1
No endorsement
Vallejo is in District 1 of the Board of Equalization, where Fresno City Councilmember Nelson Esparza (D) faces State Sen. Shannon Grove (R).
The Board of Equalization lost most of its authority in a state reorganization nearly a decade ago. Today it has a limited role in overseeing property tax administration, and it is best known as a stepping stone to higher statewide office. Neither candidate has made a strong case for what they would accomplish in the job, and neither lines up closely with the priorities in this guide. We are not making a recommendation in this race.