California Statewide Offices — General Election

November 3, 2026 — the eight constitutional offices on every California ballot

Lieutenant Governor

Presides over the Senate, chairs the state lands commission, acts as Governor when the governor is out of state. Incumbent Eleni Kounalakis (D) is term-limited and is running for Treasurer, triggering a hotly contested open seat.

Fiona Ma Dem Age 60 Frontrunner

Current State Treasurer (termed out) • San Francisco

The first Asian American woman ever elected to statewide office in California. A certified public accountant who rose through San Francisco politics — president pro tem of the Board of Supervisors, then the Assembly (2006–2012), then chair of the State Board of Equalization before winning State Treasurer in 2018 and reelection in 2022. Known for financial stewardship and clean audits, she has branded her lieutenant-governor bid around protecting taxpayers and conversations about housing, climate finance, and small business. She finished first in the June primary and enters November as the favorite.

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Top Issues / Platform

• Financial stewardship: clean audits and fiscal accountability as the LG's presiding-officer role
• Housing: supports Prop 1 and Prop 37 housing investment and homeownership incentives
• Climate finance: green bonds and climate-resilience spending from her Treasurer seat
• Small business: access to capital and fee relief

Key Endorsements & Dynamics

• Two statewide general-election wins already (2018, 2022)
• Huge cash advantage and established donor network from the Treasurer's office
• Kounalakis's term-limited LG→Treasurer move leaves the LG seat open for the Democratic bench to rotate into
• State-funded constituent newsletters from the Treasurer's office drew "self-promotion" criticism during the campaign

Read on the race

• Strengths: Name ID from eight years as Treasurer, CPA credibility, the Democrats' ~20-point registration edge, and a historic candidacy that animates the state's largest Asian American constituency.
• Weaknesses: The LG office is low-salience and turnout-driven; questions about taxpayer-funded mailers give Romero an ethics opening; and she carries the burden of a long career in a year when voters want fresh faces.

Gloria Romero Rep Age 71 Underdog

Former State Senator — Democrat for 30+ years, switched to the GOP in Sept 2024

A trailblazer in the Legislature: the first woman to serve as California State Senate Majority Leader (2005–2008), representing East Los Angeles in the Assembly (1998–2001) and Senate (2001–2010). A psychologist with a PhD from UC Riverside and a longtime Pepperdine professor, she authored California's "No Bullies" education legislation. After three decades as a Democrat she joined the Republican Party in September 2024, arguing the state's school and public-safety policies had left her party. She campaigns on school reform, parental authority, and public safety — and on turning out disaffected former Democrats.

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Top Issues / Platform

• School reform: phonics-based reading, parental authority, more school choice
• Public safety: tougher penalties and homelessness enforcement
• Affordability: lower cost of living, tax relief for families
• Crossover appeal: pitches herself to Latino voters and ex-Democrats as a "blue-to-red" reformer

Key Endorsements & Dynamics

• Advanced as the GOP's second-place primary finisher behind Ma
• Her 30-year Democratic record is the centerpiece of a Latino-outreach strategy
• National and state Republican energy over education and public safety mirrors Prop 39 turnout
• Outspent heavily — Ma entered the general with a commanding war chest

Read on the race

• Strengths: A genuinely competitive crossover biography — a Latina former Dem Majority Leader who can argue she knows how Sacramento works from the inside — plus a crisp education-reform message and history-making appeal in a diversifying state.
• Weaknesses: Runs against a two-time statewide winner in a registration hole of roughly 20 points; the LG race generates the least attention of the statewide slate; and her party switch invites "flip-flopper" attacks from the Democratic machine.

Secretary of State

California's elections administrator — oversees voter rolls, certifies election results, registers businesses & lobbyists. The office sits directly in the crossfire of the same-cycle Prop 39 "Voter ID" fight.

Shirley N. Weber Dem Age 77 Incumbent Frontrunner

Secretary of State since 2021 • San Diego

The first Black woman elected to statewide office in California history. The daughter of Arkansas sharecroppers who moved west, she earned a PhD at UC San Diego and spent decades as a San Diego State professor before entering the Assembly for San Diego (2012–2020), where she authored the constitutional amendment that restored voting rights to people in prison (Prop 17, 2020). As Secretary of State she has defended mail-in ballots and automatic voter registration against election-administration criticism — putting her directly at odds with Prop 39's photo-ID mandate on this same ballot.

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Top Issues / Platform

• Voter access: defend mail-in voting, same-day registration, and AVR against fraud claims
• Election security: secure vote-counting and transparent certification
• Against Prop 39: campaigned openly against the photo-ID measure as disenfranchising
• Civic education: youth and new-citizen engagement

Key Endorsements & Dynamics

• Democratic establishment and voter-rights coalition unified behind the incumbent
• Prop 39's opponents (ACLU, NAACP, League of Women Voters) stake the same ground she does
• Her office's administration of the 2024 and 2026 elections gives her a national profile
• The GOP's voter-ID energy could either lift Wagner or boomerang into Democratic turnout

Read on the race

• Strengths: Incumbency, a historic profile, deep support from civil-rights and voting-access groups, and the state's Democratic registration floor of roughly 20 points.
• Weaknesses: At 77 she invites age/retirement framing; the low-salience office depends on top-of-ticket turnout; and a surging Prop 39 voter-ID movement gives her an unusually energized opposition for a SoS race.

Don Wagner Rep Age 65 Underdog

Orange County Supervisor • North Tustin

An Orange County institution: supervisor since 2017, former Mayor of Irvine (2012–2014), former Assemblymember (2014–2016), and a former community-college district trustee. A workplace/labor attorney, he positions himself as a fiscal conservative who will bring transparency and a business-friendly culture to the elections office. His theme is ballot integrity — tightening the same processes Weber defends — making him the natural beneficiary of a strong Prop 39 showing.

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Top Issues / Platform

• Ballot integrity: tighten ID and roll-maintenance requirements in the elections office
• Business-friendly: streamline corporate filings and lobbyist registration
• Transparency: auditable vote-counting and public reporting
• Fiscal grip: apply county budget discipline to the department

Key Endorsements & Dynamics

• Backed by nearly the entire Orange County GOP establishment
• Prop 39 coattails — the voter-ID fight makes the SoS race the season's clearest proxy battle
• His labor-law background is marketed to public-safety unions a minority of whom split endorsements
• Must overcome Weber's 4-year incumbency and the statewide registration ledger

Read on the race

• Strengths: A real countywide elected record, crisp ballot-integrity branding that rides the Prop 39 wave, and name recognition in Orange County's large GOP donor base.
• Weaknesses: Little statewide name ID against a sitting, historic SoS; a ~20-point registration deficit; and anti-voter-ID organizing risks driving out a Democratic wave that buries him.

Controller

The state's chief fiscal officer — accounts payer, tax collector, and independent watchdog on the budget. A 2022 rematch between the two finalists.

Malia M. Cohen Dem Age 49 Incumbent Frontrunner

State Controller since 2023 • San Francisco native

The first African American elected California Controller (2022). A San Francisco political veteran — Board of Supervisors 2011–2019 (president in 2018) — then chair of the Board of Equalization (2019–2023), she won the Controller's office in 2022 and now runs as an incumbent on pension oversight, payroll accountability, and protecting the general fund. Her rematch with Morgan repeats the 2022 pairing she won by more than 20 points.

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Top Issues / Platform

• Pension oversight: audit pension-system returns and fees
• Payroll accountability: root out improper and duplicate state payments
• General fund protection: independent watch over borrowing and spending
• Transparency: keep the Controller's open-data portals current

Key Endorsements & Dynamics

• A 2022 general rematch — Cohen beat Morgan by ~20 points then
• Statewide Dem establishment and public-employee unions unified behind the incumbent
• Firsts for African American and Bay Area organizers give her built-in base intensity
• Controller races turn on low-information voters; incumbency is decisive

Read on the race

• Strengths: Incumbency, a 20+ point 2022 margin, union and establishment support, and a DP registration tailwind — the closest thing to a lock on the ballot.
• Weaknesses: The office is invisible to most voters; her San Francisco provenance is attackable in a year of city-rollback politics; and low-salience incumbent races depend entirely on turnout.

Herb W. Morgan Rep Underdog

San Diego-based chief investment officer

A career investment executive who founded and led a San Diego firm later acquired by Cantor Fitzgerald, and currently serves as board president of the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System — giving him genuine public-pension fiduciary experience. His platform is built for the Controller's core duties: independent audits of the state budget, pension-funding reform, and paying down the state's "Wall Street-managed" debt. He was the Republican nominee for Controller in 2022 and returns for the rematch with Cohen.

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Top Issues / Platform

• Audit the budget: independent performance audits of state programs
• Pension funding reform: fix underfunding in retiree systems
• Debt management: cut bond-administration and Wall Street fees
• Fiscal discipline: a line-item watchdog against wasteful spending

Key Endorsements & Dynamics

• Second statewide run in four years gives him campaign infrastructure and name ID in GOP circles
• San Diego pension-board record is his sharpest contrast with Cohen
• Rides the GOP's fiscal-audit and anti-debt wave (echo of Prop 41's audit theme)
• Still outmatched: Cohen's Dem machine and the 20-point registration gap

Read on the race

• Strengths: Real fiduciary credentials on the exact subject matter of the office, low-burn incumbency fatigue targeting, and a fiscal-audit message that matches the moment of taxpayer anger.
• Weaknesses: He already lost this race by ~20 points; the office's obscurity suppresses his voter-identification upside, and he remains heavily outspent.

State Treasurer

Manages the state's cash, sells its bonds, invests public pension funds, and banks local agencies. Lt. Governor Kounalakis trades up into the seat as Treasurer Ma moves to LG.

Eleni Kounalakis Dem Age 60 Frontrunner

Current Lieutenant Governor • Sacramento / San Francisco

The first woman elected Lieutenant Governor of California (2018), she presided over the Senate and sat on statewide boards and commissions. A UC Berkeley and Harvard MBA who ran AKT Development, her family's Sacramento-region homebuilding firm, she also served as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary under President Obama (2010–2013). With Treasurer Fiona Ma termed out of Treasurer and headed for the LG seat, Kounalakis steps up to run for Treasurer on a platform of housing-bond execution, climate finance, and "building the California dream" through affordable-housing investment.

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Top Issues / Platform

• Housing bonds: execute Prop 1 and Prop 37 investments efficiently
• Climate finance: green bonds and resilience infrastructure
• Pension investing: maximize returns on CalPERS/CalSTRS-linked systems
• The California dream: affordable-homeownership and down-payment programs

Key Endorsements & Dynamics

• Eight years of statewide name ID as LG and Obama-administration credentials
• Democratic establishment and its housing/climate donor base behind her
• Her homebuilder-family background is both a bond-execution asset and a conflict question
• Open-seat dynamics keep Republicans hopeful but registration keeps the math steep

Read on the race

• Strengths: The rare candidate with both statewide elected experience and private-finance/macroeconomic credentials; strong establishment and donor backing; a 20-point Dem floor.
• Weaknesses: The LG job carries little legislative substance to run on; her family's development business invites conflict-of-interest attacks; and open-seat Treasuries historically drift to whichever campaign turns out minority voters.

Jennifer Hawks Rep Underdog

Businesswoman • first statewide campaign

A Republican businesswoman making her first run for statewide office, Hawks advanced out of the June primary as the second-place finisher behind Kounalakis. Public information about her background is limited and she has no prior elected record — she runs explicitly as an outsider focused on the Treasurer's core functions: fiscal accountability, growing returns on state investments, and cutting the administrative cost of bond issuance.

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Top Issues / Platform

• Investment returns: push higher returns on state-managed funds and pension pools
• Bond costs: cut issuance and administrative fees
• Fiscal accountability: an auditor's eye on Treasurer functions
• Outsider pitch: nobody in the building, unburdened by incumbent relationships

Key Endorsements & Dynamics

• GOP base energy in an open-seat race with no incumbent to protect
• Low-information voters get a clean "businesswoman vs. politician" framing
• Name ID and funding remain far below Kounalakis's levels
• Hinges on whether GOP statewide turnout (Prop 39/DEO) overperforms the registration math

Read on the race

• Strengths: A credible outsider economic message with no record to attack, and the benefit of a genuine open-seat environment.
• Weaknesses: Almost no name ID, no prior public service, a vast funding gap, and a 20-point registration deficit in the state's least-watched statewide race.

Attorney General

The state's top lawyer and chief law-enforcement office — criminal appeals, consumer protection, and the front line of litigation against the second Trump administration.

Rob Bonta Dem Age 53 Incumbent Frontrunner

Attorney General since 2021 • Alameda

The first Filipino American attorney general in U.S. history, appointed in 2021 and elected in 2022. A Yale BA and JD, former San Francisco deputy city attorney and Asian Law Caucus attorney, he served the East Bay in the Assembly (2012–2021). His reelection platform has two tracks: keep fighting federal overreach — the office remains California's lead defender against Trump-administration court fights — while concentrating enforcement on retail crime, fentanyl, and housing-law violations, keeping the crime message he adopted after the 2024 anti-theft measures.

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Top Issues / Platform

• Federal fights: defend CA values, climate rules, and immigrant rights in court
• Retail crime & fentanyl: statewide strike teams and tougher enforcement
• Housing enforcement: pursue illegal landlord practices and owner-build abuses
• Gun safety: defend CA's firearms laws against challenge

Key Endorsements & Dynamics

• Incumbent with 2022 general-election win already under his belt
• Nationalized AG race — he's the state's Trump-administration litigation lead
• Law-enforcement and legislative establishment backing tempered by Prop 36-era realities
• Democratic registration floor plus institutional intensity on his side

Read on the race

• Strengths: Four years of high-profile legal victories against Washington, name ID, institutional support, and an electorate that strongly dislikes Trump.
• Weaknesses: The GOP's "public-safety crisis" framing lands hardest on this office; his progressive past (criminal-justice reform record) is attackable; and nationalized AG races can tighten faster than other down-ballot contests.

Michael E. Gates Rep Age 51 Underdog

Former Huntington Beach City Attorney / former Deputy U.S. Attorney

A career prosecutor: deputy U.S. Attorney in the San Diego U.S. Attorney's Office, then about ten months in 2025 as a Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the DOJ Civil Rights Division, and roughly ten years as the elected Huntington Beach City Attorney (elected 2014). Backed by the Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs' Association, Richard Grenell, and other law-enforcement figures, he runs on "restoring public safety," fentanyl enforcement, and reining in what he calls excessive state litigation against local governments.

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Top Issues / Platform

• Public safety: "restore" enforcement-first prosecution priorities
• Fentanyl: statewide coordination against trafficking
• Local government: end meritless state suits against cities/counties
• Refranchise the office: limit AG-as-political-litigant against the federal government

Key Endorsements & Dynamics

• Sacramento County Deputy Sheriffs' Association and national law-enforcement figures
• Richard Grenell's backing signals Trump-aligned energy in the race
• Prop 39/Trump base-turnout theory is his main path
• Outspent and out-branded by a veteran incumbent AG

Read on the race

• Strengths: A real prosecutor's CV from both the U.S. Attorney's Office and DOJ, law-enforcement endorsements, and a crisp contrast on public safety in a year when crime is a top issue.
• Weaknesses: Never elected to a countywide/statewide office; his brief 2025 DOJ Civil Rights stint invites "Washington" attacks; and he starts 20 points down in registration against a popular incumbent.

Insurance Commissioner

Regulates insurers and approves rates. Term-limited Commissioner Ricardo Lara (D) leaves an open seat — and the top-two system produced an all-Democratic runoff, so a Democrat will hold the office.

Jane Kim Dem

Former San Francisco Supervisor

A San Francisco political lifer — Board of Education member, then the Board of Supervisors (2011–2017) — who ran for San Francisco mayor in 2018. Before elected office she organized tenants and communities with the Chinatown Community Development Center, and affordable housing remains her signature. Her campaign for Insurance Commissioner is squarely consumer-protection: taming the wildfire home-insurance crisis, tougher rate regulation, and forcing insurers to hold down administrative costs.

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Top Issues / Platform

• Fire insurance crisis: restore availability and affordability post-wildfire
• Rate regulation: scrutinize premium hikes and hold admin costs down
• Consumer protection: enforcement against bad-faith claims handling
• Affordable-housing lens: insurance costs as part of the housing-affordability problem

Key Endorsements & Dynamics

• Progressive Bay Area coalition, tenant groups, and consumer advocates
• All-Democratic runoff — no party label resolves the contest
• Her consumer-warrior brand contrasts with Allen's legislative-insider profile
• SF-centric name ID travels unevenly to the rest of the state

Read on the race

• Strengths: The clearest consumer-advocate voice on the ballot's biggest pocketbook issue (wildfire insurance), a genuine activist record, and a base of progressive donor and organizer energy.
• Weaknesses: Low name ID outside the Bay Area, an all-Dem field where Allen has more legislative surface area, and SF political baggage in a year of city-rollback politics.

Ben Allen Dem

State Senator (Westside LA)

State Senator representing Los Angeles's Westside since 2014, where he chairs the Senate Elections and Constitutional Amendments Committee — directly in the weeds of the insurance, voting, and transparency questions before the Legislature. A Rhodes Scholar (Oxford) and UCLA–Harvard Law product who taught at UCLA, he runs on legislative experience: pension and ratepayer protections, wildfire-reinsurance policy, and campaign-finance transparency, pitching himself as the adult who can actually fix California's home-insurance market.

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Top Issues / Platform

• Wildfire reinsurance: stabilize the FAIR Plan and nonrenewal spiral
• Ratepayer protection: pension and premium transparency
• Legislative mastery: turn committee expertise into workable regulation
• Campaign-finance reform: transparency in insurer lobbying

Key Endorsements & Dynamics

• Legislative establishment and statewide dem-aligned donor networks
• Higher statewide profile from his elections-committee role
• The all-Dem runoff turns on which coalition shows up — Bay Area vs. LA base
• Kim's populist message vs. Allen's insider competence framing

Read on the race

• Strengths: A rare candidate who has actually legislated on insurers, rates, and voting — credibility that plays with the moderate and informed voters who decide low-turnout runoffs; strong LA base.
• Weaknesses: "Sacramento insider" framing in a year of anti-incumbent energy, lower intensity than Kim's activists, and the office's obscurity keeps turnout low.

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Head of the K-12 system of 5.8 million students. Nonpartisan office — candidates run without party labels, but the politics are unmistakably nationalized.

Sonja Shaw Nonpartisan Age 43

Chino Valley Unified School District Board President

A mother of kids in her own district who rose to national prominence as the conservative president of the Chino Valley Unified board — the district's parental-notification and curriculum policies became a national test case for the post-pandemic conservative school-board movement. She finished first in the June primary and runs against social-emotional-learning curricula, and for parental authority, phonics-based reading, and school-choice-minded policy.

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Top Issues / Platform

• Parental authority: expand parental-notification rights
• Reading: phonics and science-of-reading curricula
• School choice: charter and open-enrollment options
• Against SEL/CRT: strip social-emotional-learning and identity curricula from classrooms

Key Endorsements & Dynamics

• First-place primary finish signals conservative parent energy
• National GOP and allied parent-rights groups see SPI as a flagship culture-war win
• Nonpartisan label lets her sidestep Trump-brand penalties
• Faces the unified opposition of the state's teacher unions

Read on the race

• Strengths: Momentum from a first-place primary, a durable nationalized parent-rights movement, and a clear, stump-ready cultural message that travels without partisan baggage.
• Weaknesses: SPI races historically tilt to the teachers-union coalition; statewide Dem turnout is a headwind; and her national controversies give Barrera a ready-made "extremism" attack.

Richard Barrera Nonpartisan Age 59

Senior policy adviser, California Department of Education

The education-establishment insider: former president of the San Diego Unified School District board and of the San Diego Education Association (the teachers union), now a senior policy adviser at the California Department of Education under Superintendent Tony Thurmond. He advanced as the second-place primary finisher and runs as the standard-bearer for public-school funding, teacher supports, and defending state standards against anti-CRT/anti-SEL politics.

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Top Issues / Platform

• Public funding: protect school funding formulas and local control
• Teacher supports: staffing, pay, and working conditions
• Standards: defend state standards and inclusive curriculum
• Against curriculum bans: oppose book and lesson restrictions

Key Endorsements & Dynamics

• Unified teachers-union machine (the decisive SPI electorate)
• CDE insider credentials and Supt. Thurmond's orbit
• Dem/Harris-aligned donor and organizer networks
• Second-place finish means he must close the enthusiasm gap

Read on the race

• Strengths: The institutional infrastructure that usually decides SPI races — unions, Dem ground game, and issue depth on school finance.
• Weaknesses: Carries the "status quo" label in an anti-establishment year, is tied to the CDE's record, and trails Shaw's momentum and message clarity.

Board of Equalization, District 4

Voters in Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, Imperial and San Diego counties. Sets property-tax assessments and some excise-tax rules — the one below-the-Gov race that is genuinely competitive in both directions.

Denis Bilodeau Rep Age 58 Underdog

Orange City Councilmember / licensed civil engineer

An Orange County local-government fixture: Orange city councilmember, licensed civil engineer employed by the county, and president of both the Orange County Water District (since 2000) and the Orange Taxpayers Association. A UC Irvine graduate who ran for BOE-4 in 2022, he campaigns on "restoring property tax benefits" and cutting utility-rate assessments — and he is the GOP's strongest statewide-balancing pickup target in a district Republicans have long dominated.

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Top Issues / Platform

• Property-tax benefits: restore and protect taxpayer advantages
• Water assessments: cut utility-rate and assessment burdens
• Local control: push back on state-level tax grabs
• Taxpayer watchdog: audit BOE assessments and appraisals

Key Endorsements & Dynamics

• Targeted as the GOP's best below-Gov flip opportunity
• Deep OC GOP donor and taxpayer-group network
• His water-district record converts local headlines into votes in the district's core counties
• Must overcome Umberg's statewide name ID and Dem turnout math

Read on the race

• Strengths: A 25-year watermark in Orange County civic institutions, the GOP's strongest targeting in the state, and a district whose historic GOP tilt makes the registration math the most favorable of any GOP race on the ballot.
• Weaknesses: Umberg is a sitting state senator with a real base in the district; low-information voters default to the better-known name; and statewide Dem turnout threatens to outrun the district's GOP lean.

Tom Umberg Dem Age 71 Frontrunner

State Senator, SD-34 (Santa Ana) — term-limited, running for BOE-4

A three-decade public servant and combat-credentialed prosecutor: State Senator since 2018 (chair of the Judiciary Committee), with earlier Assembly stints in the 1990s and 2004–2006. A retired U.S. Army colonel and former federal prosecutor (Assistant U.S. Attorney) with a 100% conviction record, he also served as Deputy Drug Czar under President Clinton and co-founded the litigation firm Umberg Zipser. He would be the rare Democrat to hold a BOE seat Republicans have dominated in Orange County.

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Top Issues / Platform

• Property-tax fairness: protect homeowners and seniors from assessment surprises
• Consumer/legal protection: apply his litigation background to taxpayer rights
• Veterans: veterans' property-tax and benefits issues
• Judiciary experience: policy depth from the Senate's Judiciary chair

Key Endorsements & Dynamics

• Name ID built over 30 years in Orange County politics
• Democratic establishment and legislative-alumni network
• His Army/prosecutor record neutralizes the usual Dem-on-public-safety attacks
• Term-limited senator leapfrogs to an open seat rather than retiring

Read on the race

• Strengths: The highest name ID in the field, a biography (colonel, prosecutor, senator) that plays across party lines, and statewide Dem turnout in a district with a large Latino electorate around Santa Ana.
• Weaknesses: BOE-4's GOP lean and heavily non-Dem suburbs give Bilodeau a real district advantage; the office is so obscure that low salience rewards the other side's tighter targeting.