“When now-Mayor of Oakland Barbara Lee stepped down from the House in 2024 to run for Senate, many worried about the loss of her progressive, anti-imperialist voice. But since her election, Lateefah Simon has done well to fill her shoes and uphold the tradition of Black radicalism left by Lee and Ron Dellums before her. Simon, a powerful orator if you've attended one of the many protests and rallies she's spoken at, has been outspoken on left-wing issues, domestic and international alike, including Palestine, and she is undeniably the most left-wing member of California’s House delegation. Though we hope to one day have a DSA member in this seat, the East Bay will do well to re-elect Simon. Source (https://www.californiadsa.org/voterguide)”

“State Senator Aisha Wahab, a strong progressive voice in the state legislature, especially for tenants’ rights, has emerged as the clear frontrunner. She's endorsed by the Working Families Party and Our Revolution but also by the Democratic Party. Wahab was one of the first Afghan-American elected officials in the country when she was elected to the Hayward City Council in 2018, and if she wins this race, she will be the first Afghan-American in Congress and one of very few Muslim members of the House (there have only been five total ever). She has two main Democratic rivals, both running clearly to her right. BART Board Director Melissa Hernandez has garnered support from local mayors, County Supervisors, and police unions, including DSA’s evil doppelganger (the Deputy Sheriffs’ Association). But the most concerning candidate is Rakhi Israni, a longtime Hindu nationalist activist with a history of ties to far-right Republicans. Wahab, a Muslim, drew the ire of Hindu nationalists for her bill aiming to outlaw caste discrimination (which passed the state legislature but was vetoed by Newsom), and while Israni is little-known, she has raised millions, making her a formidable candidate. Vote Aisha Wahab. Note: Due to Swalwell resigning, there will also be a special election to fill his seat for the remainder of his term; make sure you vote for Aisha Wahab in the June 2 regular primary election, the June 16 special election primary, the August 18 special election runoff, and the November 3 general election. Source (https://www.californiadsa.org/voterguide)”

“It’s no understatement to say that this cycle’s governor’s race has been a whirlwind. Multiple, potentially field-clearing candidates, like California’s “top cop” and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate, Kamala Harris, and incumbent Attorney General Rob Bonta, declined to run. One of the Democratic frontrunners and darling of California's Bearstar (https://bearstarstrategies.com/) Democratic establishment, Representative Eric Swalwell, has been credibly accused of sexual assault and misconduct and dropped out of the race. So, who does that leave Californians with? After Swalwell’s disgraceful exit, the Democratic establishment (and corporate donors) almost immediately began supporting a candidate they had formerly urged to drop out (https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-03-03/california-democratic-leader-urges-weak-gubernatorial-hopefuls-to-bow-out), former HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra. Becerra’s résumé is certainly long; he has been in some kind of public office almost uninterrupted since 1990. His milquetoast policy platform promises very little change from the status-quo, and during this time as HHS Secretary, he largely refused to take more progressive action. With his deep ties to the Democratic establishment, Becerra is more of the same disappointing corporate Democrat we’re used to. There is also former mayor of Los Angeles, Antonio Villaraigosa, who dropped his hair dye and picked up an infusion of funds from the oil lobby for another shot at governor. His 2026 race seems to be even more successful than his 2018 race and the most notable thing he’s done so far is pick up the endorsement from historically unpopular and scandal-ridden current mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass. Let’s also not forget that Villaraigosa’s career as mayor was marked by the rapid privatization of LA’s public school system, which is a nonstarter. Fresh off the heels of her failed campaign for US Senate, former Representative and whiteboard warrior Katie Porter has tried to use her firebrand credentials to stake out a lane in the race for governor. However, she refuses to support many progressive priorities - such as the CA DSA-endorsed billionaire tax and closing the commercial property tax loophole (https://www.evolve-ca.org/close-the-loophole) - and has historically supported Israel, even saying she was “extremely impressed” by Benjamin Netanyahu (https://mondoweiss.net/2023/03/rep-katie-porter-pushed-for-dem-delegation-to-meet-with-netanyahu-says-she-was-extremely-impressed/). Late last year, her campaign was rocked by accusations that she mistreated her staffers with videos circulating of the verbal abuse (https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/08/katie-porter-tears-into-staffer-new-video-00598942). She seems to mostly have shrugged off that scandal and continues to be one of the leading contenders for governor. Tony Thurmond, the current State Superintendent of Public Instruction, is technically also still running. However, he has consistently polled in the low single-digits (like… 1% (https://cadem.org/california-democratic-party-releases-new-california-voter-index-tracking-survey/)) and has no chance of even seeing the runoff. Additionally, any progressive should remember Thurmond’s silence regarding AB 715, the “Don’t Say Palestine” bill that civil rights groups like CAIR warned would censor pro-Palestinian speech in schools (https://ca.cair.com/updates/ab-715-threatens-to-censor-palestine-in-schools/) (or potentially even mentions of Palestine). Finally, Tom Steyer is somehow running the most progressive campaign. Despite being a billionaire, he supports taxing the rich and supports the Billionaire Tax (https://tomsteyer.substack.com/p/its-time-for-corporations-and-billionaires) currently on California’s ballot, which CA DSA has endorsed. He has done an about-face from his previous position to now supporting state-level Medicare for All. He has called ICE a “violent extremist group (https://tomsteyer.substack.com/p/how-california-can-put-ice-in-jail)” and outlined how he, as governor, would prosecute ICE agents. He has also been endorsed by a number of major labor unions, including the California Teachers Association, the California Federation of Teachers, AFSCME 3299, Unite HERE, the California Nurses Association, and the California Labor Federation, as well as progressive groups such as Our Revolution and Courage California, and former gubernatorial candidate Betty Yee. Notably, Steyer is one of two Democrats in the race, alongside Tony Thurmond, to explicitly support (https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/11/californias-13-gubernatorial-candidates-disagree-on-banning-transgender-student-athletes/) California’s law protecting trans girls’ participation in girls’ sports; Becerra, on the other hand, glibly stated that “there’s nothing in the Constitution that says that you are entitled to play a sport”, and other Democrats, including Porter, agreed. However, while Steyer has disavowed AIPAC’s influence on Democratic primaries (although, notably, AIPAC does not involve itself in non-federal races) and acknowledged that Israel is committing war crimes, he has refused to call Israel’s actions in Palestine a genocide and claimed that he “honestly does not know what genocide means.” We find this rhetorical trick to be pulled from the same Zionist playbook that motivates genocide denial across the political spectrum—playing dumb about the daily horrors and atrocities Israel commits is not “progressive” in any way. Additionally, Steyer is a billionaire. Even if he glibly considers himself a “class traitor” (https://x.com/TomSteyer/status/2047032543866704051), his wealth was earned through the exploitation of the working class. Much of his wealth was also invested in private prisons (https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-2020-tom-steyer-hedge-fund-billionaire-20190711-story.html) and coal mining (https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-na-pol-2020-tom-steyer-hedge-fund-billionaire-20190711-story.html), accumulated by the same things he now decries. There are myriad left-wing protest votes one could take (none of which are going to come close to winning), the most prominent of which are Ramsey Robinson and Butch Ware. We highly encourage voters to not cast a protest vote, as the stakes are incredibly high and the chance of the top two candidates both being Republicans is still very real. We especially urge you to not write-in Butch Ware, who failed to qualify for the ballot and has lashed out against Californian Left, including the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), Peace and Freedom Party (PFP), and DSA. Aside from his previous anti-abortion and transphobic statements, the latter of which he has doubled down on (https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2025/11/californias-13-gubernatorial-candidates-disagree-on-banning-transgender-student-athletes/) during his run for governor, he also saw it fit to call Shirley Weber, a Black woman, Gavin Newsom’s “house slave” in an ill-executed diss track (https://x.com/ButchWare/status/2037216628367138817?s=20). However, the most progressive of the current viable candidates for governor is Tom Steyer. Time will tell whether he’s truly a class traitor. Source (https://www.californiadsa.org/voterguide)”

“Luckily, there is another choice: Oliver Ma. Oliver is CA DSA’s first-ever endorsed statewide candidate and is running on an explicitly democratic socialist platform that articulates a vision of a California that works for working people—not oligarchs and billionaires. Oliver immigrated to California at age seven and has dedicated his career as a lawyer to protecting the rights of tenants, immigrants, and workers. As an immigrant rights attorney with the ACLU, Oliver has been on the front lines of defending Californians against ICE and the federal government’s terror campaign. When elected, he will shut down the for-profit detention centers that have proliferated across our state, ending the profits made from our exploitation. One of the primary areas of influence of the Lieutenant Governor is over California’s higher education system. Currently, University of California schools alone have over $32 billion invested in assets tied to genocide and apartheid in Palestine. Not only is Oliver the only candidate to describe the atrocities in Gaza as genocide, he is the only candidate who has promised to divest these funds from Israel and ensure that our higher education institutions are not funding atrocities overseas. Oliver is committed to building something that lasts beyond his campaign and, in this, building DSA statewide. Oliver understands, like all democratic socialists must, that an organized movement of working people is more than one candidate or one campaign. If you are not in DSA yet, join today (https://act.dsausa.org/donate/membership/) and get involved with our statewide organization or in your local chapter’s work. For more information on Oliver Ma, go to: <https://oliverma2026.com/> and vote for Oliver Ma before June 2. Source (https://www.californiadsa.org/voterguide)”