British-American former adviser to UK Prime Minister David Cameron (2010-2012) who later moved to California and co-founded a political crowdfunding platform in Silicon Valley. He authored books on decentralizing power in large institutions and hosted a weekly Fox News show from 2017-2023. His policy proposals focus on lowering gas prices through suspending environmental regulations, cutting income taxes for middle and upper-income earners, and opening natural spaces for suburban single-family housing development.

Key endorsements: President Donald Trump, Nisei Farmers League, Israeli-American Civic Action Network.

Riverside County sheriff with a three-decade career in the sheriff's office, elected sheriff in 2018 with deputy union support. He has documented past connections to far-right organizations including the Oath Keepers militia and has faced criticism, lawsuits, and state investigation regarding jail deaths and conditions. His platform includes suspending numerous state regulations (particularly environmental ones), overturning California's sanctuary law, boosting oil and gas production, and eliminating income and gas taxes.

Key endorsements: Peace Officers Research Association of California, California Republican Assembly, California Rifle and Pistol Association.

Superintendent of Public Instruction and former social worker who heads the California Department of Education overseeing K-12 public schools after serving four years in the state Assembly. Positioned to the left of most Democratic competitors, he is the only gubernatorial candidate supporting a proposed one-time tax on billionaires' assets to backfill federal Medi-Cal cuts. His priorities include tax credits for lower-income working families, utilizing school district-owned land for housing development, and increasing public funding for affordable housing construction.

Key endorsements: California Faculty Association, National Association of Social Workers — California.

Billionaire environmental advocate and investor who accumulated wealth through hedge fund management involving private prisons and fossil fuel investments. After divesting from those holdings, he established an environmental technology investment firm and became a climate activist, funding various liberal ballot measures. His platform includes challenging investor-owned utility monopolies, raising property taxes on business-owned properties, and implementing fees on artificial intelligence usage to support displaced workers.

Key endorsements: California Nurses Association, California Environmental Voters, California Teachers Association.

Law professor at UC Irvine and former congressmember from Orange County (2019-2025) who flipped a longtime Republican seat. She specializes in consumer protection, was mentored by Elizabeth Warren, and gained recognition for questioning corporate and healthcare executives during congressional hearings. Her campaign emphasizes cutting income taxes for middle-income earners, raising corporate taxes on large businesses, and supporting denser urban housing development near transit.

Key endorsements: EMILYs List, California Environmental Voters, Teamsters California.

Former U.S. Health secretary and former state attorney general. Becerra represented Los Angeles in Congress for over two decades before serving as California's attorney general starting in 2017, where he led numerous lawsuits against the first Trump administration and Republican states. He served as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services under Biden, overseeing the COVID-19 vaccine rollout while facing criticism regarding migrant children's care. His campaign priorities include revising climate goals to maintain fuel affordability for middle-class Californians and declaring a state of emergency to freeze utility and insurance rates.

Key endorsements: California Faculty Association, Equality California, Planned Parenthood California.

Mayor of San Jose who previously worked on voter engagement platforms in Silicon Valley before joining the San Jose city council in 2021 and becoming mayor in 2023. His tenure has focused on reducing street homelessness through opening numerous tiny homes as alternatives to traditional shelters. As a moderate, he opposes new taxes, advocates temporarily suspending the gas tax, and supports tying government leaders' pay to performance metrics.

Key endorsements: Thrive LA.

Former Los Angeles mayor (2005-2013) and state Assembly speaker (late 1990s) who significantly expanded police force size and championed local sales tax measures for public transportation expansion. Among the race's more moderate Democrats, he expresses skepticism toward state climate goals, views oil and gas as necessary transition fuels, and proposes a moratorium on climate regulations.

Key endorsements: Peace Officers Research Association of California, Building and Construction Trades Council of California, California State Association of Electrical Workers.

Tubbs leads a nonprofit focused on ending California poverty. He became Stockton's youngest and first Black mayor at age 26 in 2016, implementing a universal basic income pilot program. Raised by a single mother in poverty before receiving a Stanford scholarship, he served one term before losing reelection. He was appointed special economic adviser to the governor in 2021.

Key endorsements: SEIU California, California Working Families Party, AFSCME.

Ma has served as state treasurer since 2019, overseeing the world's fourth-largest economy. She previously served on the Board of Equalization (2014-2018) and was a San Francisco supervisor. With four terms in the state Legislature, she reached second-in-line in Assembly leadership.

Key endorsements: California Labor Federation, State Building and Construction Trades Council, AFSCME.

Romero, a former 12-year Democratic state legislator, became a registered Republican in 2024 after expressing dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party. She served as Senate majority leader from 2005-2008, the first woman in that role. She differs with Democrats on school choice, COVID policies, and gender identity.

Key endorsements: California Republican Party, Reform California.

Kellman is an environmental attorney and former Sausalito city councilmember with ten years of local government experience. She founded a climate nonprofit studying sea-level rise and previously served as a planning commissioner for four years before joining city council in 2020. She earned her law degree from Stanford and grew up in Pennsylvania.

Key endorsements: California Legislative Jewish Caucus.

Fryday heads Governor Gavin Newsom's volunteer office, a position he has held since 2019. Previously, he served as mayor of Novato in the Bay Area and was COO of NextGen America, a climate advocacy group founded by billionaire Tom Steyer. A former Naval officer.

Key endorsements: California Teachers Association, California Federation of Teachers, California School Employees Association.

Gates, a former trial attorney, served as Huntington Beach city attorney for a decade. In that role, he challenged what he viewed as lenient criminal justice policy emanating from the state capital. He also fought elements of the new housing laws that would have compelled Huntington Beach to build more affordable housing. In 2025, Gates was appointed a deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division, a job he left in November when he returned to the Huntington Beach city attorney's office.

Key endorsements: California Republican Party, California Parents Union, California Rifle & Pistol Association.

Bonta was appointed attorney general in 2021 and was elected to a four-year term in 2022. Before that, he was an assemblymember representing parts of the East Bay. As attorney general, Bonta spent much of his first term enforcing housing and criminal justice laws passed in the early 2020s, including laws compelling recalcitrant cities to build new housing. Since the reelection of Donald Trump, Bonta has filed or joined more than 50 lawsuits against his administration.

Key endorsements: California Democratic Party, California Teachers Association, California Environmental Voters.

Mikels is a longtime Inland Empire litigator who was twice the first female lawyer hired at firms in San Bernardino County before founding her own law firm in 1988. Mikels retired when she decided to run for attorney general to oppose Israel's bombing campaign of noncombatants in Gaza and the public-private partnership deals between governments and Silicon Valley companies for surveillance technology.

Key endorsements: Left Unity Slate (Green Party and Peace and Freedom Party).