She’s the only Democrat

Malia Cohen, California Controller (incumbent)

Malia Cohen will also win reelection as the only Democrat in the race. GrowSF approves of her job performance, too.

Cohen knows public finance, and she knows San Francisco.

Before becoming Controller, Cohen chaired the Budget and Finance Committee and the Audit and Oversight Committee on the SF Board of Supervisors. After that, she ran the San Francisco Employees' Retirement System (https://mysfers.org/about-sfers/investments/), a $35 billion pension fund. Now she sits on the boards of CalPERS and CalSTRS (https://sco.ca.gov/eo_investments_and_pensions.html), the two biggest public pension funds in the country, with almost $1T in assets, combined.

She also went after California's largest-ever charter school fraud (https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/task-force-releases-report-in-wake-of-states-largest-ever-charter-school-fraud/3632211/). Cohen led a task force that came up with 20 fixes (https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/california-controller-releases-recommendations-to-prevent-charter-school-fraud) for how the state checks school finances — tougher rules for auditors, faster reporting, and more disclosure. Her office also publishes pay data for over 2 million government workers (https://sco.ca.gov/eo_sco_data.html) across 5,000+ agencies.

We would like to see the Controller's Office return $15B in unclaimed property (https://www.cbsnews.com/news/california-unclaimed-property-state-owes-charities-money/) such as forgotten bank accounts and uncashed checks that belong to Californians. Other states send it back automatically — California still doesn't. Overall, Cohen has brought transparency and accountability to the state's spending.

Source (https://growsf.org/voter-guide/san-francisco-voter-guide-june-2026-election/#controller)