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).

Wagner, an Orange County supervisor who previously served as Irvine's mayor and in the state Assembly, is campaigning centered on election integrity. In his supervisory role, he opposed the state's pandemic response policies, challenged diversity and inclusion spending by the county, and sought to furnish restricted voter information to the Trump administration's Justice Department regarding alleged voting irregularities. Wagner advocates for voter identification requirements at polling locations and criticizes the incumbent for delays in ballot tabulation processes.

Key endorsements: California Republican Party, Reform California, California Republican Assembly.

Weber, whose parents were Arkansas sharecroppers who escaped Jim Crow conditions, made history as California's first Black secretary of state through appointment in 2021, following eight years serving in the state Assembly. She secured a full four-year term in 2022 with a decisive victory. During her tenure, she has overseen permanent universal mail-in voting implementation, managed significant elections including the gubernatorial recall effort, pursued litigation against local governments regarding voting regulations, and addressed election fraud allegations. For her next term, Weber committed to broadening voter participation opportunities, enhancing transparency in election records, and strengthening election system cybersecurity.

Key endorsements: California Democratic Party, California Federation of Teachers, SEIU California.

A San Francisco Tenderloin resident who serves as her union's president and manages its finances. Adams, a school bus driver, seeks to investigate corporate landlords affecting housing costs, evaluate single-payer healthcare implementation expenses, and redirect state investments away from companies involved in Israel's Gaza operations.

Key endorsements: Vote Socialist California, Peace and Freedom Party.

A San Diego-based investment professional whose firm was eventually purchased by Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors. Morgan campaigns on identifying governmental fraud, particularly relevant amid current federal administration criticism of California's operations.

Key endorsements: California Republican Party, California Republican Assembly, Unity Party of California.

The current California controller since 2023, Cohen emphasizes governance grounded in transparency, efficiency and fairness. Recently, she has advocated for cautious spending practices while state leadership negotiates budget allocations.

Key endorsements: California Democratic Party, California Labor Federation, Equality California.

A politician from Salinas with experience as the city's mayor, assemblymember, and state senator. After redistricting in 2021, she relocated to Fresno. She has established herself as a legislative leader on agriculture and housing matters, serving previously as the state's chief housing official under Governor Jerry Brown. Characterized as a relative moderate within the Democratic caucus, she sometimes diverges from her party's progressive faction regarding environmental regulation and criminal justice. Her current campaign focuses on streamlining affordable housing subsidy applications and redirecting state resources away from federal immigration enforcement activities.

Key endorsements: California Conference of Carpenters, California Latino Legislative Caucus, California Young Democrats.

Serving two terms as lieutenant governor, Kounalakis brings experience from state boards including the UC Board of Regents and California State University Board of Trustees, where she consistently opposed tuition increases. She entered politics through Democratic fundraising, leveraging her family's Sacramento real estate background. She received an ambassadorship to Hungary under President Obama. She initially campaigned for governor before withdrawing late last year.

Key endorsements: California Labor Federation, Teamsters California, National Union of Healthcare Workers.

A Silicon Valley retiree without elected office experience who recently worked on the executive team at Sacred Heart Schools in Atherton. She is an active Republican Party member. Her business background and political views distinguish her in a race historically dominated by Democratic career politicians for nearly three decades. Hawks argues her outsider status and independence equip her to provide oversight of state government.

Key endorsements: California Republican Party, California Republican Assembly, Reform California.

Former Santa Monica councilmember and the city's first Latino mayor, Vazquez completed eight years on California's Board of Equalization. His campaign emphasizes his Latino heritage and association with legendary labor organizer Dolores Huerta.

Key endorsements: Stonewall Democrats.

Bradford proposes establishing a public-private partnership to share risk with insurers and keep them operating in California. He would connect insurance to land use and planning decisions, and support a voluntary program encouraging relocation from high-risk zones.

Key endorsements: Teamsters California, State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, California Correctional Peace Officers Association.

Howell, a cybersecurity company CEO, would adopt a watchdog approach, tying homeowners insurance participation to broader market access. He advocates for establishing an Insurance Payers Bill of Rights for Californians.

Kim, a consumer advocate, attorney, and former San Francisco Supervisor, proposes Natural Disaster Insurance for All, funded by policyholder premiums, guaranteeing wildfire and flood coverage while customers remain with current insurers. She also advocates for a public auto insurance option.

Key endorsements: SEIU California, California Teachers Association, California Faculty Association.

Wolff, a financial analyst, would develop an insurer report card rating claims handling, consider allowing auto insurers to track driver behavior for underwriting, and launch a public dashboard for life-insurance providers.

Allen aims to increase transparency from insurance companies and the Department of Insurance by appointing a consumer advocate. He advocates for disclosing insurers' fossil fuel investments and holding the fossil fuel industry accountable for climate risks. He proposes banning commissioners from working in the insurance industry immediately after leaving office.

Key endorsements: California Environmental Voters, California Professional Firefighters, Sierra Club.

Farren would create CAL Reinsure to provide wildfire-risk protection for insurers, potentially eliminating the FAIR Plan. This entity would be funded through fees charged by insurance companies.

Korsgaden, a licensed insurance agent, would encourage new insurance products, establish a business division within the first 100 days, create a consumer advocacy hub, and combat fraud to reduce costs.

Key endorsements: California Republican Party, Reform California, California Congress of Republicans.

Lara is an elementary school teacher in San Francisco Unified who previously served as vice president of the district's teachers union.

Key endorsements: Peace and Freedom Party, Green Party, United Educators of San Francisco.

Rendon served as Assembly speaker from 2016-2023, advancing major K-12 funding increases, universal transitional kindergarten, and charter school accountability measures. He previously ran an early childhood program in Los Angeles for two decades and continues prioritizing early childhood education.

Key endorsements: AFSCME, SEIU California, California Latino Caucus.

Muratsuchi represents Los Angeles' South Bay area in the Assembly and formerly chaired the Assembly Education Committee. He co-authored Prop. 2 (successful $10 billion school facilities bond) with former State Senator Joshua Newman. He teaches government as an adjunct professor at El Camino College and previously worked as deputy attorney general.

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

Barrera was relatively unknown outside San Diego until securing California Teachers Association endorsement. As State Superintendent adviser and president of San Diego Unified school board, he emphasizes bringing fresh perspective to the role, with priorities including boosting school funding, early childhood education, and simplifying pathways to teacher certification.

Key endorsements: California Teachers Association, United Domestic Workers.

Mattammal operates a Silicon Valley tutoring company and supports charter schools, homeschooling, and alternatives to traditional public education.

Newman, former state senator and ex-chair of Senate Education Committee, currently serves as UC Irvine fellow. An Army veteran, he co-authored Prop. 2 with Assemblymember Muratsuchi. He previously founded an organization supporting veteran transitions to civilian employment.

Key endorsements: State Building and Construction Trades Council of California.

Shaw leads the Chino Valley School Board and has prominently opposed transgender student protections. She gained attention in 2023 presiding over a board meeting where State Superintendent Tony Thurmond was escorted out during transgender rights debate. She advocates eliminating radical ideologies from classrooms and emphasizes academic fundamentals.

Key endorsements: California Republican Party, Moms for Liberty, California Rifle and Pistol Association.

Henderson serves as Los Angeles Community College District trustee with strong union credentials and extensive teaching experience. She advocates for expanded school health access and standardized testing reform, plus divesting state pensions from fossil fuels and the U.S. war machine.

Key endorsements: California Democratic Legislative Women's Caucus, California Legislative Black Caucus, California Young Democrats.