Information About Candidate Statements

This voter guide includes candidate statements from statewide constitutional office candidates which begins on page 10 of this guide.

Statewide Constitutional Offices

California law includes voluntary spending limits for candidates running for state office who choose to keep their campaign expenses under specified dollar amounts. Statewide constitutional office candidates who accept the spending limits may buy space for a candidate statement (up to 250 words) in this voter guide.

Voluntary spending limits for the following offices for the June 2, 2026, Primary Election are:

  • Governor – $11,767,000
  • Lieutenant Governor, Secretary of State, Controller, Treasurer, Attorney General, Insurance Commissioner, and Superintendent of Public Instruction – $7,844,000
  • Member of the Board of Equalization – $1,961,000

In the following candidate lists, an asterisk (*) designates a statewide constitutional office candidate who accepted California's voluntary campaign spending limits and therefore has the option to buy space for a candidate statement in this voter guide. Some eligible candidates who accepted the spending limits choose not to buy space for a candidate statement. Candidates who did not accept the spending limits are not permitted to submit statements.

For the final certified list of candidates, which was due after this guide was published, go to vote.ca.gov.

Governor

Candidate Name Party
Akinyemi Agbede* Democratic
Mohammad Arif* Democratic
James Athans Jr.* Republican
Larry Azevedo Democratic
Naomi Bar-Lev* No Qualified Party Preference
Xavier Becerra Democratic
Chad Bianco* Republican
Carolina Buhler* Democratic
Joseph Cabrera* No Party Preference
Elaine Culotti* No Party Preference
Patricia De Luca Basualdo* Republican
Louis A. DeBarraicua Democratic
LivingForGod AndCountry DeMott* No Party Preference
Randeep S. Dhillon* Republican
Sophia Edum-A-Sam Democratic
Serge Fiankan* No Party Preference
Lukasz Adam Filinski No Party Preference
Max Fomin* No Party Preference
Derek Grasty* Democratic
Don J. Grundmann* No Qualified Party Preference
Jon Henderson* No Party Preference
Lewis Herms* No Party Preference
Rafael M. Hernandez* Republican
Steve Hilton Republican
Joel Jacob Democratic
Dawit E. Kellel No Party Preference
Gary Howard Kidgell* Democratic
Anne Komarovsk* No Party Preference
Alicia Olivia Lapp* Republican
Matthew Chase Levy* Democratic
Duane Terrence Loynes Jr.* No Qualified Party Preference
Candidate Name Party
Matt Mahan Democratic
Amanda Martin* No Party Preference
Brent Maupin* No Party Preference
Daniel Mercuri* No Party Preference
Leo Naranjo IV* Republican
Tim Nelson Republican
Barack D. Obama Shaw* Democratic
Mauro Alberto Orozco No Party Preference
Thunder Parley Democratic
Katie Porter* Democratic
Raji Rab* Democratic
Satish Rao* Democratic
Ramsey Robinson* Peace and Freedom
Reza Safarnejad* No Party Preference
Sam Sandak No Party Preference
Christine R. Sarmiento* No Party Preference
Frederic C. Schultz* No Party Preference
Scott P Shields* Democratic
Gretha Solórzano* Republican
Tom Steyer Democratic
Eric Swalwell Democratic
Ebony Taylor Republican
Tony K. Thurmond* Democratic
Margaret Trowe* No Qualified Party Preference
Antonio Villaraigosa Democratic
Tom Woodard Libertarian
Betty T. Yee* Democratic
Nancy D. Young* No Party Preference
Leo Samuel Zacky* Republican
Erin “Zez” Zezulak* Democratic
David Zickefoose Republican

Lieutenant Governor

Candidate Name Party
Rakesh Christian Republican
David Collenberg Republican
Sean Collinson No Party Preference
David Fennell* Republican
Josh Fryday* Democratic
Janelle Kellman* Democratic
Jason Lopez* Democratic
Ebie Lynch* Republican
Fiona Ma* Democratic
Candidate Name Party
Oliver Ma* Democratic
Tim Myers* Democratic
Gloria Romero* Republican
Skip Shelton Republican
Abdur Rahman Sikder* Democratic
Alice Stek* Peace and Freedom
Michael Tubbs* Democratic

Secretary of State

Candidate Name Party
Gary N. Blenner* Green
Michael Feinstein* Green
Candidate Name Party
Donald P. (Don) Wagner* Republican
Shirley N. Weber* Democratic

Controller

Candidate Name Party
Meghann Adams* Peace and Freedom
Malia M. Cohen* Democratic
Candidate Name Party
Herb W Morgan* Republican

Treasurer

Candidate Name Party
Anna M. Caballero* Democratic
Jennifer Hawks* Republican
Eleni Kounalakis* Democratic
Candidate Name Party
David Serpa* Republican
Glenn Turner* Green
Tony Vazquez* Democratic

Attorney General

Candidate Name Party
Rob Bonta Democratic
Michael E. Gates* Republican
Candidate Name Party
Marjorie Mikels* Green

Insurance Commissioner

Candidate Name Party
Eric Thor Aarnio* Republican
Ben Allen* Democratic
Steven Craig Bradford* Democratic
Merritt Farren* Republican
Robert P Howell* Republican
Candidate Name Party
Jane Kim* Democratic
Stacy A. Korsgaden* Republican
Sean Lee* Republican
Eduardo “Lalo” Vargas* Peace and Freedom
Patrick Wolff* Democratic

Board of Equalization District 1

Candidate Name Party
Dusty Beach* Republican
Nelson Esparza* Democratic
Shannon Grove* Republican
Candidate Name Party
Nader F Shahatit* Republican
Donald E. Williamson* Democratic

Board of Equalization District 2

Candidate Name Party
Sally J. Lieber* Democratic
J Brett Marymee* Republican
Mark McComas Republican
Candidate Name Party
John Pimentel* Democratic
Bill Shireman* Republican
John W. Zaruka Republican

Board of Equalization District 3

Candidate Name Party
Carlo Basail Republican
Rudy Bermudez Democratic
Mike Gipson* Democratic
Stephan Hohil Republican
Zhijing Liu Democratic
Candidate Name Party
Marie Manvel No Party Preference
Rey Portela* Republican
Baru Alejandro Sanchez* Democratic
Samuel P. Sukaton Democratic
Yvonne Yiu* Democratic

Board of Equalization District 4

Candidate Name Party
Martín Arias* Democratic
Denis Bilodeau* Republican
Gardner C. Osborne* Libertarian
Candidate Name Party
Cody Petterson* Democratic
Tom Umberg* Democratic

Superintendent of Public Instruction

Candidate Name Party
Richard Barrera* Nonpartisan
Wendy Castaneda Leal Nonpartisan
Nichelle M. Henderson* Nonpartisan
Frank Lara* Nonpartisan
Ainye Long* Nonpartisan
Candidate Name Party
Gus Mattammal* Nonpartisan
Al Muratsuchi* Nonpartisan
Josh Newman* Nonpartisan
Anthony Rendon* Nonpartisan
Sonja Shaw* Nonpartisan

For purposes of this guide, candidates listed as having "No Party Preference" either selected that choice or did not make any selection when registering to vote. Candidates listed as having "No Qualified Party Preference" indicated a preference for a party that has not currently qualified in California when registering to vote.