Our View: Voters pick top-two candidates in statewide races

26 Apr 2026, 01:08 · The Fresno Bee

Voters often pay little attention to the primary elections for statewide office holders. They become more engaged when candidates face off in the November general election. But to ignore the primary races leaves voters stuck with others' choices.

California's "jungle" primary system places all candidates who file and qualify to run for a single statewide office on the same ballot. Regardless of party affiliations (registration), all voters receive ballots containing the same list of statewide candidates. The two candidates in each race who receive the most votes compete in the November general election.

There are some sleepy statewide races on the June 3 ballot. But others already are generating sparks. In today's Opinion section, The Californian highlights four statewide races and makes recommendations. The other four statewide races will appear next Saturday. Major considerations in making recommendations are candidates' prior public service and demonstrated abilities. The goal is to have the two strongest candidates in each race face each other in November.

Last week, The Californian published an editorial commenting on the volatile governor's race. The newspaper is not making a recommendation in that race.

Lt. governor

California's lieutenant governor is a "backup executive," with few defined responsibilities. The lieutenant governor becomes governor if the sitting governor dies, resigns, is removed or becomes incapacitated. The lieutenant governor breaks voting ties in the state Senate and sits on several boards.

Sixteen candidates are competing in the June primary to replace termed-out Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis. They are Democrats Josh Fryday, Janelle Kellman, Jeyson Lopez, Fiona Ma, Tim Myers, Oliver Ma, Abdur Rahman Sikder and Michael Tubbs; Republicans Ebie Lynch, David Collenberg, Gloria Romero, David Fennell and Skip Shelton; Alice Stek, Peace and Freedom; and Rakesh Christian and Sean Collinson, no party preference. The two strongest candidates to advance to the November runoff are Fiona Ma and Romero.

Ma is the current, termed-out state treasurer. A certified public accountant, she is well known for her public finance and fiscal management skills. In this race, she is viewed as an establishment, experienced statewide official. Before being elected treasurer in 2018, she served in the state Assembly, on the state Board of Equalization and as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.

Romero holds a bachelor's and master's degree from California State University Long Beach and a doctorate in psychology from the UC Riverside. Before being elected to the state Assembly in 1998, she taught at state universities and served on the board of the Los Angeles Community College District. She was elected to the state Senate in 2001, where she served until being termed out in 2010. She served as the Senate's Democratic majority leader from 2005 to 2008.

In 2024, Romero switched parties to Republican. "I didn't leave the party - the party left me," she says, noting her disagreement with Democratic Party positions on crime, education and social issues.

With Democrat Ma and Republican Romero in the November runoff, likely there will be a lively debate about California's future.

Attorney general

The California attorney general is the chief law enforcement officer and the state's top legal adviser. The job combines legal, investigative and public policy duties. Three candidates are competing in the primary for attorney general. They are Democratic incumbent Rob Bonta, Republican Michael Gates and Green Party candidate Marjorie Mikels. Bonta and Gates are the top two candidates who should advance to the November runoff.

Bonta holds undergraduate and law degrees from Yale University. After clerking for a U.S. district judge, he went into private practice in San Francisco. He worked in the San Francisco City and County Attorney's office from 2003 to 2012 and was elected to the Alameda City Council. From 2012 to 2021, he represented Alameda in the Assembly. He was appointed in 2021 and later elected to a full term as California attorney general, after President Joe Biden appointed then-Attorney General Xavier Becerra U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services.

A conservative attorney and longtime critic of Gov. Gavin Newsom, Gates served for about a decade as Huntington Beach's city attorney. During his tenure, he battled the state over many issues including housing, immigration and elections. He left his city job in February 2025 to become deputy assistant attorney general in the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division. Citing family reasons, he left the DOJ job after 10 months and returned to Huntington Beach as an assistant city attorney. Gates has since resigned from his Huntington Beach job. Gates hold a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Davis, and a law degree from Loyola Law School.

Secretary of state

The secretary of state oversees California elections, business registration and maintains official state records. Democratic incumbent Shirley Weber faces three primary challengers in her reelection bid. They are Donald Wagner, Republican; Gary Blenner, Green Party; and Michael Feinstein, Green Party. Weber and Wagner are the top two candidates in this race.

Weber was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021 to serve as secretary of state to replace Alex Padilla, who left to become a U.S. senator. She was elected to a full term in 2022. Before her appointment, she served four terms as an assemblywoman representing the 79th District, which includes portions of the city and county of San Diego. Before being elected to the Legislature, she served as a member of the San Diego Unified School District board.

Weber attended the University of California, Los Angeles, where she received her bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees. Prior to receiving her doctorate, she became a professor at San Diego State University. She also taught at California State University at Los Angeles and Los Angeles City College. She retired from the SDSU Department of Africana Studies after 40 years as a faculty member.

Wagner earned a bachelor's degree in English from UCLA and a law degree from UC Hastings College of Law. He was elected in 1998 to the South Orange County Community College District board and served three terms. In 2010, he was elected to represent the 70th District in the Assembly. In 2016, he was elected mayor of the city of Irvine. In 2019, he was elected to his present seat on the Orange County Board of Supervisors. He is the founder and first president of the Orange County Chapter of the Federalist Society.

Treasurer

The state treasurer acts as the state's banker and manages California's finances. This includes managing the sale of billions of dollars in bonds and managing trillions in banking transactions and investments. The treasurer also serves as the chair of 17 boards, commissions and authorities.

Six candidates are competing in the primary to replace termed-out Treasurer Fiona Ma. They are Democrats Anna Caballero, Eleni Kounalakis and Tony Vazquez; Republicans Jennifer Hawks and David Serpa; and Green Party candidate Glenn Turner. The top two candidates in this race are Kounalakis and Caballero. They are the most experienced and publicly tested candidates.

Kounalakis holds a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the University of California, Berkeley. From 2010 to 2013, she served as the U.S. ambassador to Hungary. In 2014, Gov. Jerry Brown appointed her to chair the California Advisory Council for International Trade and Investments. She was elected California's lieutenant governor in 2018 and reelected in 2022. Prior to her public service, she was the president of AKT Development, a housing development firm.

An attorney, Caballero served 15 years on the Salinas City Council before being elected in 2006 to represent the 28th Assembly District. In 2011, she was appointed by Gov. Jerry Brown to serve as secretary of the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency. She oversaw 16,000 employees and a $27 billion budget. She returned to the Assembly in 2016 and was elected in 2018 to the 12th District state Senate seat. Her Senate term ends this year. Her career also includes representing farmworkers with the California Rural Legal Assistance and co-founding a law firm providing affordable legal services to working families. She founded Partners for Peace, a nonprofit that aimed to reduce youth violence.