Each candidate has a track record, a platform, money behind them, and endorsements, and the ten with real campaigns are here side by side so the differences are easy to see.
Race for governor: 61 people filed, 10 with a real campaign.
Vote-by-mail ballots started going out around May 5. If yours has not arrived, the first move is to check your registration with the Secretary of State so you know your address on file. If your registration is current and your ballot still has not shown up, you can request a replacement at your county elections office, or vote in person at any vote center starting May 22. Our Take Action + Vote page walks through every option, in English and Spanish.
See every voting optionEvery candidate card carries a few badges, and they are our shorthand for two things a campaign mailer will never put up front: where the money comes from, and where the candidate stands on the issues that move rent, wages, healthcare, and safety from ICE.
Polling average 13% or higher
Former Fox News host, born in the UK, and ex-Director of Strategy to British PM David Cameron. Endorsed by Trump. Platform: cooperation with ICE, flat tax, opposition to Medi-Cal for undocumented folks.
Billionaire hedge fund founder turned climate activist, running the largest self-funded gubernatorial campaign in California history.
Former federal Health Secretary and former California Attorney General who filed 122 lawsuits against the first Trump administration. Son of Mexican immigrants from Sacramento.
Riverside County Sheriff and former Oath Keeper. At the May 5 debate he said of his Oath Keepers membership: "I'm very proud of it." Platform: massive cooperation with ICE, repeal Prop 47/57.
Polling 5 to 9%, can still move the vote
Three-term former U.S. representative. Elizabeth Warren protégée and bankruptcy law professor at UC Irvine. Famous for her whiteboard in Congressional hearings. Zero corporate PAC money.
Late-entry Mayor of San José and former Silicon Valley civic-tech CEO. "Back to basics" platform that prioritizes public safety enforcement over unhoused folks. Massive backing from tech billionaires (Moritz, Caruso).
Two-term former Mayor of Los Angeles (2005-2013) and former California Assembly Speaker. Promises a single term. Platform: $25B housing bond, "all of the above" energy, defend Prop 13 residential AND commercial.
Polling under 2%, message campaigns that move the debate
California Superintendent of Public Instruction since 2019. Former state assembly member. Platform: one-time asset tax on billionaires, "Literacy Moonshot," 2M units on surplus school land.
San Francisco school social worker. Party for Socialism and Liberation member. Platform: tax on CA's 194 billionaires, 1.4M public units, guaranteed union jobs at $30/hr.
Not on the ballot, you have to write the name in
Tenured professor of African and Islamic history at UC Santa Barbara. 2024 Green Party VP nominee with Jill Stein. Gaza ceasefire, CalCare, Vienna-style social housing.
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