Secretary of State on the June 2 California primary ballot. The full candidate field, the guide's position, and the sources behind it.
Who is running
Four candidates qualified for secretary of state, the office that runs California elections. Incumbent Shirley Weber faces a Republican challenger and two Green Party candidates. Per CalMatters, the race has centered on how fast ballots should be counted.
Shirley N. WeberIncumbent
Democratic
The incumbent secretary of state, appointed in 2021 and elected in 2022, and a former San Diego Assemblymember and longtime Africana studies professor. Per CalMatters, she has defended California's vote-by-mail system and its ballot-counting timeline.
Donald P. (Don) Wagner
Republican
An Orange County supervisor and former Assemblymember. Per CalMatters and the Santa Barbara Independent, his campaign has emphasized faster ballot counting and election administration changes.
Michael Feinstein
Green
A former Santa Monica mayor and city councilmember and a longtime Green Party organizer. He is one of two Green candidates offering a left alternative on this ballot.
Gary N. Blenner
Green
A teacher and Green Party candidate running on expanded voter access and election reform, the other left-of-the-field option in this race.
The top two finishers on June 2 advance to the November 3, 2026 runoff.
The guide's pick on this race is in the Member Portal voter guide. Member access is free; email barriopower@gmail.com to request.
Sources
Certified candidate list: California Secretary of State sos.ca.gov. County registrar (LA: lavote.gov, OC: ocvote.gov, Ventura: recorder.countyofventura.org). For per-candidate sources, see each candidate's full profile (linked above where available).
This guide is free. If it helps you, chip in to keep it that way.
This site is built from crowd-sourced and publicly available information. We work to publish only accurate information, but human error is possible, and when we get something wrong we make the public corrections needed. See the corrections log.