June 2026: Alameda County, State, & Federal Candidates

Off-year primaries are tough. Super important for California's statewide offices, but otherwise not too much going on. Here's how I'm voting and links to two writeups by folks I respect. An * in the list below means I wrote something substantive

Federal & State Offices:

• *Governor: Tom Steyer
• *Lieutenant Governor: Michael Tubbs
• Secretary of State: Shirley Weber
• Controller: Malia Cohen
• *Treasurer: Anna Caballero
• Attorney General: Rob Bonta
• *Insurance Commissioner: Jane Kim or Ben Allen
• *Board of Equalization, District 2: John Pimentel
• State Superintendent of Schools: Barrera, Rendon, Muratsuchi, or Newman
• U.S. Congress, 12th District: Lateefah Simon
• CA Assembly, 14th District: Buffy Wicks

Alameda County offices + proposition:

• *District Attorney: Pamela Price
• *Superior Court, Office 13: Cabral Bonner
• *Superior Court, Office 19: Selia Warren
• *Measure A: Yes for Peralta Colleges

Here are recommendations from other people I respect:

• Edie & Janet's June 2026 Primary East Bay Voter Guide: I've known Edie for years, respect her, plus she makes this guide with her mom, and this spring Edie just had a baby herself! Their guide also covers some Oakland races I don't. They're progressives with work experience on housing and environmental concerns. 
• Landau's Guide, June 2026 Primary: I've known Nathan Landau even longer. He only distributes his guide via email, so I've posted this PDF of it (with his permission) on my Google Drive. His guide covers more of Alameda + Contra Costa Counties than I do. He's a progressive with work experience on public transit. As a longtime public agency employee, he places a high value on competent administration. 

For details, read on ....

Federal & State Offices

Governor: Tom Steyer

If you've been paying any attention, you know this is a tough decision (if you haven't, it's probably even tougher). There are 61 candidates on the ballot. Most have no chance. California's top-two system means the top two vote-getters will advance to the General Election in November. 

I'm voting for Tom Steyer, because he is both a Democrat I think has a shot at winning and one with whom I agree on most issues. I took the CalMatters' quiz, which asks you a bunch of questions and then ranks the candidates according to how well their and your answers line up. My results were: Porter-Steyer-Thurmond-Becerra ... and then I stopped paying attention. 

I agree with Steyer on affordability, homelessness, housing, climate, and more, and I keep hearing positive things about him from friends (read Edie & Janet's endorsement). I'm not excited that he's a billionaire who's bought his way into contention and that he has no public administrative experience. So I hope he assembles a strong cabinet. 

I have similar agreements with Katie Porter, but she has no more administrative experience and seems to be fading in the polls. I also like Tony Thurmond's positions, but he hasn't ever broken single digits in polls. 

Xavier Becerra grabs my fourth spot but is #1 for Nathan Landau because of his strong administrative experience. Becerra ran the US Department of Health & Human Services and spent several years fighting Trump as California's Attorney General. I respect that, but I just can't get excited about voting for him -- he feels like too much of a voice of the establishment. 

Lieutenant Governor: Michael Tubbs

Now this is a candidate I can get excited about. Michael Tubbs is the very progressive former Mayor of Stockton. He led a successful experiment with Universal Basic Income, now being copied widely.

Current Treasurer -- and establishment candidate -- Fiona Ma will probably be one of the top two. She's probably fine on policy, but see both Edie/Janet and Nathan's writeups for concerns stemming from sexual harrassment allegations against her. 

Secretary of State: Shirley Weber

She's doing a great job and she's the only Democrat in the race. 

Controller: Malia Cohen

I don't know of any reason not to re-elect her, and she's the only Democrat in the race.

Treasurer: Anna Caballero

This is an open seat. I hear great things about Caballero: she ran California's housing and consumer service agency, so she's got good administrative experience as well as legislative experience as a former State Senator. She's been an affordable housing champion and actually has ideas on how to use the Treasurer's role to make change. I'm not as impressed with the other Democrat in the race, Eleni Kounalakis. 

Attorney General: Rob Bonta

Doing a good job as incumbent, is the only Democrat in the race. 

Insurance Commissioner: Jane Kim (or maybe Ben Allen)

There are four Democrats running for this open seat. I'm most impressed by Jane Kim and Ben Allen. I think I'd like Kim's policies the most -- she proposes a public disaster insurance agency to guarantee fire and flood coverage, similar to a successful model in New Zealand. Ben Allen was a State Senator whose district was devastated by fires. He wants to create a fund for state-backed loans to harden homes and restrict new construction in fire-prone areas (good). Read more from CalMatters. 

Board of Equalization, District 2: John Pimentel

I'm convinced by the arguments that we should eliminate the Board of Equalization, the only voter-elected state tax board in the country. After reports of blatant corruption, almost 10 years ago the state stripped the board of many duties and transferred thousands of jobs from Board oversight to the state. That was good. Getting rid of it would be better -- it mostly seems to function as a holding-tank for people trying to run for statewide office. 

One candidate in this race, John Pimentel, is reportedly open to shutting the board down. See writeups by CalMatters and the SF Chronicle (behind a paywall). 

State Superintendent of Schools: maybe Barrera, Rendon, Muratsuchi, or Newman

It looks like California is poised to significantly reduce the power of this position, shifting many of its responsibilities to a board appointed by the governor. So ... this job may become a lot less important. I don't know enough about education policy to know whether that's a good thing. Among the candidates running, I'm really just copying Nathan Landau's list. I recommend reading his writeup to see who you like. If you're curious what's happening to the office, see this from CalMatters.  

U.S. Congress, 12th District: Lateefah Simon

She's terrific. 

CA Assembly, 14th District: Buffy Wicks

She's good and the only Democrat in the race. 

Alameda County offices + proposition:

District Attorney: Pamela Price

This race makes me sad. Sad because I supported Pamela Price as a reformer (in 2018 when she was the first challenger to make a dent against an incumbent, and 2022 when she ran again and won). Sad because she was then defeated in a 2024 recall, taken down by a combination of conservative money and Price's own difficulties in running the DA's office. It's hard to reform an entrenched system, she would've had to be perfect to succeed, and she wasn't. Sad because Ursula Jones Dixon, appointed to replace her after the recall, undid all of her reforms. Sad because I'd guess Price will lose again, ensuring the continuation of a 100-year history of re-electing the incumbent (broken only by Price's 2022 victory).  

Superior Court, Office 13: Cabral Bonner

Cabral Bronner is a civil rights attorney, currently serving as a Temporary Judge, and endorsed by Congresswoman Lateefah Simon, the Hon James Reilly (current Office 13 judge), and several local electeds. His opponent Michael P. Johnson has mostly worked as a corporate attorney. 

Superior Court, Office 19: Selia Warren

Selia Warren served as Oakland's Deputy City Attorney for 10+ years, endorsed by many Superior Court Judges, gobs of local elected officials and democratic clubs. Her opponent Patricia Miles didn't file a candidate statement. 

Measure A: Yes, for Peralta Colleges

Community Colleges are one of California's best ideas and most important treasurers. This measure would reauthorize an existing parcel tax that helps funds the Peralta Community College District, serving northern Alameda County. This is such a slam dunk that no one submitted an argument against it.