Controller

State 1 seat 2026-11-03

All Fullerton voters. This is a statewide office, so every voter in the city of Fullerton votes in this contest on the November 3, 2026 ballot.

What this office does

The controller is California's chief fiscal officer and the state's accountant and bookkeeper for all public funds. The official voter guide describes the office as administering the state payroll system, administering the unclaimed property laws and conducting audits and reviews of state operations, and it says the officeholder serves on the Board of Equalization, the Board of Control and other boards and commissions.

The controller does not write the budget or set tax rates. The office pays the state's bills, reviews claims before money leaves the Treasury, audits spending afterwards, keeps the state's accounts and reports whether public money was spent as the law requires. CalMatters puts the budget the office oversees at nearly $350 billion.

The Los Angeles Times reports the officeholder also serves on dozens of boards, including the boards of the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the California State Teachers' Retirement System, the nation's two largest public pension funds, which gives the office a role in pension, land and financing decisions and not only in bookkeeping.^S2^S3^S5

Contest context

Two candidates qualified for this contest. Malia M. Cohen, Democratic, the incumbent, and Herb W Morgan, Republican, advanced from California's June 2, 2026 top two primary, in which all candidates run on one ballot regardless of party and the two highest vote getters move on. The Secretary of State's certified list names both as the Controller candidates for November 3, 2026.^S1^S3
Official results from the June 2, 2026 primary in the Controller contest were Malia M. Cohen 4,909,613 votes, 56.8 percent; Herb W Morgan 3,244,252 votes, 37.5 percent; and Meghann Adams, Peace and Freedom, 489,663 votes, 5.7 percent.^S19
Cohen was elected controller in 2022 and has held the office since 2023. She is seeking a second four year term. ABC7 reports that no Republican has won a statewide office in California since 2006 and that Morgan's campaign sees this race as a chance to break that run.^S3^S5^S9
ABC7 reports that an internal poll commissioned by Morgan's campaign showed him within single digits of Cohen, and notes the result should be viewed with caution because the survey was conducted for that campaign. The same report says polling by the Public Policy Institute of California has found more than nine in ten Californians believe state government wastes at least some of the money taxpayers provide.^S9
Both candidates submitted statements to the Secretary of State's Official Voter Information Guide. The guide states that the order of the statements was determined by randomized drawing, and that the statements were supplied by the candidates and have not been checked for accuracy by any official agency.^S2
Candidate order on this page follows the order in the Secretary of State's certified list.^S1

Candidates

Listed in ballot order. Candidates are described with the same sections and level of detail; no ranking or endorsement is implied.

Malia M. Cohen

Democratic State Controller/Mother Incumbent

Bio

The Secretary of State's certified list prints her party preference as Democratic and her ballot designation as State Controller/Mother, and marks her as the incumbent.^S1
Her campaign says she was born and raised in San Francisco, attended public schools there, earned a bachelor's degree from Fisk University and a master's degree in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University.^S11
Her campaign says she served on the California State Board of Equalization as the first African American woman on that board, representing 10 million people in 23 counties, that she was president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and that she chaired the San Francisco Employees' Retirement System, where her campaign says she led a move to divest from fossil fuels and thermal coal and put $100 million into a fossil fuel free index fund.^S11
In the Orange County Register questionnaire she gave her age as 48, said she lives in San Francisco and listed her current job as California State Controller. She said she was elected to the Board of Equalization in November 2018, chaired it in 2019 and 2022, and served as president of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors before that.^S7
Her campaign says she sits on more than 70 boards and commissions with authority ranging from affordable housing to crime victim compensation to land management, and she describes herself in the voter guide as a working mom and dedicated public servant. In the Orange County Register questionnaire she says she is the mother of a 6-year-old girl.^S11^S2^S7

Record in office

She has held the controller's office since 2023 after being elected in 2022. She has not served in the Legislature, so there is no legislative voting record for her; her public record is her time as controller and, before that, as a member and chair of the State Board of Equalization and as a San Francisco city official.^S1^S3^S7
On the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, which her office publishes each year: CalMatters reported the report had been chronically late for years, and that Cohen made up the backlog by releasing four reports in two years and told CalMatters the next report would be late by about two months rather than by years. KCRA reports she said the report had been late for six years before her tenure and that her office did four reports in two years.^S4^S10
A dispute with the state auditor: the Los Angeles Times reports that the state auditor, a separate agency that reports to the Legislature, opened its own audit into the timeliness of that report, and that in a 2025 letter the auditor accused the controller's office of spending more than a year resisting an independent review, which almost led to a legal showdown between the two agencies. Cohen says she got the report published closer to its due date, and her office disputes the auditor's account of events.^S5
Campaign promises from 2022: the Los Angeles Times reports she said as a candidate that she would audit homelessness spending and would review the Department of Motor Vehicles and the Employment Development Department, that her office did not conduct audits of homelessness spending according to a spokesperson, and that she acknowledged she did not conduct the DMV and EDD reviews because other agencies were doing those audits. CalMatters reports the same and notes that a 2024 state auditor report found California fails to adequately track its homelessness spending.^S5^S4
The Los Angeles Times reports that this year a press officer in her office was secretly recorded by a woman who pretended to be on a date with him, that the officer is heard saying the office's auditing team was cut by the state and that the office does not have the resources to proactively perform audits, that the recording was procured by the conservative activist group O'Keefe Media, and that Cohen called the recording illegal and declined to comment. The officer did not respond to the newspaper's request for comment.^S5
Unclaimed property: ABC7 reports California holds roughly $15.5 billion in unclaimed assets and that Cohen said her administration has returned approximately $2 billion and worked to reduce a backlog in the program. The Los Angeles Times reports she said the state is on track to return $1 billion worth of funds this year.^S9^S5
Housing law: the Los Angeles Times reports she touts her work supporting Assembly Bill 2353, signed in 2024, which helps nonprofit affordable housing developers avoid unnecessary property tax payments. Her campaign describes the same law as removing costly delays in the welfare tax exemption process so developers can move projects forward during construction.^S5^S13
Charter school fraud: her campaign says that after a fraud case in which nearly $400 million was taken from families and taxpayers, she was appointed by the court to chair a multi-agency task force, and that a 10 month effort produced 20 recommendations to strengthen oversight of school funding. In her questionnaire she says the Legislature passed Assembly Bill 126 this year, which implements those recommendations and applies them to all California K through 12 schools.^S13^S7
On the scale of fraud: ABC7 reports she pushed back on the broader argument that fraud is pervasive in California government, saying she does not believe it is as rampant and pervasive as the Trump administration is putting out, and pointing to a charter school fraud case in which she said the offenders were prosecuted, jailed and the money clawed back.^S9
Leadership hiring: the Los Angeles Times reports her office received approval from the Legislature and the governor to hire a chief financial officer and two other top positions, which she sought, according to a spokesperson, to elevate public accountability and improve taxpayer trust, and that Morgan criticized the hire because her re-election website calls her the state's chief financial officer.^S5

Positions

Taxes

The controller does not set tax rates, and she proposes none. As chair of the Board of Equalization she says she led efforts to modernize California's property tax system to make it more efficient, transparent and responsive, and supported the use of property tax abatements to encourage affordable housing development. On the state budget she says she urged the governor and legislators to spend with caution while they worked out this year's budget deal, and told CalMatters that higher than expected spending reinforces the need for restraint.^S13^S3^S4

Housing

Says she is working to expand housing availability at all income levels so residents can build a future in the state, and that she is creating incentives that will increase affordable housing units. Her campaign says she approved $804 million in bond authority for affordable student housing and that she serves on the First-Time Homebuyers Financing Committee and the Veterans' Home Finance Committee. It also points to her earlier work leading Proposition O in San Francisco, which her campaign says helped create more than 12,000 new homes, 32 percent of them affordable, and says she will keep prioritizing and incentivizing affordable housing and work to provide assistance to first-time homebuyers.^S12

Cost of living

Says she will keep focusing on job creation and job training, prioritizing communities of color and low-income communities that she says have endured long-term disinvestment, and that she will always use her position to support Californians. She points to disaster relief her office provided when fires spread through Los Angeles County, including property tax relief for property owners who were affected, and says she is pressing for greater accountability around prescription drug prices so that no one has to choose between medicine and basic necessities.^S12

Economy and jobs

As controller she says she has taken a broader approach to accountability and that her goals for a second term include modernizing the fiscal management system, returning more unclaimed property, improving customer service and expanding opportunities for small businesses. Her campaign says a quarter of her department's contracts have gone to small businesses owned by women and minorities, a goal set by a 2023 state law, and describes her as the first constitutional officer to commit fully to that 25 percent target. On her earlier record she cites a measure she led on the Board of Supervisors that she says created more than 17,000 jobs in the Bay Area, co-sponsorship of a citywide project labor agreement with a prevailing wage on public projects, and her support for a San Francisco minimum wage of $15 an hour and for a family friendly workplace ordinance allowing parents to request flexible schedules.^S7^S12^S13^S5

Health care

Says she will continue to fight to expand access to health care and lower costs. She says she oversees the second largest public employer health benefit in the nation and manages grants to research institutes, and that she is focused on the growing costs and infrastructure capacity of long term care facilities. She says she is fighting to expand access and demand greater accountability around prescription drug prices. On Medi-Cal she says the Controller's Office can audit public programs and, under an agreement with the Department of Health Care Services, conduct certain Medi-Cal audits, and can examine that department's fiscal oversight and internal controls to find gaps and recommend improvements. On hospice fraud she says the Department of Public Health and the Department of Health Care Services have revoked more than 280 hospice licenses, run multi-agency compliance reviews and strengthened Medi-Cal billing safeguards, and that state investigators recently uncovered a $267 million scheme in which hospice providers billed for services never delivered.^S12^S7^S8

Education

Says she chaired a multi-agency task force on preventing fraud in charter schools after nearly $400 million was taken from taxpayers, that the task force produced 20 recommendations over 10 months to strengthen accountability and oversight of school funding, and that Assembly Bill 126, passed this year, implements those recommendations for all California K through 12 schools. She says that kind of preventive measure, together with audits and strong internal controls, is how the state can monitor the flow of school dollars and prevent fraud before it happens. Her office audits school funding and processes payments to school and local governments.^S7

Environment and energy

Says continued action on climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions is part of building a better future for California, that she is committed to holding polluters accountable, and that low-income communities of color too often face pollution through health problems and job loss, so she will fight for additional support for those communities while the state moves towards carbon neutrality. She says she will keep demanding transparency and accountability in reducing emissions and in the transition to a green economy. As chair of the California State Lands Commission her campaign says she led efforts to protect the coast and natural resources and championed the restoration of Ormond Beach, and it says she refuses fossil fuel campaign contributions.^S12^S13

Homelessness

She said as a candidate in 2022 that she would audit the state's homelessness spending, and her office did not conduct those audits, which a spokesperson confirmed to the Los Angeles Times. She has said her office sought funding from the governor and the state for high-risk audit work and was denied, and that the request did not specifically mention homelessness. She also said she did not duplicate audit work that other agencies were already doing. Her website sets out no new homelessness proposal for a second term.^S5^S4^S12

Other

Transparency and the office itself: she says she wants Californians to be able to know where every dollar and cent is going and that state financial information should be searchable and easier for taxpayers to understand without having to comb through audits. She says her office is developing a pilot program using artificial intelligence to identify potential irregularities before money is improperly paid out, and that being a watchdog means being aggressive on the front end rather than clawing money back once it is out. She also disputes Morgan's description of the controller as essentially a financial rather than a policymaking position, saying the controller sits on dozens of state boards and commissions covering public pensions, state lands and financing. She says the job should transcend party politics and that she wants someone able to call a ball and call a foul without fear of repercussion, a description she applies to herself.^S9^S5

Endorsements

The CalMatters voter guide lists the California Democratic Party, the California Labor Federation and Equality California as endorsing her.^S3
The Los Angeles Times reports she is endorsed by the California Democratic Party, Governor Gavin Newsom, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President pro Tem Monique Limon.^S5
Her campaign endorsement page lists elected leaders including Governor Gavin Newsom, Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, Secretary of State Dr. Shirley Weber, Senator Adam Schiff, Treasurer Fiona Ma, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, Senate President pro Tem Monique Limon, former Senate President pro Tem Mike McGuire and State Senator Maria Elena Durazo, together with a host of mayors, county supervisors and council members statewide.^S14
Her campaign endorsement page lists labor organizations and unions including the California Labor Federation, the California Professional Firefighters, the California Faculty Association, the California Federation of Teachers, the California Nurses Association, the California State Association of Electrical Workers, the California State Pipe Trades Council, the California State Retirees, the California Statewide Law Enforcement Association, the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, the SEIU State Council, AFSCME California PEOPLE along with AFSCME 36 and AFSCME 57, UDW/AFSCME Local 3930, the Communications Workers of America District 9, the UAW Region 6, the UFCW Western States Council, Teamsters Joint Council 7 and several Teamsters locals, Operating Engineers Local 3, NorCal Carpenters, and many IBEW, UA and IUOE locals.^S14
Her campaign endorsement page lists organizations including the California Democratic Party, the California Legislative Women's Caucus, Equality California, the California Council for Affordable Housing, Vote Mama, Fund Her, Black Women Organized for Political Action and the Jane Fonda Climate PAC.^S14

Funding

Total raised: $1,629,764 ^S3^S20

Cash on hand: $1,577,664

As of: June 30, 2026

Top funders

Steamfitters & Refrigeration UA Local 250 PAC Small Contributor Committee $39,200 Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
United Domestic Workers of America Action Fund $30,100 Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Northern California Carpenters Regional Council PAC $21,000 Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Service Employees International Union SEIU Local 2015 State PAC $19,800 Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Operating Engineers Local Union 3 (Nonprofit 501(c)(5)) $19,700 Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Albert Otero $19,600 Cycle total of contributions from an individual to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees – CA People (AFSCME CA People) Small Contributor Committee $19,600 Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Ankur Bindal $19,600 Cycle total of contributions from an individual to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Building a Stronger Future for California PAC Sponsored by Western States Regional Council of Carpenters $19,600 Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
California Nurses Association PAC (CNA-PAC) $19,600 Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA

The total, the cash on hand and the donors here are for the candidate's own committee, Malia Cohen for Controller 2026, cited by the source with Cal-Access identifier 1456350, and cover the committee's activity through June 30, 2026. The Secretary of State's contributor data as published by CalMatters and updated October 9, 2026 shows a higher figure of about $1.88 million in large donor contributions to this committee, which excludes donors whose contributions total less than $100. CalMatters reports no independent expenditures for or against her. Spending by separate committees that support or oppose candidates is reported on a different schedule and is not included.

Statement summary

In her statement in the official voter guide, Cohen says that as California State Controller she serves as the state's chief fiscal officer, safeguarding the finances of the world's fourth largest economy, and that she is running for re-election to ensure taxpayer dollars are managed with transparency, accountability and fairness. She describes herself as a lifelong Californian, a working mom and a dedicated public servant who believes budgets are moral documents that should reflect shared values and invest in people, not special interests. She says she has expanded public access to financial and payroll data, released timely monthly cash reports so California stays fiscally strong during economic uncertainty, reunited all 58 counties with millions in unclaimed property, honored local governments for excellence in accurate financial reporting and advanced the modernization of the state payroll system. She closes by asking voters to join teachers, nurses, firefighters, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, healthcare workers, operating engineers, plumbers, pipefitters and electrical workers in supporting her.^S2

What this could mean for your household

Homeowners: as chair of the Board of Equalization she says she led efforts to modernize California's property tax system and supported property tax abatements to encourage affordable housing development, and she points to property tax relief her office provided to property owners affected by the Los Angeles County fires.^S13^S12
Small business owners: she says she committed her department to a goal of awarding 25 percent of its procurement contracts to small businesses and businesses owned by women and minorities, a goal set by a 2023 state law, and the Los Angeles Times reports 25 percent of her department's contracts have gone to such businesses.^S13^S5
Households with a dormant bank account, an old insurance payout or other forgotten property: the controller administers California's unclaimed property program, she says the state holds about $15.5 billion in unclaimed assets and that her administration has returned about $2 billion, and her questionnaire points people to the controller's website to check whether the state is holding property in their name.^S9^S7
Renters and first time buyers: she says she is creating incentives to increase affordable housing units, that she approved $804 million in bond authority for affordable student housing, and that she serves on the committee that finances first time homebuyers.^S12

Campaign website

Herb W Morgan

Republican Chief Investment Officer

Bio

The Secretary of State's certified list prints his party preference as Republican and his ballot designation as Chief Investment Officer, and does not mark him as an incumbent.^S1
His campaign says he arrived in California on his first birthday in 1967, grew up in Westminster and Oceanside, attended local public schools and graduated with honors from the University of California at Santa Cruz.^S15
His campaign says he is an investment professional with nearly four decades of experience in financial markets, that he founded Efficient Market Advisors, one of the earliest exchange traded fund based investment firms, which grew to manage $1.5 billion in assets, and that the firm was acquired in 2017 by a major Wall Street firm where he says he recently retired as chief investment officer after almost 10 years. The Los Angeles Times and CalMatters report the firm that bought it was Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors.^S15^S16^S5^S4
His campaign says he was appointed by San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders to the board of the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System, where he says he worked with fellow trustees to overhaul financial reporting and restore corporate governance and was subsequently elected board chair twice by his peers. The Los Angeles Times reports he chaired that retirement system's board of administration.^S15^S5
In the Orange County Register questionnaire he gave his age as 60, said he lives in San Diego, listed his current job title as Retired Senior Managing Director and recorded no other political positions held. CalMatters lists his professional background as chief investment officer. His campaign says he has been married for 34 years and has two adult children.^S6^S3^S15

Record in office

He has not held elected office. His questionnaire records no other political positions held, and the certified list does not mark him as an incumbent, so there is no legislative or council voting record for him.^S6^S1
Business and investment record: his campaign says he founded Efficient Market Advisors, grew it to $1.5 billion in assets under management, and after the 2017 sale served as chief investment officer of the acquiring firm, which the Los Angeles Times and CalMatters identify as Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors, for almost 10 years. KCRA reports he spent decades in finance working for major Wall Street firms.^S15^S5^S4^S10
Pension board record: his campaign says he was appointed to the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System board by Mayor Jerry Sanders, worked on overhauling financial reporting and corporate governance there, and was elected chair twice by his fellow trustees.^S15
Campaign finance transparency in his own campaign: his campaign says his campaign donations are published on a public blockchain ledger in real time and calls it the first in America. CalMatters reports that a public dashboard on his website logs his campaign donations in real time.^S18^S4

Positions

Taxes

He says the controller does not write the budget or set tax rates, and his platform proposes no tax changes. His written position is that Californians are asked to shoulder ever higher taxes amid persistent deficits, program failures and documented fraud, and that more revenue without proper oversight does not produce better schools, cleaner streets or fewer people on the sidewalk. In his questionnaire he says California does not have a revenue problem or a spending problem but a fraud and control problem.^S16^S6

Housing

His published platform and his questionnaire responses set out no housing proposal. The policy areas he does address are state payments and auditing, unclaimed property, K through 12 school funding, high speed rail, homelessness spending and Medi-Cal and hospice fraud. His campaign's issues page does say that the state houses about one quarter of the nation's homeless while billions in homelessness funds remain poorly traced.^S16^S6

Cost of living

He frames the office around whether taxpayer money buys what the law paid for, saying his job is to stop slippage and theft so appropriated dollars buy what the law paid for, and that success is measured in dollars recovered and unmatched claims closed. His site says Californians deserve to know exactly how the state's $325 billion plus budget is spent, without delay, red tape or political spin, and that he would tie major programs to documented delivery rather than press releases.^S6^S16

Economy and jobs

He says California leads the country in net domestic out-migration and calls that a failure of follow-through rather than of taxes collected, pointing to record state spending alongside results he describes as poor. He says funding for nonprofits and other organizations that receive public money should be tied to measurable results rather than relying on those organizations to attest that funds were properly used. He says a 25 percent small business contracting target is not a fiscal strategy but a social one, and that the controller's job is to stop slippage and theft so appropriated dollars buy what the law paid for.^S6^S9

Health care

Says he would prioritise audits of Health and Human Services programs and of nongovernmental organizations that receive state funds, and that when asked which programs he would audit first he pointed to the state's Medi-Cal system and state spending on nongovernmental organizations. On hospice fraud he says the state's monitoring has been too late and too thin, citing a 2022 State Auditor report on weak licensing, and says the controller has independent authority to audit claims and payments touching the Treasury, which he would use for claim lineage reviews, anomaly flags on high risk providers, public exception registers and recovery of improper payments.^S9^S10^S6^S8

Education

Proposes a statutory full chain rule for Proposition 98 and major category dollars: every apportionment, county pass-through, local educational agency receipt and material vendor or payroll payment would carry a durable transaction identifier that the controller publishes on a public ledger, with counties and local educational agencies required to acknowledge receipt and post final use, and unmatched, late or contradicted lines appearing on a public exception and recovery register until corrected. He says success should be measured within two years by 100 percent of principal apportionment dollars tagged from state payment to acknowledgement, exceptions posted within 30 days, documented recoveries and audit corrections rising and then falling as compliance improves, and a public dashboard tying major streams such as the local control funding formula, expanded learning and facilities to services delivered and enrollment served. He cites more than $27,000 per pupil and 2024 national assessment results in the lower half of states.^S6

Environment and energy

His published platform sets out no climate or energy proposal. On the boards the controller sits on that cover climate, the environment, harbor improvements and waterfront areas, he says his contribution would not be topical expertise but fiduciary discipline: reading a balance sheet, pricing risk, demanding an audit trail and refusing a deal that cannot be explained in public. He lists his research papers as covering unclaimed property, K through 12 education, high speed rail, homelessness spending and the FI$Cal financial system.^S6^S16

Homelessness

Says billions in homelessness funds remain poorly traced and that he would scrutinise the state's homelessness spending, the same promise he says his opponent made in 2022. CalMatters reports he said he would carefully scrutinise state spending on homelessness if elected, and that he wants a system in which every payment a state funded nonprofit makes goes into a state database that he would monitor with artificial intelligence to flag anything suspicious.^S16^S6^S4

Other

Transparency and the office itself: he says he would publish every material state payment on a public ledger with transaction level detail and near real time reporting, so every Californian can see exactly how public funds are used, and that his plan uses an open ledger, blockchain based public finance platform that he calls the first of its kind in the nation, with artificial intelligence analysing the data and flagging unusual transactions for human review. He says he would run risk based audits focused on high dollar, high risk programs and continuous oversight rather than one time reviews, and he wants exceptions and recoveries posted in real time. He criticised the state's follow up on audit findings, telling ABC7 that a public controller's office report tracking deficiencies has not been updated since 2013. He describes the office as one that should be an active guardian of taxpayer dollars rather than a passive bookkeeper, says he is not that political and that the controller's job has nothing to do with a party platform, and argues that with one party controlling the governor's office, the Legislature and every statewide constitutional office, a Republican controller would add a check on state government.^S16^S6^S9

Endorsements

The CalMatters voter guide lists the California Republican Party, the California Republican Assembly and the Unity Party of California as endorsing him.^S3
His campaign endorsement page lists the same three statewide organizations and also the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association PAC, and lists the Sacramento Bee under publications.^S17
His campaign endorsement page lists state and federal leaders including Senate Minority Leader Brian Jones and Senators Shannon Grove, Rosilicie Ochoa-Bogh, Kelly Seyarto, Tony Strickland, Steven Choi and Roger Niello, Assemblyman and Reform California chairman Carl DeMaio and Assemblyman David Tangipa, and former officials including former Assembly Minority Leader Martin Garrick, former San Diego County Republican Party chairman Corey Gustafson, former Ventura County Treasurer-Tax Collector Steven Hintz, former Whittier Mayor Joe Vinatieri, former San Francisco Supervisor Tony Hall, retired Major General Marvin R. Baxter and retired Congressman John Shadegg.^S17
His campaign endorsement page lists 23 county Republican parties, along with local figures including former San Diego Mayor and San Diego County Lincoln Club chairman Kevin Faulconer, Vista Mayor John Franklin, Manhattan Beach Mayor Pro Tem Joe Franklin and Lakeside Union School District trustee Andrew Hayes.^S17
His campaign endorsement page lists political and advocacy organizations including the California Congress of Republicans, the California Republican Hispanic Club, the Lincoln Clubs of Los Angeles and Orange Counties, New Majority chapters in Orange, Los Angeles and San Diego counties, Keep Orange Red, the Israeli-American Civic Action Network, the United Vietnamese Community of Northern California, the California Rifle and Pistol Association and the United Indian Council.^S17

Funding

Total raised: $412,971 ^S3^S21

Cash on hand: $165,963

As of: June 30, 2026

Top funders

Kevin Smith $14,508 Cycle total of contributions from an individual to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Susan McMillin $11,750 Cycle total of contributions from an individual to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Keith DeGreen $11,562 Cycle total of contributions from an individual to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Richard Meyer $10,205 Cycle total of contributions from an individual to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Scott Mcmillin $10,180 Cycle total of contributions from an individual to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Jeff Lepore $10,000 Cycle total of contributions from an individual to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Don Oliphant $9,800 Cycle total of contributions from an individual to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Greg Fiori $9,800 Cycle total of contributions from an individual to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
James Teeter $9,800 Cycle total of contributions from an individual to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Kelly Burt $9,800 Cycle total of contributions from an individual to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA

The total, the cash on hand and the donors here are for the candidate's own committee, Herb Morgan for State Controller 2026, cited by the source with FPPC number 1480103, and cover the committee's activity through June 30, 2026. The same source records $100,000 in loans from the candidate to the committee during the cycle, which are separate from contributions and are not included in the total above, and a federal FPPC number is not applicable because this is a state committee. The Secretary of State's contributor data as published by CalMatters and updated October 9, 2026 shows a higher figure of about $721,000 in large donor contributions to this committee, which excludes donors whose contributions total less than $100 and includes the candidate's $100,000 loan. CalMatters reports no independent expenditures for or against him. Spending by separate committees that support or oppose candidates is reported on a different schedule and is not included.

Statement summary

In his statement in the official voter guide, Morgan says the state controller does not set policy, and that the controller is tasked with ensuring efficiency in state government through pre-audits and approval of expenditures, followed by rigorous post-audits that verify performance and proper use of funds. He says he will deliver for the people by placing all expenditures in an easy to use online database with transaction level detail and near real time reporting, so that every Californian can see exactly how public funds are used, and that this transparency builds trust and directs resources more effectively to classrooms, communities and essential programs.^S2

What this could mean for your household

All households: he says he would publish every material state payment on a public ledger with transaction level detail and near real time reporting and audit claims before money leaves the Treasury. The office does not set the tax rates a household pays, so this affects how tax dollars are used rather than what a household is charged.^S16^S2
Retirees and public employees: he says he would be most effective where capital and controls meet, naming the pension boards that govern the California Public Employees' Retirement System and the California State Teachers' Retirement System and the State Lands Commission, and he describes his approach there as fiduciary discipline rather than topical expertise. The controller sits on those boards, which the Los Angeles Times reports oversee the nation's two largest public pension funds.^S6^S5
Households with children in public schools: he proposes a statutory full chain rule that would tag Proposition 98 dollars with a durable transaction identifier from the state payment through to the school district's acknowledgement, post exceptions publicly and publish a dashboard tying major funding streams to services delivered and enrollment served.^S6
Small business owners: he says the 25 percent small business contracting target set by his opponent is a social rather than a fiscal strategy, and that his focus would instead be on stopping slippage and theft so appropriated dollars buy what the law paid for.^S6

Campaign website

Sources

Certified List of Candidates, November 3, 2026, General Election California Secretary of State Accessed 2026-10-17
Official Voter Information Guide, Controller Candidate Statements California Secretary of State Accessed 2026-10-17
2026 Voter Guide: Controller, including candidate finance tables built from Secretary of State data updated October 9, 2026 CalMatters Accessed 2026-10-17
A look at the top candidates vying to be California's controller (May 8, 2026) CalMatters Accessed 2026-10-17
Your guide to the California controller race: Incumbent Cohen vs. challenger Morgan (October 1, 2026) Los Angeles Times Accessed 2026-10-17
Herb Morgan, California controller candidate, 2026 election questionnaire (October 5, 2026, updated October 14, 2026) Southern California News Group, Orange County Register Accessed 2026-10-17
Malia Cohen, California controller candidate, 2026 election questionnaire (October 5, 2026, updated October 14, 2026) Southern California News Group, Orange County Register Accessed 2026-10-17
How can California better manage hospice fraud? California's controller candidates weigh in (October 7, 2026) Southern California News Group, Orange County Register Accessed 2026-10-17
California controller race heats up as candidates clash over fraud, taxpayer dollars (October 5, 2026) ABC7 News, KGO-TV San Francisco Accessed 2026-10-17
Candidates vying to be California's state controller, 2026 Voter Guide (October 15, 2026) KCRA 3 Sacramento Accessed 2026-10-17
Meet Malia (campaign website) Malia Cohen for Controller 2026 Accessed 2026-10-17
Issues (campaign website), including housing, retirement security, economy, health care, environment, equal rights and reproductive access pages Malia Cohen for Controller 2026 Accessed 2026-10-17
Accomplishments (campaign website) Malia Cohen for Controller 2026 Accessed 2026-10-17
Endorsements (campaign website) Malia Cohen for Controller 2026 Accessed 2026-10-17
About Herb Morgan (campaign website) Herb Morgan for State Controller 2026 Accessed 2026-10-17
Herb Morgan on the Issues (campaign website) Herb Morgan for State Controller 2026 Accessed 2026-10-17
Endorsements (campaign website) Herb Morgan for State Controller 2026 Accessed 2026-10-17
Home page (campaign website) Herb Morgan for State Controller 2026 Accessed 2026-10-17
Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 Primary Election, Complete Statement of Vote California Secretary of State Accessed 2026-10-17
Malia Cohen for Controller 2026, committee overview (Cal-Access identifier 1456350), data through June 30, 2026 Transparency USA, republishing California Secretary of State Cal-Access filings Accessed 2026-10-17
Herb Morgan for State Controller 2026, committee overview (FPPC number 1480103), data through June 30, 2026 Transparency USA, republishing California Secretary of State Cal-Access filings Accessed 2026-10-17