Draft. Last updated 2026-10-17. This contest is still being reviewed.
Secretary of State
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 secretary of state is California's chief elections officer. The office administers all federal and state elections in the state, certifies candidates and initiatives for the ballot, issues the voter information guide, maintains the statewide voter registration database and oversees the counting and certification of votes.
The office also runs the state's political reform programs, which publish campaign finance and lobbyist disclosure filings, and it administers the state's largest business division, where corporations and LLCs register and where trademarks, service marks and notary commissions are handled.
It also keeps the California State Archives and runs public registries, including the Safe at Home confidential address program and the domestic partner registry. Because the office runs elections and publishes disclosure filings rather than setting tax rates, its direct effect on a household's costs comes mainly through business filing processes and through the election rules a voter has to follow.S2S3S14
Contest context
Two candidates qualified for this contest. Shirley N. Weber, Democratic, the incumbent, and Donald P. (Don) Wagner, 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 Secretary of State candidates for November 3, 2026.S1S6
Official results from the June 2, 2026 primary in the Secretary of State contest were Shirley N. Weber 5,092,491 votes, 58.7 percent; Donald P. (Don) Wagner 3,187,180 votes, 36.7 percent; Gary N. Blenner, Green, 187,925 votes, 2.2 percent; and Michael Feinstein, Green, 207,602 votes, 2.4 percent.S6
Weber is seeking a second four year term. CalMatters reported in April 2026 that she made history in 2021 as the first Black person to hold the office, that she is the only Democrat in the field, and that no Republican has won a statewide race in California since 2006.S4
Both candidates submitted statements to the Secretary of State's Official Voter Information Guide. The guide states that the order of the statements was set by randomized drawing and that the statements were supplied by the candidates and were not checked for accuracy by any official agency.S2
A voter identification initiative, Proposition 39, is on the same November 3, 2026 ballot. The Los Angeles Times reports that it would require voters to present government issued identification every time they vote in person, require election officials to verify that registered voters are United States citizens, and require voters who use mail in ballots to write a four digit number taken from identification on their ballot envelope, with the state providing a free voter identification card to voters who request one. Weber opposes the measure and Wagner supports it, so the two candidates disagree on the main election question in front of voters this fall.S5
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.
Shirley N. Weber
DemocraticCalifornia Secretary of StateIncumbent
Bio
The Secretary of State's certified list prints her party preference as Democratic and her ballot designation as California Secretary of State, and marks her as the incumbent.S1
Her campaign biography says she was born on a farm in rural Hope, Arkansas, where her father was a sharecropper, and that the family moved to the Pueblo Del Rio housing projects in South Los Angeles after her father was threatened by a lynch mob following a dispute with a white farmer. She is the widow of the late Honorable Daniel Weber, a California state judge, and has two children.S10
She earned three degrees at UCLA, including a doctorate at age 26, and became one of the youngest ever professors at San Diego State University, where she helped found the Africana Studies Department and taught for about four decades, according to the Los Angeles Times.S5S10
CalMatters describes her as the daughter of Arkansas sharecroppers who fled the Jim Crow south and as the first Black secretary of state in California history.S3
Record in office
She served eight years in the California State Assembly before becoming Secretary of State, and chaired the Assembly Elections and Redistricting Committee, where her campaign says she helped oversee California's election and campaign finance law.S3S10
Her campaign says she authored the legislation, carried to voters as Proposition 17, that restored the right to vote to people on parole, which it puts at more than 50,000 Californians, and that she wrote measures to make people on probation and parole aware of their voting rights.S10
The Los Angeles Times reports she was a member of the San Diego Board of Education and served as chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus while in the Assembly.S5
Her campaign says Governor Gavin Newsom nominated her on December 22, 2020 and that the Legislature confirmed her on January 28, 2021 as California's 30th Secretary of State. The Los Angeles Times reports she was elected to a full four year term in 2022 with about 60 percent of the vote.S5S10
CalMatters reports that as Secretary of State she oversaw the state's permanent move to universal mail in voting, administered the recall against Governor Gavin Newsom in 2021 and the congressional redistricting fight in November 2025, and was in court defending California election laws, including against a lawsuit by the Trump administration's Department of Justice seeking California voter registration data.S3S4
CalMatters also reports she faced criticism from disability advocates who sued her unsuccessfully in 2024 over state election laws that do not allow voters with disabilities to return their ballots electronically.S4
Positions
Other
Voter identification: she opposes Proposition 39, the voter identification initiative. The Los Angeles Times reports she compared the measure to the literacy tests used in the South to deny the vote to Black, Latino and indigenous voters, said that voter fraud is minuscule in United States elections, and said identification requirements could be used to deny some Californians the ability to vote.S5
Voter records and federal requests: the Los Angeles Times reports she has called handing California's voter rolls to the federal government unconstitutional, and CalMatters reports her office fended off a lawsuit by the Trump administration's Department of Justice seeking California voter registration data. She told CalMatters that if the state gave voter information away like candy, no one would trust it to protect their records.S4S5
Ballot counting: she says accuracy matters more than speed. CalMatters reports she dismissed criticism of the state's counting timeline as an issue raised to pick on California, said most outcomes are known before her office certifies results, and noted that county election officials have 30 days under state law to count ballots and conduct audits.S4
Voting access and outreach: her campaign priorities list working hand in hand with county elections officials to expand access to the ballot, running voter outreach across the state including registration on high school and college campuses, and revamping voter education for formerly incarcerated Californians after Proposition 17.S4S11
Transparency and cybersecurity: her campaign priorities list fixing delayed financial filings in the Secretary of State's office, enforcing the rules equally, improving transparency in elections, lobbyist registration and campaign finance so voters can make informed decisions, and monitoring and upgrading the office's cybersecurity policies.S11
Federal and legal posture: the Los Angeles Times reports she says she has stood up to the Trump administration and fought for voting rights in court, and her campaign says she has worked to protect poll workers and election officials from partisan attacks and to help Californians understand the state's electoral process.S5S10
Economy and jobs
Business filings: she says she would fix delayed financial filings in the Secretary of State's office and enforce the rules equally. The Secretary of State's business division is the office's largest and handles the registration of corporations and limited liability companies, and her published priorities do not propose changes to the fees that division charges.S11S3
Endorsements
The CalMatters voter guide lists the California Democratic Party, the California Federation of Teachers and SEIU California as endorsing her.S3
Her campaign endorsement page lists statewide elected officials including Rob Bonta, Attorney General; Fiona Ma, State Treasurer; Malia Cohen, Controller; Ricardo Lara, Insurance Commissioner; and Tony Thurmond, Superintendent of Public Instruction.S12
Her campaign endorsement page lists labor organizations including AFSCME and AFSCME District Council 36, the SEIU State Council, SEIU Local 1000, SEIU Local 221, the California Professional Firefighters, the California State Council of Laborers, the California Federation of Teachers, the California Teachers Association, UDWA/AFSCME Local 3930, the Communications Workers of America, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the California Nurses Association, the Professional Engineers in California Government and the Association of California State Supervisors.S12
Her campaign endorsement page lists local officials including Todd Gloria, Mayor of San Diego; Barbara Lee, Mayor of Oakland; Holly Mitchell, Los Angeles County Supervisor; and Monica Montgomery, San Diego County Supervisor, along with Assemblymembers Cecilia Aguiar Curry, Blanca Rubio, Dr. LaShae Sharp Collins and Buffy Wicks and State Senator Akilah Weber.S12
Her campaign endorsement page lists community organizations including Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, Reproductive Freedom for All, California YIMBY, the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund, the Armenian National Committee of America Western Region and the California Women's List, and a long list of Democratic clubs across the state.S12
Raise the Wage California Sponsored by the California State Council of Service Employees and Its Affiliates$44,200Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
California Teachers Association/Association for Better Citizenship$39,200Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Northern California Carpenters Regional Council PAC$39,200Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
United Domestic Workers of America Action Fund$39,200Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Service Employees International Union Local 721 CTW CLC State and Local$23,600Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees, CA People Small Contributor Committee$19,600Cycle total of contributions 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$19,600Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Progressive Era PAC$19,600Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
State Building and Construction Trades Council of California PAC$19,600Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Toni Atkins$19,600Cycle total reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA, listed by the source as an entity rather than an individual donor
The total and the donors here are for the candidate's own committee, Shirley Weber for Secretary of State 2026, cited by the source with Cal-Access identifier 1456658. 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, Weber says she was born in the Jim Crow South to sharecroppers who could not vote, that California welcomed her family and that her parents cast their first votes in this state, and that some people now want to roll back progress with shorter polling hours, fewer days to vote and the removal of mail in ballots. She says she has fought for voting rights in the courts and won, that she has stood up to Donald Trump, and that she will keep fighting so that nothing stands between a voter and the ballot box.S2
What this could mean for your household
Small business owners: she says she would fix delayed financial filings in the Secretary of State's office and enforce the rules equally, and the office's business division is where corporations, limited liability companies, trademarks and notary commissions are handled. Neither she nor her opponent proposes changing the fees that division charges.S11S2
All voters in the household: the office sets no tax rates, but it sets the rules a voter has to follow. She opposes the voter identification measure on the same ballot, which the Los Angeles Times reports would make the state issue a free voter identification card to voters who request one.S5
W-2 earners and households with a mailing address: she supports keeping universal mail in voting and expanding access to the ballot, and says most election outcomes are known before her office certifies results, which the Los Angeles Times and CalMatters report is the point on which the two candidates disagree most sharply.S3S4
The Secretary of State's certified list prints his party preference as Republican and his ballot designation as Orange County Supervisor, and does not mark him as an incumbent.S1
His campaign biography says he was born in Pittsburgh, moved to California at age 12, earned a bachelor's degree at UCLA and a law degree from the University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, began practicing as a business lawyer in 1987 and founded Wagner, Lautsch LLP in 1993, specializing in business and real estate. It also says he was the first president of the Orange County chapter of the Federalist Society.S13
CalMatters and the Los Angeles Times describe him as an Orange County supervisor, a former mayor of Irvine and a former state assemblymember.S3S5
His campaign says he and his wife, Megan, have been married more than 40 years, raised three children in Orange County, and that he is a recent cancer survivor.S13
Record in office
His campaign says he was elected to the South Orange County Community College District Board of Trustees in 1998 and served twelve years, six of them as board president, where it says he balanced budgets and paid off debts without tax increases or bonds. The Los Angeles Times describes the same role as more than a decade on the community college district board.S5S13
He served in the California State Assembly from 2010 to 2016, where his campaign says he worked on the Appropriations and Budget committees.S13
He was Mayor of Irvine from 2016 to 2019, and his campaign says he restarted the city's Great Park project and that he facilitated the reopening of Irvine Lake for shoreline fishing in 2019.S13
He was elected to the Orange County Board of Supervisors in 2019, serving as vice chairman from 2022 to 2023 and chairman from 2023 to January 2025. His campaign says he was elected chairman twice by a board with a Democratic majority.S13
As an Orange County supervisor he urged the board to comply with a federal request for the voter registration records of 17 people who were ineligible to vote but had appeared on the county's voter rolls. He told the Los Angeles Times that the federal government already holds the records needed to cross reference the rolls and that if federal officials want to help clean the voting rolls he will take the help.S5
His campaign says that in 2020 he secured funding to clear a 30 year backlog of sexual assault evidence kits, with more than 1,500 kits processed by fall 2021, and that establishing a military veterans cemetery in Orange County is his most significant public project.S13S15
CalMatters reports that as a supervisor he criticized the state's COVID-19 response, questioned the county's investment in diversity, equity and inclusion programs and pushed for the release of sensitive voter information to the Department of Justice over claims of voting irregularities.S3
He has not held the Secretary of State office, so his record on election administration comes from his county and legislative service and from the positions below.S1S13
Positions
Other
Voter identification: he supports Proposition 39, the voter identification initiative, and his campaign site says he fully supports it. CalMatters reports he said he would require voters to display identification while voting, which would need a new law, and that he cites the 36 other states that require identification at the polls and argues the measure would add to voters' confidence in the system.S4S15S17
Ballot counting: CalMatters reports he criticized Weber for doing little to lobby state lawmakers to speed up the ballot count and that he would support legislation to move up the deadline for certifying election results, saying the current 30 day window is what makes people of all parties question whether an election was fair. In a campaign press statement he said accurate and speedy ballot counting are not mutually exclusive.S4S15
Vote by mail: CalMatters reports he would roll back the practice of sending universal mail in ballots to every registered voter, which he acknowledged would require legislative approval. His campaign statement in the official voter guide says California should dial back the practices adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic that he says slowed counting.S2S4
Voter rolls: he says the state should do more to remove people who have died or moved from the voter rolls. His campaign announced a federal lawsuit filed on his behalf and on behalf of the American Independent Party of California alleging that more than 873,000 inactive voter registrations had remained on California's rolls through at least three federal elections, a figure attributed here to the campaign.S15
A nonpartisan office: he argues the Secretary of State should be removed from partisan politics and should act as an umpire for fair elections rather than as a partisan player, and his campaign says the office should be nonpartisan and represent the will of the people rather than Sacramento political machines.S2S3
Trust in elections: he told CalMatters he is not among the Republicans who say an election was stolen unless a Republican wins, and that he believes people on both sides of the political aisle and in the middle question the integrity of the system.S4
Economy and jobs
Business filings: his campaign says the business filings division is the largest part of the Secretary of State's office and that it should be small business friendly, and he says the state could use technology better to streamline the process for business owners. He also says the office's position gives it a public platform to advocate for legislation that helps farmers and businesses and to argue against bills he opposes.S15S17
Endorsements
The California Republican Party's published endorsement list names Don Wagner for Secretary of State.S16
The CalMatters voter guide lists the California Republican Party, Reform California and the California Republican Assembly as endorsing him.S3
His campaign prospectus names former Governor Pete Wilson as honorary campaign chairman and former Secretaries of State Bruce McPherson and Bill Jones as campaign co-chairs.S15
His campaign prospectus lists a steering committee that includes United States Representatives Ken Calvert and Michelle Steel, Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes, San Diego County Supervisor Joel Anderson, San Luis Obispo County Supervisor John Peschong, Merced County Supervisor Lloyd Pareira, Riverside County Supervisor Karen Spiegel, San Bernardino County Supervisor Curt Hagman, Fresno County District Attorney Lisa Smittcamp and Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig.S15
The same steering committee list includes state legislators and former legislators, among them State Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones, State Senators Shannon Grove, Kelly Seyarto and Tony Strickland, and Assemblymembers Phillip Chen, Diane Dixon, Tom Lackey, Alexandra Macedo and Natasha Johnson, along with Orange County Supervisor Janet Nguyen and a long list of current and former mayors and councilmembers.S15
Acijet Orange County$19,600Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Building Industry Association of Southern California Inc$19,600Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Marcel Phimister$19,600Cycle total of contributions from an individual to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Orange County Professional Firefighters Association Local 3631 PAC$19,600Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
The Lincoln Club of Orange County State PAC$19,600Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Brian Maryott$11,000Cycle total of contributions from an individual to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Akko Picerne$9,800Cycle total of contributions from an individual to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs PAC$9,800Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Carver Properties LLC$9,800Cycle total of contributions to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
Greg Nakahira$9,800Cycle total of contributions from an individual to the committee reported to Cal-Access and republished by Transparency USA
The total and the donors here are for the candidate's own committee, Wagner for Secretary of State 2026, cited by the source with Cal-Access identifier 1482695 and FPPC number 1482695. 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, Wagner says California's election system is mismanaged and broken, that other large states finish counting votes and announce results on election night while California takes more than a month, and that 36 states and most democratic nations require photo identification at the polls while California does not. He pledges to speed up vote counting, secure elections and remove the chief elections officer from partisan politics, says the office should be nonpartisan, and describes himself as an umpire for fair elections rather than a partisan player.S2
What this could mean for your household
Small business owners: he says the office's business filings division, which registers corporations and limited liability companies, should be small business friendly and that the state should use technology to streamline the process for business owners. Neither he nor his opponent proposes changing the fees that division charges.S14S17
All voters in the household: the office sets no tax rates, but it sets the rules a voter has to follow. He supports the voter identification measure on the same ballot, which the Los Angeles Times reports would make the state issue a free voter identification card to voters who request one, and he says he would require identification at the polls if the law changes.S4S5
Households that vote by mail: he says he would roll back universal mail in voting, which would require legislative approval, and would support moving up the deadline for certifying election results.S4