Your guide to California’s secretary of state primary race
The secretary of state is California’s top elections officer. Their office of nearly 500 people certifies candidates and ballot measures, maintains a statewide voter registration database and oversees campaign finance and lobbyist disclosures. The office also handles business registrations, oversees the state archives and runs a potpourri of other state programs, like commissioning notaries public and maintaining a registry for advance care directives.
The position has occasionally been a successful staging ground for higher offices. Jerry Brown served a single term in the early 1970s before being elected governor, and Alex Padilla was in the role in 2020 when Newsom nominated him to replace Kamala Harris, who was leaving her U.S. Senate post to serve as vice president.
Recent secretaries of state have played central roles in debates over election administration. Both Padilla and his successor, Shirley Weber, fought attempts by President Donald Trump’s administration to obtain California’s voter rolls. Republicans have criticized Padilla’s and Weber’s decisions to grant contracts to firms connected to Democrats.
Weber’s status as an incumbent Democrat gives her a clear edge in the primary given California’s blue tint. The only other candidate to raise money in the race is Republican Don Wagner, who currently serves on the Orange County Board of Supervisors.
Who are the candidates?
Shirley Weber (D) — Weber moved from Arkansas to Los Angeles with her family when she was a young child after her father, a farmer, got into a dispute with a white farmer and a lynch mob threatened his life. Weber excelled in schools and later, academia, helping to found the Africana Studies Department at San Diego State University. She served on San Diego’s board of education from 1988 to 1996 and was elected to the Assembly in 2012, where she championed a law that codified voting rights for people previously convicted of felonies and authored a bill that created a commission to study proposals for reparations for African Americans. Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Weber to the secretary of state post in December 2020, and she won her first full term in the 2022 election.
Weber says she’ll continue to make voter outreach a key part of her work as secretary, including working to register first-time voters. She’s touted her work improving transparency and efficiency in the office. Weber has continued to push back against Trump’s false claims of voter fraud and has criticized the SAVE Act, a Trump-backed bill that would require voters to present documentary proof of U.S. citizenship in order to cast ballots.
Don Wagner (R) — Wagner is a longtime Orange County attorney and founder of the county’s Federalist Society, a conservative legal group. He got his political start serving on the board of a local community college district in 1998 and won election to the Assembly in 2010. After Wagner lost a special election to serve in the state Senate, he was elected mayor of Irvine in 2016 and reelected in 2018. The Republican ran in a special election for the Orange County Board of Supervisors in 2019 and was reelected in 2020 and 2024.
Wagner is an enthusiastic supporter of a ballot initiative that would require voters to show ID at the polls and has attacked Weber for not backing the measure. He previously told The Sacramento Bee he does not believe fraud exists in state elections but argues the measure will help encourage others to vote. Wagner says that as secretary of state, he’ll fight to make sure “only eligible voters cast ballots” and conduct safe, secure elections.
Who Is funding the race
Weber holds a substantial cash advantage. She raised nearly $177,000 from Jan. 1 through April 18 and has nearly $1 million in cash on hand. Wagner outstripped her fundraising, bringing in $182,000, but ended the period with less than $120,000 left in his account.
Weber’s major donors include the California Teacher’s Association, SEIU California and the Pechanga Band of Indians.
Wagner’s donors include Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, who is leading the voter ID ballot initiative, the Building Industry Association of Southern California, and a number of executives and business owners.
Who else Is supporting the candidates?
Both Weber and Wagner picked up endorsements from their state parties at conventions this year.
Weber has backing from several statewide officeholders, including Attorney General Rob Bonta and State Treasurer Fiona Ma. She’s also supported by a number of unions, including SEIU California, the California Teachers Association and California State Retirees.
Wagner’s campaign chairs are former Gov. Pete Wilson as well as ex-secretaries of state Bruce McPherson and Bill Jones. A number of current and former Republican politicians also serve on Wagner’s steering committee, including state Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, and U.S. Rep. Kevin Calvert, R-San Carlos.
