State of California · Statewide General Election
Secretary of State
Draft candidate list — early preview until the state’s official list publishes on August 27, 2026.
On the ballot
- Shirley N. Weber — Democratic · Incumbent
- Donald P. (Don) Wagner — Republican
This person runs statewide elections and maintains business filings and the state archives.
This office runs California's elections and keeps the state's business filings honest. Incumbent Shirley Weber won about 59% of the statewide primary vote; Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner is the Republican who advances with her to November 3.
The winner runs the next four years of California elections — certifying results, maintaining voter rolls, publishing the official guides — and keeps the state's business and campaign filings public. The power is administrative: election law itself is written by the Legislature.
The core question is how you want elections run: Weber's focus is expanding access and defending existing voting rules; Wagner wants statewide voter ID and faster ballot counting. Note that voter ID would require a new state law — the Secretary can't impose it alone.
Shirley Weber
Democrat, incumbent since 2021, and the first Black Californian to hold this office. She has run two statewide election cycles and authored the 2020 law creating the nation's first state reparations task force. Her platform is voter access and steady administration.
Strengths
Experienced, low-drama election administration at the largest scale in the country.
Trade-offs
Critics fault California's famously slow ballot counting on her watch — final results routinely take weeks.
Keep in mind
Her office (with the AG) sued Huntington Beach over its local voter-ID law and lost the first round in court — the legal fight over that issue is unresolved.
Don Wagner
Republican; Orange County Supervisor since 2019, former Assemblymember and Irvine mayor. He runs on statewide voter ID and faster ballot counting. His case is that confidence in elections needs visible verification.
Strengths
A long local-government record; channels real voter frustration about how long California takes to count ballots.
Trade-offs
His signature promise, statewide voter ID, isn't in the Secretary's power to deliver without the Legislature.
Keep in mind
His campaign leans on 'election confidence' framing — decide for yourself whether you read that as accountability or as casting doubt on a system state audits have upheld.
Financial info
- Small donors
- Individuals
- PACs & committees
- Businesses & other orgs
Shirley N. Weber
$724,781 raised
- Small donors$4,8981%
- Individuals$210,26629%
- PACs & committees$466,05065%
- Businesses & other orgs$37,3005%
Donald P. (Don) Wagner
$599,662 raised
- Small donors$6,9621%
- Individuals$362,18964%
- PACs & committees$107,20019%
- Businesses & other orgs$91,64516%
1Figures are CA Form 460 filings through June 30, 2026 by committees controlled by each candidate, and can include transfers from a candidate's earlier committees. Semi-annual reports covering January–June 2026 were due July 31, 2026, so some totals lag a period behind. Per the California Secretary of State's Cal-Access raw data export, retrieved 2026-08-03.
June 2 primary — how they advanced
Source review: Very strong (96/100) · 4 cited sources
Official records anchor this contest, with multiple sources checked.
- sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)CA Secretary of State — Statement of Vote, June 2, 2026 primary (certified 2026-07-10)
- calmatters.org (opens in a new tab)CalMatters — 2026 primary voter guide and statewide race coverage
- laist.com (opens in a new tab)LAist — June 2026 primary voter guides
- sos.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)Cal-Access raw data export — California Secretary of State
Last updated August 3, 2026.