Who’s running for California Insurance Commissioner? Here’s a look at the field of candidates

This commentary was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

Because of the first anniversary of the devastating Southern California wildfires, CalMatters asked candidates for the 2026 state Insurance Commissioner race to share thoughts on what the state can do to help victims and stabilize insurers. Here are excerpts and links to their answers.

Patrick Wolff

"Solving our insurance crisis starts with reorienting the California Department of Insurance. It is too lax regulating insurance companies’ behavior, yet too strict controlling their market access. Customers lose both ways...

"I will have the insurance department release company-specific data and publish a claims performance report card for each insurance company, empowering customers to reward good actors and punish bad actors. Customer empowerment requires robust choice and competition, yet the insurance department strangles both with bureaucratic red tape." Read Wolff's full candidate comment

Benjamin Allen

"We need to modernize how the state reviews insurance rates while preserving strong consumer protections. That means allowing responsible use of modern tools to predict wildfire risk and account for the actual cost of coverage, while dramatically speeding up state timelines so decisions are made in months, not years ...

"I would push for neighborhood-scale fire prevention and risk reduction programs that lower losses across entire communities and make it possible for insurers to responsibly write policies again. Many parts of the state are already implementing these programs, and they’re working. We need to scale these — and quickly." Read Allen's full candidate comment

Stacy Korsgaden

"California does not need to choose between consumer protection and a functioning insurance market. We can have both. Achieving that balance requires a recommitment to basic principles: Free markets, actuarial soundness, California managing wildfire risks and allowing private sector innovations.

"Insurance thrives on predictability and trust. When those elements are restored, capital returns, coverage expands and our working families benefit from greater choice and better service." Read Korsgaden's full candidate comment

Steven Bradford

"I support the implementation of Assembly Bill 226, which will allow for the issuance of bonds to finance the costs of claims, to increase the liquidity and claims-paying capacity of the FAIR Plan, to refund bonds previously issued for that purpose and reduce the reliance on expensive reinsurance...

"I want to evaluate including the FAIR Plan in the California Insurance Guarantee Association, as a means to more efficiently spread risk among all of the parties that are benefitted by — and burdened by — the realities of the California market." Read Bradford's full candidate comment

Robert Howell

"One reform worth pursuing is tying homeowners insurance participation to broader market access. If an insurer operates in a region and sells other lines of insurance, it should also be required to offer homeowners coverage there, subject to reasonable standards. Allowing companies to profit from California while abandoning homeowners pushes risk onto families and onto the state.

"Stronger enforcement around cancellations and nonrenewals is also critical. Entire neighborhoods are being dropped with little explanation and little notice. Families who have paid premiums for years are left scrambling through no fault of their own. " Read Howell's full candidate comment

Eduardo Vargas

" I will freeze any further rate hikes. I will lead the department in market conduct investigations of the 10 largest property and casualty insurance companies in California. Investigations will expose the exploitative nature of internal claim procedures, unfair competition or illegal coordination between insurance companies...

"Public insurance in California would not be modeled after the FAIR plan. Without the motive of private insurance, which is structured to deny and limit claims as much as possible, a public insurance plan would allow maximum coverage through a tax on those who are responsible for the climate crisis. California without billionaires could fund a public insurer. " Read Vargas' full candidate comment

Jane Kim

"We need Natural Disaster Insurance for All. This universal, affordable disaster insurance program would also invest in statewide climate resiliency and infrastructure. A universal system — which currently exists in countries like New Zealand and France — stabilizes coverage, prevents mass cancellations and creates a pool large enough to handle natural disasters. It also allows California to invest directly in mitigation and resilience — the kind of long-term risk reduction private insurers are not mandated or incentivized to invest in...

"We also must do more to cap CEO pay and excessive insurance profits. Californians are being asked to accept higher premiums and worse coverage while insurance executives take home tens of millions of dollars and companies use our premiums as an investment engine." Read Kim's full candidate comment

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.