Shirley N. Weber, PhD (D)
Dr. Shirley N. Weber serves as California’s Secretary of State and has spent her career championing civil rights and protecting the right to vote. In the face of ongoing partisan attacks on our democracy, Dr. Weber remains a steadfast leader committed to safeguarding and expanding voting access for all Californians.
Dr. Weber was born in rural Hope, Arkansas, where her father worked as a sharecropper. When she was just three years old, her family fled to California after her father stood his ground in a conflict with a white landowner – a decision that led to threats from a lynch mob. The Webers resettled in the Pueblo Del Rio housing community in South Los Angeles, where Dr. Weber was raised.
Don Wagner (R)
Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner is running for California Secretary of State on a platform rooted in sowing distrust in elections and restricting access to the ballot. He supports a 2026 voter ID ballot initiative and has pledged to take legal action to enforce it if passed, despite studies showing voter ID laws disproportionately impact voters of color, students, and the elderly. Wagner justifies his stance by pointing to vague voter concerns, not evidence – California’s 2020 and 2022 elections were widely recognized as secure and accurate.
Wagner has also criticized California’s universal vote-by-mail system, calling the state “awash in ballots” and pushing to eliminate automatic mail ballot delivery, reduce time to fix ballot issues, and limit mail voting only to those who request it. These proposals would gut popular reforms that expanded access and helped California achieve record-high turnout. Rather than defending election integrity, Wagner is embracing a national right-wing agenda to roll back voting rights in a state that overwhelmingly supports them.