California is set to make a major decision when it decides who its next governor will be. While voters won’t get an official say until June 2026’s primary election, the race is heating up now as several vie to succeed Gov. Gavin ɫ̳om, who will term out in 2027.
A handful of people have already , and you can expect the field trying to be the state’s next chief executive to be a large one. And with each announcement – or lack thereof – comes an opinion on if the candidate is qualified or not to take on the mammoth task of governor.
Here’s a roundup of recent opinions from our editorial board and columnists on the next governor of California:
Chad Bianco
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco made headlines when he announced that he’s considering a run for governor of California. Our editorial board writes that he would be the highest profile Republican candidate for the 2026 campaign for governor – and, given his track record of scandals as sheriff, he would also be a really bad idea.
Xavier Becerra
Our editorial board writes that it was taken aback by a report that U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, the former California attorney general and member of Congress, is mulling a run for governor in 2026. The board writes that with his far-left policies, his apparent disdain for the first and second amendments and his willingness to obliterate norms to serve his party, there couldn’t be a worse decision.
Rob Bonta
With an uptick in a seemingly never-ending stream of press releases touting success and staged news conferences, columnist Dan Walters thinks California Attorney General Rob Bonta might be up to more than just transparency. Walters entertains the idea that Bonta is actually vying for ɫ̳om’s seat, and analyzes his potential strategy amid the field of already-announced candidacies.
Kamala Harris
If Biden loses in November, Vice President Kamala Harris would have a lot of proving to do about her electoral appeal before she could even think about running for president again, as she briefly did in 2020. Columnist Thomas D. Elias writes that the 2026 race for governor would be the perfect venue for her to prove herself – and looks at her odds for success.
