California Secretary of State Race: Weber Faces GOP Challenger

from Yue Stella YuCalMatters

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California Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who made history in 2021 as the first black woman to hold the post, is running for a second four-year term.

As the incumbent and the only Democrat in the district, she is almost certain to cruise to victory in November. She faces only one serious challenger: Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner, a Republican. No Republican has won a statewide race since 2006.

During his tenure, Weber faced criticism for California slow ballot counting process — so slowly that the intended winners of state legislative races are often sworn in before Weber’s office certifies the results. Under state law, county election officials have 30 days to count ballots and conduct audits. Critics, including Wagner, say the time frame undermines voter confidence in the the integrity of state elections.

In an interview with CalMatters, Weber dismissed the concerns as an issue President Donald Trump raised to pick on California. She argued that it was important to count each ballot and that most results were known before she could certify the results anyway.

“I know the value of being fast to some people,” she said. “To me, accuracy is much more important.”

Wagner criticized Weber for doing little to lobby state lawmakers to expedite the ballot count. He said he would end the practice of mailing universal ballots to every voter that the state made permanent during the COVID-19 pandemic, although that would require legislative approval. He said he would also support legislation to extend the deadline for certifying election results.

“Instead of waiting 30 days, let’s make these changes that right now have people of all parties and no party asking, ‘God, is this really a fair election?'” Wagner said.

Weber, a former San Diego assemblyman, was appointed to the position by Gov. Gavin Newsom in 2021 and later won a full term in 2022. daughter of cops from Arkansas who fled the Jim Crow South, Weber used her family history to campaign to expand voter access and increase voter turnout.

For the past five years, Weber has led the administration of controversial elections that have drawn the national spotlight, from recall against Newsom in 2021 until last November’s congressional redistricting battle. She said she focused on expanding voter outreach in rural California and promoting voter registration on high school and college campuses — something she said she would continue to focus on in her second term if re-elected.

Weber has been in court several times defending California’s election laws. She has sued the local authorities for violating the election law while defending the state’s election administration against legal challenges from both democrats and Republicans. Most recently, she defended a lawsuit from Trump’s Department of Justice California voter registration data.

Weber said she fought to protect the voting rights of Californians. “If we were giving out (voter information) like candy, who would trust us … to protect their records?”

Weber has also faced criticism from advocates who say the state has not done enough to make voting accessible. Advocates for people with disabilities sued her in 2024 – albeit unsuccessfully – over state election laws which do not allow voters with disabilities to return their ballots electronically.

Wagner, the Republican challenger, wants to present an alternative to Weber, though he admitted that an upset of the GOP would shock even him. But if elected, Wagner, who also served in the state Assembly, said he would garner enough national attention to use the office as a “pulpit” with the Democratic supermajority in the state Legislature. He said he would require voters to show ID while voting, which would also require a new law. Backed by the GOP voter ID ballot initiative on Friday qualified for the November election.

Wagner said the goal is to restore voter confidence in state elections.

“I’m not one of those Republicans who’s going to be there and tell you that if a Republican doesn’t win, the election is stolen,” he told CalMatters. “What I’m saying is that I believe people on both sides of the political aisle and in the middle are questioning integrity.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.