Controller
California’s controller serves as the state’s chief accountant, overseeing spending in a state that makes up one of the world’s largest economies. Whoever is elected will be in charge of auditing the state’s finances and paying government employees.
Candidates
Meghann Adams
A school bus driver who lives in San Francisco’s Tenderloin neighborhood, Adams also is president of her union and manages its finances. She wants to expose corporate landlords that drive up rent prices, analyze the cost of imposing a single-payer Medi-Cal system and divest state investments from companies that support Israel’s war against Gaza.
Malia M. Cohen
Cohen has served as California’s controller since 2023 and is running for re-election. She’s campaigning on a promise to govern the state’s finances with “transparency, efficiency and fairness.” In recent months, as the governor and legislators hash out a budget deal, Cohen has been urging them to spend with caution.
Herb W. Morgan
Morgan is running on the promise of exposing fraud in government at a time when the Trump administration also is leveling fraud accusations against California. Morgan founded an investment firm in San Diego that was later acquired by Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors.
