Good morning. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
What do you want from California's next governor?
The Golden State's next gubernatorial election is roughly 18 months away, but the race has already started with a crowded field of candidates hoping to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom.
Whoever wins in 2026 will take the wheel of the most-populated state in the U.S. — and an economic powerhouse fueled by major industries, including real estate, tech, healthcare, agriculture, manufacturing and entertainment.
California's next governor will also inherit a bureaucracy that's been largely ineffective at reducing our nation-leading homelessness, boosting much-needed housing construction, or mitigating the high cost of living.
Plus there's the work underway to reduce the state's reliance on fossil fuels, clean up our worst-in-the-nation air, build resilience against the impacts of climate change and keep the water flowing.
And don't forget the long-delayed high-speed rail project and the global spotlight shining on Los Angeles as it prepares to host the 2028 Olympic Games. Also, Donald Trump is president and the state budget is shaky.
The LGTBQ+ Pride flag hangs in the state Capitol rotunda in Sacramento on June 30, 2023. (Max Whittaker / For The Times)
Who wants this big, difficult job? Here are the people making their bids so far:
- Eleni Kounalakis (D): The current lieutenant governor of California was the first to announce a bid for Newsom's current job. She's highlighted her work opposing tuition hikes, offshore drilling, along with championing reproductive choice.
- Tony Thurmond (D): Currently California's superintendent of public instruction, Thurmond entered the race early — in September 2023 — and has framed his campaign around being an advocate for the working class.
- Toni Atkins (D): Atkins made history as the first woman to hold both top jobs in the state Legislature: speaker of the Assembly and president pro tempore of the Senate. Atkins said her decades of experience in Sacramento make her "uniquely prepared" to lead the state.
- Betty Yee (D): The former state controller announced her candidacy in March 2024, emphasizing her modest upbringing by Chinese immigrant parents and her fiscal leadership in state government.
- Antonio Villaraigosa (D): He served as Assembly speaker before being elected mayor of Los Angeles in 2005, becoming the first Latino to hold the office since 1872. When he announced his bid for governor (his second attempt), Villaraigosa emphasized his ability to work with both Democrats and Republicans.
- Chad Bianco (R): The current Riverside County sheriff and an avid supporter of President Trump, Bianco entered the race in February, saying the California dream had "turned into a nightmare."
- Katie Porter (D): A former congresswoman from Orange County and current UC Irvine law school professor, Porter entered the race in March and said she aims to protect California from Trump's policies, including threats to withhold disaster relief.
- Stephen Cloobeck (D): A Southern California philanthropist and businessman who made his fortune in real estate and hospitality, Cloobeck has emphasized a pro-business tone in his campaign, saying the Democratic establishment has let Californians down.
- Xavier Becerra (D): He's the former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary under President Biden. As California's attorney general before that, he sued the Trump administration roughly 120 times. Confrontations with Trump over California's more progressive policies are expected to remain a focal point, which Becerra has said he's ready for.
Who else could join the race?
Most notably, former Vice President Kamala Harris, who is reportedly considering a run after her failed bid for the presidency last year.
Kamala Harris, left, California Gov. Gavin Newsroom and First Lady of California Jennifer Seibel-Newsom wave at a rally against the gubernatorial recall election on Sept. 8, 2021, in San Leandro. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times)
Should she jump in, Harris "would seismically reshape the already crowded race," my colleague Julia Wick explained late last year. A November poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, co-sponsored by The Times, found that nearly half of voters would be very or somewhat likely to support Harris' candidacy.
"The current gubernatorial field is a who's who of California politicians, but lacks a clear favorite or star with widespread name recognition," Julia wrote. "The vast majority of California's 22 million voters have yet to pay attention to the race and have little familiarity with the candidates."
What do you want from California's next governor?
Yes, the race is far off and a lot can change between now and November 2026. But if so many people are already lining up for the job, why not start the interview process?
We'd like your help drafting some questions for them through our newest California citizens agenda survey.
Our goal is to focus less on the campaign as a horse race and more on the issues that California voters (is that you?) want to understand before taking part in the democratic process and choosing whom to put in positions of power. To do that, we emphasize one key question:
What do you want the candidates to be talking about as they compete for votes?
We first launched this experiment at the start of the 2024 election cycle — and hundreds of Essential California readers weighed in. Your responses helped inform how we covered the election in the newsletter last year, as we took your questions to U.S. Senate candidates, unpacked the confusing state judge races and explored ways to stay civically engaged beyond the voting booth.
You can fill out the new survey here to weigh in on the governor's race. We hope you'll take a few minutes to respond — and share the survey with others so we can hear from as many people as possible. Then we'll start looking through your responses and draft some questions for the growing field of candidates, highlighting the common concerns you have and issues you care about.
Thanks for your help and stay tuned!
Today's top stories
Elderly and disabled people are encountering severe service disruptions as the Trump administration overhauls the Social Security Administration system. (Nam Y. Huh / Associated Press)
'It's a shambles': DOGE cuts bring chaos, long waits at Social Security for seniors
- Elderly and disabled people — and those who care for them — are encountering a knot of bureaucratic hurdles and service disruptions after the Trump administration imposed a sweeping overhaul of the Social Security Administration system.
- No field offices in California have closed. But there is rising frustration across Southern California and the nation as many seniors experience crashed webpages, endure jammed phone lines and are turned away at offices.
Food bank leaders spent millions on cars, Vegas trips and home renovations, a lawsuit says
Another victim of Trump's tariffs: California's electric vehicle ambitions
- Trump last month imposed 25% tariffs on all imported vehicles and certain automobile parts. If the tariffs remain in place, experts expect all vehicles sold in the U.S. — gas-powered or electric — to become more expensive.
- Electric vehicles could be especially susceptible to price increases. Lithium-ion batteries in EVs have traditionally been made with rare-earth metals, such as cobalt and nickel, that are largely found overseas.
What else is going on
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This morning's must reads
A photo illustration for Todd Martens' article about the art project "The Goodbye Line." (Los Angeles Times photo illustration; photographs by Adam Trunell / "The Goodbye Line")
These pay phones around L.A. let you say goodbye to someone "before it's too late." An art project called "The Goodbye Line" prompts passersby to make a collect call and say goodbye — to a loved one, a pet or maybe a part of themselves. Anyone can listen to the messages of grief, loneliness and introspection that are posted on social media. The creators are learning that mourning can be communal.
Other must reads
How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.
For your downtime
(Photo illustration by Ross May / Los Angeles Times; photographs by Emily Hochberg / Getty Images)
Going out
Staying in
A question for you: What's your favorite thing to do during spring in California?
Marge Holley writes: "One thing I look forward to in the spring is planting a small garden. It is so nice to go out and get tomatoes and zucchini, squash and other vegetables out of my garden. I don't try to make it too big because the weeds will become too much for me. I remember when my children were young. My daughter would go out with a salt shaker and eat a tomato straight off the vine. I will never forget one year when a gopher consumed two entire rows of vegetables. That gopher enjoyed a nice salad at my expense."
Email us at essentialcalifornia@latimes.com, and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.
And finally ... from our archives
In this photo from the 1920s, American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald poses for a portrait. (Associated Press)
On April 10, 1925, author F. Scott Fitzgerald published his third novel, "The Great Gatsby." In this 1925 Times review of the novel, Lillian C. Ford captures what made Fitzgerald's book a classic.
Have a great day, from the Essential California team
Ryan Fonseca, reporter
Andrew Campa, Sunday reporter
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Hunter Clauss, multiplatform editor
Christian Orozco, assistant editor
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters
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