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The secretary of state serves as the state’s chief elections officer, overseeing federal and state-level elections, sending out ballots, certifying results and issuing voter guides.
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California’s slow ballot counting has come under fire in recent years as so-called election integrity activists have claimed voter fraud with backing from President Donald Trump and allies like MyPillow executive Mike Lindell.
The office also maintains state archives and manages lobbyist registrations and campaign finance disclosures. Incumbent Secretary of State Shirley Weber, a Democrat, became the first Black woman to serve when Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed her in 2021.
After winning election to a full term in 2022, Weber is running for a second, four-year term against Republican Donald Wagner.
Who is Donald Wagner?
Wagner, 65, is an Orange County supervisor representing the 3rd District. He serves on several boards and commissions like the local county fire and transportation authorities, the Southern California Association of Governments and the Orange County Council of Governments.
He was first elected in 2019 and before then served as mayor of Irvine and in the Assembly from 2010 to 2016.
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Wagner said if elected secretary of state, he would focus on ridding voter rolls of ineligible residents and restoring “damaged trust” in the state’s elections systems.
“Californians deserve an excellent election system that is secure, efficient, accurate and accessible to every eligible voter,” he said on his website. “I will make sure that every eligible voter can participate in our democracy while also protecting the security of elections by ensuring that only eligible voters cast ballots.”
Wagner supports Proposition 39, a ballot initiative led by Assemblymember Carl DeMaio, R-San Diego, that would require voters to show ID if they vote in person or provide the last four digits of a government-issued identification number when voting by mail.
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Democrats have opposed the measure, arguing it would disenfranchise voters and cost the state millions to implement as Trump has pushed for a similar, federal effort.
Wagner, 65, is a married father of three and lives in Orange County with his wife. He earned his bachelor’s degree from UCLA and his law degree from UC Law San Francisco.
Who is Shirley Weber?
Newsom first appointed Weber, 77, secretary of state after Alex Padilla became a U.S. senator following Kamala Harris’ election to vice president in 2020.
Weber previously was a San Diego-area assemblymember from 2012 to 2020. She passed legislation establishing the U.S.’s strongest police use-of-force law and a task force to study reparations for Black Californians, and fought for increased K-12 education funding.
Before then, she was a professor at San Diego State University, where she co-founded the Africana studies department.
As secretary of state, Weber said she prioritizes accuracy over speed, even as California’s slow vote count has frustrated Democrats and Republicans alike. Earlier this year, Newsom called for local elections clerks to count ballots faster to head off misinformation ahead of the June 2 primary.
Weber was born to sharecroppers in Arkansas, who fled the Jim Crow South for Los Angeles when she was 3. She is a widowed mother of two, and holds three degrees, including a doctorate of communication, from UCLA.
This story was originally published October 1, 2026 at 5:30 PM with the headline “Your voter guide to the race for California secretary of state.”
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