Go Vote, California — Highlighting the POC Democrats on Tuesday's Ballot

Glowgetters — Tuesday, November 3, California decides who holds the keys, and the desk needs every Glowgetter to see WHAT we're voting on: this ballot is LOADED with people of color on the Democratic ticket — top to bottom, wall to wall. Here's your cheat sheet, baby. Read it, save it, vote it.

THE HEADLINE: GOVERNOR. Xavier Becerra — the son of Mexican immigrants, the former California Attorney General who sued the first Trump administration MORE THAN 100 TIMES, the former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary — took the June primary with nearly 28% and heads into Tuesday against Republican commentator Steve Hilton. Polling through late October has shown Becerra ahead, baby — but polls don't vote; PEOPLE do. If you want a governor who already knows where the Trump lawsuits get filed, that's the top of the ticket.

THE FIREWALL: AG + SOS. Rob Bonta — Filipino American, California's first Filipino American Attorney General — is on the ballot to keep the lawsuit machine running; he's the one who wrote California's ban on private immigration detention. And Shirley Weber — the historian, the educator, California's first Black Secretary of State — is the woman who literally runs the ELECTIONS in this state. Think about that: as Trump keeps promising to 'watch' elections, the Black woman historian holds California's ballots. Vote for your firewall.

THE MONEY DESKS. Fiona Ma — the first Asian American woman elected California Treasurer — is now running for LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR (termed out of the money chair). Malia Cohen — Black woman, the state Controller, the auditor with the receipts — is running to keep that office. Eleni Kounalakis, the outgoing Lieutenant Governor, is running for Treasurer. The people who touch the state's MONEY and its BOOKS are on this ballot too, baby — audits, pensions, bonds, the whole spreadsheet of California.

THE DEM-VS-DEM. The Insurance Commissioner race is WILD: California's top-two system delivered TWO Democrats — state Senator Ben Allen and former San Francisco supervisor Jane Kim, the tenants'-and-workers fighter. In a climate state where insurers are pulling out of whole ZIP codes, this race is REAL money — your premiums, your claims, your neighborhood. Pick your Democrat, but VOTE it.

AND IN LOS ANGELES. The desk already decoded the mayor's race — Bass vs. Raman, the $5,000 promise, the fine print — go read that one before Tuesday too. Karen Bass, the first Black woman to lead this city, is asking for four more years while her challenger promises the moon. The desk's position stands: read the fine print, then vote the record.

WHY THIS ONE MATTERS. Because the last few years showed California EXACTLY what a hostile White House means: ICE raids on our streets, funding threats, and Texas-style map games that California had to answer with a counter-map of our own. The governor signs the counter-maps. The AG files the lawsuits. The SOS holds the elections. The Controller audits the money. Every one of those offices is on Tuesday's ballot — and the Democratic ticket carrying them is one of the most reflective slates California has ever been asked to vote for. THIS is what they mean by UP AND DOWN THE BALLOT, Glowgetters.

MORGAN'S TAKE: "Do not be the person who votes the top and skips the bottom — the bottom is where the lawsuits live, the elections live, the money lives. Becerra, Weber, Bonta, Ma, Cohen, Kim — and Bass back home in LA. Tuesday. Polls close at 8. Bring a friend, bring your mama, bring the whole group chat. We do not sit these out."

THE FINE PRINT. Per the California Secretary of State's certified candidate list (Aug 27, 2026), Ballotpedia and CalMatters' voter guide: the Nov 3, 2026 general election tops the ballot with Xavier Becerra (D) vs. Steve Hilton (R) for Governor — Becerra led the June 2 top-two primary at 27.98% to Hilton's 24.59%, and late-October polling showed him ahead (polling is not a result — VOTE); Shirley Weber (D, incumbent) vs. Don Wagner (R) for Secretary of State; Rob Bonta (D, incumbent) vs. Michael Gates (R) for Attorney General; Fiona Ma (D) vs. Gloria Romero (R) for Lieutenant Governor; Malia Cohen (D, incumbent) vs. Herb Morgan (R) for Controller; Eleni Kounalakis (D) vs. Jennifer Hawks (R) for Treasurer; and Ben Allen vs. Jane Kim — TWO Democrats — for Insurance Commissioner. In LA: Bass vs. Raman — see the desk's Election Night Desk story. Ballots have been mailing since Oct 5; Election Day is Tuesday, Nov 3, 2026; check your registration at registertovote.ca.gov. The desk's endorsements are editorial opinion.

Glowgetters, the group chat is OPEN: team "Becerra + the whole ticket, no skips," team "I'm voting Tuesday and dragging five friends," or team "explain the Insurance race to me one more time." Come argue with me.

— Morgan ✨