Jane Kim, a Democrat and former San Francisco supervisor, is running for California Insurance Commissioner in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election. She faces fellow Democrat Ben Allen.
Kim led the June 2 top-two primary with approximately 26.8% of the vote, collecting 1,947,178 votes, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Candidate information
- Party: Democratic
- Birthplace: Manhattan, New York
- Education: Bachelor of arts in political science and Asian American studies, Stanford University; juris doctor in law, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (2009)
- Notable: First Korean American elected official in San Francisco, according to Wikipedia
Experience and public service
Kim served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing District 6 from January 2011 to January 2019. Before that, she served as a member and president of the San Francisco Board of Education.
She has also worked as a civil rights attorney, a youth community organizer at the Chinatown Community Development Center, and the inaugural executive director of the California Working Families Party. In 2020, she served as California political director and national regional political director for Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign.
As a supervisor, Kim said on her campaign website that she passed California's first $15 minimum wage and negotiated record levels of affordable housing. She also said she expanded free childcare for low- and middle-income families and passed what she called the strongest tenant protections in the nation. Kim said she made San Francisco the only city in the nation with free community college.
On the issues
The following positions are drawn from Kim's campaign website and her responses via BallotReady. They reflect the candidate's own statements.
Homeowner and disaster insurance: Kim said she plans to provide natural disaster insurance for all Californians, make sure premiums pay for claims, invest in safer homes and communities, and show how insurance companies spend policyholder money. She said she would freeze rates after a policyholder files a claim, penalize delays to speed up payments, make sure insurers pay disaster survivors immediately, and launch market conduct examinations to hold bad actors accountable. She also said she would create a public insurer performance dashboard.
Health and auto insurance: Kim said she would enforce minimum coverage standards, create a statewide coverage calculator, and end price discrimination for auto insurance. She also said she would create a public option for affordable auto insurance and write a plan to provide what she calls Medicare for Kids.
Campaign finance: Kim said she has pledged not to accept contributions from the insurance industry, the fossil fuel industry, or corporate political action committees, and not to self-fund her campaign. She described herself as the only Democratic candidate in the race to make this pledge.
Endorsements
Kim's endorsements include U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, California State Controller Malia Cohen, and Dolores Huerta, according to her campaign website and CalMatters.
Labor endorsements include the California Labor Federation, the California Nurses Association, SEIU California, the California Teachers Association, UFCW Western States Council, and the Working Families Party.
Candidate responses were collected through BallotReady and the candidate's campaign website. The Newport Signal did not interview the candidate for this profile.
