San Francisco Voter Guide - June 2, 2026

I’ve voted in every election since my 18th birthday. I also have strong opinions. That said, it’s getting harder and harder for me to be engaged in the voting process, particularly because of a total dearth of candidates for any office that I’m excited to vote for. This year is the worst year yet: the U.S. is neck-deep in fascism, and the best “opposition” we have are in the same party actively voting to strip away trans rights, close public schools, fund corrupt bloat organizations that accomplish little-to-nothing, and supporting the Israeli military in its colonialist and genocidal actions.

Nevertheless, like I have in every election since I have been able to, I will be casting my ballot. Below, you will find a list of how I am voting in each category available to me, and a few other races that I can’t vote for.

I also decided to post this voter guide publicly on my website for the first time. Please feel free to share with anyone you think might benefit from this.

California Races

Governor: Tom Steyer

Look, I’m about as excited to vote for a literal billionaire for governor as I am to go to the dentist in a few weeks. And that’s not even true, because I love my dentist, even though I don’t like having my mouth poked around in. But Tom Steyer is our best option to have someone who might actually succeed in the office of Governor of California. 

The race boils down to this: the two top choices in the June election go to a runoff in November, regardless of party. This is a ridiculous system that needs to change pronto to ranked-choice. But this year, it’s what we’ve got. There are two Republicans making strong showings in the polls: Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco. They are both terrifying. If two Republicans are the two top vote-getters on June 2, we will have a MAGA governor. No, thank you. 

On the Democrat side, and why this has even happened, there are way too many candidates. My sample ballot had 61 candidates on it. A few major candidates have already dropped out (Betty Yee, because she’s decent, and Eric Swalwell, who resigned from Congress in disgrace). A few other low-pollers have refused to drop out (Antonio Villaraigosa, Matt Mahan). The three Democrats at the top of the field are Tom Steyer, Katie Porter, and Xavier Becerra. 

Xavier Becerra is the worst of the three, by far. He has a very bad record of progressive policies in the last 20 years, including as Attorney General of California and HHS Secretary under Joe Biden. Despite decades in public office, he has few accomplishments under his belt, and the things he has done have frequently been counterproductive.

Katie Porter is my second choice. Much of the criticism against her reeks of sexism and holding a woman to standards that a man wouldn’t even have to consider. That said, I don’t think she really has a chance at success in more ways than one. Of the three above Democratic candidates, she is most likely to place third, and I don’t think she has enough respect from her colleagues to run a large government effectively. Regardless of the reasons of the allegations against her, which I think stink, the fact is that she just doesn’t have enough popular support to succeed here.

Tom Steyer is the best, by process of elimination. And let me be clear: that’s what this is. He has two major things counting against him: he is a hedge fund billionaire, and he has no formal leadership experience in the world of government, meaning he will have a much steeper learning curve than other candidates. Those things being said: he is genuinely presenting as a class traitor (meaning actively fighting against the billionaire class), he has a long demonstrated record of genuine climate activism, and pretty much all of his answers to important political questions are correct. 

I desperately wish there were a better candidate—one with Steyer’s ideals without the baggage. But I do think he’s our best choice for governor and I encourage you to join me in voting for him.

Lieutenant Governor - Michael Tubbs

This one is tough, because this is the least-important office in California, and I’m wary of all of the candidates. This is a very light endorsement, accordingly. Fiona Ma is another do-nothing candidate with several ties to people I don’t think deserve to be in public consciousness. So really, this is mostly about ensuring that she doesn’t get elected to another office. I’d normally be tempted to vote for Oliver Ma, a Democratic Socialist, but he essentially has zero chance of winning. Michael Tubbs was a decent mayor of Stockton. He also has connections and endorsements that worry me, but less so than Ma. I am concerned that this will raise his profile enough to run for an actually-important office, but it’s a risk I can take for Lieutenant Governor.

Secretary of State - Shirley Weber

In my work, I deal with the Secretary of State’s office quite frequently. It’s an important and under-appreciated office. Shirley Weber has performed quite well in this office, and therefore deserves our votes.

Controller - Malia Cohen

I’m not impressed by Malia Cohen. But she has done decently well in this budget-management position and is running only against a Republican and a nobody third-party candidate.

Treasurer - Anna Caballero

Another very light endorsement because I do not want the other top-two candidate, current Lieutenant Governor Eleni Kounalakis, to win. 

Attorney General - Marjorie Mikels

I won’t vote for Rob Bonta. He has just performed so poorly as the incumbent in this position. Ultimately, he’s just not doing anything important at a very important juncture in U.S. history, and is uniquely situated to be able to do so. That said, he’s running against a Republican and a Green. 

The Green Party candidate, Marjorie Mikels, has no chance. But I like her. She has a great vibe. So that’s where my vote is going.

Insurance Commissioner - Patrick Wolff

Look, just because Jane Kim was a progressive elected in San Francisco does not mean she’s getting my vote. I’ve found her to be quite opportunistic and fair-weather. She has no particular qualification for this position, which is highly technical and also extremely important. 

Enter Patrick Wolff, an absolute policy nerd who has tons of directly applicable experience for this position. We need someone who is going to stand up to insurance companies at this important moment, when homeowner’s insurance is getting stripped, health insurance is the most expensive it’s ever been, fire insurance is becoming widely unavailable, and several other very important insurance-related issues. Patrick Wolff is the right candidate for this job.

Board of Equalization - Sally Lieber

This limited-purpose board oversees property tax in California. By all accounts, Sally Lieber has done a good job in this role and should continue.

Superintendent of Public Instruction - Nichelle Henderson

This primarily comes from people I trust on this matter, but Nichelle Henderson seems like a popular and good-fit candidate. 

San Francisco Races

Congress, District 11 - Connie Chan

There are three major candidates with a chance in San Francisco to replace Speaker Emerita Pelosi, and only one of the three deserves your vote.

It will surprise no one that I’m not supporting State Senator Scott Wiener. Maybe ironically, he has genuinely been the most important pro-trans-rights and pro-LGBTQ-equality voice in Sacramento for many years. But that’s really where the good ends. Since his first day in office as District 8 Supervisor in San Francisco, he has been a bought-and-paid lobbyist for the real estate industry, who largely controls everything important in California. That alone is permanently disqualifying. 

Saikat Chakrabarti, I’m quite certain, is a grifter of the highest order. He has essentially zero connection to San Francisco. When you have hundreds of millions of dollars, you can do things like live in Maryland, buy another house in San Francisco, and check the box on the Preliminary Change of Ownership Report at the Assessor-Recorder’s Office denoting this new purchase as your “primary residence” even though you have no intention of living there full-time. He has hired armies of workers presenting him as the next Zohran Mamdani. But, my friends, he is not that. He is a centi-millionaire carpetbagger who has no connection to the city he seeks to represent. Peaches Christ’s endorsement of him is a massive embarrassment. 

Connie Chan is an excellent candidate. Chakrabarti’s money and Wiener’s deep-pocketed donors put aside, Connie Chan is the real deal. She is a demonstrated progressive with an excellent track record of fighting for all of the right things. I literally can’t think of a single reason why she wouldn’t be a wonderful representative for San Francisco in Congress. 

School Board - Brandee Marckmann

Brandee is a friend and a total badass. She is a genuine fighter against school closures, for student success, and a bona fide progressive. Virginia Cheung also seems like a good candidate, but Brandee easily deserves your vote here. 

Superior Court, Seat 16 - Alexandra Pray

This race is simple. Phoebe Maffei works for the SF District Attorney’s Office; Alexandra Pray works for the SF Public Defender’s Office. Always vote for the Public Defender over the District Attorney.

SF Proposition A - Yes

I hate stuff like this. Success of essential services like emergency response should never be dependent on voter propositions. But this one is worthwhile, and will fund things like water pipe repairs for fire services.

SF Proposition B - No

This one puts term limits in for SF elected offices, specifically (I guess) to keep Aaron Peskin—my single favorite SF elected official—from running for office again. He’s almost certainly not going to run again. We already have ranked-choice voting in SF and it’s been quite successful overall. We don’t need this.

SF Proposition C - No

It honestly doesn’t even matter what else Prop C would do if it passes, because it would ensure that Prop D, which you should vote “Yes” on, would have no legal effect. That was the purpose of the introduction of Prop C. But you should independently vote No on C anyway; decreasing gross receipts taxes on “small” businesses, which by definition here can make up to $7.5 million per year, sounds good on paper, until you realize that businesses that make that much should be paying taxes to the City, and that it would decrease revenue by up to $40 million per year at a time when everything in the budget is getting slashed. No thank you.

SF Proposition D - Yes

Proposition D does only one thing: increases a tax that applies only to companies where their top-paid executive gets paid 100 times the average compensation of their other SF-based employees. This sounds like a no-brainer because it is a no-brainer. If passed, it would not impact anyone except for companies big enough and unethical enough to be paying their top executive more than 100 times their average paid-employee. It would raise up to $300 million per year, which would make a huge difference. Anyone who is opposing Prop D, or supporting Prop C, is not your friend. 

SF Supervisor - District 2 - Lori Brooke

I don’t really know much about Lori Brooke other than she is a neighborhood association president in San Francisco’s most conservative neighborhood. But she can’t be worse than Michael Bloomberg-aligned multi-millionaire Stephen Sherrill.

SF Supervisor - District 4 - Natalie Gee

Natalie is such a great candidate and would be an excellent supervisor for the Sunset District. She deserves your number one vote.