Jane Kim holds slim lead over Ben Allen with race for California insurance czar too close to call

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Bernie Sanders-endorsed Jane Kim was ahead of state Sen. Ben Allen in a tight race for California insurance commissioner early Wednesday morning, as election officials continued counting ballots.

With approximately 52% of votes counted, the lefty ex-San Francisco supervisor had received 3,426,499 votes, or 52%, compared to Allen’s 3,168,467 votes, or 48%, according to the California Secretary of State’s official election results.

The contest between the two Democrats was the closest statewide race on Tuesday’s ballot.

Kim, a progressive who finished first in the June primary, faced off against the more moderate Allen for the opportunity to replace outgoing Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, whose term ends in December.

After maintaining a three-point advantage late Tuesday, Kim expressed confidence in her campaign’s position, saying she felt “very good about where we stand.”

“It’s an incredible honor to have received so much support from every corner of the state,” she said in a statement. “There has never been a statewide campaign like this one in California, and we are so proud of the race we ran.”

Allen, meanwhile, called for patience Wednesday morning as additional ballots were being processed, emphasizing that “every vote matters.”

Allen had a financial advantage throughout the campaign, raising roughly $2.3 million in direct contributions, compared to the $1.3 million collected by Kim.

He pointed to the devastation caused by the January 2025 Palisades Fire, which swept through communities in his Senate district, as a major reason he entered the race.

“My work doesn’t stop,” he said. “Every day, I’ll be fighting for those families.”

While both candidates acknowledged that California homeowners are struggling with an increasingly troubled insurance market, they offered sharply different solutions.

The far-left candidate’s major proposal to tackle the crisis is a single-payer disaster-insurance policy for every Californian dubbed “Natural Disaster Insurance for All.” 

The idea is to create a single state fund, rather than relying on competing private insurers, to cover disaster losses for everyone.

“Everyone would be in the same pool and pay premiums based on factors like property value or risk,” Kim’s website states.

But multiple critics have blasted her idea as nonsensical and dangerous to the state’s finances.

“Kim’s idea of replacing private wildfire insurance with the state would put California taxpayers on the hook for untold billions,” said Patrick Wolff, who lost in the primary for insurance commissioner this year. 

Allen, along with several insurance experts, questioned whether such a large public program could realistically be established and funded, particularly because no other state has implemented a comparable system on that scale.

Allen focused his campaign on overhauling the existing private insurance marketplace.

His proposals included speeding up insurance rate approvals, which can currently take years, and expanding reforms introduced under Lara that permit companies to incorporate catastrophe modeling and reinsurance expenses into their rate requests.

Allen also called for working with state lawmakers and the governor to establish stronger home-hardening standards aimed at reducing wildfire risks and insurance costs.

Kim criticized his approach as a continuation of the “status quo,” arguing that it would fail to meaningfully address the state’s insurance problems.

The candidates also attracted support from different factions of the Democratic Party.

Allen secured endorsements from the California Democratic Party, U.S. Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, and consumer advocacy groups including the Consumer Federation of California.

Kim received backing from U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Working Families Party and California Young Democrats.

Organized labor was divided. The California Teachers Association and California Nurses Association supported Kim, while the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California endorsed Allen.

Outside spending also played a significant role in the contest.

Independent political action committees spent at least $6.5 million either promoting Allen or campaigning against Kim, according to campaign finance disclosures.

Other groups supporting Kim, meanwhile, spent approximately $4.4 million.

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