State Sen. Ben Allen and former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim have split key endorsements, setting up a tight race for California\u2019s next insurance commissioner.<\/p>\n
Allen, (D-Santa Monica), who represents the Pacific Palisades neighborhood severely damaged in the January 2025 firestorm, received the coveted endorsement<\/a> last weekend of the California Democratic Party.<\/p>\n Kim, who led the field<\/a> in June\u2019s crowded primary, was endorsed Tuesday<\/a> by the California Federation of Labor Unions, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO that represents more than 1,300 state labor unions.<\/p>\n Parke Skelton, a retired veteran Democratic political consultant, said that he expects the slate mailers, field volunteers and other support that each organization can provide their endorsed candidate will wash out.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s going to be very, very close,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Two Democrats are facing off for the first time in the general election for insurance commissioner due to the open primary system instituted in 2011, in which the two top vote-getters advance regardless of party affiliation.<\/p>\n Kim bested Allen in the primary with 27.4% of the vote to his 19.4%, with an online campaign poll<\/a> conducted for Allen in July showing that likely voters still prefer Kim by 7 points. But it also found that the general election on Nov. 3 is wide open, with most voters undecided.<\/p>\n Allen secured his endorsement after getting at least 60% of the vote of the party\u2019s executive board at its meeting in San Diego. Kim needed at least two thirds of the 1,000 delegates attending the labor federation\u2019s Oakland convention.<\/p>\n The campaign to succeed outgoing Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara has drawn more attention than usual as insurers have withdrawn from the market<\/a> and raised rates for several years. There also has been widespread dissatisfaction<\/a> over how some insurers have handled January 2025 fire claims.<\/p>\n Allen, 48, who has served over a decade in the Legislature, has campaigned on a platform that blends cracking down on insurer wrongdoing \u2014 citing his legislative record<\/a> \u2014 while trying to fix the market so that more carriers will write policies. <\/p>\n He said his endorsement is a \u201creflection of the really substantive work that I\u2019ve been doing for years to stand up for consumers and take on tough issues and standing by the fire survivors in my district.\u201d<\/p>\n Allen also is backed by California\u2019s two U.S. senators and the leaders of the state Senate and Assembly.<\/p>\n Kim, 49, a member of San Francisco\u2019s board of supervisors from 2011 to 2019, has touted her advocacy for California\u2019s first $15 minimum wage and making the city\u2019s community college tuition free, among other progressive causes.<\/p>\n The centerpiece of her campaign<\/a> is a plan to create a state-backed risk pool to handle disaster claims, while making insurance more affordable and available.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ll be able to tell the voters of California that 2.3 million workers are behind this campaign \u2014 working Californians that get up every morning, every day, and work really hard,\u201d she said of the endorsement.<\/p>\n Allen is not without labor support, including from the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California and the California Professional Firefighters.<\/p>\n Lorena Gonzalez, president of the labor federation, said that several unions endorsed both candidates but Kim had lot of backing from San Francisco Bay Area unions that knew her through her work on progressive issues in San Francisco.<\/p>\n She is backed by Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator and progressive leader.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say there was a lot of discussion about trust. I think our members and our unions trust her, and so I thought that was important,\u201d said Gonzalez, a former Assembly member from San Diego.<\/p>\n Although the California Democratic Party has 10 million members, Skelton said that Kim\u2019s support from labor, including the large Service Employees International Union<\/a> and California Teachers Assn.<\/a>, could be more substantive.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Democratic Party doesn\u2019t spend tons of money disseminating their endorsements,\u201d he said, adding that neither candidate is likely to draw much support from Republicans.<\/p>\n Both candidates said they are campaigning up and down California, but Skelton said neither has enough money to mount a statewide campaign that would substantially raise their name awareness.<\/p>\n