The race for California\u2019s No. 2 job has come down to Democratic state Treasurer Fiona Ma and Republican former state Sen. Gloria Romero as the lieutenant governor-hopefuls look to use the role to shape state policy on issues like student housing and college entrance exams.<\/p>\n
The office, which is currently held by soon-to-be-termed-out Eleni Kounalakis, has often been dismissed as largely ceremonial \u2014 Gov. Gavin Newsom, who held the job for eight years, famously described it as a \u201cbackwater.\u201d<\/p>\n
The lieutenant governor sits on several influential boards, including those for the University of California, California State University and California Community Colleges, and serves on the State Lands and Coastal commissions. They also step in as acting governor when the governor leaves the state, and preside over the state Senate, giving them the power to cast any tie-breaking votes.\u00a0The lieutenant governor, like the vice president, is next in line in case the governor dies or is removed from office.<\/p>\n
But both candidates say they are looking to go beyond the day-to-day job description and use the office\u2019s bully pulpit to push forward their priorities.<\/p>\n
Fiona Ma<\/p>\n
Ma, 60, came in first place in the June primary with 19.1% of the vote among the 18 candidates running. In an interview, she called herself a \u201cworkhorse\u201d who specializes in complex problems and bringing together stakeholders to push legislation forward.<\/p>\n
Ma has been the state Treasurer since 2018, acting as California\u2019s banker and financier, managing an investment portfolio $150 to $250 billion annually and overseeing the disbursement of $3.7 trillion dollars a year.<\/p>\n
Prior to her current role, she served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, the California Board of Equalization and in the state Assembly, where she was speaker pro tempore. Her long list of government experience, she said, has give her a \u201cholistic perspective of what is working here in California and what is not working.\u201d<\/p>\n
As a member of several higher education boards, Ma said she wants to push for more public-private partnerships, noting that there\u2019s a \u201cdisconnect between the private sector and our universities.\u201d The collaboration would help students with training and mentorship to increase their chances of finding an entry level job upon graduation.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that has been missing, but is really needed now because of what\u2019s happening in the AI space and all the disruptions,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ma also wants to build more housing for college students utilizing state-owned land. The need, she says, is the greatest for California State University and community college students. In her current position, she used bond revenue through the California School Finance Authority to help fund more than 300 homes at Santa Rosa Junior College.<\/p>\n
Ma\u2019s other priorities include working with the state Legislature to exempt military retirement pay from state income taxes, raising awareness in schools about the risks of fentanyl and strengthening emergency preparedness at county fairground sites.<\/p>\n
She is endorsed by Kounalakis, the California Democratic Party, Sens. Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla and a number of labor organizations including the\u00a0California Teachers Association, the California Nurses Association and the State Building and Construction Trades Council of California.<\/p>\n
Gloria Romero<\/p>\n
Romero, 71, came in second place in the June primary with 17.8% of the vote. She served in the California state Legislature from 1998 to 2008, which included a stint as the Democratic state Senate majority leader. She left the party in 2024 and registered as a Republican.<\/p>\n
Romero has also served as a member of the Los Angeles Community College Board of Trustees and worked as a professor at California State University, Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
In an interview, she said she has a deep understanding of how Sacramento works and would be a \u201cstrong character\u201d who could lead with \u201cvast expertise\u201d as lieutenant governor. In a state where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans nearly two-to-one, Romero said that her previous membership in the Democratic Party gave her an \u201cinside\u201d look at the party.<\/p>\n
One of her top priorities is the state\u2019s higher education system, which she said is \u201ccrying out for some leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n
Romero wants to bring back the SAT and reinstate standardized testing as a requirement for admission to the state\u2019s public colleges and universities. The UC Board of Regents removed it as a requisite in 2020, but many university professors have advocated to bring it back.<\/p>\n
\u201cToo many students are graduating \u2026 and going into the university system and they are unprepared to take on college level work,\u201d Romero said.<\/p>\n
She supports greater school choice for parents and the abolition of the federal Department of Education.<\/p>\n
Romero\u2019s priorities also include combatting human trafficking and examining the state\u2019s animal cruelty laws, though she did not detail how that would relate to the job\u2019s functions. As a member of the State Lands and Coastal commissions, Romero said she would support new oil exploration and clearing underbrush to prevent wildfires.<\/p>\n
Romero is running for lieutenant governor on a \u201cgolden ticket\u201d alongside Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton and two other GOP statewide candidates. The lieutenant governor is elected separately from the governor, but both candidates have said they want to highlight their agenda.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The race for California\u2019s No. 2 job has come down to Democratic state Treasurer Fiona Ma and Republican…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480761,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,58578,67249,63287,138473,6657],"class_list":["post-480760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-fiona-ma","tag-gloria-romero","tag-lieutenant-governor","tag-sat","tag-student-housing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}