The editorial board says former Stockton Mayor Michael Tubbs exemplifies the traits that are arguably the most important for an almost entirely political role of lieutenant governor: He is an effective communicator and has consistently demonstrated political courage.

To the untrained political ear, “California lieutenant governor” sounds like a powerful and high-profile job.

In reality, it’s a largely ceremonial role with little authority to enact meaningful policy change.

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Gov. Gavin Newsom, who held the position for eight years, described it as a “backwater.”

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Yes, the lieutenant governor needs to be competent enough to run things if the governor is out of state, passes away or is removed from office. The job commands a board seat on the state’s public higher-education systems — California Community Colleges, California State University and University of California — and on the State Lands Commission and Ocean Protection Council. The lieutenant governor is also president of the state Senate and can cast a tie-breaking vote.

But the primary instrument of the office is a modest bully pulpit — historically used sparingly while waiting for a better job to open.

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California should seriously consider a constitutional amendment to place the governor and lieutenant governor together on a joint ticket, which could improve governmental coordination and combat voter fatigue.

The Chronicle Editorial Board has begun rolling out its endorsements for California’s June primary election. In the weeks to come, we will publish our assessments of all the state races, including the governor’s race, plus local races and ballot measures. To read more about how the Editorial Board makes its election endorsements, go here.Plus: Look out for the Chronicle’s Voter Guide to publish in early May, as ballots get mailed out across the Bay Area.

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But it’s far too late for that for 2026. So, Californians will have to select from 16 candidates in the June primary to replace Eleni Kounalakis, who is termed out. 

Three Democrats stand out. 

One is California Treasurer Fiona Ma, 60, a certified public accountant who previously served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and in the state Assembly. Ma is impressive on complex financial and technical matters, such as the affordable housing financing agencies she currently oversees. In an earlier role as an elected member of the state Board of Equalization, she pushed for much-needed reforms to combat corruption.

Yet her vision for the lieutenant governor role is so broad and vague as to be almost meaningless. She told us she wants to focus on, among other things, long-term care funding, fairground renovation, water policy, fentanyl awareness, bolstering the arts economy, middle-income housing and financing for accessory dwelling units. None of these is under the purview of the lieutenant governor.

Her candidacy also comes with baggage. In 2024, the state paid $350,000 to settle a lawsuit from a former treasurer’s office employee who alleged that Ma climbed into bed with her while sharing a hotel room and exposed herself. Two Sacramento Bee investigations found that Ma, who lives in San Francisco, frequently shared rooms with staff in her first two years in office to “save money” and charged taxpayers more for business trips to Sacramento during that time than any other statewide elected official.  

Ma described the lawsuit as “frivolous” and said her campaign now pays for her business trips to Sacramento.

Another top candidate is California Chief Service Officer Josh Fryday, 45, a Navy veteran and former mayor of Novato. Fryday oversees the California College Corps — which provides students with up to $10,000 in financial aid in exchange for 450 hours of community service — as well as the California Climate Action Corps and the Youth Service Corps. 

Fryday impressed us with his focus on aligning California’s higher-education systems with workforce needs — including preparing for the impact of artificial intelligence. To spur job creation and economic growth, he wants to revive the defunct Economic Development Commission, historically overseen by the lieutenant governor. He also wants to scale his youth service programs and build 1 million housing units on public university land. 

Yet Fryday’s California College Corps program has drawn scrutiny from the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office, which recommended that lawmakers reject giving it more money after finding that about half of the program’s funding was going to administrative costs and not student financial aid.

Fryday told us the “LAO mischaracterized how the programs actually work,” adding, “What they called admin is actually programmatic and student support.” But that’s exactly what the report took issue with. If additional funding were approved, the report noted, it would have about one-third the administrative staff of the California Student Aid Commission — despite doling out less than 3% of the money distributed by that commission. 

Moreover, Fryday’s proposal for 1 million housing units is a slogan, not a plan — reminiscent of Newsom’s empty proclamation he would build 3.5 million homes as governor. When given the chance to take a bold stance on housing as mayor of Novato, Fryday opposed Senate Bill 827, a 2018 effort to streamline housing development near transit.

“Looking back, I would have voted differently,” Fryday told us. He’s now an avid backer of SB79, a new law to streamline housing near transit. And he would support extending its provisions to Marin County, which is currently exempted.

By contrast, Michael Tubbs, 35, Newsom’s special adviser on economic mobility and opportunity and founder and director of the nonprofit End Poverty in California, has led from the beginning on housing and other issues. Against the advice of several mentors who warned that it could cost him politically, Tubbs testified in the Legislature in support of SB79 and another controversial bill to exempt most infill housing from environmental review.

As mayor of Stockton from 2017 to 2021, Tubbs launched a first-of-its-kind guaranteed basic income pilot program to give 125 residents $500 a month for two years, no strings attached — which was found to measurably improve employment and health. He also oversaw a gun violence intervention and prevention program that, although controversial — it involved paying $1,000 monthly to those most likely to perpetrate or be at risk of violence while connecting them to services and mentorship — was found to significantly reduce homicides.

Tubbs exemplifies the two traits that are arguably the most important for an almost entirely political role: He is an effective communicator and has consistently demonstrated political courage — even when it’s cost him, as it did when he lost his mayoral reelection bid to Republican challenger Kevin Lincoln. He has the progressive cachet to push the left toward evidence-based solutions on housing. And he correctly recognizes that his role on the three higher-education boards will be to shoulder the political heat for contentious but necessary decisions, such as building housing on public university land. 

Ambitious and clear-eyed about the limitations and opportunities of the lieutenant governor role, Tubbs deserves your vote. 

The editorial positions of The Chronicle, including election recommendations, represent the consensus of the editorial board, consisting of the publisher, the editorial page editor and staff members of the opinion pages. Its judgments are made independent of the news operation, which covers the news without consideration of our editorial positions.

Other candidates we spoke with include Gloria Romero, the former Democratic leader of the state Senate, who’s running as a Republican. Unfortunately, she’s using her considerable experience — particularly on education policy — to focus on culture-war issues. Democrat Janelle Kellman, a nonprofit executive and former mayor of Sausalito, is articulate but lacks a detailed vision. Oliver Ma, a civil rights lawyer, is thoughtful but largely focused on national political issues. Jeyson Lopez, a recent college graduate, suggested the lieutenant governor oversee the Department of Industrial Relations to improve workplace protections. Ebie Lynch, a Republican business owner and nurse, wants to improve opportunities for small-business owners and disadvantaged students. Abdur Rahman Sikder, a Democratic computer science professor, favors tuition-free college. Rakesh Christian, a business owner, railed against the “Ponzi game” of the California government. 

The remaining candidates didn’t respond to our interview requests. 

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