Insurance Commissioner candidate Jane Kim wants to establish a state-run single-payer disaster insurance program with guaranteed coverage. Gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra pledges to freeze insurance rates in an affordability state of emergency.

California’s election results are still being tabulated as of this writing. But it doesn’t take binoculars to spot a giant red flag flying on the horizon.

The leading Democratic candidates for two key positions are disconcertingly receptive to a disastrous idea: blowing up California’s insurance market just as it’s starting to reach more stable ground. This would, in turn, destroy the state’s efforts to build more housing and make it virtually impossible for would-be homebuyers to secure a mortgage.

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After years of insurance companies severely restricting business or leaving the state altogether — thanks to climate-change-fueled megafires and state regulations that make it near-impossible to adequately price this risk — they’re slowly beginning to return due to sweeping reforms enacted by outgoing Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara. The reforms aren’t perfect, and the devastating 2025 Los Angeles wildfires exposed issues that urgently need to be addressed. But they’ve also led to meaningful, if fragile, progress. Among other things, the rate of growth is finally beginning to decrease for the FAIR Plan, which offers bare-bones coverage for those who can’t get it anywhere else — a critical step to improving the health of the market. 

Yet Xavier Becerra, California’s likely next governor, has rashly — and ridiculously —........

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