# Controller

URL: https://www.californiapeople.org/candidates/controller

- office: Controller
- what_the_job_is: The state's chief accountant and bill-payer. Issues state payments and payroll, audits state and local spending, publishes the state's official financial reports, sits on dozens of boards including CalPERS and CalSTRS.
- candidates: [Malia M. Cohen (D, incumbent), Herb W. Morgan (R)]

Ballot designations below are as certified by the Secretary of State. [^1]

## Malia M. Cohen (D) — incumbent, "State Controller/Mother"

### Key findings
- **Delivered on the core job:** cleared the backlog of the state's chronically late annual financial report, releasing **4 reports in 2 years**. [^2]
- **Didn't deliver on her 2022 audit promises** (homelessness, EDD, DMV), saying the State Auditor had covered them. A 2024 State Auditor report found the state had not consistently tracked and evaluated its homelessness efforts. [^3][^4]
- Career path: SF supervisor, then Board of Equalization, then Controller. [^5] Raised $1.2M+. [^3]

### Résumé
- President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors; Board of Equalization (elected 2018, chaired 2019 and 2022); elected Controller Nov 2022, in office since 2023. [^5][^3]

### Track record (sourced)
- Cleared a years-long backlog of the state's Annual Comprehensive Financial Report, which had been chronically late, releasing four reports in two years; says the next one will be about two months late. [^2]
- Working to modernize FI$Cal (the state accounting system) and state payroll. [^2]
- Urged the governor and Legislature to show "restraint" on spending in 2026 budget talks. [^3]

### Concerns (sourced)
- In 2022 she promised to scrutinize homelessness spending and take a hard look at EDD and DMV; CalMatters reports she did not follow through, saying the State Auditor had already covered them. A 2024 State Auditor report found California fails to adequately track homelessness spending (the audit's words: the state "has not consistently tracked and evaluated" its efforts to end homelessness). [^2][^4]
- Raised $1.2M+. Endorsed by CA Democratic Party, California Labor Federation, Equality California. [^3] Quoted (not a signer) in the Yes on Prop 37 ballot argument. [^6]

## Herb W. Morgan (R) — "Chief Investment Officer"

### Key findings
- Founded a San Diego investment firm later bought by Cantor Fitzgerald. **No government experience listed** in his CalMatters profile. [^3]
- Pitch: log every state-funded nonprofit payment in a public database and use AI to flag fraud. He posts his own donations in real time. Raised $367K by April. [^3]

### Résumé
- Founded a San Diego investment firm later acquired by Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors. No government experience listed there. [^3]

### Track record and platform (sourced)
- Running on exposing fraud: would require every state-funded nonprofit payment to be logged in a state database and use AI to flag suspicious spending; promises to audit homelessness spending. Publishes his own campaign donations in real time on his website. Raised $367k by April. [^2]
- Endorsed by CA Republican Party, California Republican Assembly, Unity Party of California. [^3]

### Job-applicant read
Cohen has delivered on the unglamorous core of the job (clearing the late financial-report backlog, systems modernization) but not on the high-profile audit promises she ran on. Morgan has real private investment-management experience, relevant to the pension boards, but no public-sector accounting or audit record.

## Sources
[^1]: SoS, certified candidate list (Nov 3, 2026 general). https://elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov/statewide-elections/2026-general/cert-list-candidates.pdf
[^2]: CalMatters (May 2026). https://calmatters.org/politics/elections/2026/05/ca-election-2026-controller/
[^3]: CalMatters Controller guide. https://calmatters.org/california-voter-guide-2026/controller/
[^4]: State Auditor 2023-102.1, Homelessness in California (Apr 9, 2024). https://www.auditor.ca.gov/reports/2023-102-1/
[^5]: SCO bio, State Controller's Office official biography. https://sco.ca.gov/eo_about_bio.html
[^6]: Official Voter Guide, Prop 37 arguments (Nov 2026). https://vig.cdn.sos.ca.gov/2026/general/pdf/prop37.pdf