Jane Kim, a Democrat and former San Francisco supervisor, is running for California insurance commissioner in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election. She faces fellow Democrat Ben Allen.

Kim led the June 2 top-two primary with approximately 26.8% of the vote, collecting 1,947,178 votes, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Candidate information

  • Party: Democratic
  • Birthplace: Manhattan, New York, to South Korean immigrant parents
  • Education: Bachelor of arts in political science and Asian American studies, Stanford University; juris doctor, University of California, Berkeley, School of Law (2009)
  • Notable: First Korean American elected official in San Francisco, according to Wikipedia

Experience and public service

Kim served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors representing District 6 from January 2011 to January 2019. She previously served as member and president of the San Francisco Board of Education. She also worked as a youth community organizer at the Chinatown Community Development Center and as a civil rights attorney, according to her campaign website.

Kim served as California political director and national regional political director for the Bernie Sanders 2020 presidential campaign. She was the inaugural executive director of the California Working Families Party.

As a supervisor, Kim said on her campaign website, she passed California's first $15 minimum wage, negotiated record levels of affordable housing and expanded free childcare for all low- and middle-income families.

On the issues

The following positions are drawn from Kim's campaign website and her responses on BallotReady. They reflect the candidate's own statements.

Campaign finance: Kim has pledged not to accept contributions from the insurance industry, fossil fuel industry or corporate political action committees, according to her campaign website. She said she is the only Democratic candidate in the race to make that pledge.

Homeowners and disaster insurance: Kim said she would provide natural disaster insurance for all Californians, make sure premiums pay for claims, invest in safer homes and communities, and ensure insurers pay disaster survivors immediately.

Healthcare: Kim said she would enforce minimum coverage standards, create a statewide coverage calculator, end price discrimination for auto insurance and write a plan to provide what she calls Medicare for Kids.

Consumer protection and accountability: Kim said she would freeze rates after a policyholder files a claim, penalize delays to speed up payments, launch market conduct examinations to hold insurers accountable and create a public insurer performance dashboard.

Endorsements

Kim's endorsements include U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, state Controller Malia Cohen and Dolores Huerta, according to CalMatters and her campaign website.

Labor endorsements include the California Labor Federation, California Nurses Association, SEIU California, California Teachers Association and the UFCW Western States Council.