California’s next insurance commissioner is likely to continue efforts to reform the state’s strained homeowners insurance market, regardless of which remaining candidate wins the race.
Democrats Jane Kim and Ben Allen have advanced to the 3 November election for California insurance commissioner. Together, they received more than 45% of votes cast in the 2 June primary.
The winner will replace outgoing Commissioner Ricardo Lara, who cannot seek another term. The race has become closely tied to California’s homeowners insurance crisis, especially after the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires.
- Kim, an attorney and consumer advocate, raised more than $700,000 during her campaign. She is promoting a publicly backed single-payer disaster insurance system.
- Allen, a state legislator, raised $977,000 for his campaign. He has authored several bills aimed at insurance affordability, including proposals for new incentives tied to home hardening.
Republican insurance agent Stacy A. Korsgaden conceded the race earlier this week. She had been running close behind Allen before the field narrowed to the two Democratic candidates.
Ballots are still being counted, but the latest figures from the California Secretary of State show Kim with 27.3% of the vote. About 2.2 mn voters marked her name on the ballot.
Allen had 19.4% of the vote, followed by Korsgaden with 15.87%. The primary included 11 candidates from several parties and professional backgrounds.
The field included two insurance agents, a former insurance broker, a state legislator, and a former state legislator. Most candidates placed California’s insurance crisis near the centre of their campaigns.
Kim served on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors from 2011 to 2019. She has also run for state Senate and mayor of San Francisco.
Her platform calls for natural disaster insurance for all California residents. She also wants premiums directed toward claims payments, greater insurer transparency, and investment in safer homes and communities.
Kim criticised Lara’s recent efforts to bring insurers back into California’s homeowners market. His regulatory changes allow reinsurance costs in rate-setting, newer catastrophe models, and expedited rate requests.
“Those have been solutions for the insurance industry, which is important because they’re one of the stakeholders, but it hasn’t done anything to make insurance more affordable for everyday consumers,” Kim said.
Kim argues that the property and casualty industry is financially strong while consumers face affordability problems. She pointed to the industry’s first full-year underwriting gain in four years and net income of $170 bn.
She also cited Travelers as an example of industry profitability. The insurer reported strong first-quarter 2026 profit and announced plans to return more than $2.2 bn in excess capital to shareholders during the quarter.
“And so, the insurance industry is booming, it is very profitable…and instead of sharing the success of their profits with their policyholders in the form of discounts or even just investing in resiliency to reduce everyone’s collective risk, they’re just distributing it back to their shareholders,” Kim said.
Kim said the insurance commissioner’s office has not used the full reach of its regulatory authority. Her proposed Disaster Insurance for All Program would create a single-payer model for natural catastrophe coverage.
She said her campaign has studied disaster insurance systems in other countries. Those include guaranteed disaster insurance in France and New Zealand, along with Japan’s earthquake insurance system.
Kim sees potential advantages in a publicly run nonprofit program or public-private partnership. Under that structure, premium income and investment returns would support risk reduction instead of only narrowing insurer exposure to high-risk homes.
“In New Zealand, for example, where they have single-payer home disaster insurance program, they claw back a percentage of the premiums and the returns from those premiums back into fire proofing, flood proofing, and resiliency measures that make the country as a whole safer and reduces the risk of portfolios being destroyed by climate disaster,” she said.
Allen is approaching the same crisis through legislative work and affordability proposals. His campaign has focused on measures that reduce household exposure, support insurance availability, and give property owners more tools to lower risk.
The next commissioner will inherit a difficult market. Homeowners in wildfire-prone regions have faced higher premiums, reduced carrier appetite, and heavier dependence on the state’s insurer of last resort.
According to Beinsure analysts, the race shows how California’s insurance debate has moved beyond rate approvals. The next commissioner will face pressure to balance insurer solvency, consumer affordability, wildfire mitigation, and public-backed disaster coverage.
The policy split between Kim and Allen matters because California’s market problems now involve pricing, capital, climate risk, and political trust at the same time.
