What Republicans are saying about the insurance commissioner race

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Hello and welcome back to Capitol Confidential! 

It’s Wednesday, and this time next week we will likely know the results of several statewide races.

While the race for governor is typically the most attention-grabbing contest, the Dem-on-Dem battle to become California’s next insurance commissioner has become one of the state’s most competitive. Out of the seven statewide offices on the ballot, the race for California’s chief insurance industry regulator may well be the tightest. 

For Democratic voters weighing Ben Allen and Jane Kim for the insurance commissioner race, there could be a range of things to consider, from their professional experiences to their policy positions. The race has already split Democratic allegiances and drawn in big names, like Sens. Bernie Sanders, Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla, and powerful interest groups representing labor unions, environmental groups and healthcare.

But Republican groups and figures seem to have a much clearer preference: just not Kim. 

Facing down a Democrat-on-Democrat race, several GOP groups are falling short of outright endorsing Allen, but nonetheless are giving the longtime lawmaker a big boost by advising voters to reject Kim. 

Allen has pitched himself as an experienced lawmaker who could bring different parties to the table and pass measured reforms to fix the ballooning insurance crises and bolster wildfire mitigation; while Kim believes the intensifying climate crisis calls for an upheaval of the system. She has proposed a public single-payer disaster insurance program. 

The two candidates propose dramatically different solutions, echoing the ever-present tension in the Democratic Party between more moderate and progressive positions – with the guideposts often shifting. 

For several groups and figures leading the Republican Party, however, the lack of a Republican candidate has crystallized into an opposition to Kim’s candidacy. 

As the San Diego County GOP advises in its voter guide, “DEFINITELY NOT Jane Kim.” 

California College Republicans similarly say, “NOT Jane Kim.” 

Reform California, Assembly Member Carl DeMaio’s conservative advocacy group, appears to view both candidates as equally catastrophic, advising voters in its voter guide that in that contest: “You’re Doomed.” 

The race is conspicuously absent from the California Republican Party’s official ballot guide, while other GOP leaders appear to tiptoe as close as possible to an Allen endorsement … but avoiding the words outright. 

Stacy Korsgaden, the Republican Party’s pick for insurance commissioner who finished third in the June primary, wrote an op-ed earlier this month urging Republicans not to skip the race. Doing so, she wrote, would be a gift to Kim’s campaign. Still, she fell short of clearly endorsing Allen – the only alternative. 

And on social media last week, Los Angeles County GOP Chairwoman Roxanne Hoge slammed Kim when someone asked about her preference in the race, but made no mention of Allen.

Kim, a civil rights attorney, has called for California to establish “insurance for all” by creating a state-run, single-payer insurance program that would guarantee coverage for wildfires and floods, similar to a program in New Zealand. She has expressed a desire to reduce insurance costs and claim response times, and to increase transparency about where premium money goes. She is endorsed by the California Teachers Association, the California Labor Federation, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and Sanders.

Allen advocates for speeding up claim response times and bulking up measures designed to mitigate long-term wildfire risk. He also supports bringing private insurers back into the home insurance market to minimize the number of residents who rely on the state’s property insurer of last resort, the FAIR Plan. He is endorsed by the California Democratic Party, the Consumer Federation of California, California Environmental Voters and several state Democratic leaders.

At a media roundtable in Sacramento on Tuesday, Kim argued the insurance crisis moved beyond party, betting her message of dramatic reform will resonate with voters on both sides of the aisle. 

“We’re seeing it in states across the country, where people are tired of the two party corporate-backed system,” Kim said, adding that voters in both red and blue counties have told her that they’re similarly frustrated with the state of insurance. 

“Most voters aren’t that partisan, even Republicans,” Kim said. “They just want the system to be more fair. They just want the state to be more affordable.” 

More than a dozen legislators returned from their districts – some traveling as far away as San Diego – to convene an oversight meeting in Sacramento Tuesday to discuss AI oversight.