Shirley N. Weber

Background

CalMatters reports that Shirley N. Weber's family was chased out of Arkansas when she was a child. She taught Africana studies at San Diego State University for 40 years. She represented San Diego County's 79th Assembly District from 2012 to January 2021 and chaired the Assembly Committee on Elections and the California Legislative Black Caucus. In the Assembly she carried school accountability and teacher evaluation and tenure bills that the California Teachers Association opposed; Governor Jerry Brown vetoed several of them and signed her AB 953, which requires police departments to collect data on stops. In 2019 she led the effort that changed the rules for police shootings, and in 2020 she introduced the legislation that created the state's reparations task force.

In office

Governor Gavin Newsom nominated Weber on December 22, 2020, to succeed Alex Padilla, whom he had appointed to the U.S. Senate. Both houses of the Legislature confirmed her without a no vote, and she was sworn in on January 29, 2021, the first Black person to hold the office. That year she oversaw the recall election of the governor who had appointed her. She won a full term in 2022. On July 10, 2026, her office certified the June 2 primary, in which 9,446,461 Californians voted, 40.80 percent of those registered.

Since 2025 her office has been in legal disputes with the U.S. Justice Department over voter data. On September 25, 2025, the Justice Department sued California and five other states for not producing their statewide voter registration lists. On January 15, 2026, her office announced that the court had dismissed United States of America v. Weber without leave to amend.

In October 2026, Acting Deputy Attorney General R. Trent McCotter sent Weber and Los Angeles County Registrar Dean Logan a list of about 20,000 voters the federal government says are likely noncitizens and asked that their mail ballots be set aside. Weber replied that the government had offered no evidence for the list, offered to review any it had, and wrote, “I will not disenfranchise thousands of Californians.” Attorney General Todd Blanche said California “has refused to comply and intends to facilitate noncitizens in voting” (KQED, October 15, 2026). On October 15 the Justice Department sued California and Logan to block the counting of those ballots.

On the ballot

Weber seeks a second full term. She and Republican Don Wagner, whose ballot designation is Orange County Supervisor, advanced from the June 2 primary and meet on November 3, 2026. Her designation is California Secretary of State. Wagner's ballot statement promises faster vote counts, stronger election security and photo identification for voters. Weber's statement says she has defended voting rights in court and won, and has stood up to Donald Trump. The next election for the office after this one is November 5, 2030.

Don Wagner, the opposing candidate, in his ballot statement, wrote “California's election system is mismanaged and broken” and that outdated voter rolls waste millions on ballots mailed to people who moved or died (Official Voter Information Guide, July 21, 2026).