Editorial | June 2 state primary: So many candidates, so few choices. Plus, our local recommendations

Did you read through all the names on your June 2 primary ballot?

All the names?

Consider, for California governor, there are, count ‘em, 62 names listed (including Eric Swalwell who dropped out after allegations of sexual assault were lodged against him). It's another good reason to send in your mail-in ballot, since there's a good chance some voters may go down the list in a polling booth name by name by name.

For lieutenant governor, 13 candidates are listed, including state Treasurer Fiona Ma, a Democrat.

And turnabout being fair play, California's current lieutenant governor, Eleni Kounalakis, is running for treasurer, where among her opponents is Anna Caballero, a state senator who formerly was Salinas mayor.

There are also contested races for secretary of state (incumbent Shirley Weber is favored); state attorney general (incumbent is Democrat Rob Bonta): insurance commissioner (no incumbent); controller (incumbent Democrat is Malia Cohen); and superintendent of instruction (also no incumbent).

As for news organization endorsements, well, there aren't many out there. And termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom has not weighed in on who he thinks should replace him.

This publication only endorses in local races (see below), as there is no way our Editorial Board can exercise due diligence by interviewing all the candidates.

For the governor's race, though, we've published opinion pieces from five candidates. The final candidate debate was Thursday, where six rivals went after poll-leading Xavier Becerra attacking everything from his ethics, to his reluctance to answer questions, to his choice of political consultants.

It didn't help that also on Thursday Becerra's former political strategist Dana Williamson admitted to conspiring with his former longtime chief of staff to steal money from his campaign account. Katie Porter - also a Democrat who, if elected, would be the state's first female governor - predicted Becerra, a former state attorney general and Biden administration cabinet member, could still be implicated in the case. Becerra cited a prosecutor's statement that "no candidate running for governor has been implicated" in the case.

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, the closest thing to a "local" candidate for Santa Cruz County voters (he's mayor of San Jose and grew up in Watsonville) also piled on, calling Becerra the "embodiment of the status quo" in Sacramento.

Becerra's response: "This is what happens when you take the lead in the polls. They all come at you."

Mahan is considered the most "moderate" of the Democrats running for his tough stands on crime and cleaning up homeless encampments, but has lagged in polls.

For now, with a little over two weeks to go, Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, are virtually tied atop polls; with billionaire Tom Steyer (whose attack ads aimed at Becerra are increasingly nasty); Porter; Mahan; and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco (also a Republican) seemingly still in the running.

For our recommendations, we support Rep. Jimmy Panetta for reelection in the 19th Congressional District. Panetta, a Democrat who has been in office since 2017, has run into opposition from opponents of Israel's policies in the Middle East who accuse him of supporting that country's military build-up. But he consistently delivers on federal programs for his district, despite Republican control of Congress. We also think Assembly members Dawn Addis (Dem., 30th District) and Gail Pellerin (Dem., 28th District) have demonstrated in office why they should be reelected.

Locally, with no tax or housing measures on the June 2 ballot, almost all the sound and fury (at least for this section) has come from the Santa Cruz mayor's race, where Ryan Coonerty, a former two-term City Council member and two-term county supervisor is considered (and derided by his four opponents) the establishment choice.

He's also our choice to replace incumbent Fred Keeley, who is retiring. Our Editorial Board cited Coonerty's experience and knowledge of how government works and willingness to push back at the state level with neighborhood concerns over size and scale of buildings. We also liked his acknowledgment that the many empty storefronts in the city's downtown are partly the result of lengthy and difficult permitting policies and that Santa Cruz needs to be more flexible in allowing new businesses to have a home here.

We also recommend for the Santa Cruz City Council reelecting incumbents Renee Golder in District 6 and Scott Newsome in District 4.

And in South County for Fourth District supervisor, our choice is Tony Nuñez, communications head at Community Bridges and a former journalist, over incumbent Felipe Hernandez. The Editorial Board was impressed by his efforts helping oversee Watsonville Community Hospital and his vow to be more accountable and visible than Hernandez. It's a tough go to unseat an incumbent, much less in the Pajaro Valley, but Nuñez, if he wins, would join other energetic new supervisors on the five-seat county board.

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This story was originally published May 17, 2026 at 2:22 AM.