ADA SoCal Endorses Dr. Shirley Weber for California Secretary of State 

Dr. Weber was born on a farm in rural Hope, Arkansas, where her father, David, was a sharecropper. Her California story began at three years old, when she and her family fled the farm and moved west after her father refused to back down in a dispute with a white farmer, and a lynch mob then threatened her father’s life. The family relocated to the Pueblo Del Rio housing projects in South Los Angeles, where Dr. Weber grew up.

Dr. Weber is a living testament to the power of public education: she is a proud product of California public schools – district schools in Los Angeles, through high school, and later at UCLA, where she earned three degrees, including her Ph.D., at the age of 26. As one of the few Black women in southern California navigating academia in the late 1960s and early 1970s, Dr. Weber became one of the youngest-ever professors at San Diego State University, where she helped found the Africana Studies Department.

As Secretary of State, she has engaged in the fight to protect poll workers and election officials from partisan attacks and has fought to help Californians better understand our state’s electoral process. At a time when voting rights are under attack nationwide, Dr. Weber has stood strong against partisans who want to suppress the vote or distort the truth.

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Vote for Shirley Weber for California Secretary of State. November 3rd, 2026.

ADA SoCal Endorses Fiona Ma for Lieutenant Governor

California is 58 counties and thousands of communities, each with different challenges and priorities. Fiona Ma believes California’s leaders should listen before they act. Tell us what matters most to you and your community.

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Vote for Fiona Ma  for Lieutenant Governor on November 3rd, 2026.

ADA SoCal Endorses Malia Cohen for California State Controller 

In her first term, Malia prioritized fairness and equity by putting her weight behind California's Commission on the Status of Women and Girls Pay Equity Task Force and helping Californians understand their rights and holding corporations accountable. She made sure grant programs and state-funded trainings went toward good-paying, long-term jobs that stayed and benefited Californians, ensured the affordable housing programs delivered real results, raised the standard for affordable and quality health care, and aligned California’s finances with our climate change action agenda. 

Malia knows we can’t move forward if Californians struggle to find affordable, stable housing. She is working hard to expand housing availability at all income levels so our residents can build their future in our state.

As Controller, she’s creating incentives that will increase affordable housing units. She recently approved $804 million in bond authority for affordable student housing, allowing maximize resources and keep building more affordable housing for students across the state. She also serves on the First-Time Homebuyers Financing Committee and the Veterans’ Home Finance Committee. 

Prior to becoming Controller, in her role leading on Proposition O in San Francisco, Malia helped create more than 12,000 new homes, 32 percent of which were affordable housing. She’ll continue to prioritize and incentivize the development of more affordable housing and work to provide assistance to first-time homebuyers.

Despite Republican-led attacks on health care, Malia will continue to fight to expand access and lower costs for all Californians. As Controller, she oversees the second largest public employer health benefit in the nation and manages grants to research institutes tackling the health problems of our time.  Malia is also focused on addressing the growing costs and infrastructure capacity for long-term care facilities for individuals and the state.

Malia is fighting to expand access to more people and demand greater accountability around prescription drug prices, so that no one has to choose between their medicine and basic necessities.

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Vote for Malia Cohen for California State Controller  November 3rd, 2026.

ADA SoCal Endorses Eleni Kounalakis for State Treasurer

Eleni’s California story began with her father, who immigrated to the United States as a refugee from Greece. At just 15, he worked in the fields and paid his way through college by waiting tables—ironically, at California’s Governor’s Mansion. One generation later, Eleni made history as the first woman elected Lieutenant Governor of California.

After nearly two decades in business, Eleni turned her focus to public service—driven by a deep belief that every Californian deserves the same opportunities that helped her own family succeed. In 2010, she was appointed by President Obama as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, where she worked to advance democracy and American values abroad.

As California’s Lieutenant Governor, Eleni Kounalakis has worked tirelessly to protect the state’s economic strength and expand opportunity for all Californians. In her roles as chair of the State Lands Commission and a voting member on the University of California Board of Regents and California State University Board of Trustees, she has helped oversee billions in public assets. Her leadership has focused on responsible investment in education, climate resilience, and infrastructure.

Before entering public service, Kounalakis spent nearly two decades helping grow her family’s real estate development firm into one of California’s most respected companies. Her deep understanding of how the economy works—both at the community and global levels—was further shaped by her service as U.S. Ambassador to Hungary under President Barack Obama. In that role, she worked to strengthen international economic partnerships and navigate complex financial diplomacy, giving her a broad and strategic perspective on global markets and fiscal policy.

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Vote for Eleni Kounalakis for Start Treasurer on November 3rd, 2026.

ADA SoCal Endorses Rob Bonta for California Attorney General

Attorney General Bonta believes that we need to infuse more safety and fairness into our justice system, and as California’s Attorney General, he is advancing solutions that work to make our communities safer – both in the short and long-term. He strongly believes our justice system should be free from bias and treat everyone fairly, and under his watch, the Department of Justice has increased transparency and sought to make our justice system more accountable to the people it serves.

By its size alone, California’s Department of Justice is the country’s largest civil rights practice. he will strongly enforce California’s civil rights code and fight for racial justice and equity. As hate crimes rise across California, he will take on the forces of hate and build bridges between law enforcement and targeted communities.

With so many families reeling from the economic consequences of the pandemic, Attorney General Bonta is fighting protect consumers and taking legal action against multi-national corporations who prey upon the most vulnerable.

Learn more click here.

Vote for Rob Bonta  for California Attorney General November 3rd, 2026.

ADA SoCal Endorses  Richard Barrera Superintendent of Schools

he son of an immigrant father from Colombia and the grandson of Ellis Island immigrants, Richard Barrera’s story is one of sacrifice, opportunity, and the transformative power of public education.

Richard’s family came to the United States searching for a better life and quickly learned that public education is the single greatest equalizer in American society—when our schools thrive, so do our communities.

A San Diego native, Richard attended public school from kindergarten through college, graduating from the University of California, San Diego before earning a master’s in public policy from Harvard University. 

After graduation, Richard returned home and spent years organizing domestic workers, healthcare workers, and nurses fighting for fair wages, better conditions, and respect on the job. 

Through that work, he saw firsthand how deeply public schools shaped the futures of the communities he served. Determined to ensure every child had access to the same opportunities that had shaped his own life, he ran for the San Diego Unified School Board (SDUSD).

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Vote for Richard Barerra  for California Superintendent of Schools November 3rd, 2026.

ADA SoCal Endorses Jane Kim for California State Insurance Commissioner

ADA SoCal Endorses  Samuel P. Sukaton  District 3 Board of Equalization

Sam Sukaton has built his life around one simple belief: when we play by the same rules, everyone can win. As a union organizer, policy leader, and former Jeopardy! contestant, Sam brings both street-level experience and big-picture thinking to every challenge he faces. Now he’s ready to bring that same combination of intellect, integrity, and practical problem-solving to the California State Board of Equalization.

Over the last fifteen years, Sam has worked at the intersection of public policy, legislative advocacy, and community organizing. He directed Senator Bernie Sanders’s 2020 campaign in Inland Southern California. He’s led climate budget investment and redistricting campaigns with California Environmental Voters. Most recently, as Lead Organizer for AFT Local 1521, the LA Community College Faculty Guild, he’s organizing students and representing faculty in the Los Angeles Community College District — the largest community college district in California

That experience has moved him to run for the Board of Equalization, which oversees California’s property-tax system and ensures revenues that fund schools, cities, and counties are collected and distributed fairly and spent on the infrastructure Californian’s need. From disaster relief to clean energy to basic school funding, Californians need – and deserve – more.

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Vote for Samuel Sukaton for California Superintendent of Schools November 3rd, 2026.