Your guide to the California state controller race: Democrat Malia Cohen faces challengers

The state’s fiscal watchdog oversees the intake and outtake of public funds and audits departments across the state.

Unlike the state auditor, the controller has political independence and doesn’t answer to the state legislature. The controller uses audits and reports to hold entities and other governmental agencies accountable.

The controller also sits on dozens of boards and commissions, playing the role of fiduciary watchdog when it comes to investing in schools, hospitals and transportation and the state’s pension funds.

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May 1, 2026

Incumbent Malia Cohen is seeking another term. She faces Republican Herb Morgan, a onetime chief investment officer at financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, and Meghann Adams, a Peace and Freedom Party member, who is a school bus driver and union leader.

Cohen, in an interview with The Times, said her accomplishments include getting the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR) published closer to its due date.

The report, which is used by credit agencies to monitor the state’s fiscal health, for years has been published months after it is due. A 2024 CalMatters report said it had been late for at least six years.

Cohen said part of the issue is that departments are late in handing over their information.

Cohen also pointed to her work leading a task force that was convened by court order following a massive fraud scheme involving charter schools in San Diego. A network of online charter schools fraudulently obtained at least $400 million in state school funds from 2016 to 2019, according to the San Diego County district attorney’s office.

Cohen fell short of some major campaign promises she made during her first run for controller.

Cohen in 2022 told The Times she would audit homelessness programs and determine whether the billions of dollars the state is investing is addressing the crisis.

She also told CalMatters that she would investigate the Employment Development Department, the Department of Motor Vehicles and homelessness programs.

Cohen recently told The Times her office didn’t perform audits of EDD because the state legislature already was reviewing the agency, nor did she audit the DMV because the legislature and state auditor were performing reviews.

Asked if she performed audits on homelessness, Cohen said, “Yes ... there were some audits provided for that. I can give you a copy of the audit.” But a spokesperson told The Times that the office audited “other high-risk areas.”

Cohen faces criticism over her handling of a controller-led program that returns uncashed checks, funds from old bank accounts and other money owed to state residents.

A CBS investigation found that the state holds billions of dollars in unclaimed funds, which earns interest. Other states have a higher rate of returning money because they are more aggressive about actively looking for owners.

A spokesperson for Cohen told The Times her office is using media to get out the word about unclaimed funds and has digitized the claim system.

Cohen is endorsed by Gov. Gavin Newsom, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate Pro Tem Speaker Monique Limon, as well as the California Democratic Party.

Morgan, a San Diego resident, touts his 40 years working in finance and promises radical change in California, believing that there has been a lack of accountability and fiscal oversight.

Morgan started an investment firm that was later sold to Cantor Fitzgerald in 2017, according to his campaign website, and served as chair of the Board of Administration of the San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System (SDCERS).

Morgan would use the controller’s office to develop a real-time reporting system that would use blockchain technology and artificial intelligence, allowing the public to review the price and recipients of contracts.

Such a system, he said, would encourage politicians to act in good faith and discourage bad actors from giving out contracts as favors or at a discounted price. He said it would operate in the same way that his credit card sends him a text after he makes a purchase at Starbucks, for instance.

“In 10 years, everybody’s going to do this. California should just be first, because we’re the technology hub of the world,” he said.

He hasn’t put forth a figure on how much the system would cost, and questions remain how it would work, given the vastly different ways that departments submit information about contracts and payments.

When it comes to audits, Morgan argues that Cohen isn’t effectively using the purview of the office. For instance, he wants her to withhold funds from departments until there are improvements at the agencies.

He also would be “far more aggressive” about issuing warnings to the governor and the state legislator when budgets are presented that rely on questionable financial assumptions and projections.

Adams, a San Francisco resident, is a longtime community organizer and the president of SMART 1741, which represents San Francisco and San Mateo school bus drivers and staff. She drives a 40-foot bus for work.

Adams told The Times she is a onetime Democrat who grew disappointed in the party. She wants broad reforms in the controller’s office that would benefit working-class people and other marginalized populations that she argues are being exploited by wealthy corporations.

She and other socialist candidates recently appeared in the Inland Empire, where she vowed to redirect resources toward education, housing and healthcare.

“California is tied with the highest poverty rate in the nation,” Adams said, according to Inland Empire Community News. “There’s absolutely no excuse for this ... there’s billions being stolen from working people that we could take back and actually fund everything that we need.”

Adams proposes audits to target large corporations to reveal which “bulk buyers and corporate landlords” have bought properties and raised rents. She also would audit all corporate tax incentives and push for a statewide public utility to replace private monopolies.

She also would seek to divest holdings such as fossil fuels, weapons manufacturers and surveillance technology from state employee pension funds.

Like Morgan, she wants more transparency around the state’s finances. If the public could see how its dollars are being spent, she argues, there would be more support for spending on healthcare and social services, for example.

She described herself as “nerdy” when explaining her interest in financial issues. “I like understanding things,” she said.

She is a former board member of the Bay Area Liberation Center, which helps communities organize, and has led actions around antiwar initiatives, including Block the Boat at Oakland Port.