California’s insurance industry enters another, perhaps deeper, period of uncertainty as former San Francisco supervisor Jane Kim claimed victory in the insurance commissioner’s race.
As of this morning, the Secretary of State’s vote totals show Kim leading 53.5% to opponent State Sen. Ben Allen (D-El Segundo)’s 46.5%. Allen conceded the race that, in California’s jungle primary, resulted in two Democrat candidates for the same office.
As Insurance Commissioner, Kim says she will “take on” the industry over affordability, wildfire protections, cancellations, and profits, including profit limits. Her signature issue is natural disaster insurance for all. She promises more investigation triggered by consumer complaints and limits on cancellations. In short, she brings more of an activist progressive agenda to the Department than it has seen before.
As a San Francisco Supervisor, Kim helped enact one of the nation’s highest minimum wages ($15/hr back in 2018), increased tenant protections, and affordable housing requirements for developers.
The California Secretary of State says some 10 million ballots have been processed so far, with more than 3 million still left to count. Throughout the early returns, however, Kim has maintained a similar margin of victory.
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