In California’s Nov. 3 election, voters will cast their ballots on a number of propositions and state office positions. Two of the most important decisions for citizens of the City of Los Angeles will be voting for the new Governor of California and Mayor of Los Angeles. To get familiar with the candidates and what they are campaigning on, here is a concise guide to read before heading to the polls. 

Gubernatorial Candidates

Democratic

Xavier Becerra, former U.S. Health Secretary and former State Attorney General, is the Democratic candidate. 

Housing:

Becerra wants to build more affordable homes and reduce construction costs. He wants to:

• On day one, issue an executive order declaring the state’s housing shortage a state of emergency
• Speed up building permits and reduce delays
• Enforce state housing laws
• Expand zoning for housing near transit
• Expand down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers
• Strengthen renter protections and protect homebuyers from large investors buying up single-family homes
• Reduce clean energy utility costs rather than making household bills bear the burden

Healthcare:

Becerra aims to build toward a universal single-payer healthcare system. He wants to:

• Protect Medi-Cal and Affordable Care Act coverage from federal cuts, claiming that on “day one” he will issue an executive order to maintain coverage for those affected by federal cuts and Medi-Cal rollbacks
• Lower prescription drug costs using California’s purchasing power and the CalRx program
• Expand access to primary care, telehealth and preventative health services with the “California Prevention First” initiative
• Reduce healthcare waste and fraud, and strengthen funding structures

Homelessness:

Becerra calls homelessness a policy failure. He wants to: 

• Expand shelter capacity and permanent housing
• Increase mental health and addiction treatment beds
• Provide rental assistance to prevent homelessness

Becerra is endorsed by California Faculty Association, Equality California, Planned Parenthood California, California Chamber of Commerce and California Medical Association, among others. 

Republican

Steve Hilton, former Director of Strategy to British prime minister David Cameron and former Fox News host, is the Republican candidate. Hilton’s campaign is built on two priorities, “Califordable” and “CaliFuture”; here is how he wants to implement that:

Califordable:

• Support in-state energy production and roll back policies to lower gas prices
• Eliminate state income tax on the first $150,000 citizens earn
• Build more starter homes
• Lower utility bills

CaliFuture:

• Ensure that every student can read by 3rd grade
• Encourage skill training and career pathways in every school
• Abolish annual $800 small business tax
• “Bust” the $745 billion bloated bureaucracy and reduce waste

Housing:

• Cap fees and regulatory costs for new homes and speed up construction
• Build more single-family homes outside of existing urban centers
• Limit the ability for private individuals and organizations to use the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) to delay or block development
• Restructure or eliminate rent control, saying it discourages housing construction

Healthcare:

•  Establish a People-First Healthcare Commission to recommend small projects 
• Lower employer health insurance costs
• Require healthcare providers to publish prices before nonemergency care
• Restructure Medi-Cal
• Offer more insurance options

Homelessness:

• Aim to clear all homeless encampments by the end of 2027
• Build a network of homeless recovery centers with shelter, medical care, addiction treatment and job training
• Enforce public camping bans
• End state funding for drug supplies such as clean needles, pipes and other harm reduction supplies and redirect funding to addiction treatment, mental health care and housing

President Donald Trump, Nisei Farmers League, and Israeli-American Civic Action Network, among others, endorse Hilton. 

Mayoral Candidates

Karen Bass

Karen Bass is the current mayor of Los Angeles and has served since 2022. For her second term, she is focusing on safety, affordability and opportunity. Here are her proposals on pressing matters for citizens:

Housing:

• Establish a single lead agency to centralize housing development
• Use AI-powered tools to speed up and modernize housing development services
• Increase housing types through a Missing Middle House Ordinance to increase homeownership
• Aim to speed up the building of 47,000 approved ED1 affordable housing units through a low-interest construction loan program

Affordability:

• Expand Metro reduced fare and free fare programs by at least 30%, while developing a plan to provide free fare transit on all Metro trains
• Reform the small business tax to stimulate economic growth
• Expand child care and after-school programming, provided at city parks with sliding scale affordability options
• Expand the Community School Parks program

Homelessness:

• End every major encampment and move people into shelters and services
• Expand interim housing options and accelerate the transition into permanent housing
• Centralize authority over homelessness programs under the City of Los Angeles, rather than under city, county and regional agencies
• Partner with local universities to create clinical rotation programs bringing healthcare directly to housing sites
• Pass legislation to expand rental subsidies for vulnerable populations

Bass has been endorsed by California Governor Gavin Newsom, Democratic Party of the San Fernando Valley, Californians for Human Immigrant Rights Leadership Action Fund, Planned Parenthood Advocacy Project Los Angeles County Action Fund, and California Nurses Association, among others.

Nithya Raman

Nithya Raman is a current member of the Los Angeles City Council. She began her term in 2020 and was re-elected in 2024. Raman is campaigning on a number of issues, emphasizing affordable housing, tenant protections, homelessness and emergency preparedness. Here are some of her main proposals:

Housing:

• Issue an executive order establishing a deadline to approve zoning-compliant and discretionary projects
• Require intake meetings with all departments early on to ensure quality is not compromised for speed
• Have one individual inspector for the project, from pre-construction to final occupancy, to ensure accountability
• Accelerate permits for straightforward projects through a self-certification program
• Expand housing types to address housing shortages and affordability, allowing duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes in traditionally single-family neighborhoods
• Turn empty office buildings into housing
• Restore homeownership by accelerating paths to buying and building homes

Homelessness:

• By the 2028 Olympics, the number of people living in tents and encampments will be reduced by at least 50 percent
• Develop ways to eliminate long-term encampments in populated areas
• Deploy street medical teams to provide healthcare to individuals
• Increase accountability for homelessness spending, publishing a public dashboard of spending and shelter data

Public Safety: 

• Expand unarmed emergency responses, such as sending trained civilian responders to nonviolent 911 calls
• Improve LAPD accountability and response times
• Establish “SafetyStat”, weekly mayor-led reviews of public safety performance
• Publish community safety scoreboard, displaying response times, repeat calls, violent crime and other neighborhood data
• Expand the Mayor’s Office of Community Safety (MOCS)

Raman has been endorsed by Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia, Feel The Burn San Fernando Valley, Latino Coalition of Los Angeles, California Working Families Party and Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment, among others. 

Early voting begins on Saturday, Oct. 24. CSUN’s voting center is located at Redwood Hall in Room 180. For more information about the 2026 General Election, visit our guides.