OC Supervisor Don Wagner on Wednesday announced that he’s running for California’s secretary of state, the first Republican challenger to enter the race.
The position oversees elections in California. Wagner will be attempting to unseat incumbent Secretary of State Shirley Weber, who is running for reelection in 2026.
“I’ve been looking at the fact that around the state, voters are distrustful of the election system,” Wagner said.
Whether they are right or wrong in that perception, Wagner said the office of the secretary of state needs to work on making sure voters have strong faith in how elections are run.
Wagner has been on the OC Board of Supervisors representing the Third District since 2019. He’s previously been the mayor of Irvine and was a state assemblymember.
Wagner says current distrust of the state’s voting system is clear to him from not only speaking with voters but from polls showing strong support for a proposed 2026 voter ID ballot initiative.
That initiative, which is gathering signatures to qualify for the ballot, calls for implementing voter ID requirements statewide.
If voters approve voter ID in California, Wagner said, as secretary of state, it would have his full support to be implemented.
“I want the voters to know if you pass voter ID, that I will pledge to take it to court if I need to,” Wagner said, “and make sure that this state implements voter ID.”
Wagner said he stands in “stark contrast” to Weber with his experience at multiple levels of government and believes her longstanding opposition to voter ID will bring voters to him.
Weber won her 2022 election with 60.1% of the vote. She announced in May that she would seek reelection.
Wagner also criticized how long it takes to count ballots in California, which can be more than a month. He said he would advocate for the legislature to make reforms that could include lessening the time allowed to cure ballots with issues and giving mail-in ballots to only those who request them.
“It would be a matter of using the secretary of state as a bully pulpit to try and advocate for these changes,” Wagner said.
California adopted universal vote-by-mail in 2021. That, Wagner said, is part of why certifying elections takes so long, since local registrars have to validate every signature on mail-in ballots.
“We are awash in ballots,” Wagner said, “and folks are getting ballots for the person who lived there two homeowners ago in certain places.”
Nationally, voter ID requirements poll well. An October Gallup poll found 84% of Americans support requiring voters to present a photo ID at their voting place.
A majority, 53%, of all adults are confident in California’s voting system, according to a Public Policy Institute of California poll. That rises to 63% when counting only likely voters.
The results skew along party lines, with Republicans more likely to have little confidence in how votes are cast and counted.
The California secretary of state is also responsible for maintaining the statewide database of registered voters, certifying candidates and ballot initiatives, and state records for more than a million California businesses.
Wagner said it’s important to him that the office makes it as easy as possible for businesses to get their paperwork filed and not be another frustration that could push a business and its workers out of California.
“I want to make sure the office is not contributing to the exodus,” Wagner said. “That it’s seamless and customer-friendly.”
The last Republican to hold the position was Bruce McPherson from 2005 to 2007, who Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed to the role.
McPherson did not win his election to get a full term as secretary of state, though. You have to go back to former Secretary Bill Jones’ 1994 and 1998 election wins to find the last Republican elected to the position.
Both Jones and McPherson will serve as campaign co-chairs for Wagner, according to a news release. Wagner said he asked for their help with running a statewide campaign and they can provide their experience to him.
Wagner’s supervisor’s term runs until 2028, when he would be termed out.