Donald P. (Don) Wagner

LAist's voter guide page for the Secretary of State race (CalMatters content, published October 3, 2026 and updated October 19, 2026). It repeats CalMatters' profiles of both candidates and lists their key endorsements. It embeds audio of LAist AirTalk interviews in which each candidate makes their case (Wagner, 18:52; Weber, 18:30), but the interviews are not transcribed on the page. This summary is written for Wagner.

• Profiles match the CalMatters guide: Wagner runs on election integrity and voter ID; Weber's tenure covered universal mail voting, the Newsom recall and litigation with local governments.
• Wagner's key endorsements: California Republican Party, Reform California, California Republican Assembly.
• Weber's key endorsements: California Democratic Party, California Federation of Teachers, SEIU California.
• AirTalk audio interviews with both candidates are linked but not transcribed.

CalMatters' 2026 voter guide page for the Secretary of State race. It describes the office and gives short profiles of both candidates. Its profile of Wagner says he is an Orange County supervisor, former Irvine mayor and former assemblymember running on election integrity; that as supervisor he criticized the state's COVID-19 response, questioned the county's investment in diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and pushed to release sensitive voter information to President Trump's Department of Justice over claims of voting irregularities; and that he supports voter ID at the polls and criticizes Weber over slow ballot counting.

• CalMatters says Wagner is 'running on a platform of election integrity.'
• As supervisor, per CalMatters, he criticized the state's COVID-19 response, questioned DEI spending, and pushed to release sensitive voter information to the Trump DOJ.
• He supports requiring voter ID at the polls and criticizes Weber over slow ballot counting.
• Listed endorsements for Wagner: California Republican Party, Reform California, California Republican Assembly.

Wagner's campaign prospectus (version 5, a fundraising PDF posted in July 2026). It combines his biography, reprinted press releases and news clips, an internal polling memo, a slide arguing incumbent Weber is the Democrats' 'weakest statewide candidate,' endorsement lists and fundraising event forms. Among its contents: a release on a federal lawsuit filed on behalf of Wagner and the American Independent Party alleging 873,092 inactive registrations on the rolls; his May 2026 rebuttal on ballot-counting speed; a September 2025 statement attacking the cost of the Proposition 50 special election; a Sacramento Bee clip in which he says he does not believe fraud exists in California elections; an Ag Meter interview on farming, water and Prop 50; and forms for a separate 'Don Wagner Ballot Measure Committee to Protect Elections' (www.protectmyvoteca.org) that takes unlimited contributions.

• Bio: business lawyer since 1987, first president of the OC chapter of the Federalist Society, community college trustee, Assembly 2010 to 2016, Irvine mayor from 2016, OC supervisor from 2019 (chairman 2023 to January 2025).
• Lawsuit release: 873,092 inactive registrations said to remain on the rolls 'through at least three federal elections.'
• Polling memo (campaign consultant Dave Gilliard): says Weber trails among independents and the race is 45-42 'when voters are informed' of the candidates' voter ID positions.
• Sac Bee clip: Wagner 'personally said he doesn't believe fraud exists in California elections' but backs voter ID for confidence.
• Ag Meter interview: 'California is in disaster mode'; 'get rid of Gavin Newsom's appointed Secretary of State'; 'If voters pass something like voter ID in 2026, I'll enforce it.'
• Slide on Weber: calls her a 'firebrand progressive' and cites her opposition to voter ID, police-related legislation and ACA 5.
• protectmyvoteca.org belongs to the 'Don Wagner Ballot Measure Committee to Protect Elections,' which accepts unlimited personal and corporate contributions.

The candidate-statements section of the Secretary of State's Official Voter Information Guide for the June 2, 2026 primary. Only the Secretary of State section was read. Wagner's primary statement says California's election system is 'broken,' cites the lack of ID at the polls, a dog that he says was registered and had its vote counted, and a '30 excruciating days' count. It commits to three reforms (voter ID at the polls, mail ballots returned by Election Day, and a ban on 'ballot harvesting' by paid canvassers) and adds a business-climate plank for the office's business-filings role.

• Wagner: 'Election security is so weak at least one dog was registered to vote in California—and had its vote counted!'
• Wagner: 'California takes 30 excruciating days. We are usually the last state in the country to stop counting.'
• Reforms: '1) Require Voter ID at the polls; 2) Require mail ballots to be returned by Election Day; 3) Prohibit ballot harvesting by paid canvassers.'
• Business plank: the office 'must be modernized and made business friendly.'
• Experience cited: Legislature, Mayor of Irvine, Orange County Supervisor, business owner.

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The California Secretary of State's Official Voter Information Guide page for the November 3, 2026 general election, carrying the candidate-supplied statements for Secretary of State. Donald P. (Don) Wagner's statement calls California's election system 'mismanaged and broken,' contrasts the state's month-long count with Election Night results elsewhere, cites the lack of photo ID at the polls and outdated voter rolls, and pledges to speed up counting, secure elections and be a non-partisan 'umpire.' It directs readers to WagnerForCalifornia.com and protectmyvoteca.org for his reform platform. Incumbent Shirley Weber's statement appears on the same page.

• Wagner says other large states announce results on Election Night while California 'takes more than a month,' and quotes Gov. Newsom: 'the longer the voting count takes, the more mis-and disinformation spreads.'
• He says 36 states and most democratic nations require photo ID at the polls and California does not, citing a dog that he says 'was registered and voted twice.'
• He says outdated rolls mean the state 'wastes millions mailing ballots to people who have moved or died.'
• He pledges to 'speed up vote counting, secure our elections, and remove the chief elections officer from partisan politics,' and to be 'an umpire for fair elections, not a partisan player.'
• He names protectmyvoteca.org and WagnerForCalifornia.com as the home of his election reform platform.

A Wagner campaign press release reacting to news of an error in the California Voter Guide issued by Weber's office, which it says was mailed to over 23 million voters and will cost taxpayers millions because a correction postcard must be mailed. Wagner says Weber 'fails' on accuracy and cost-effectiveness, and that she 'seems more interested in fighting with the Department of Justice and blocking common sense reforms like voter ID' than doing her job.

• Release says an inaccurate voter guide went to over 23 million voters and a correction postcard is required.
• Wagner: 'Shirley Weber fails on both counts.'
• Wagner: 'As Secretary of State, I will run a secure, fair and efficient election process.'

The home page of Wagner's campaign site. It quotes his core line about an election system that is 'secure, efficient, accurate and accessible to every eligible voter,' lists three campaign aims (only eligible voters cast ballots; secure, efficient, accurate and accessible elections; a 'small-business friendly' business division), and says he 'fully supports' the voter ID initiative on the November ballot.

• Aims: 'Only eligible voters cast ballots'; elections 'secure, efficient, accurate, and accessible'; business division 'small-business friendly.'
• 'Don Wagner fully supports the Voter ID Initiative on the ballot in November.'

Wagner's campaign launch press release, announcing his candidacy and naming former Secretaries of State Bill Jones and Bruce McPherson as campaign co-chairs. He commits to 'restoring Californians' damaged trust in their election system,' fully endorses the California Voter ID initiative and pledges to implement it if adopted, and promises full public access to candidates' financial disclosures and an office that is a partner to businesses.

• Wagner: 'I want to assure that every eligible voter, but only eligible voters, can exercise the fundamental American right to participate in our democracy.'
• He calls Weber 'Gavin Newsom's appointee' and 'a longtime and outspoken opponent of voter identification laws.'
• 'I fully endorse the California Voter ID initiative and pledge to uphold and implement it should voters adopt it.'
• He promises that the public will have 'complete ready access' to candidate financial information and that job creators will 'finally have a friend in Sacramento.'

A Wagner campaign press release responding to a letter from Gov. Newsom asking the 58 county election officials to count June primary ballots faster. It contrasts this with Weber's statements that counting could not be sped up and her CalMatters quote that 'accuracy is far more important.' Wagner says 'We need accurate, speedy ballot counting. Why can't we have both?'

• Release says Newsom's letter implied that 'lengthy counting processes encourages distrust and lies.'
• It says Weber announced 'last year' that ballots could not be counted faster.
• Wagner: 'This is not a partisan issue, this is a good process issue.'
• Wagner: 'We just need a Secretary of State who will put politics aside and embrace the process improvements.'

A BayAreaGOP.com profile by Roger Riffenburgh of Wagner's campaign, from a Republican-aligned site. It quotes his core campaign line on secure and accessible elections, says he supports the expected voter ID initiative and wants faster, more transparent reporting, and gives his biography: business lawyer, community college trustee, Assemblymember 2010 to 2016, Irvine mayor, and Orange County supervisor since 2019.

• Wagner: 'I will make sure that every eligible voter can participate in our democracy while also protecting the security of elections by ensuring that only eligible voters cast ballots.'
• He supports the voter ID initiative and has criticized delays in reporting election results.
• Endorsed by former Gov. Pete Wilson and former Secretaries of State Bill Jones and Bruce McPherson, who are campaign co-chairs.
• The article says his wife, Megan, is a Superior Court judge.

A campaign page from the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State (DASS), a partisan committee that works to elect Democratic secretaries of state, supporting Weber and opposing Wagner. It says Wagner's platform is 'rooted in sowing distrust in elections and restricting access to the ballot.' It criticizes his support for the 2026 voter ID initiative and his pledge to take legal action to enforce it, citing studies it says show voter ID laws disproportionately affect voters of color, students and the elderly, and it criticizes his proposals to end automatic mail-ballot delivery and shorten the time to fix ballot problems.

• DASS says Wagner pledged to take legal action to enforce voter ID if it passes.
• It says he called the state 'awash in ballots' and wants to limit mail voting to those who request it and reduce ballot-curing time.
• It says Wagner 'justifies his stance by pointing to vague voter concerns, not evidence.'
• It calls his agenda 'a national right-wing agenda to roll back voting rights.'

The endorsements page of Wagner's campaign. It lists campaign chairs Pete Wilson (former governor) and former Secretaries of State Bruce McPherson and Bill Jones, and a steering committee of mostly Republican current and former officials: members of Congress Ken Calvert, Connie Conway, Michelle Steel and Mimi Walters; Senate Republican Leader Brian Jones; Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes; Yolo County DA Jeff Reisig; and many state legislators, county supervisors and mayors.

• Campaign chairs: Pete Wilson, Bruce McPherson, Bill Jones.
• Steering committee includes Rep. Ken Calvert, former Reps. Connie Conway, Michelle Steel and Mimi Walters, and former Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle.
• Law enforcement endorsers include OC Sheriff Don Barnes and Yolo County DA Jeff Reisig.

Transcript of KQED's Political Breakdown (aired on PBS, September 25, 2026), in which host Marisa Lagos interviews Secretary of State Shirley Weber and then Republican challenger Don Wagner in separate, back-to-back segments. They are not debating each other. Wagner says California is the last state to report results, cites a Judicial Watch figure of about 873,000 'ghost voters' (he is a plaintiff in the related lawsuit), says Joe Biden won the 2020 election, and outlines reforms: letting counties process mail ballots before Election Day, more county funding, faster results, mail ballots only on request until rolls are cleaned, and tighter ballot-collection rules. He says he would accept federal help cleaning voter rolls under privacy-protecting agreements but would not turn over private identifying information, and that he opposes the federal SAVE Act.

• Wagner's pitch: 'our election process can be run much better'; 'We are... the last state in the nation to report our election results.'
• He says the 873,000 figure comes from Judicial Watch and that he and the American Independent Party are plaintiffs in a suit against the state; he says these are people who 'should not be getting ballots,' not people necessarily voting.
• Asked who won 2020: 'Joe Biden won the 2020 election.'
• He credits Weber with trying 'to get everybody who is eligible to vote to vote' and says he would continue that.
• He would return to 'the old absentee rules' and change ballot-harvesting rules so the collector is 'beholden to the voter, not to a political party.'
• On DOJ voter data: accept federal help to clean the rolls, but 'Don't turn over all of the information'; he says enforceable privacy agreements are possible.
• He says 'I am not in support of the SAVE Act' and 'we don't need ICE overseeing our elections,' adding that 'The examples of fraud are relatively minor.'

An Independent Voter News (IVN) article by Shawn Griffiths, published May 11, 2026 before the June primary, that profiles all four Secretary of State candidates and frames the race as trust versus access. It reports that Wagner answered IVN's questionnaire: he supports the California voter ID initiative but not the federal SAVE Act, answered 'Yes' on every voter's right to take part in every publicly funded election including primaries, and was 'Not Sure' about a Top Four system. It quotes his primary voter-guide statement and lists his pledges to require voter ID, require mail ballots to arrive by Election Day, and ban 'ballot harvesting' by paid canvassers.

• Wagner supports the California voter ID initiative but 'does not support the SAVE Act.'
• He answered 'Yes' on every voter's right to participate in every publicly funded election, including primaries, and was 'Not Sure' about Top Four.
• Quoted from his statement: 'California's election system is broken... California takes 30 excruciating days.'
• Pledges: require voter ID; require mail ballots to be returned by Election Day rather than postmarked; prohibit ballot harvesting by paid canvassers.
• IVN notes that ballot harvesting by partisan operatives is legal in California and that both major parties do it.

CalMatters article by Yue Stella Yu on the 2026 Secretary of State race, framed around the partisan divide over ballot counting. It describes Wagner as the only serious challenger to Weber and reports his criticism that she did little to lobby lawmakers to speed up the count. He says he would roll back universal mail ballots and move up the certification deadline (both would need the Legislature), would require ID to vote (which would need a new law), and would use the office as a 'bully pulpit.' He told CalMatters that an upset would shock even himself, and that he is not one of the Republicans who claim an election was stolen whenever a Republican loses.

• Wagner: 'Rather than wait 30 days, let's make these changes that are right now causing people of all parties and no party to question: Geez, is that really a fair election?'
• He would roll back sending mail ballots to every voter and support moving up the certification deadline, both requiring legislative approval.
• He would require voters to show ID, which would require a new law; a GOP-backed voter ID initiative had just qualified for the November ballot.
• Wagner: 'I am not one of those Republicans who is going to be out there telling you that unless a Republican wins, the election got stolen.'
• CalMatters notes that no Republican has won a statewide race since 2006.

CalMatters article by Maya C. Miller on California's slow ballot count and the distrust it may feed, built around an election-integrity panel co-presented by CalMatters and the UC Student and Policy Center. It does not mention Weber or Wagner, but it covers the main issue in their race. Panelists disagree: Kim Alexander of the California Voter Foundation calls speed versus accuracy a 'false choice,' while Assemblymember Gail Pellerin and UCLA's Matt Barreto defend careful verification. The article also reports a UC Berkeley IGS poll showing a deep partisan divide on democracy and on a voter ID initiative.

• Kim Alexander: 'Election security is about security in reality and also security in perception.'
• Alexander says the AP took eight days in 2024, nine in 2022 and seven in 2020 to call control of the U.S. House, with California races decisive each time.
• Pellerin: the law requires counting 'accurately, securely,' not meeting media deadlines; signature checks keep people from being disenfranchised.
• Catharine Baker says counties need more money for staffing and equipment; all panelists urged voters to return mail ballots early.
• IGS poll: 56% supported a photo-ID initiative without context; support fell to 39% when told of the partisan arguments.

City News Service story (Spectrum News, July 30, 2025) on Wagner's entry into the Secretary of State race, with extended quotes from an interview. Wagner says he does not believe there is widespread fraud in California but that voter skepticism is a problem. He backs voter ID, floats a voter-registration deadline a week or two before elections in place of same-day registration, opposes mailing every voter a ballot, says he would not advocate a return to precincts, and wants jury-commissioner data and the national change-of-address system used to clean voter rolls. He also wants to improve business filings.

• Wagner: 'Even if at the end of the day I don't believe there's rampant fraud in California I don't see what's so wrong with a simple thing like voter ID if it gives people more confidence.'
• On same-day registration: 'What's wrong with having it a week or two weeks before.'
• On mail ballots: 'why do we mail everybody a ballot? We did that during COVID and I think that was a mistake.'
• He would not advocate returning to precincts or ending early voting.
• He says he and Registrar Bob Page tried to cross-check rolls with jury-commissioner data, and his board voted it down.
• 'California is a one-party state, but I want that opportunity to use this bully pulpit.'

Orange County Register article by Michael Slaten (July 30, 2025) on Wagner's launch as the first Republican challenger to Weber. Wagner says voters across the state distrust the election system 'whether they are right or wrong,' pledges that if voters pass voter ID he will 'take it to court if I need to' to make sure it is implemented, and says he would use the office as a bully pulpit to push the Legislature to shorten ballot-curing time and send mail ballots only to voters who request them. He also wants business filings to be 'seamless and customer-friendly.'

• Wagner: 'I want the voters to know if you pass voter ID, that I will pledge to take it to court if I need to.'
• He would advocate shortening the time allowed to cure ballots and sending mail ballots only on request.
• Wagner: 'We are awash in ballots.'
• The article cites a Gallup poll (84% of Americans support photo ID at the polls) and a PPIC poll (53% of adults and 63% of likely voters confident in California's system).
• Weber won in 2022 with 60.1% of the vote.