Shirley N. Weber

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 Weber.

• 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 Weber says she became the first Black secretary of state by appointment in 2021 after eight years in the Assembly, won a full term in 2022, oversaw the permanent shift to universal mail-in voting and the Newsom recall election, took local governments to court over voting laws and fielded claims of election fraud, and pledged to expand voting access, improve transparency in election filings and strengthen cybersecurity in a second term.

• CalMatters describes Weber's tenure as 'eventful,' including universal mail voting, the Newsom recall, court fights with local governments, and fielding election-fraud claims.
• Her listed second-term pledges: expand voting access, improve transparency in election filings, enhance cybersecurity protections.
• Listed endorsements for Weber: California Democratic Party, California Federation of Teachers, SEIU California.
• The Wagner profile says he supports voter ID at the polls and criticizes Weber over slow ballot counting.

A California Secretary of State press release (PR26-113, September 4, 2026) with Weber's statement after a federal court issued a preliminary injunction blocking new U.S. Postal Service mail-ballot requirements ahead of the November 3 election. Weber calls the ruling 'another win for California voters,' describes the changes as the Trump Administration's 'attempt at implementing unlawful changes,' and says 'this fight is far from over.'

• Weber: 'Today we celebrate another win for California voters.'
• She describes the injunction as 'an important victory for California voters and election officials.'
• 'My office is working around the clock to ensure all eligible voters in California can cast their ballots this November and beyond.'
• 'Voting is a fundamental right - California will continue to defend it.'

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. Weber's primary statement is close to her general-election statement: her family's path from Jim Crow disenfranchisement to her running the state's elections, warnings about efforts to roll back access, and threats to election officials. It adds 'We are not in normal times' and says '28 statewide and special elections were successfully held' during her tenure.

• Weber: 'We are not in normal times. We need strong leaders to stand up and fight for what is right and just.'
• She says '28 statewide and special elections were successfully held' while she has been Secretary of State.
• She says she 'fought for us in the courts, and won' and has been 'a transparent leader because trust is everything.'
• Wagner's primary statement on the same page lists three reforms: voter ID at the polls, mail ballots returned by Election Day, and a ban on paid ballot harvesting.

Long document: only the first 4,000 characters were summarized.

A California Attorney General press release (January 28, 2026) with statements from Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Weber after the California Supreme Court declined to review an appellate ruling that struck down Huntington Beach's voter ID charter amendment, Measure A, as preempted by state law. The release says this effectively ends the suit Bonta and Weber filed on April 15, 2024, in their favor. Weber says she has a duty to ensure every eligible Californian can vote and that state law preempts the city's 'illegal voting requirements.'

• The California Supreme Court denied Huntington Beach's petition for review in Bonta v. Huntington Beach.
• The Fourth District Court of Appeal had struck down Measure A as unlawful and preempted by state law.
• Weber: 'As California Secretary of State, I have a responsibility to ensure that every eligible Californian can exercise their constitutional right to vote.'
• Weber: 'This is another victory for California, for voters, and for democracy.'

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. Shirley N. Weber's statement presents her family history (born in the Jim Crow South to sharecroppers who could not vote; her parents first voted in California and used the family living room as a polling place), warns that some people want to roll back voting access, and says she has fought in court for voting rights and won, stood up to Donald Trump, and led transparently. The statement of her opponent, Don Wagner, appears on the same page.

• Weber says she 'will never give up on protecting your voting rights.'
• She says some people want 'shorter polling hours, fewer days to vote, and the removal of vote-by-mail ballots,' and that some have threatened election officials; she says this 'will not be tolerated in California.'
• She says that when voting rights were under attack she 'fought for us in the courts, and won,' and that she has 'stood up to Donald Trump.'
• She urges every eligible Californian to register and vote 'whether we agree politically or not.'
• The statement gives no specific second-term proposals.

The home page of Weber's re-election campaign site. It describes her as 'a powerful voice for justice' who has devoted her career to civil rights, including the right to vote, and says she 'will stand firm, stand straight, and stand strong to protect, secure, and expand Californians' right to vote.' It offers no issue pages or specific proposals.

• The campaign says Weber has dedicated her career 'to defending and strengthening our most fundamental civil rights, including the right to vote.'
• The campaign promises she will 'protect, secure, and expand Californians' right to vote' amid 'unprecedented partisan attacks on our democracy.'

The endorsements page of Weber's campaign. It lists statewide Democratic officeholders (Attorney General Rob Bonta, Treasurer Fiona Ma, Controller Malia Cohen, Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, Superintendent Tony Thurmond), state legislators, local officials, labor unions, advocacy groups and Democratic clubs.

• Statewide endorsers: Bonta, Ma, Cohen, Lara, Thurmond.
• Local endorsers include San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, Oakland Mayor Barbara Lee and LA County Supervisor Holly Mitchell.
• Labor endorsers include AFSCME, the SEIU State Council, the California Teachers Association, the California Federation of Teachers, California Professional Firefighters and the California Nurses Association.
• Organizations include Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, California YIMBY and the Center for Biological Diversity Action Fund.

A campaign page from the Democratic Association of Secretaries of State (DASS), a partisan committee that works to elect Democratic secretaries of state. It calls California a 'must-win battleground' and asks for donations. It praises Weber as a 'steadfast leader committed to safeguarding and expanding voting access' and recounts her family's flight from Hope, Arkansas after threats from a lynch mob. It criticizes Wagner's platform as 'rooted in sowing distrust in elections and restricting access to the ballot.'

• DASS describes Weber as having 'spent her career championing civil rights and protecting the right to vote.'
• It says her family fled Arkansas when she was three after her father stood his ground against a white landowner and drew threats from a lynch mob, and resettled in South Los Angeles.
• It attacks Wagner's support for the voter ID initiative and his criticism of universal vote-by-mail.

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. Weber defends her record of supporting the 58 counties, intervening in Shasta County, suing Huntington Beach, preparing lawyers and law enforcement for the election, and refusing the federal government's demand for detailed voter data. She explains why counting takes time, says she 'wouldn't probably be opposed' to letting counties process mail ballots before Election Day if the Legislature took it up, and argues against Proposition 39, the voter ID measure, because she says it is unnecessary when 'there is no widespread fraud.'

• Weber's pitch: voters need someone who 'will fight for their right to vote and not be the pawn of the current president.'
• She says her office sent staff to Shasta County and has 'gone in full force to challenge them in court' when places such as Huntington Beach 'cross that line.'
• On voter-roll data: 'We have not given them the data because they by law don't have a right to have that data. And we've proven that in court.'
• She says the AG's office is investigating whistleblower claims that DHS directed agents to impersonate voters to access online voter data; she says she does not personally have that data.
• On counting: she cites the seven-day window for postmarked ballots, ballot curing and same-day registration as reasons the count is slow, and encourages early voting.
• On pre-processing mail ballots before Election Day: 'we wouldn't probably be opposed to it providing it doesn't take away people's right to vote.'
• On Proposition 39 (voter ID): she asks whether it is necessary, says California already requires ID to register, and says 'we know in California there is no widespread fraud.'

Transcript of a February 10, 2026 KPBS Midday Edition interview in which host Jade Hindman asks Secretary of State Shirley Weber about President Trump's calls to 'nationalize' elections. Weber explains that states run elections within constitutional limits and says California will fight any federal takeover. She recounts refusing the DOJ's demand for detailed voter data and winning in court, calls the FBI seizure of Fulton County, Georgia records intimidation, says studies across the spectrum find 'no fraud,' and lays out the ways California voters can return ballots without depending on the Postal Service. She says that when she took office her first step was legislation making it a felony to intimidate voters and poll workers.

• Weber: nationalizing elections is 'a popular idea with him' but not with states, including Republican ones; 'we will fight it.'
• On voter data: 'They eventually sued me, and we won because we knew that this issue of privacy and data, I mean, data is power.'
• On Fulton County: 'a part of it, of course, is intimidation.'
• 'Everyone says openly that 2020 was an election that was not stolen.' 'The president is not God.'
• Voting options she lists: mail ballots, steel drop boxes collected by election staff, in-person return, and postmarking at the post office counter.
• She says that when she came into office her first step was legislation creating felonies for intimidating voters or poll workers.

The 33-page order of the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California (Judge David O. Carter), filed January 15, 2026 in United States v. Shirley Weber et al. (No. 2:25-cv-09149-DOC-ADS). It grants the motions to dismiss filed by California and Secretary Weber and by intervenors (NAACP, the NAACP California-Hawaii State Conference, SIREN, and the League of Women Voters of California). Its background section documents Weber's correspondence with DOJ: she offered in-person inspection of the voter list in Sacramento with driver's license and Social Security numbers redacted, answered DOJ's other questions, and refused to give DOJ an unredacted electronic copy, citing state and federal privacy law.

• The court calls DOJ's request 'unprecedented and illegal.'
• July 10, 2025: DOJ demanded an unredacted electronic copy of the statewide voter list within 14 days.
• August 8 and August 21, 2025: Weber offered inspection in Sacramento with sensitive identifiers redacted and argued the cited laws did not authorize the request.
• September 12, 2025: Weber sent comprehensive answers to DOJ's remaining questions; DOJ sued on September 25, 2025.
• The court found the request violated the Driver's Privacy Protection Act and that DOJ had not met the E-Government Act's requirements; it says DOJ has sued 23 states and Washington, D.C.

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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 notes that no debates or candidate forums had been held. It describes Weber's pitch as largely a defense of the state's current approach, quotes her voter-guide statement, and reports that she called the voter ID initiative 'a waste of money and a waste of time' and told the Los Angeles Times that voter ID is 'a smoke screen.' Her office did not return IVN's questionnaire; IVN says it knows from her earlier statements that she opposes the voter ID initiative and the SAVE Act.

• IVN: there 'were no debates or candidate forums held for this race' before ballots went out for the primary.
• Weber is quoted as calling the voter ID initiative 'a waste of money and a waste of time.'
• She was quoted by the LA Times saying, 'When you really get to it, Voter ID is a smoke screen for trying to create the idea that this is a corrupt system.'
• Weber's office did not respond to IVN's questionnaire on voter ID, the SAVE Act, open primaries and a Top Four system.
• IVN says Weber 'represents continuity' with automatic mail ballots and broad voting options.

CalMatters article by Yue Stella Yu on the 2026 Secretary of State race, framed around the partisan divide over ballot counting. It reports that Weber, seeking a second term as the only Democrat in the field, has faced criticism over the state's slow count (counties have 30 days to count and audit), and that in a CalMatters interview she dismissed the concern as something President Trump 'drummed up' and said accuracy matters more than speed. It covers her outreach to rural areas and campuses, her litigation record (suing local governments, defending state law, and fending off the DOJ voter-data suit), and an unsuccessful 2024 disability-access lawsuit against her.

• Weber: 'I know the value of being fast for some folks... For me, accuracy is far more important.'
• CalMatters says projected legislative winners are often sworn in before her office certifies results.
• Weber on the DOJ data fight: 'If we were giving (voter information) away like candy, who would trust us … to protect their records?'
• She says she has focused on rural outreach and registration on high school and college campuses, and would continue in a second term.
• Disability advocates sued her in 2024, unsuccessfully, over the lack of electronic ballot return for voters with disabilities.

A short UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies news item (April 28, 2026) noting that KSWB Fox 5 aired a report on the voter ID initiative qualifying for the November ballot. The report included Weber's remarks from an April 27 Sacramento event co-sponsored by IGS. It says Weber called the measure 'a waste of money and a waste of time' and argued that California already has procedures to guard against voter fraud.

• Weber called the voter ID measure 'a waste of money and a waste of time.'
• She argued that California already has procedures in place to protect against voter fraud.
• The remarks came at an April 27, 2026 IGS and UC Student and Policy Center event where the April IGS poll was presented.

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.

GrowSF's page for its June 2026 primary questionnaire to Shirley N. Weber, candidate for Secretary of State. It states that 'The candidate did not respond.' There are no answers.

• GrowSF sent Weber a questionnaire for the June 2, 2026 primary; she did not respond.

An ACLU press release (January 15, 2026) on a federal judge's dismissal of United States v. Weber, the Department of Justice suit that sought to compel California to hand over its full, unredacted statewide voter registration list. The League of Women Voters of California, represented by the ACLU and its California affiliates, had intervened. The release says DOJ sued Weber in September 2025 for data including driver's license numbers and the last four digits of Social Security numbers, and that California declined, citing state privacy laws and offering redacted versions.

• A federal judge dismissed United States v. Weber.
• DOJ sought names, residential addresses, dates of birth, driver's license numbers and partial Social Security numbers.
• California declined, citing state privacy laws, and offered redacted versions.
• LWVC and the ACLU intervened in defense of voter privacy.

Los Angeles Times article by Kevin Rector (January 15, 2026) on U.S. District Judge David O. Carter's dismissal of the Justice Department's suit demanding California's voter rolls. It quotes the ruling calling the request 'unprecedented and illegal,' sets out DOJ's specific data demands, and quotes Weber's statements from the ruling and from when the suit was filed. It includes the view of Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon, who said DOJ would 'touch every single state.'

• Judge Carter, a Clinton appointee, wrote that centralizing the data 'would have a chilling effect on voter registration.'
• Weber said she is 'entrusted with ensuring that California's state election laws are enforced — including state laws that protect the privacy of California's data.'
• Weber: 'I will continue to challenge this administration's disregard for the rule of law and our right to vote.'
• When the suit was filed, Weber called it a 'fishing expedition and pretext for partisan policy objectives.'
• DOJ demanded the full voter list, duplicate-registration lists for seven counties, and records of registrations canceled for death or non-citizenship.