Former SF Supervisor Jane Kim declared victory Friday in the race for state insurance commissioner, despite millions spent supporting her opponent or attacking her campaign, after she ran on a proposal for publicly funded disaster insurance.
Jane Kim declared victory Friday morning at Dolores Park, where she addressed a crowd gathered near the famed golden fire hydrant at 20th and Church streets, as Mission Local reports. Kim said state Senator Ben Allen, her Democratic opponent, had called shortly before the appearance to congratulate her.
As of Thursday afternoon, Kim reportedly held 53% of the vote in the closely contested race for the commissioner role, which regulates the state’s home, auto, life, workers’ compensation, and other insurance markets.
The two Democrats ran on substantially different visions for the statewide office, with Allen campaigning on a mix of modest industry reforms and consumer protections and Kim arguing for a much larger overhaul.
As SFist reported previously, the center of Kim's campaign was her proposal for what she calls "Disaster Insurance for All," a publicly operated, single-payer program that would cover wildfire damage and other catastrophic losses. Under the plan, homes would automatically receive coverage, with premiums determined partly by property value and disaster risk. Private insurance would remain available for other types of coverage.
Kim argues that increasingly frequent and expensive climate disasters have made catastrophic coverage too difficult for private insurers to provide affordably.
“The biggest change in the insurance industry in the past four years is the increase of climate disasters,” Kim told the Guardian in September. “We used to have a billion-dollar storm every three to four months, and it seems like we now have one every three weeks, so the price of risk has truly gone up.”
Kim has cited government-backed insurance programs in New Zealand, France, and Spain as models, proposing to use investment income to build reserves and fund wildfire and flood protection. Critics have questioned the plan’s cost and lack of detail. Kim also wants to limit post-claim rate hikes, cap excessive profits, and prohibit credit-based coverage denials.
Allen, meanwhile, emphasized his legislative experience and proposed market reforms, consumer protections, and expanded wildfire-hardening programs for homeowners, per Sacramento Bee. His endorsements included the California Democratic Party, both US senators, and several environmental groups.
Kim's campaign was backed by Senator Bernie Sanders, the California Working Families Party, and the California Teachers Association.
The race also drew an unusually large amount of outside spending, with nearly $8.2 million poured into the contest by political action committees. It was the first general election in which two Democrats competed for the insurance commissioner position, according to Mission Local.
About $6.9 million reportedly went toward supporting Allen or attacking Kim through independent PAC spending. Larsen’s PAC, Californians for an Affordable Future, spent nearly $2.2 million supporting Allen; Patterson’s Right Path PAC spent more than $1.5 million, largely opposing Kim; and a PG&E-backed PAC, Coalition for Homeowners Insurance Reform, contributed nearly $1 million to support Allen.
As previously reported, Kim repeatedly highlighted the corporate money backing her opponent during the campaign, while pointing to her endorsement from Senator Bernie Sanders and support from the California Working Families Party and California Teachers Association.
Speaking Friday, Kim said her proposal for a public, nonprofit insurance system resonated with voters regardless of party affiliation.
“When we talked to everyday voters, the ideas that we presented around a public nonprofit insurance, whether they were Democrat or Republican, just made sense to them,” she said, per Mission Local.
The apparent victory would return Kim to elected office after nearly eight years away. She served two terms representing District 6 on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, leaving office in 2019. Before that, she was president of the SF Board of Education.
Kim previously lost a close state Senate race to Scott Wiener in 2016 and finished third in the 2018 San Francisco mayoral election, behind London Breed and Mark Leno. She later became the inaugural executive director of the California Working Families Party.
If the results hold, Kim will become the first woman to serve as California's insurance commissioner.
Previously: Former SF Supervisor Jane Kim In Lead For State Insurance Commissioner as Race Heats Up
