Malia Cohen, the incumbent California state controller, is defending her seat in a June 2 primary against Republican Herb Morgan and Peace & Freedom candidate Meghann Adams. The contest has sharpened around audits, transparency and one campaign-spun technology solution that promises to put state spending on public display. For voters, the outcome will shape who counts, audits and returns billions in state money over the next four years.
Who’s on the ballot and why it matters
The June 2 primary pits Cohen against Morgan, a San Diego finance executive, and Adams, a San Francisco school-bus driver and union president, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. Morgan touts decades in finance and proposes publishing near-real-time state spending using blockchain and artificial intelligence, per his campaign materials. Adams, president of SMART Local 1741, is running on audits of corporate tax breaks and pension divestment, according to the California Voter Guide.
What the controller actually does
The state controller is California's chief fiscal officer, responsible for accounting and disbursement of state funds, auditing agencies, administering payroll systems and overseeing the unclaimed-property program, per the State Controller’s Office. The office also publishes the Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR), a document investors and credit agencies use to assess the state's fiscal health. That report has been published late in recent years - a pattern CalMatters traced to implementation challenges - and timeliness has become a campaign talking point.
Morgan’s pitch: radical transparency - at what cost?
Morgan argues the controller should require daily, transaction-level disclosure and has publicized plans to post government payments to a public ledger as a transparency measure, according to his campaign press materials. He says making payments visible in near real time would deter bad actors and force accountability, a core theme of his platform. Critics note huge technical and privacy hurdles across dozens of state systems and warn that integration costs and operational complexity could be substantial, raising questions about how quickly any such system could realistically launch.
Adams' agenda: audits, divestment and reinvestment
Adams wants to use the controller's auditing authority to target large corporate tax incentives, bulk buyers and corporate landlords she says have worsened California’s affordability crisis. She also calls for redirecting billions toward education, housing and health care and for divesting public pensions from fossil fuels and defense contractors, per her candidate statement on the California Voter Guide. Her platform is pitched at working-class voters and union members who see the controller’s office as a lever to shift public dollars.
Unclaimed money keeps the race grounded
One practical issue animating the race is unclaimed property: a CBS News investigation found California is holding roughly $15 billion in unclaimed checks, accounts, stocks and other assets. That gap has made returning money a live test of the controller's office; Cohen's team says it has ramped up outreach, mailed millions of notices and moved claims to an online portal to make returns easier, per KCRA and the State Controller’s Office. For many voters, getting a lost paycheck or bank balance back is a more immediate yardstick than abstract audit schedules.
Endorsements, money and what to watch before June
Cohen enters the race with endorsements from Gov. Gavin Newsom, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas, Senate President Pro Tem Monique Limón and the California Democratic Party, per her campaign's endorsements list. Fundraising, whether Cohen can point to completed audits of homelessness programs and agencies, and whether challengers translate technocratic promises into practical plans will be the measures to watch before the June 2 primary; the Secretary of State's certified list shows all three candidates are on the ballot. Expect the contest to revolve around tangible audits, transparency tools and unclaimed money as voters decide who will oversee California’s books through a turbulent budget cycle.
