Republican Herb Morgan seeks California controller seat

Herb W. Morgan, a Republican finance executive, is running for California controller in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election. He faces Democrat Malia Cohen.

Asked why he is seeking the office, Morgan said in our candidate questionnaire: "California's finances lack the independent, real-time oversight the Constitution assigns to this post. The Controller is the state's chief fiscal officer and auditor, not a policy advocate. That role has not been used to its full extent."

He added: "Voters deserve to know where every dollar goes before it is spent, not years later in a report few read. I will publish state payments on a public ledger, apply continuous audit tools to high-risk programs, and report waste, fraud, and control failures in plain language."

Candidate information

Party: Republican

Family: "Married 35 years, two adult children," Morgan said in our questionnaire.

Education: "My education is a B.A. in Economics with honors from the University of California, Santa Cruz," Morgan said in our questionnaire. According to BallotReady, he also holds a high school diploma from El Camino High School.

Hometown: Morgan said on his campaign website that he arrived in California on his first birthday in 1967 and grew up in Westminster and Oceanside, attending local public schools.

Experience and public service

Asked about his occupation and work history, Morgan said in our questionnaire: "I am a finance executive and investment adviser with roughly forty years in capital markets. I began on Wall Street with Dean Witter, J.&W. Seligman, Dreyfus, and LPL Financial. In 2004 I founded Efficient Market Advisors, the first ETF-managed-account platform, which grew to about $1.5 billion in assets and was sold to Cantor Fitzgerald in 2017. I remained Senior Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of that division until I retired to run for Controller."

Morgan also said in our questionnaire: "I also served on the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System board, appointed in 2009 and reappointed in 2013, and served as both vice president and president of the board."

According to BallotReady, Morgan has served as a board member at The Private Shares Fund since 2023.

On the issues

Asked what accomplishments show he can handle the job, Morgan said in our questionnaire: "I built and sold a regulated investment firm that grew to about $1.5 billion in assets, then remained as chief investment officer after the sale, responsible for process, risk controls, and client reporting. That work required the same discipline the Controller's office demands: custody of other people's money and clean, timely books."

He continued: "I have also held multiple board seats, including audit-committee assignments, where the duty was to test controls, question management, and report exceptions. Among them was the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System board … That board oversees billions in retiree assets and must answer to beneficiaries and taxpayers on actuarial assumptions, investment policy, and governance."

On the differences between himself and his opponent, Morgan said in our questionnaire: "My opponent has treated the post as a platform for broader political priorities and has not delivered continuous, public scrutiny of how state dollars are spent." He said his record is "markets, portfolio construction, and pension-board oversight … The contrast is a career in finance and fiduciary control versus a career in elective politics."

Morgan told CalMatters he proposes creating a system where every time a state-funded nonprofit pays for anything, that transaction goes into a state database, with artificial intelligence monitoring purchases and flagging suspicious activity. He also said he would carefully scrutinize the state's spending on homelessness.