The 2022 California State Controller election was held on November 8, 2022, to elect the California State Controller. Due to strict absolute lifetime term limit laws, incumbent Democratic State Controller Betty Yee was ineligible to run for a third term. Democrat Malia Cohen won the election, defeating Republican Lanhee Chen. Despite Chen's loss, the race was the closest of the 2022 elections in California, and Chen received more votes than any Republican candidate in the 2022 national election cycle. Chen flipped ten counties, the most that any candidate had flipped in California that year. Chen also won four congressional districts held by Democrats, while Cohen won no congressional districts held by Republicans.

Candidates Democratic Party Advanced to general election Malia Cohen, Chair of the California State Board of Equalization and former President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors (2018–2019)

Eliminated in primary Ron Galperin, Los Angeles City Controller Steve Glazer, state senator from the 7th district Yvonne Yiu, mayor of Monterey Park

Republican Party Advanced to general election Lanhee Chen, Stanford University professor, former advisor to the NRSC, former policy advisor for Mitt Romney's 2012 presidential campaign and Marco Rubio's 2016 presidential campaign

Green Party Eliminated in primary Laura Wells, financial and business analyst and perennial candidate

Endorsements

Fundraising Of the 2022 California statewide races, the race for controller had the largest total amount of money spent.

By October 2021, Chen had received over $1 million from 307 donors, including Jerry Yang, Steve Poizner, and John T. Chambers. Glazer's campaign was financially supported by the California Chamber of Commerce. Yiu gave more than $5 million to her own campaign.

Primary election Results

General election Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error MaliaCohen (D) LanheeChen (R) UndecidedUSCOctober 30 – November 2, 2022802 (RV)± 3.5%58%42%–

Results

By county County Malia CohenDemocratic Lanhee ChenRepublican Margin Total votes cast # % # % # % Alameda353,47173.62%126,65826.38%226,81347.24%480,129 Alpine34557.02%26042.98%8514.05%605 Amador5,80431.86%12,41168.14%-6,607-36.27%18,215 Butte30,81743.48%40,05756.52%-9,240-13.04%70,874 Calaveras6,94433.07%14,05566.93%-7,111-33.86%20,999 Colusa1,64330.07%3,82169.93%-2,178-39.86%5,464 Contra Costa242,86463.58%139,10036.42%103,76427.17%381,964 Del Norte3,25939.56%4,97960.44%-1,720-20.88%8,238 El Dorado32,46037.34%54,47162.66%-22,011-25.32%86,931 Fresno89,62641.95%124,02958.05%-34,403-16.10%213,655 Glenn2,07326.65%5,70773.35%-3,634-46.71%7,780 Humboldt28,91761.54%18,07038.46%10,84723.09%46,987 Imperial16,36355.52%13,10844.48%3,25511.04%29,471 Inyo3,19944.04%4,06555.96%-866-11.92%7,264 Kern68,77336.92%117,47963.08%-48,706-26.15%186,252 Kings9,16934.56%17,36265.44%-8,193-30.88%26,531 Lake9,73548.95%10,15151.05%-416-2.09%19,886 Lassen1,72919.12%7,31480.88%-5,585-61.76%9,043 Los Angeles1,450,37262.58%867,33837.42%583,03425.16%2,317,710 Madera12,68334.71%23,85465.29%-11,171-30.57%36,537 Marin85,11073.45%30,77226.55%54,33846.89%115,882 Mariposa2,82936.51%4,92063.49%-2,091-26.98%7,749 Mendocino18,84262.85%11,13737.15%7,70525.70%29,979 Merced24,52844.93%30,06555.07%-5,537-10.14%54,593 Modoc77223.11%2,56876.89%-1,796-53.77%3,340 Mono2,33952.33%2,13147.67%2084.65%4,470 Monterey60,85960.38%39,93739.62%20,92220.76%100,796 Napa30,16661.25%19,08338.75%11,08322.50%49,249 Nevada25,68551.33%24,35848.67%1,3272.65%50,043 Orange433,96545.21%525,86554.79%-91,900-9.57%959,830 Placer68,72738.46%109,97661.54%-41,249-23.08%178,703 Plumas3,15137.01%5,36462.99%-2,213-25.99%8,515 Riverside273,99846.73%312,37653.27%-38,378-6.54%586,374 Sacramento252,73153.88%216,34646.12%36,3857.76%469,077 San Benito10,02352.11%9,21347.89%8104.21%19,236 San Bernardino208,12346.46%239,81253.54%-31,689-7.07%447,935 San Diego521,56751.89%483,65048.11%37,9173.77%1,005,217 San Francisco221,33475.95%70,09424.05%151,24051.90%291,428 San Joaquin83,20447.49%91,99052.51%-8,786-5.02%175,194 San Luis Obispo55,21746.99%62,29253.01%-7,075-6.02%117,509 San Mateo165,74268.47%76,33531.53%89,40736.93%242,077 Santa Barbara74,33956.04%58,30543.96%16,03412.09%132,644 Santa Clara337,04863.26%195,79136.74%141,25726.51%532,839 Santa Cruz73,28071.64%29,00628.36%44,27443.28%102,286 Shasta19,20928.56%48,04271.44%-28,833-42.87%67,251 Sierra52734.31%1,00965.69%-482-31.38%1,536 Siskiyou6,45137.03%10,96962.97%-4,518-25.94%17,420 Solano74,87957.98%54,26042.02%20,61915.97%129,139 Sonoma132,45368.20%61,77031.80%70,68336.39%194,223 Stanislaus53,19941.10%76,24258.90%-23,043-17.80%129,441 Sutter8,97432.50%18,63767.50%-9,663-35.00%27,611 Tehama5,42326.61%14,95673.39%-9,533-46.78%20,379 Trinity1,89342.30%2,58257.70%-689-15.40%4,475 Tulare32,41835.89%57,89964.11%-25,481-28.21%90,317 Tuolumne8,15935.63%14,73864.37%-6,579-28.73%22,897 Ventura141,45051.25%134,52448.75%6,9262.51%275,974 Yolo41,48662.23%25,18137.77%16,30524.46%66,667 Yuba6,51033.61%12,86166.39%-6,351-32.79%19,371Totals5,936,85655.35%4,789,34544.65%1,147,51110.70%10,726,201

Counties that flipped from Democratic to Republican Butte (largest municipality: Chico) Fresno (largest municipality: Fresno) Lake (largest municipality: Clearlake) Merced (largest municipality: Merced) Orange (largest municipality: Anaheim) Riverside (largest municipality: Riverside) San Bernardino (largest municipality: San Bernardino) San Joaquin (largest municipality: Stockton) San Luis Obispo (largest municipality: San Luis Obispo) Stanislaus (largest municipality: Modesto)

By congressional district Cohen won 36 of 52 congressional districts, with the remaining 16 going to Chen, including four that elected Democrats. District Cohen Chen Representative 34% 66%Doug LaMalfa 67% 33%Jared Huffman 41% 59%Kevin Kiley 61% 39%Mike Thompson 36% 64%Tom McClintock 52% 48%Ami Bera 59% 41%Doris Matsui 71% 29%John Garamendi 47% 53%Josh Harder 59% 41%Mark DeSaulnier 77% 23%Nancy Pelosi 84% 16%Barbara Lee 45% 55%John Duarte 63% 37%Eric Swalwell69%31%Jackie Speier (117th Congress)Kevin Mullin (118th Congress) 65% 35%Anna Eshoo 63% 37%Ro Khanna 63% 37%Zoe Lofgren 61% 39%Jimmy Panetta 29% 71%Kevin McCarthy 49% 51%Jim Costa 48% 52%David Valadao 39% 61%Jay Obernolte 55% 45%Salud Carbajal 52% 48%Raul Ruiz 50.1% 49.9%Julia Brownley 46% 54%Mike Garcia 56% 44%Judy Chu 69% 31%Tony Cárdenas 69% 31%Adam Schiff 56% 44%Grace Napolitano 58% 42%Brad Sherman 54% 46%Pete Aguilar 77% 23%Jimmy Gomez 54% 46%Norma Torres 58% 42%Ted Lieu81%19%Karen Bass (117th Congress)Sydney Kamlager-Dove (118th Congress) 54% 46%Linda Sánchez 54% 46%Mark Takano 41% 59%Young Kim 44% 56%Ken Calvert63%37%Lucille Roybal-Allard (117th Congress)Robert Garcia (118th Congress) 76% 24%Maxine Waters 67% 33%Nanette Barragán 46% 54%Michelle Steel 58% 42%Lou Correa 45% 55%Katie Porter 37% 63%Darrell Issa 47% 53%Mike Levin 56% 44%Scott Peters 55% 45%Sara Jacobs 60% 40%Juan Vargas

Notes

References