The 2022 California Superintendent of Public Instruction election was held on June 7 and November 8, 2022, to elect the Superintendent of Public Instruction of California. Unlike most other elections in the state, the office is not elected under the state's top-two primary system. Instead, the officially nonpartisan position is elected at a primary election, with a runoff at a general election if no candidate receives a majority of the vote.

Incumbent Superintendent Tony Thurmond, who was endorsed by the California Democratic Party, easily won re-election to a second term, defeating Lance Christensen, who was endorsed by the California Republican Party, by 26 points. He was first elected in 2018 with 50.9% of the vote, narrowly defeating Marshall Tuck in a runoff election. Thurmond's result was by far the best for a Democrat in the 2022 elections, although the race itself was nonpartisan.

Candidates Note: The state Superintendent of Public Instruction election in California is officially nonpartisan. The parties below identify which party label each candidate would have run under if given the option.

Advanced to runoff Lance Christensen, education policy executive (Republican) Tony Thurmond, incumbent superintendent (Democratic)

Eliminated in primary Marco Amaral, teacher and trustee Joseph Guy Campbell, Montessori education publisher Jim Gibson, cyber security professional and candidate for mayor of Oceanside in 2016 (Republican) Ainye E. Long, public school teacher George Yang, software architect and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2016 (Republican)

Endorsements

Primary election Results

Runoff Polling Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Marginof error TonyThurmond LanceChristensen UndecidedUSCOctober 30 – November 2, 2022802 (RV)± 3.5%64%36%–

Results

By county County Tony ThurmondDemocratic Lance ChristensenRepublican Margin Total votes cast # % # % # % Alameda323,92178.36%89,47521.64%234,44656.71%413,396 Alpine32969.12%14730.88%18238.24%476 Amador7,24948.86%7,58651.14%-337-2.27%14,835 Butte32,98755.75%26,17844.25%6,80911.51%59,165 Calaveras8,70652.27%7,94947.73%7574.55%12,655 Colusa2,21448.77%2,32651.23%-112-2.47%4,540 Contra Costa231,75669.77%100,42330.23%131,33339.54%332,179 Del Norte3,43748.62%3,63251.38%-195-2.76%7,069 El Dorado34,73651.78%32,34948.22%2,3873.56%67,085 Fresno100,69754.97%82,50145.03%18,1969.93%183,198 Glenn3,03347.15%3,40052.85%-367-5.70%6,433 Humboldt26,70169.48%11,72830.52%14,97338.96%38,429 Imperial15,14957.35%11,26742.65%3,88214.70%26,416 Inyo3,24755.94%2,55744.06%69011.89%5,804 Kern80,95049.43%82,82350.57%-1,873-1.14%163,773 Kings10,72946.68%12,25753.32%-1,528-6.65%22,986 Lake9,87959.75%6,65640.25%3,22319.49%16,535 Lassen3,21642.14%4,41657.86%-1,200-15.72%7,632 Los Angeles1,346,63969.59%588,45730.41%758,18239.18%1,935,096 Madera14,80847.88%16,12252.12%-1,314-4.25%30,390 Marin76,14480.79%18,10419.21%58,04061.58%94,248 Mariposa3,33652.94%2,96647.06%3705.87%6,302 Mendocino17,09670.92%7,01029.08%10,08641.84%24,106 Merced25,73754.74%21,28245.26%4,4559.47%47,019 Modoc1,12540.83%1,63059.17%-505-18.33%2,755 Mono2,17564.18%1,21435.82%96128.36%3,389 Monterey56,54665.60%29,65634.40%26,89031.19%86,202 Napa28,14669.11%12,58330.89%15,56338.21%40,729 Nevada24,45061.62%15,23138.38%9,21923.23%39,681 Orange428,51156.10%335,33043.90%93,18112.20%763,841 Placer74,10249.94%74,28950.06%-187-0.13%148,391 Plumas3,57651.81%3,32648.19%2503.62%6,902 Riverside260,16954.38%218,29745.62%41,8728.75%478,466 Sacramento249,57062.69%148,51237.31%101,05825.39%398,082 San Benito9,52657.85%6,94142.15%2,58515.70%16,467 San Bernardino201,35354.25%169,81645.75%31,5378.50%371,169 San Diego498,15460.36%327,20539.64%170,94920.71%825,359 San Francisco188,92881.02%44,26918.98%144,65962.03%233,197 San Joaquin88,01257.86%64,10242.14%23,91015.72%152,114 San Luis Obispo57,12060.29%37,62939.71%19,49120.57%94,749 San Mateo142,62772.21%54,87927.79%87,74844.43%197,506 Santa Barbara67,60563.03%39,65236.97%27,95326.06%107,257 Santa Clara304,17569.41%134,03430.59%170,14138.83%438,209 Santa Cruz64,91676.07%20,42123.93%44,49552.14%85,337 Shasta25,46246.03%29,84953.97%-4,387-7.93%55,311 Sierra64249.35%65950.65%-17-1.31%1,301 Siskiyou7,40851.93%6,85748.07%5513.86%14,265 Solano72,09964.13%40,32935.87%31,77028.26%112,428 Sonoma116,97475.24%38,50224.76%78,47250.47%155,476 Stanislaus61,68954.61%51,28345.39%10,4069.21%112,972 Sutter11,28547.51%12,46852.49%-1,183-4.98%23,753 Tehama7,75947.40%8,60952.60%-850-5.19%16,368 Trinity2,17158.87%1,51741.13%65417.73%3,688 Tulare37,80847.99%40,98352.01%-3,175-4.03%78,791 Tuolumne9,79053.65%8,45946.35%1,3317.29%18,249 Ventura146,69261.33%92,48538.67%54,20722.66%239,177 Yolo40,62671.60%16,11828.40%24,50843.19%56,744 Yuba7,43145.12%9,04054.88%-1,609-9.77%16,471Totals5,681,31863.70%3,237,78536.30%2,443,53327.40%8,919,103

By congressional district Thurmond won 49 of 52 congressional districts, including nine that elected Republicans. He performed the best in the 11th and 12th districts in the Bay Area, as well as the 30th, 34th and 37th districts in Greater Los Angeles. Conversely, Christensen won the 1st, 20th and 48th districts, performing the best in the 20th one, where Kevin McCarthy gave the Republicans their best performance in the 2022 House election. District Thurmond Christensen Representative 49% 51%Doug LaMalfa 75% 25%Jared Huffman 53% 47%Kevin Kiley 69% 31%Mike Thompson 52% 48%Tom McClintock 60% 40%Ami Bera 68% 32%Doris Matsui 73% 27%John Garamendi 57% 43%Josh Harder 67% 33%Mark DeSaulnier 82% 18%Nancy Pelosi 87% 13%Barbara Lee 55% 45%John Duarte 69% 31%Eric Swalwell72%28%Jackie Speier (117th Congress)Kevin Mullin (118th Congress) 71% 29%Anna Eshoo 71% 29%Ro Khanna 64% 36%Zoe Lofgren 68% 32%Jimmy Panetta 47% 53%Kevin McCarthy 56% 44%Jim Costa 54% 46%David Valadao 52% 48%Jay Obernolte 64% 36%Salud Carbajal 56% 44%Raul Ruiz 61% 39%Julia Brownley 57% 43%Mike Garcia 66% 34%Judy Chu 72% 28%Tony Cárdenas 77% 23%Adam Schiff 62% 38%Grace Napolitano 71% 29%Brad Sherman 58% 42%Pete Aguilar 78% 22%Jimmy Gomez 57% 43%Norma Torres 71% 29%Ted Lieu79%21%Karen Bass (117th Congress)Sydney Kamlager-Dove (118th Congress) 62% 38%Linda Sánchez 60% 40%Mark Takano 53% 47%Young Kim 53% 47%Ken Calvert68%32%Lucille Roybal-Allard (117th Congress)Robert Garcia (118th Congress) 73% 27%Maxine Waters 69% 31%Nanette Barragán 58% 42%Michelle Steel 62% 38%Lou Correa 57% 43%Katie Porter 47% 53%Darrell Issa 57% 43%Mike Levin 65% 35%Scott Peters 64% 36%Sara Jacobs 63% 37%Juan Vargas

Notes

References

External links Official campaign links Lance Christensen for Superintendent Tony Thurmond for Superintendent