Tony Thurmond Announces Run for California Governor

California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond announced he was running for Governor in 2026.

Thurmond sent out an email and posted to social media he was running because “I didn’t come from money, power, or influence. I’m running for Governor to be a voice for those who need one — because California may be working for millionaires and billionaires but for the rest of California — we need real change”

Gov. Gavin Newsom is termed out of office in 2027.

Here is his email that was sent out:

My name is Tony Thurmond. I’m a proud father, Afro-Latino and longtime public servant who’s fought for Californians on my local school board, city council, in the state assembly and for the last five years as state superintendent – running the largest public education system in America.

The importance of service was ingrained in me by my mother, Cecelia. She was an immigrant from Panama and a classroom teacher. When I was just 6 years old, she died tragically, and my brother and I became orphans. 

We were raised by our cousin. We were poor. We knew what hunger was and had to rely on food stamps. But public education was our great equalizer. It’s what enabled an orphan with no money, power or influence to grab onto opportunities and build a pathway to a better life.

I’ve spent my life fighting to ensure all Californians have those opportunities – which is why I’m running to be the next governor of California. If you believe this state should be a place where everyone can succeed, then please become one of the first donors of our campaign by chipping in $5 or whatever you can right now.

Across our country, the very fabric of who we are as a society is being tested. California is the fifth largest economy in the world and home to some of the wealthiest people on the planet. But a crisis of poverty and homelessness exists alongside this wealth, and it’s only growing worse. 

Home ownership is an unreachable dream. Schools are underfunded, and children are being used as pawns for extremist dogma that denies racism and attacks LGBTQ+ students. The climate is only growing hotter and disproportionately impacting the working poor. Our children are gunned down by weapons of war. 

And let’s face it, (Insert name). Washington is too gridlocked to tackle these challenges with the urgency they deserve – and you’d better believe a growing right-wing movement is well-equipped to flip California red and send our state backward. 

I’m running for governor to tackle these crises, move our state forward and empower those without a voice – but I need you with me. Will you join our campaign by making a day one donation of $5 or whatever you can spare today? We set a launch day goal of $100,000 to show the strength of this grassroots movement, and it’s your contribution that will get us there.

My life’s work has been about fighting for a California where everybody has the same opportunities I did. 

Together, we can raise the minimum wage and create jobs that pay the bills. We can build additional paths to home ownership, affordable rents and more housing altogether. We can take weapons of war off our streets, transition to cleaner energy faster and build safe, inclusive communities for everybody.

But I need you with me from day one. So please, will you help me become California’s next governor – and its first Afro-Latino governor – by making a contribution of $5 or more? Together, we’ll make this state a place where everyone has the opportunity to succeed.

Thank you,
Tony

Thurmond was elected a California State Superintendent of Public Instruction in 2018.  Thurmond is an educator, social worker, and public school parent who has served Californians for more than 15 years in elected office. Previously, he served on the Richmond City Council, the West Contra Costa Unified School Board, and in the California State Assembly representing District 15.

Tony Thurmond touts his efforts to transform California schools in several areas

• Return to Safe In-Person Instruction: Secured $6.6 billion in funding to safely reopen schools
• Universal School Meals: helped distribute 920 million school meals to students during the pandemic and secured hundreds of millions of dollars to implement the nation’s first statewide Universal Meals Program in the 2022–23 school year.
• Community Schools: $4.13 billion investment in community school strategies to ensure an equity-driven approach to public education.
• Mental Health Support: established the Family Engagement Unit at the California Department of Education, which helps school districts empower families around a variety of needs including digital literacy, social–emotional learning, home/school communication, and supporting learning at home. He also addressed the student mental health crisis by leading efforts to expand resources and build the pipeline of student-serving clinicians through the creation of $20,000 grants for 10,000 school counselors through the Golden State Grant Program.
• Supporting Our Teachers: Superintendent Thurmond secured an unprecedented $1.5 billion investment in professional learning for educators and assisted with diversifying the teacher workforce through the Educator Effectiveness Block Grant.
• Universal Prekindergarten: Superintendent Thurmond championed the $2.7 billion Universal Transitional Kindergarten program to ensure that California leads the nation in expanding quality preschool. Universal prekindergarten will be gradually phased in over five years until it includes all the state’s four-year-olds by the 2025–26 school year.
• Literacy and Learning Loss: Superintendent Thurmond helped organize a taskforce on literacy and advocated new funding for high-dosage, intensive literacy interventions and additional funding for early literacy. These efforts resulted in $250 million to fund Literacy Coaches; $15 million to help 6,000 educators receive reading and literacy instruction certifications; $10 million to fund the First 5 of California Books for Children Program; $5 billion in ongoing funds to support students beyond normal school hours to develop their academic, social, emotional, and physical needs and interests (Expanded Learning Opportunities Program); and $7.94 billion to address learning recovery via the Learning Recovery Emergency Fund.

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Recent Headlines:

• Aug 15 – Tony Thurmond Launches Statewide Coalition with Teacher Recruitment Summit
• Aug 2 – State Superintendent Tony Thurmond Doubles Down on Inclusive Education
• June 6 – Tony Thurmond “Seriously” Considers Run For Governor