Winning the election, Kim believes, would give her a platform to organize around changing the home insurance market. Her experience passing legislation on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and organizing with the Working Families Party offers a road map.

She wants to establish a policyholder bill of rights that would include timely decisions on claims, clear written explanations for any denial, access to independent appraisal, and documentation of all communications with insurers.

These things are why Californians established the elected insurance commissioner’s office back in 1991 – to be a consumer champion for Californians. After eight years of Lara’s ineffectiveness, Kim will be a breath of fresh air.

Jane Kim, former SF supervisor and director at the Working Families Party, is running a grassroots campaign…talking about a public option for car insurance, disaster insurance for everyone, and mandatory deadlines on claims. Nobody else in the race is offering that consumer-based approach. We’re backing Kim.

We need an Insurance Commissioner with the experience and political courage to fight for what we deserve, not to manage decline. I am refusing to accept a dime from insurance companies or corporate PACs so that I can be truly independent, and finally turn this office into a watchdog for consumers. 

"Californians want an Insurance Commissioner who will fight to make insurance more affordable and available," said Jane Kim. "When voters learn about my record fighting for working families, they choose this campaign. We are going to take that message to every corner of this state."

[Kim] served as California political director for Bernie Sanders’ 2020 presidential run and is endorsed by Sanders, the progressive independent senator from Vermont. The daughter of Korean immigrants, she attended Stanford and has a law degree from UC Berkeley.

Kim calls out the insurance industry for denying Californians’ claims; Phoong gives Kim her endorsement.

“When something’s wrong, call Anh Phoong,” Kim says, echoing Phoong’s billboard slogan.

“And when insurance is looking grim, vote for Jane Kim,” Phoong adds.

Kim, an attorney known for her advocacy for free City College, subsidized child care, and affordable housing, has no professional experience in the insurance industry. That outsider status, rather than humbling, may be emboldening her: She is proposing sweeping changes, including taking on large corporations and creating a universal, publicly run insurance program.

[Jane Kim] toured parts of Tuolumne County on Monday and met with some local leaders to learn more about the region’s growing insurance challenges.

The day included a tour of the Chinese Camp burn scar impacted by the TCU September Lightning Complex Fire, a visit to the Heartwood Biomass facility on O’Byrnes Ferry Road, and a stop at a private property off Jamestown Road where ongoing fuel reduction work is underway. 

A major San Francisco candidate is in the mix: former supervisor Jane Kim. A progressive activist with limited experience in the insurance industry, Kim has nonetheless racked up a long list of endorsements. Two stand out — both featured prominently  on her website and campaign mailers: her longtime ally Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and, surprisingly, state Controller Malia Cohen, a former Board of Supervisors colleague from the other side of the aisle.

I’ve spent my career taking on powerful interests to make California more affordable. As a San Francisco Supervisor, I authored and passed California’s first $15 minimum wage, advanced some of the strongest tenant protections in the country and secured tuition-free community college for all San Franciscans.

Candidates divided along clearer lines when Kim brought up one of her campaign goals: to create a public homeowner insurance system, like a single-payer health care system, that would cover claims from natural disasters instead of relying on private companies to do so.

In the current “profit-driven insurance model,” she said, companies keep policies on the homes at less risk of wildfires, but raise premiums and don’t renew coverage for everyone else.

We need to re-imagine and redesign insurance to work for all of us. And this means taking on the $3.3 trillion industry, which has been posting blockbuster profits for shareholders and CEOs. In fact, CEO’s at the 10 largest insurance companies raked in $391 million over the last three years.

“Like so many Californians, teachers are dealing with the impacts of rising costs and an economy that feels rigged against working people,” said David Goldberg, President, California Teachers Association. “When insurance premiums go up or coverage disappears, it hits our members and their students directly. Jane Kim has a track record of taking on powerful industries to make the system fairer and more affordable for everyone. That’s why we’re proud to endorse her for Insurance Commissioner.”

The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) California today announced the 750,000 – member organization’s endorsement of Jane Kim for Insurance Commissioner.

"She has fought with and stood alongside workers for the entirety of her career and will continue to champion working people’s causes. In our fight for democracy, we know Jane will have the backs of California workers.”

Californians deserve an Insurance Commissioner independent from industry influence, who refuses insurer money and stands up to corporate abuse. That’s why Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), the National Union of Healthcare Workers and Working Families Party are endorsing her campaign.

Former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim is joining the race for California’s Insurance Commissioner with bold proposals to get the government even more involved in making home insurance available and affordable.

Former San Francisco supervisor Jane Kim officially jumped into the race for insurance commissioner on Wednesday, setting up a test of progressive creds on a statewide political stage at a time when climate change is increasingly hitting pocketbooks.

“This office has been very under-leveraged, and it could be a powerful platform to put forward a bold agenda for working families and everyday people,” she said.

Kim said the commissioner’s role has been underutilized despite its broad authority. She described insurance as a gateway to household stability and long-term wealth accumulation, arguing that market failures now justify stronger public intervention.

Her campaign centers on holding insurers accountable while expanding access for households priced out of coverage.