Legislative, Wildfire Experiences Underpin California Candidate’s Commissioner Run
LOS ANGELES //BestWire// - On the campaign trail for insurance commissioner, California state Sen. Ben Allen is touting his experience in the state’s Legislature as well as his leadership following 2025’s devastating Los Angeles wildfires that continue to impact his constituents in District 24.
Ben AllenAllen is headed to the November general elections to face off against Jane Kim, a former San Francisco supervisor and political organizer who emerged from the California primary as the leading candidate (BestWire, June 12, 2026). The two Democrats are vying to replace Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, who is term limited.
As of June 29, Kim garnered 27.4% of primary votes and Allen has pulled in 19.4%, according to unofficial results from the California Secretary of State. Results will be certified by July 10.
Although Kim is carrying an early edge following the primaries, Allen saw slightly more party support during the California Democrat’s convention earlier this year, as he pulled 41.69% of votes (BestWire, 24, 2026). Kim pulled in 40.19% of convention votes.
First elected to the state Senate in 2014, Allen has been a leader on climate and environmental policies, including legislation to reduce plastic pollution and a $10 million climate bond ballot initiative that passed in 2024, according to his campaign. Prior to being elected to the Senate, Allen was president of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Board of Education and lecturer at University of California, Los Angeles School of Law.
Allen said he is seeking the commissioner role because of its importance in ensuring the state’s economy runs smoothly.
“I also got a chance to the see the dysfunction of the system up close and personal with the terrible fires that swept through my district,” Allen said. “For me, it is about creating a system that is better for working people who are living paycheck to paycheck and making sure we have a system that’s fair.”
A critical piece to improving the state’s property insurance market is pushing for a suite of policies and practices that reduce risk and “make life in California more affordable,” Allen said.
“It is about having someone in this office who has a strong track record of standing up for working people but also knows how to get things done and can work with work with other people to deliver results on the policy side,” Allen said.
To this final point, Allen said a lot of deep work with the Legislature and governance structure of the state is going to be needed. He again touted his experience in this area, noting he has and is currently supporting several insurance-related pieces of legislation.
When it comes to commissioner candidates, each had proposals that stretch beyond the “four corners of responsibilities and powers” of the insurance commissioner’s office, Allen said. As such, whoever takes the position on must have the ability convince lawmakers and other stakeholders in the power structure “to see the world from your perspective” and ultimately adopt policies to support that worldview, he said.
“I know the system, I’ve got the deep relationships, and I’ve built real trust with my colleagues,” Allen said. “I will be pursuing a legislative strategy that’s all about trying to make the system better for working people and better for the state.”
Describing himself as a “customer service-oriented elected official,” Allen said he would replicate the constituent-responses system deployed in his Senate offices at the California Department of Insurance. He explained the department currently has fewer than 35 people handling consumer calls, a staffing level that amounts to fewer than one customer service representative per 1 million of California’s more than 39 million residents.
In addition to increasing customer service operations, Allen said he’d overhaul the department’s fraud enforcement division and speed up the rate-review process, which he described as a “major problem for the system.”
Allen said he also would make a major push to improve resiliency, and kick start this aim by bringing together local governments, insurers, fire experts, buildings, utilities and environmental and poverty advocates to push for a shift in policy that rewards risk reduction on a statewide basis.
As it stands, insurers are encouraging risk reduction work but are not rewarding it, Allen said.
“It is easy for insurers to tell people to go home harden and reduce risk, but then homeowners are still not able to get calls back from insurers,” Allen said. “Part of what the insurance commissioner is going to have to do is really demand that insurers be part of the solution here.”
Allen also wants to grow California’s low-cost automobile insurance program by lowering eligibility requirements and launching a consumer-education campaign to promote its availability.
He is also supportive of a proposal to create a state-backed reinsurance program, which would cover at least a tranche of the reinsurance market.
“The global reinsurance market is a little spooked by what they’re seeing in California with our fires and all the rest,” Allen said. “That’s creating some contraction that has made it more difficult for the markets, and it is impacting affordability.”
The general election is slated for Nov. 3.
(By Steve Hallo, senior associate editor, BestWire: Steve.Hallo@ambest.com)