Republican Herb Morgan seeks California controller seat

Herb W. Morgan, a Republican finance executive, is running for California controller in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election against Democrat Malia Cohen, according to BallotReady election data.

Asked why he is seeking the office, Morgan said in our candidate questionnaire: "California's finances lack the independent, real-time oversight the Constitution assigns to this post. The Controller is the state's chief fiscal officer and auditor, not a policy advocate."

Candidate information

Party: Republican

Family: "Married 35 years, two adult children," Morgan said in our questionnaire.

Education: "My education is a B.A. in Economics with honors from the University of California, Santa Cruz," Morgan said in our questionnaire. He holds a high school diploma from El Camino High School, according to BallotReady.

Background: Morgan grew up in Westminster and Oceanside, attending local public schools after arriving in California on his first birthday in 1967, according to his campaign website.

Experience and public service

Morgan said in our questionnaire: "I am a finance executive and investment adviser with roughly forty years in capital markets. I began on Wall Street with Dean Witter, J.&W. Seligman, Dreyfus, and LPL Financial. In 2004 I founded Efficient Market Advisors, the first ETF-managed-account platform, which grew to about $1.5 billion in assets and was sold to Cantor Fitzgerald in 2017."

The firm had approximately $1.1 billion in assets under advisement at the time of acquisition, according to a Cantor Fitzgerald announcement.

Morgan also said in our questionnaire: "I also served on the San Diego City Employees' Retirement System board, appointed in 2009 and reappointed in 2013, and served as both vice president and president of the board."

He has served as a board member at The Private Shares Fund since 2023, according to BallotReady.

On the issues

Critical differences from opponent: Morgan said in our questionnaire: "The office is California's independent fiscal officer, not a policy seat. My opponent has treated the post as a platform for broader political priorities and has not delivered continuous, public scrutiny of how state dollars are spent."

He added: "I will publish state payments on a public ledger and apply continuous audit tools to high-risk programs so findings arrive while money is still moving."

Government spending transparency: Morgan said in our questionnaire: "Voters deserve to know where every dollar goes before it is spent, not years later in a report few read. I will publish state payments on a public ledger … and report waste, fraud, and control failures in plain language."

Nonprofit oversight: Morgan wants the state to log every purchase by state-funded nonprofits in a central database and use AI to flag suspicious transactions, according to CalMatters. He also said he would scrutinize state homelessness spending.

Qualifications: Morgan said in our questionnaire: "I built and sold a regulated investment firm … That work required the same discipline the Controller's office demands: custody of other people's money and clean, timely books."