Herb Morgan seeks California controller post Nov. 3

Herb W. Morgan, a Republican, is running for California controller in the Nov. 3, 2026, general election. He faces Democrat Malia Cohen.

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. That role has not been used to its full extent."

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.

Upbringing: Morgan said on his campaign website that he arrived in California on his first birthday in 1967 and grew up in Westminster and Oceanside, attending local public schools.

Experience and public service

Morgan described his career 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. I remained Senior Managing Director and Chief Investment Officer of that division until I retired to run for Controller."

Cantor Fitzgerald confirmed the March 2017 acquisition of Efficient Market Advisors, which at the time had approximately $1.1 billion in assets under advisement.

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 also serves as a board member at The Private Shares Fund, according to BallotReady.

On the issues

Why he says he is qualified: Morgan said in our questionnaire: "I built and sold a regulated investment firm that grew to about $1.5 billion in assets, then remained as chief investment officer after the sale, responsible for process, risk controls, and client reporting. That work required the same discipline the Controller's office demands: custody of other people's money and clean, timely books."

He added: "Those roles are evidence I can read a balance sheet, enforce controls, and state plainly when the numbers do not add up."

Differences from his opponent: Morgan said in our questionnaire: "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 said he would "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 and homelessness: Morgan said he would carefully scrutinize the state's spending on homelessness, according to CalMatters. He has proposed creating a system where every time a state-funded nonprofit pays for anything, that transaction enters a state database, with AI monitoring purchases and flagging suspicious activity, CalMatters reported.

Best advice: Asked for the best advice he ever received, Morgan said in our questionnaire: "Work Hard - Be so good, they can't say 'NO'"