2018 California Superintendent of Public Instruction election

The 2018 California Superintendent of Public Instruction primary election was held on June 5, 2018, to elect the Superintendent of Public Instruction of California. Unlike most other elections in California, the superintendent is not elected under the state's "top-two primary". Instead, the officially nonpartisan position is elected via a general election, with a runoff held on November 6, 2018, because no candidate received a majority of the vote.

2018 California Superintendent of Public Instruction election

← 2014 June 5, 2018 (first round) November 6, 2018 (runoff) 2022 →

Candidate Tony Thurmond Marshall Tuck First round 2,136,919 35.6% 2,223,784 37.0% Runoff 5,385,912 50.9% 5,198,738 49.1%   Candidate Lily Ploski Steven Ireland First round 984,932 16.4% 658,786 11.0% Runoff Eliminated Eliminated

First round county results Runoff county results Thurmond      20–30%      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70% Tuck      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80% Ploski      30–40%

SPI before election Tom Torlakson Elected SPI Tony Thurmond

The previous incumbent, Superintendent Tom Torlakson, was term-limited, so could not seek a third term. As no candidate received a majority in the general election, a runoff was held between two Democrats: Marshall Tuck and Tony Thurmond. Thurmond narrowly defeated Tuck.

General election

• Note: The state Superintendent of Public Instruction election in California is officially nonpartisan. The parties below identify which party label each candidate would have run under if given the option.

Candidates

Declared

• Steven Ireland^[1]
• Lily Ploski, former educator and administrator^[2]
• Tony Thurmond, Democratic State Assemblyman^[3] (Democratic)
• Marshall Tuck, former CEO of Partnership for LA Schools, former president of Green Dot Public Schools and candidate in 2014^[4] (Democratic)
• Douglas I. Vigil (write-in)^[5]
• Thomas L. Williams (write-in)^[5]

Declined

• Natalia Sanchez, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineer^[6]

Endorsements

Tony Thurmond

Federal-level Elected Officials

• Kamala Harris, U.S. Senator^[3]
• Barbara Lee, U.S. Representative (D-CA-13)^[7]
• Eric Swalwell, U.S. Representative (D-CA-15)^[7]
• Grace Napolitano, U.S. Representative (D-CA-32)^[7]
• Jimmy Gomez, U.S. Representative (D-CA-34)^[7]
• Jimmy Panetta, U.S. Representative (D-CA-20)^[7]
• Judy Chu, U.S. Representative (D-CA-27)^[7]
• Karen Bass, U.S. Representative (D-CA-37)^[7]
• Mark DeSaulnier, U.S. Representative (D-CA-11)^[7]
• Mark Takano, U.S. Representative (D-CA-41)^[7]
• Mike Thompson, U.S. Representative (D-CA-5)^[7]
• Norma Torres, U.S. Representative (D-CA-35)^[7]
• Pete Aguilar U.S. Representative (D-CA-31)^[7]
• Ro Khanna, U.S. Representative (D-CA17)^[7]
• Sam Farr, former U.S. Representative (D-CA-20)^[7]

State-level Elected Officials

• Tom Torlakson, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction^[7]
• Jack O'Connell, former California State Superintendent of Public Instruction^[7]
• Alex Padilla, California Secretary of State^[7]
• Betty Yee, California State Controller^[7]
• Dave Jones, California Insurance Commissioner^[7]
• Fiona Ma, California State Board of Equalization member^[7]
• Jerome Horton, California State Board of Equalization member^[7]
• Toni Atkins, president pro tempore of the California State Senate, (SD-39 San Diego)^[7]
• Ben Hueso, California State Senator (SD-40 San Diego)^[7]
• Bill Monning, California State Senator (SD-17 Monterey)^[7]
• Bob Wieckowski, California State Senator (SD-10 Fremont)^[7]
• Cathleen Galgiani, California State Senator (SD-05 Stockton)^[7]
• Connie Leyva, California State Senator (SD-20 Chino)^[7]
• Ed Hernandez, California State Senator (SD-22 West Covina)^[7]
• Hannah-Beth Jackson, California State Senator (SD-19 Santa Barbara)^[7]
• Holly Mitchell, California State Senator (SD-30 Los Angeles)^[7]
• Jerry Hill, California State Senator (SD-13 San Mateo)^[7]
• Jim Beall, California State Senator (SD-15 San Jose)^[7]
• Josh Newman, California State Senator (SD-29 Brea)^[7]
• Mike McGuire, California State Senator (SD-02 Santa Rosa)^[7]
• Ricardo Lara, California State Senator (SD-33 Bell Gardens)^[7]
• Isadore Hall III, former California State Senator (SD-34 Compton)^[7]
• Mark Leno, former California State Senator (SD-09 San Francisco)^[7]
• Anthony Rendon, Speaker of the California State Assembly (AD-63 South Gate)^[7]
• Ash Kalra, California State Assemblymember (AD-27 San Jose)^[7]
• Chris Holden, California State Assemblymember (AD-41 Pasadena)^[7]
• David Chiu, California State Assemblymember (AD-17 San Francisco)^[7]
• Ed Chau, California State Assemblymember (AD-49 Monterey Park)^[7]
• Eduardo Garcia, California State Assemblymember (AD-56 Imperial)^[7]
• Eloise Reyes, California State Assemblymember (AD-47 San Bernardino)^[7]
• Freddie Rodriguez, California State Assemblymember (AD-52 Chino)^[7]
• Ian Calderon, California State Assemblymember (AD-57 Santa Fe Springs)^[7]
• Jim Cooper, California State Assemblymember (AD-35 Elk Grove)^[7]
• Jim Frazier, California State Assemblymember (AD-11 Fairfield)^[7]
• Jim Wood, California State Assemblymember (AD-02 Eureka)^[7]
• Jose Medina, California State Assemblymember (AD-61 Riverside)^[7]
• Kansen Chu, California State Assemblymember (AD-25 Milpitas)^[7]
• Ken Cooley, California State Assemblymember (AD-08 Rancho Cordova)^[7]
• Kevin McCarty, California State Assemblymember (AD-07 Sacramento)^[7]
• Kevin Mullin, California State Assemblymember (AD-22 San Mateo)^[7]
• Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, California State Assemblymember (AD-80 San Diego)^[7]
• Mark Stone, California State Assemblymember (AD-29 Santa Cruz/Monterey)^[7]
• Miguel Santiago, California State Assemblymember (AD-53 Los Angeles)^[7]
• Mike Gipson, California State Assemblymember (AD-64 Gardena/Compton)^[7]
• Patrick O'Donnell, California State Assemblymember (AD-70 Long Beach)^[7]
• Phil Ting, California State Assemblymember (AD-19 San Francisco)^[7]
• Reggie Jones-Sawyer, California State Assemblymember (AD-59 Los Angeles)^[7]
• Rob Bonta, California State Assemblymember (AD-18 Oakland)^[7]
• Rudy Salas, California State Assemblymember (AD-32 Bakersfield)^[7]
• Sharon Quirk-Silva, California State Assemblymember (AD-65 Buena Park)^[7]
• Tom Daly, California State Assemblymember (AD-69 Anaheim)^[7]
• Fred Keeley, former Speaker of the California State Assembly (AD-27 Santa Cruz/Monterey)^[7]
• Richard Gordon, former California State Assemblymember (AD-24 San Mateo)^[7]

Local-level Elected Officials

• Robert Garcia, Mayor of Long Beach^[7]
• Darrell Steinberg, Mayor of Sacramento^[7]
• Michael Tubbs, Mayor of Stockton^[7]
• Jesse Arreguin, Mayor of Berkeley^[7]
• Tom Butt, Mayor of Richmond^[7]

Organizations

• California Democratic Party^[8]
• California Young Democrats^[7]
• California College Democrats^[7]
• California Teachers Association^[7]
• California Federation of Teachers^[7]
• California School Employees Association^[7]
• California Faculty Association^[7]
• Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California^[7]
• NARAL Pro-Choice California^[7]
• Sierra Club^[7]
• California League of Conservation Voters^[7]
• Equality California^[7]
• California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA-Action)^[7]
• Stonewall Democratic Club^[7]
• California Nurses Association^[7]
• United Nurses Association of California/Union of Health Care Professionals^[7]
• National Union of Healthcare Workers^[7]
• Service Employees International Union of California^[7]
• United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council^[7]
• Association of Federal, State, County, and Municipal Employees of California^[7]
• State Building and Construction Trades Council of California^[7]
• California State Council of Laborers^[7]
• California State Pipe Trades Council^[7]
• United Teachers Los Angeles^[7]
• Associated Administrators of Los Angeles^[7]
• Los Angeles School Police Association^[7]
• Orange County Employees Association^[7]

Newspapers

• Los Angeles Times^[9]
• Sacramento Bee^[10]
• The Bay Area Reporter^[7]

Individuals

• Dolores Huerta, labor leader and civil rights activist^[7]

Marshall Tuck

Federal-level Appointed Officials

• Arne Duncan, 9th U.S. Secretary of Education^[11]
• Ruben Barrales, former Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (Republican)^[11]

Federal-level Elected Officials

• George Miller, former U.S. Representative (D-CA-11)^[12]

State-level Elected Officials

• Bill Honig, former California Superintendent of Public Instruction^[11]
• Steve Westly, former California State Controller^[11]
• Bill Dodd, California State Senator^[11]
• Shirley Weber, California State Assemblywoman^[13]
• Bob Pacheco, former California State Assemblyman^[11]
• Scott Wiener, California State Senator^[14]
• Steve Glazer, California State Senator^[14]
• Blanca Rubio, California State Assemblywoman^[14]
• Marc Berman, California State Assemblyman^[14]
• Kevin Kiley, California State Assemblyman (Republican)^[11]
• Juan Arambula, former California State Assemblyman (Independent)^[11]
• Gary Hart, former California State Senator^[11]

Local-level Elected Officials

• Sam Liccardo, Mayor of San Jose^[11]
• Chuck Reed, former Mayor of San Jose^[11]
• Mark Ridley-Thomas, member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors^[11]
• Michael Ramos, San Bernardino County district attorney (Republican)^[11]
• Michael R. Bloomberg, former Mayor of New York City (Independent)^[15]
• Richard Riordan, former Mayor of Los Angeles (Republican)^[11]
• Monica Garcia, Los Angeles School Board member^[11]

Organizations

• Association of California School Administrators^[16]
• California Peace Officers' Association^[11]

Newspapers

• San Francisco Chronicle^[17]
• Mercury News^[11]
• East Bay Times^[11]
• Santa Cruz Sentinel^[11]
• San Diego Union-Tribune^[18]

Individuals

• Alice Walton, heiress^[19]
• Jim C. Walton, chairman of Arvest Bank^[19]
• John Sculley, former CEO of Apple, Inc.^[19]
• Doris F. Fisher, co-founder of The Gap, Inc.^[19]
• Peter Chernin, businessman^[19]
• John D. Arnold, investor and former hedge fund manager^[19]
• Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO of Yelp^[19]
• Alan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney Studios^[19]
• Ted Sarandos, CCO of Netflix^[19]
• Scott Stuber, producer^[19]
• Ronald Meyer, vice chairman of NBCUniversal^[19]
• Thomas Rothman, chairman of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group^[19]
• Chris DeFaria, producer^[19]
• David Crane, lecturer at Stanford University^[19]
• Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix^[19]
• Meg Whitman, chair of Teach for America and Republican nominee for Governor in 2010 (Republican)^[11]

Results

California Superintendent of Public Instruction election, 2018^[20]

Candidate		Votes	%
Marshall Tuck		2,223,784	37.0%
Tony Thurmond		2,136,919	35.6%
Lily Ploski		984,932	16.4%
Steven Ireland		658,786	11.0%
Douglas I. Vigil (write-in)		83	0.0%
Thomas L. Williams (write-in)		66	0.0%
Total votes		6,004,570	100%

Runoff

Candidates

• Tony Thurmond, Democratic State Assemblyman^[3]
• Marshall Tuck, former CEO of Partnership for LA Schools, former president of Green Dot Public Schools and candidate in 2014^[4]

Endorsements

Tony Thurmond

Federal-level Elected Officials

• Kamala Harris, U.S. Senator (D-CA)^[3]
• Barbara Lee, U.S. Representative (D-CA-13)^[7]
• Eric Swalwell, U.S. Representative (D-CA-15)^[7]
• Grace Napolitano, U.S. Representative (D-CA-32)^[7]
• Jimmy Gomez, U.S. Representative (D-CA-34)^[7]
• Jimmy Panetta, U.S. Representative (D-CA-20)^[7]
• Judy Chu, U.S. Representative (D-CA-27)^[7]
• Karen Bass, U.S. Representative (D-CA-37)^[7]
• Mark DeSaulnier, U.S. Representative (D-CA-11)^[7]
• Mark Takano, U.S. Representative (D-CA-41)^[7]
• Mike Thompson, U.S. Representative (D-CA-5)^[7]
• Norma Torres, U.S. Representative (D-CA-35)^[7]
• Pete Aguilar U.S. Representative (D-CA-31)^[7]
• Ro Khanna, U.S. Representative (D-CA17)^[7]
• Sam Farr, former U.S. Representative (D-CA-20)^[7]

State-level Elected Officials

• Tom Torlakson, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction^[7]
• Jack O'Connell, former California State Superintendent of Public Instruction^[7]
• Alex Padilla, California Secretary of State^[7]
• Betty Yee, California State Controller^[7]
• Dave Jones, California Insurance Commissioner^[7]
• Fiona Ma, California State Board of Equalization member^[7]
• Jerome Horton, California State Board of Equalization member^[7]
• Toni Atkins, president pro tempore of the California State Senate, (SD-39 San Diego)^[7]
• Ben Hueso, California State Senator (SD-40 San Diego)^[7]
• Bill Monning, California State Senator (SD-17 Monterey)^[7]
• Bob Wieckowski, California State Senator (SD-10 Fremont)^[7]
• Cathleen Galgiani, California State Senator (SD-05 Stockton)^[7]
• Connie Leyva, California State Senator (SD-20 Chino)^[7]
• Ed Hernandez, California State Senator (SD-22 West Covina)^[7]
• Hannah-Beth Jackson, California State Senator (SD-19 Santa Barbara)^[7]
• Holly Mitchell, California State Senator (SD-30 Los Angeles)^[7]
• Jerry Hill, California State Senator (SD-13 San Mateo)^[7]
• Jim Beall, California State Senator (SD-15 San Jose)^[7]
• Josh Newman, California State Senator (SD-29 Brea)^[7]
• Mike McGuire, California State Senator (SD-02 Santa Rosa)^[7]
• Ricardo Lara, California State Senator (SD-33 Bell Gardens)^[7]
• Isadore Hall III, former California State Senator (SD-34 Compton)^[7]
• Mark Leno, former California State Senator (SD-09 San Francisco)^[7]
• Anthony Rendon, Speaker of the California State Assembly (AD-63 South Gate)^[7]
• Ash Kalra, California State Assemblymember (AD-27 San Jose)^[7]
• Chris Holden, California State Assemblymember (AD-41 Pasadena)^[7]
• David Chiu, California State Assemblymember (AD-17 San Francisco)^[7]
• Ed Chau, California State Assemblymember (AD-49 Monterey Park)^[7]
• Eduardo Garcia, California State Assemblymember (AD-56 Imperial)^[7]
• Eloise Reyes, California State Assemblymember (AD-47 San Bernardino)^[7]
• Freddie Rodriguez, California State Assemblymember (AD-52 Chino)^[7]
• Ian Calderon, California State Assemblymember (AD-57 Santa Fe Springs)^[7]
• Jim Cooper, California State Assemblymember (AD-35 Elk Grove)^[7]
• Jim Frazier, California State Assemblymember (AD-11 Fairfield)^[7]
• Jim Wood, California State Assemblymember (AD-02 Eureka)^[7]
• Jose Medina, California State Assemblymember (AD-61 Riverside)^[7]
• Kansen Chu, California State Assemblymember (AD-25 Milpitas)^[7]
• Ken Cooley, California State Assemblymember (AD-08 Rancho Cordova)^[7]
• Kevin McCarty, California State Assemblymember (AD-07 Sacramento)^[7]
• Kevin Mullin, California State Assemblymember (AD-22 San Mateo)^[7]
• Lorena Gonzalez Fletcher, California State Assemblymember (AD-80 San Diego)^[7]
• Mark Stone, California State Assemblymember (AD-29 Santa Cruz/Monterey)^[7]
• Miguel Santiago, California State Assemblymember (AD-53 Los Angeles)^[7]
• Mike Gipson, California State Assemblymember (AD-64 Gardena/Compton)^[7]
• Patrick O'Donnell, California State Assemblymember (AD-70 Long Beach)^[7]
• Phil Ting, California State Assemblymember (AD-19 San Francisco)^[7]
• Reggie Jones-Sawyer, California State Assemblymember (AD-59 Los Angeles)^[7]
• Rob Bonta, California State Assemblymember (AD-18 Oakland)^[7]
• Rudy Salas, California State Assemblymember (AD-32 Bakersfield)^[7]
• Sharon Quirk-Silva, California State Assemblymember (AD-65 Buena Park)^[7]
• Tom Daly, California State Assemblymember (AD-69 Anaheim)^[7]
• Fred Keeley, former Speaker of the California State Assembly (AD-27 Santa Cruz/Monterey)^[7]
• Richard Gordon, former California State Assemblymember (AD-24 San Mateo)^[7]

Local-level Elected Officials

• Robert Garcia, Mayor of Long Beach^[7]
• Darrell Steinberg, Mayor of Sacramento^[7]
• Michael Tubbs, Mayor of Stockton^[7]
• Jesse Arreguin, Mayor of Berkeley^[7]
• Tom Butt, Mayor of Richmond^[7]

Organizations

• California Democratic Party^[8]
• California Young Democrats^[7]
• California College Democrats^[7]
• California Teachers Association^[7]
• California Federation of Teachers^[7]
• California School Employees Association^[7]
• California Faculty Association^[7]
• Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California^[7]
• NARAL Pro-Choice California^[7]
• Sierra Club^[7]
• California League of Conservation Voters^[7]
• Equality California^[7]
• California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA-Action)^[7]
• Stonewall Democratic Club^[7]
• California Nurses Association^[7]
• United Nurses Association of California/Union of Health Care Professionals^[7]
• National Union of Healthcare Workers^[7]
• Service Employees International Union of California^[7]
• United Food and Commercial Workers Western States Council^[7]
• Association of Federal, State, County, and Municipal Employees of California^[7]
• State Building and Construction Trades Council of California^[7]
• California State Council of Laborers^[7]
• California State Pipe Trades Council^[7]
• United Teachers Los Angeles^[7]
• Associated Administrators of Los Angeles^[7]
• Los Angeles School Police Association^[7]
• Orange County Employees Association^[7]

Newspapers

• Los Angeles Times^[9]
• Sacramento Bee^[10]
• The Bay Area Reporter^[7]

Individuals

• Dolores Huerta, labor leader and civil rights activist^[7]

Marshall Tuck

Federal-level Appointed Officials

• Arne Duncan, 9th U.S. Secretary of Education^[11]
• Ruben Barrales, former Director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs (Republican)^[11]

Federal-level Elected Officials

• George Miller, former U.S. Representative (D-CA-11)^[12]

State-level Elected Officials

• Bill Honig, former California Superintendent of Public Instruction^[11]
• Steve Westly, former California State Controller^[11]
• Bill Dodd, California State Senator^[11]
• Shirley Weber, California State Assemblywoman^[13]
• Bob Pacheco, former California State Assemblyman^[11]
• Scott Wiener, California State Senator^[14]
• Steve Glazer, California State Senator^[14]
• Blanca Rubio, California State Assemblywoman^[14]
• Marc Berman, California State Assemblyman^[14]
• Kevin Kiley, California State Assemblyman (Republican)^[11]
• Juan Arambula, former California State Assemblyman (Independent)^[11]
• Gary Hart, former California State Senator^[11]

Local-level Elected Officials

• Sam Liccardo, Mayor of San Jose^[11]
• Chuck Reed, former Mayor of San Jose^[11]
• Mark Ridley-Thomas, member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors^[11]
• Michael Ramos, San Bernardino County district attorney (Republican)^[11]
• Michael R. Bloomberg, former Mayor of New York City (Independent)^[15]
• Richard Riordan, former Mayor of Los Angeles (Republican)^[11]
• Monica Garcia, Los Angeles School Board member^[11]

Organizations

• Association of California School Administrators^[16]
• California Peace Officers' Association^[11]

Newspapers

• San Francisco Chronicle^[17]
• Mercury News^[11]
• East Bay Times^[11]
• Santa Cruz Sentinel^[11]
• San Diego Union-Tribune^[18]

Individuals

• Alice Walton, heiress^[19]
• Jim C. Walton, chairman of Arvest Bank^[19]
• John Sculley, former CEO of Apple, Inc.^[19]
• Doris F. Fisher, co-founder of The Gap, Inc.^[19]
• Peter Chernin, businessman^[19]
• John D. Arnold, investor and former hedge fund manager^[19]
• Jeremy Stoppelman, CEO of Yelp^[19]
• Alan Horn, chairman of Walt Disney Studios^[19]
• Ted Sarandos, CCO of Netflix^[19]
• Scott Stuber, producer^[19]
• Ronald Meyer, vice chairman of NBCUniversal^[19]
• Thomas Rothman, chairman of Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group^[19]
• Chris DeFaria, producer^[19]
• David Crane, lecturer at Stanford University^[19]
• Reed Hastings, CEO of Netflix^[19]
• Meg Whitman, chair of Teach for America and Republican nominee for Governor in 2010 (Republican)^[11]
• John H. Cox, businessman and Republican nominee for Governor in 2018 (Republican)^[21]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Tony Thurmond	Marshall Tuck	Undecided
UC Berkeley[22]	October 19–26, 2018	1,339	± 4.0%	36%	48%	16%
Thomas Partners Strategies[23]	October 18–20, 2018	1,068	± 3.5%	35%	37%	28%
Thomas Partners Strategies[24]	October 5–7, 2018	1,068	± 3.5%	28%	30%	41%
Thomas Partners Strategies[25]	September 28–30, 2018	1,068	± 3.5%	17%	29%	54%

Results

California Superintendent of Public Instruction election runoff, 2018^[26]

Candidate		Votes	%	±
Tony Thurmond		5,385,912	50.9%	N/A
Marshall Tuck		5,198,738	49.1%	+1.3%
Total votes		10,584,650	100%

See also

• California Department of Education