2022 California Superintendent of Public Instruction election

The 2022 California Superintendent of Public Instruction election was held on June 7, 2022, to elect the Superintendent of Public Instruction of California. Unlike most other elections in the state, the office is not elected under the state's nonpartisan blanket primary system. Instead, the officially nonpartisan position is elected via a general election, with a runoff scheduled for November 8, 2022 as no candidate received a majority of the vote.

2022 California Superintendent of Public Instruction election

← 2018 June 7, 2022 (first round) November 8, 2022 (runoff) 2026 →

Candidate Tony Thurmond Lance Christensen Ainye E. Long First round 2,881,684 45.9% 745,003 11.9% 699,331 11.1% Runoff 5,681,318 63.7% 3,237,785 36.3% Eliminated   Candidate George Yang Marco Amaral Jim Gibson First round 694,073 11.1% 547,389 8.7% 468,078 7.5% Runoff Eliminated Eliminated Eliminated

First round county results Runoff county results Runoff congressional district results Thurmond      20–30%      30–40%      40–50%      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      80–90% Christensen:      50–60%

SPI before election Tony Thurmond Elected SPI Tony Thurmond

Incumbent Superintendent Tony Thurmond, who was endorsed by the California Democratic Party, easily won re-election to a second term, defeating Lance Christensen, who was endorsed by the California Republican Party, by 26 points. He was first elected in 2018 with 50.9% of the vote, narrowly defeating Marshall Tuck in a runoff election.^[1] Thurmond's result was by far the best for a Democrat in the 2022 elections, although the race itself was nonpartisan.

Candidates

• 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.

Advanced to runoff

• Lance Christensen, education policy executive^[2] (Republican)
• Tony Thurmond, incumbent superintendent^[2] (Democratic)

Eliminated in primary

• Marco Amaral, teacher and trustee^[2]
• Joseph Guy Campbell, Montessori education publisher^[2]
• Jim Gibson, cyber security professional and candidate for mayor of Oceanside in 2016^[2] (Republican)
• Ainye E. Long, public school teacher^[2]
• George Yang, software architect and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2016^[2] (Republican)

Endorsements

Marco Amaral

Organizations

• Green Party of California^[3]
• Peace and Freedom Party^[3]

Lance Christensen

Organizations

• California Republican Party^[4]

Tony Thurmond

Organizations

• California Democratic Party^[5]
• California Teachers Association^[6]
• Equality California^[7]
• NARAL Pro-Choice California^[8]
• Sierra Club^[9]
• Stonewall Democrats^[10]

General election

Results

2022 California Superintendent of Public Instruction election^[2][11]

Candidate		Votes	%
Tony Thurmond (incumbent)		2,881,684	45.90%
Lance Christensen		745,003	11.87%
Ainye E. Long		699,331	11.14%
George Yang		694,073	11.06%
Marco Amaral		547,389	8.72%
Jim Gibson		468,078	7.46%
Joseph Guy Campbell		241,984	3.85%
Total votes		6,277,542	100.00%

Runoff

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[a]	Margin of error	Tony Thurmond	Lance Christensen	Undecided
USC[12]	October 30 – November 2, 2022	802 (RV)	± 3.5%	64%	36%	–

Results

2022 California Superintendent of Public Instruction runoff election^[13]

Candidate		Votes	%	±
Tony Thurmond (incumbent)		5,681,318	63.70%	+12.82%
Lance Christensen		3,237,785	36.30%	N/A
Total votes		8,919,103	100.00%

By congressional district

Thurmond won 49 of 52 congressional districts, including nine that elected Republicans.^[14] He performed the best in the 11th and 12th districts in the Bay Area, as well as the 30th, 34th and 37th districts in Greater Los Angeles. Conversely, Christensen won the 1st, 20th and 48th districts, performing the best in the 20th one, where Kevin McCarthy gave the Republicans their best performance in the 2022 House election.

District	Thurmond	Christensen	Representative
1st	49%	51%	Doug LaMalfa
2nd	75%	25%	Jared Huffman
3rd	53%	47%	Kevin Kiley
4th	69%	31%	Mike Thompson
5th	52%	48%	Tom McClintock
6th	60%	40%	Ami Bera
7th	68%	32%	Doris Matsui
8th	73%	27%	John Garamendi
9th	57%	43%	Josh Harder
10th	67%	33%	Mark DeSaulnier
11th	82%	18%	Nancy Pelosi
12th	87%	13%	Barbara Lee
13th	55%	45%	John Duarte
14th	69%	31%	Eric Swalwell
15th	72%	28%	Jackie Speier (117th Congress)
			Kevin Mullin (118th Congress)
16th	71%	29%	Anna Eshoo
17th	71%	29%	Ro Khanna
18th	64%	36%	Zoe Lofgren
19th	68%	32%	Jimmy Panetta
20th	47%	53%	Kevin McCarthy
21st	56%	44%	Jim Costa
22nd	54%	46%	David Valadao
23rd	52%	48%	Jay Obernolte
24th	64%	36%	Salud Carbajal
25th	56%	44%	Raul Ruiz
26th	61%	39%	Julia Brownley
27th	57%	43%	Mike Garcia
28th	66%	34%	Judy Chu
29th	72%	28%	Tony Cárdenas
30th	77%	23%	Adam Schiff
31st	62%	38%	Grace Napolitano
32nd	71%	29%	Brad Sherman
33rd	58%	42%	Pete Aguilar
34th	78%	22%	Jimmy Gomez
35th	57%	43%	Norma Torres
36th	71%	29%	Ted Lieu
37th	79%	21%	Karen Bass (117th Congress)
			Sydney Kamlager-Dove (118th Congress)
38th	62%	38%	Linda Sánchez
39th	60%	40%	Mark Takano
40th	53%	47%	Young Kim
41st	53%	47%	Ken Calvert
42nd	68%	32%	Lucille Roybal-Allard (117th Congress)
			Robert Garcia (118th Congress)
43rd	73%	27%	Maxine Waters
44th	69%	31%	Nanette Barragán
45th	58%	42%	Michelle Steel
46th	62%	38%	Lou Correa
47th	57%	43%	Katie Porter
48th	47%	53%	Darrell Issa
49th	57%	43%	Mike Levin
50th	65%	35%	Scott Peters
51st	64%	36%	Sara Jacobs
52nd	63%	37%	Juan Vargas

Notes

1. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear