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

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 also holds a high school diploma from El Camino High School, according to BallotReady.

Early life: 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."

He continued: "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."

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."

Efficient Market Advisors had approximately $1.1 billion in assets under advisement when Cantor Fitzgerald Investment Advisors acquired it in March 2017. Morgan is also a board member at The Private Shares Fund, according to BallotReady.

On the issues

Asked about critical differences between himself and other candidates, 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 outlined three differences. "First, 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," Morgan said.

"Second, My record is markets, portfolio construction, and pension-board oversight … The contrast is a career in finance and fiduciary control versus a career in elective politics. Third, I will report waste, fraud, and control failures in plain language."

On government reform, Morgan said he proposes requiring every state-funded nonprofit to log each transaction in a state database. He would then use AI to monitor those purchases and flag anything suspicious, according to CalMatters.

Morgan also said he will carefully scrutinize the state's spending on homelessness if elected, according to CalMatters.

Endorsements

Morgan lists the following endorsements on his campaign endorsements page, with additional listings from BallotReady:

  • McClatchy California Editorial Board / Sacramento Bee
  • California GOP
  • California Republican Assembly
  • California Congress of Republicans
  • Unity Party of California
  • San Diego County Republican Party
  • Los Angeles County GOP
  • San Bernardino County GOP
  • Santa Clara County GOP
  • San Francisco GOP
  • Monterey County GOP
  • Bay Area GOP
  • Silicon Valley Association of Conservative Republicans
  • Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
  • California Rifle and Pistol Association