Longtime San Diego leader and California Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins is running to become California’s next governor, becoming the latest Democrat to launch a campaign in the 2026 race, she announced Friday in San Diego.
She is not only the first person in 150 years — and the third in California history — but also both the first woman and first openly gay person ever to have held both of the Legislature’s top jobs.
Now, the 61-year-old South Park resident hopes to represent not just San Diegans but all Californians while again marking those historical milestones at the executive level.
“It’s time to go the extra mile,” Atkins said at an event Friday morning at the San Diego Air and Space Museum. “Many have said that in 2026, it’s time for California to finally elect a woman governor. As the most qualified candidate running for governor, who also happens to be a woman, I agree.”
Atkins first said publicly in November she was seriously considering a gubernatorial run. She announced that she’d step down as the Senate’s top leader on Feb. 5.
Although the election is over two years away, Atkins is the fourth Democrat to join an already crowded race of contenders, as Gov. Gavin Newsom, facing term limits, will be ineligible to seek re-election.
Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis was the first to formally announce her own bid, just a few months into Newsom’s second term. She was then joined by state schools superintendent Tony Thurmond and former Controller Betty Yee. Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta has also said he is considering a run.
Toni Atkins’ career timeline
1989: Atkins served as director of clinic services at Womancare, a health center in San Diego.
1993: Her career in city politics began as a legislative aide to San Diego City Councilmember Christine Kehoe.
2000: Atkins was elected to her boss’ former seat representing District 3. She served in the role for eight years.
2005: Atkins served as the interim San Diego mayor from July to December.
2010: She was elected to the California state Assembly.
2012: Atkins became the state Assembly’s majority leader.
2014: She was the first state Assembly speaker from San Diego and the first lesbian to hold the job. She also served as acting governor for about nine hours.
2016: Atkins was elected to the state Senate representing the 39th District.
2018: Atkins was sworn in as the 48th president pro tempore of the California Senate, the first woman and first openly LGBTQ legislator to hold the job.
2023: As interim governor in July, Atkins signed three bills into law — becoming the first openly LGBTQ person to do so in California.
— Maura Fox
Before being elected to represent the 39th District in the state Senate in 2016, Atkins held a six-year tenure in the state Assembly and served eight years on the San Diego City Council, representing District 3.
On Friday, Atkins spoke of the work she has done in both chambers of Legislature over the years — balancing eight on-time budgets and negotiating bills on everything from climate goals to health care access — as similar to that of a governor.
“I have stood eye to eye with two governors as a leader of a co-equal branch of government,” she added.
Atkins has also served as the executive at both the state and local level, including brief stints filling in as governor when the governor is out of the state and an unexpected turn as interim mayor of San Diego in 2005 after Dick Murphy resigned.
She was also the first San Diego-area lawmaker ever to lead the state Assembly — and the first to secure the top position in either chamber since James R. Mills, a Coronado Democrat, was Senate president from 1971-80.
Atkins grew up in rural southwestern Virginia, one of four children of a miner and a seamstress and the first in her family to graduate from college.
She moved to San Diego in 1985 and worked in a women’s health clinic before she got her start in politics on the City Council campaign of Christine Kehoe, who would become the first openly gay candidate elected in the county. She would later be elected to her mentor’s council seat and then followed her to the state legislature.
“In 2026, we have the opportunity to elect a governor who understands, and has lived, the challenges that are being faced by Californians struggling to get by and trying to get ahead,” Atkins said. “Growing up I learned the value of a dollar, but more importantly, I learned the values that help get you through when dollars are scarce.”
Throughout her time in office, Atkins says she has been inspired by her humble upbringing and focused on making life better for Californians facing difficult circumstances. She has said she is particularly proud of her work helping implement the federal Affordable Care Act and creating a tax credit for poor families.
She has also authored legislation to fund homes for low-income families, protect access to abortion and contraceptives and, more recently, increase state oversight of county jails following a persistent pattern of deaths in San Diego County’s — efforts she calls real actions that improve real lives.
“My experience defines me,” Atkins said. “In this campaign and as governor of California, I will stay true to the values I was raised on and the people and the causes I’ve spent a lifetime fighting for and fighting with.”
