Tony Thurmond Wins NUHW Straw Poll in California Governor Race Forum

In a non-binding straw poll conducted after a candidate forum by the National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW) held in San Francisco on Sunday, September 29, members who attended in person and those who watched remotely favored Thurmond at this preliminary stage of the gubernatorial race.
Watch the archived video of the forum on NUHW’s YouTube channel.

SAN FRANCISCO — Tony Thurmond, California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, has taken an early lead in the race for governor by winning a straw poll organized by the National Union of Healthcare Workers. This poll followed a forum where four leading Democratic candidates for the 2026 gubernatorial race shared the stage for the first time, answering questions from a panel of independent journalists before an audience of healthcare workers.

Participants in Sunday’s forum included State Sen. Toni Atkins, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, former State Controller Betty Yee, and Thurmond. The candidates tackled vital subjects such as housing affordability, public safety, and healthcare policy.

All four candidates endorsed the ongoing efforts to transition California to a single-payer, Medicare for All-style healthcare system as outlined in SB 770. This bill, sponsored by Healthy California Now and enacted last year by Gov. Newsom, initiates discussions between state and federal officials to create a framework for potentially making California the nation's first Medicare for All state.

The candidates also discussed their plans to push regulators, such as the California Department of Managed Health Care, for faster and more effective investigations of health plans as mandated by AB 3221. This bill, backed by NUHW, was signed into law by Gov. Newsom on Friday.

The forum was moderated by Associated Press National Planning Editor Lisa Matthews, accompanied by Politico Senior Political Writer Melanie Mason and Los Angeles Times’ California Politics Editor Laurel Rosenhall.

After the forum, NUHW held a non-binding straw poll involving over 300 leaders from across the state, both in the audience and watching remotely. Although the union will not make an official endorsement until a subsequent forum at next year’s leadership conference in Los Angeles, Thurmond emerged as the top choice in the initial poll.

“We are very appreciative to the candidates who took the time to meet our members this weekend and discuss the issues that are of concern to healthcare workers and California’s working families,” NUHW President Sophia Mendoza said. “It’s an impressive field of candidates that appeared on our stage and this forum was a great start to the gubernatorial campaign.”

Next year, NUHW will host the four candidates and any new entrants to the race at its 2025 conference on September 28 in Los Angeles for another forum. Following this event, union members will cast their votes to determine whom NUHW will endorse and support with resources such as volunteer campaign workers and political contributions. This endorsement vote will be binding.

NUHW’s Leadership Conference has become a pivotal event for major statewide elections. The union, which has 19,000 members in California, previously hosted the inaugural candidate forums for the 2018 governor’s race and the 2024 U.S. Senate race among leading Democratic contenders. This year’s forum was presented in collaboration with the Los Angeles Times, NUHW’s official media partner.

“We’re proud that NUHW has become the launching point for major statewide races, and we’re excited for our members to continue to learn more about the candidates who are running to be our next governor before they decide our union’s endorsement,” said NUHW President Emeritus Sal Rosselli.

Archived video of the 2024 NUHW California Governor Candidate Forum can be viewed on the L.A. Times website and on the NUHW YouTube channel. The forum will also be rebroadcast on C-SPAN; check C-SPAN.org for the schedule.