On Sunday the Associated Press projected Jane Kim as the winner of the race for California insurance commissioner. Her opponent, Ben Allen, a state senator, had conceded two days earlier.
Kim, who served on San Francisco's Board of Supervisors, led Allen 52.7% to 47.3% as of Friday, a margin topping 400,000 votes, based on Secretary of State figures cited by Local News Matters and Insurance Journal. Allen is also a Democrat. The count is unofficial until the state certifies the election.
The winner succeeds Ricardo Lara, who cannot run again because of term limits. The commissioner runs the California Department of Insurance, the agency that licenses insurers, oversees them, enforces state insurance law and takes consumer complaints.
What each candidate said
In a statement after declaring victory Friday, Kim said insurers had "broken their side of the promise by denying, delaying and underpaying valid claims and dropping coverage," Insurance Journal reported.
Allen's campaign released a statement saying he had called Kim to congratulate her. "Jane ran a strong race, and it appears that she has won," Allen said. "Assuming that is the case, I desperately want her to succeed, because if she succeeds, the state succeeds."
Kim's disaster insurance proposal
Kim campaigned on a plan she calls "Natural Disaster Insurance for All," a public, nonprofit state program that would cover wildfires, floods and earthquakes and be paid for through premiums, CBS Sacramento reported. Private insurers would still administer policies and handle routine claims, while the state program would carry the disaster risk.
The plan would need approval from the Legislature, which Kim has said would not happen quickly.
"I don't think that just tinkering with the system is going to solve this systematic failure that is the insurance industry," Kim said in an October interview with CBS News Bay Area.
