Herb Morgan: LGBTQ* candidate for State Controller

By James Fenkner, CFA

Oct 24, 2026

Herb Morgan, California Controller candidate, takes the mic at the Ventura GOP candidate fest, Oct. 10, 2026. Photo: California Current

* Locate Government Budget Theft Quickly

Republicans filled the Ventura Community Center auditorium last week—five hundred seats and standing room only—for a jam-packed afternoon of candidates up and down the ticket. By the time Herb Morgan, candidate for State Controller, stepped up, the room was warm and buzzing. Quick wit and a smile at the ready, he took the mic and opened with pizza.

“You can track a pizza from the oven to your door in real time,” he says. “You cannot track a billion dollars for homelessness. That is not a technical problem. That is a choice.”

Morgan is the Republican candidate for California State Controller and part of Steve Hilton’s Golden Ticket slate with Gloria Romero for lieutenant governor and Michael Gates for attorney general.

The Controller is the state’s chief fiscal officer. No state payment leaves the treasury without the office’s pre-audit approval. After the money is spent, the office is supposed to audit whether the state got what it paid for. It sets accounting standards for every agency that spends state funds. It can refuse a claim. The controller doesn’t sign every check. He controls whether the check can be issued and whether the results of the spending are tracked.

“I’m also very proud to tell you,” he says, as a slight smile breaks out on his face, “that I am the first officially LGBTQ candidate in the state party.” He looks around. “It’s true.” Then he pauses. “That stands for Locate Government Budget Theft Quickly.”

The room erupts in laughter and whistles.

Morgan is quick to respond to the raucous applause. “Okay. I don’t know who’s whistling, but I love you, man,” he says. Herb then acknowledges his warm coming-out reception and keeps moving.

The point was the same as the pizza: the left’s names and slogans are not the same as results. Quality is measurable. Most of what Sacramento calls “progress” is just feelgood sound bites and warmed over propaganda.

“Transparency is not a personality trait,” he tells the room. “It is a system. If the system does not require it, it will not happen.”

He describes in detail the path your tax dollars take:

Sacramento appropriates.

Counties subcontract.

Nonprofits self-certify.

The same people who receive the contracts write checks back to the politicians who fund them. High-speed rail. Medi-Cal. EDD. Homelessness services. Morgan’s research put the five-year fraud exposure between roughly $312 billion and $425 billion. That’s enough to equal or exceed a full year of total state spending, or roughly $8,000 to $11,000 for every man, woman, and child in California. Morgan recounts that when eight assembly members asked the current Controller for basic data on check-signing procedures, the answer was a request for more staff.

Is Anyone Minding the Store?

It is clear that no one is watching billons in tax dollars fly out the door.

“Politicians love to talk about transparency,” Morgan says. “I’m actually doing it. Every dollar in and out of my campaign is recorded on chain, permanently. This is the model for how I’ll run the Controller’s office.”

The ledger is public and anyone can open it. He asks why the state cannot do the same with the public’s money.

“We do not have a shortage of money,” he says. “We have a shortage of people willing to follow it.”

Herb Morgan has been a Californian since his first birthday in 1967, when his family drove west and settled in Orange County. He grew up in Westminster and Oceanside, graduated with honors in economics from UC Santa Cruz, and spent nearly forty years in finance. He founded Efficient Market Advisors, growing it to roughly $1.5 billion, and later served as chief investment officer after selling the firm to Cantor Fitzgerald. He also chaired the San Diego City Employees’ Retirement System board twice.

Herb is father of two adult children and has been married to Mary for 35 years.

Republicans have come closer in the controller race than in most others. In 2014 Ashley Swearengin lost by less than eight points. In 2022 Lanhee Chen lost to Malia Cohen by roughly eleven points—the closest statewide contest that year. Morgan faces the same opponent – Malia Cohen – who is seeking a second term. An internal poll released by his campaign this fall showed him trailing her by about eight points before undecided voters lean in.

Whether California’s broader discontent with spending, fraud and outcomes narrows the gap further is the open question.

Herb Morgan brings the experience, aptitude, and character to do the job of controller and to arrest California’s deluge of fraud and waste. He also brings with him a quick and disarming wit and a warm smile, personal traits that help reach across the aisle. The tools to follow the money already exist. What has been missing, he suggests, is the will to use them on public funds as we do to follow our pizza delivery.

Voters who want to learn more, donate, or volunteer can find him at herbmorgan.com.

Maybe, just maybe the time to elect someone who knows how to follow the money is now.

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