Our Endorsement: Ben Allen for Insurance Commissioner

By Andrew Escamilla, Campaigns and Organizing Manager, California Environmental Voters

California’s insurance crisis is impacting communities across our state. Families are opening renewal notices with staggering premium increases. Others are being dropped from coverage altogether. And after years of increasingly destructive climate-fueled disasters, too many Californians are left wondering whether they will be able to afford to stay in their communities.

At a moment this consequential, California needs an Insurance Commissioner who understands that the climate crisis and the insurance crisis are inseparable, and who is willing to confront the corporate interests that helped create both. That’s why you should vote for Ben Allen.

The next Insurance Commissioner will help determine whether California can adapt to a rapidly changing climate without abandoning working families in the process. Climate-driven disasters are becoming more frequent, more destructive, and more expensive. Insurance companies are retreating from communities vulnerable to wildfire and other extreme weather events, leaving homeowners trapped between skyrocketing costs and dwindling options. At the same time, families are already struggling under the weight of California’s affordability crisis.

Of all the candidates in this race, Ben Allen is the only one with a 99% lifetime score on the California Environmental Scorecard. This record reflects years of consistent leadership. He has refused to be bought by Big Oil and insurance companies, even as corporate money floods into California politics at historic levels, and he has repeatedly taken on some of the hardest progressive fights in the Legislature, winning meaningful reforms that many thought were politically impossible. This offers a clear preview of the kind of Insurance Commissioner he would be: thoughtful, persistent, unafraid of powerful industries, and focused on delivering results that improve Californians’ lives.

The insurance crisis is quickly becoming an affordability crisis, a housing crisis, and a climate crisis all at once. Addressing it will require leaders prepared to challenge entrenched interests, think beyond short-term politics, and build systems capable of protecting Californians in an era of escalating climate instability. Ben Allen’s combination of climate leadership, consumer advocacy, and willingness to confront corporate power makes him the right fit for this moment in California history. 

And Allen understands the human cost of climate disasters not just as a policymaker, but personally. As the State Senator representing Pacific Palisades, he has seen firsthand the devastation caused by the unnatural, climate-driven wildfires that tore through communities in 2025. He has worked directly with wildfire survivors trying to navigate the overwhelming process of rebuilding homes, replacing belongings, and fighting insurance companies for the support they were promised. That experience matters deeply right now.

He’s shown throughout his career that he is willing to tackle complex problems instead of settling for political talking points. He understands that California must pursue solutions that both stabilize the insurance market and accelerate our transition away from the fossil fuel pollution driving these disasters in the first place. That means protecting consumers from price gouging, increasing accountability for insurance companies, investing in resilience and disaster preparedness, and ensuring that polluters are no longer allowed to externalize the costs of climate destruction onto everyday Californians.

This election is about whether California will meet that challenge with courage or continue allowing corporate interests to dictate the terms of the debate. The next Insurance Commissioner must be prepared to stand up to the industries that helped create this moment, fight for families facing impossible costs, and build a system capable of withstanding the realities of a changing climate. Ben Allen is the only candidate ready to do all three.

California Environmental Voters is working to build the political power to solve the climate crisis, advance justice, and create a roadmap for global action. [See our full 2026 endorsements →]