Four States Elect New Insurance Regulators as Home Insurance Costs Reach the Ballot

Voters in four states chose new insurance regulators on Nov. 3, and insurance costs were a campaign theme in each race. In California, former San Francisco Supervisor Jane Kim won the open seat for insurance commissioner over state Sen. Ben Allen. In Georgia, Democrat Keisha Sean Waites defeated Republican incumbent John King. Republicans Bob Sullivan in Oklahoma and Dan Hawkins in Kansas won open seats. Results remain unofficial until states certify them in the coming weeks, according to an analysis by the law firm Troutman Pepper Locke.

The results matter well beyond the four statehouses. A state insurance commissioner reviews rate filings, licenses carriers, oversees plans of last resort and handles consumer complaints. Those decisions shape what a homeowners policy costs and whether a standard carrier will write one at all. For buyers, agents and lenders, it is one of the costs of owning a home that can change quickly, and the new officeholders campaigned on changing it.

Only 11 states elect their insurance commissioner directly, according to Ballotpedia; elsewhere the post is filled by appointment. Four of those elected seats were on this year's ballot. Insurance Business magazine, citing data from Insurify, reported in August that home insurance rates rose about 24% in Oklahoma in 2025, 15% in Kansas, 9% in Georgia and 5% in California.

California drew the most attention. Kim led Allen 53.8% to 46.2% with about 9.7 million votes counted in the latest tally reported by the San Francisco Standard. Kim declared victory on Nov. 6 after Allen called to congratulate her, and the Associated Press projected her the winner over the weekend. She will succeed Commissioner Ricardo Lara, whose term expires at the end of the year, the San Francisco Standard reported. CalMatters reported that she will be the first woman and the first Asian American to hold the office.

Kim's central proposal, listed on her campaign website as "Natural Disaster Insurance for All," is a public, nonprofit program that would guarantee coverage after a major disaster. CalMatters reported that it would be funded by a portion of the premiums homeowners already pay, would build reserves over time and would invest in wildfire mitigation. CBS Sacramento reported that the program would cover wildfires, floods and earthquakes, while private insurers would still sell policies and handle everyday claims. Both outlets reported that the plan would need legislative approval, and CalMatters described it as a long-term goal that would also need the governor's support.

The insurance industry has questioned how such a program would be financed. "What happens if it runs out of money?" Rex Frazier, president of the Personal Insurance Federation of California, asked, according to CalMatters. Allen argued that the plan could cost California billions of dollars, CBS Sacramento reported, and pledged instead to cut the Department of Insurance's rate reviews from years to months, according to the San Francisco Standard. Kim has also called for limits on excessive insurer profits, penalties for delayed claims and public reporting of insurers' claims-handling records, CBS Sacramento reported.

She takes over a market that state data show is stabilizing but remains strained. The California FAIR Plan, the state's insurer of last resort, reported 698,307 dwelling and commercial policies in force as of September 2026, up 8% from a year earlier and 157% from September 2022, with total exposure of $773 billion. Growth has slowed: the Department of Insurance said in August that FAIR Plan policies grew 1.9% in the second quarter, the smallest quarterly increase since 2022. "We are turning the corner," Lara said in that release. In May the department said six of the state's 10 largest home insurance groups had committed to stay and grow in California under Lara's Sustainable Insurance Strategy, which aims to get insurers writing more policies in wildfire-distressed areas. Under rules Lara adopted, insurers may now factor catastrophe models and reinsurance costs into the rates they file, the San Francisco Standard reported.

Prices for FAIR Plan customers are still rising. An average rate increase of 29.1% took effect on Oct. 15, KQED reported, with some policyholders in high wildfire-risk areas facing much larger increases. CalMatters reported that the department also has pending actions against State Farm, the state's largest individual insurer, and the FAIR Plan over their handling of claims from the January 2025 Eaton and Palisades fires.

In Georgia, Waites won 54% to 46%, according to Insurance Journal. A former state legislator and Atlanta City Council member, she campaigned on ending the use of ZIP codes and credit scores in pricing, faster claim payments, and a freeze on some auto and home rates. She takes office in January.

In Oklahoma, Sullivan won with 59% of the vote and will succeed Glen Mulready, who has led the department since 2019, Insurance Journal reported. Sullivan said he would work with the Legislature to "get prices down, increase transparency and more competition." In Kansas, Hawkins, the Republican speaker of the state House, won with about 49%, according to unofficial results from the Kansas Secretary of State. He succeeds Vicki Schmidt, who ran for governor rather than seek reelection, Troutman Pepper Locke noted. Hawkins, who began his insurance career in 1995, campaigned on lower costs, transparency and restoring competition.

The ballot reached appointed regulators too. Democrats flipped five Republican-held governorships, according to Troutman Pepper Locke. In four of them, Texas, Ohio, Nevada and Iowa, the governor's administration appoints the chief insurance regulator. As of Nov. 5, "none of the governors-elect has publicly named a pick," the firm wrote. It also noted that Colorado Insurance Commissioner Michael Conway plans to leave the post in 2027.

In CoverGuard's view, the next several months are likely to bring more regulatory change for home insurance than any period in recent years, and much of it is likely to move slowly. Kim's public program requires legislation. Waites's rate freeze and limits on rating factors will depend on what Georgia law allows a commissioner to do alone. The new appointees in Texas, Ohio, Nevada and Iowa have not been named. Rate filings already approved, including the FAIR Plan's increase, are likely to keep showing up on renewal notices and new-purchase quotes while those debates play out.

What to watch: Kim's first appointments and whether a bill to create her disaster program is introduced; whether Georgia's new commissioner moves on rates or rating factors; the governors-elect's choices for insurance regulator; and the FAIR Plan's next quarterly policy count, which will show whether the slowdown in growth holds.

For buyers and the agents and lenders who work with them, the practical point is the same in every one of these states: a home's insurance cost and availability can shift with the market and with the regulator, so it is worth checking before an offer rather than after. Enter any US address in CoverGuard and see flood, fire, wind, earthquake and crime risk for that property, along with modeled carrier availability for its state market, before you bid. Carrier availability is modeled rather than confirmed.