Everyone's talking about the California governor's race in terms of policy positions and endorsements. The voters? They want something entirely different: everyone's talking about ideology, but I don't think that's what voters actually care about.
California will elect a new Governor in 2026 to replace Gavin Newsom, and the Democratic primary is shaping up to be properly crowded. So I ran a study with 6 voters to find out what would actually move the needle for them. The answer surprised me: it's not about being progressive enough or moderate enough. It's about being a boring builder with receipts.
One participant put it perfectly: "I want a builder, not a brand. Someone who treats California like a ship that needs dry-dock, not a stage."
That's the vibe of this entire study. Voters are exhausted by press conferences and task forces. They want someone who can actually move dirt.
The Participants
I recruited 6 personas from Ditto's US model, representing a mix of Americans who could credibly be following the California race (or whose lives are affected by what Sacramento does). Ages ranged from 48 to 62, spanning a retired Navy veteran in North Carolina, a construction manager in Queens, a nonprofit strategy lead in Columbus, a disabled former food-service worker in Birmingham, a veteran community volunteer in Las Vegas, and a risk operations manager in Reno.
What unites them? They're pragmatic. They value transparency and measurable outcomes. And they have zero patience for political theatre.
What Do Voters Want From the Next Governor?
The first question I asked was simple: what do you want from California's next Governor? What would excite you, and what would turn you off?
The consensus was clear: voters want an operator, not a performer. James Lin, the Navy veteran, nailed the framing: "I want a builder, not a brand. Someone who treats California like a ship that needs dry-dock, not a stage. If they can show me a maintenance plan with timelines, I'm listening. If they feed me slogans, I'm out."
What excites voters:
Monthly dashboards with targets, trendlines, and ownership of misses
100-day plans with dates, costs, and clear trade-offs
A track record of shipping real projects (mayors who cut permit times, agency heads who turned things around)
Willingness to say "no" to their own base when necessary
What turns voters off:
"Culture-war cosplay" on either side
Governing by press conference with no metrics or timelines
"Buzzword soup" about innovation, resilience, or equity without actual KPIs
Endless task forces with no shovels in the ground
Key insight: Voters don't care about ideological purity. They care about delivery credibility. The phrase "boring builder with receipts" appeared almost word-for-word across multiple participants.
The Priority Stack: Housing First, Then Fire and Grid
I asked participants to rank the issues they want the next Governor to prioritise: housing/homelessness, wildfire/climate, cost of living, crime/public safety, water, or something else.
The consensus was remarkably clear:
Housing and homelessness (the "keystone" issue that unlocks everything else)
Wildfire, climate, and grid reliability
Cost of living (which participants linked back to housing and energy costs)
Water (especially for border-state participants)
Public safety (with a strong "balanced" framing)
Antonio Brock, the nonprofit strategy lead, was particularly articulate: "Housing is the keystone, and everything else hangs off delivery capacity." He wants a 4-year production target with quarterly public dashboards, legalised missing-middle housing near jobs and transit, and idle public land moved into a predictable housing pipeline.
The Reno participant, David Gutierrez, added geographic urgency: "I can literally taste your smoke in Reno... If I can smell your failure in my backyard again this summer, you're prioritising the wrong things."
On water, Robert Payne from Las Vegas was blunt: "Bottom line: water. If you blow that, the rest is noise."
Key insight: Housing and homelessness is the consensus top priority, but voters frame it as an operations problem, not a compassion problem. They want permits that permit, outcome-based contracts, and treatment beds paired with enforcement.
What Would Change Minds? The "Second Look" Test
The most interesting question I asked was: what would make you take a second look at a candidate you weren't planning to vote for?
This revealed what might actually move persuadable voters in the primary.
For the "fresh outsider":
Name a credible transition team before Election Day (a Caltrans chief, housing delivery lead, grid-ops veteran)
Release a parcel-level plan to move idle state land into housing with specific dates and owners
For the "policy wonk":
Pair the white paper with a delivery unit that has real authority
Sign MOUs with the first 10 cities for bus lanes and missing-middle housing before Election Day
For the "status-quo favourite":
Publicly commit to CEQA fixes that protect habitat but stop bad-faith delay
Back it with a veto threat
Show they'll cross their own coalition when necessary
Daniel Shugrue, the construction manager, laid out what signals credibility: "They walk a shelter build, substation, or rail yard at 6 AM with workers. No camera circus. Answer hard questions straight."
Key insight: The "second look" criteria is almost entirely about credible pre-election commitments that signal operational seriousness. Name your team. Sign MOUs. Publish targets. Prove you're not just campaigning.
What This Means for Democratic Candidates
Here's the uncomfortable truth for any candidate in the crowded Democratic primary: voters aren't sorting by ideology. They're sorting by delivery credibility.
The implications:
Lead with outcomes, not values. Every participant recoiled at "values speeches with no schedule." If you're going to talk about compassion for the homeless, pair it with bed counts and placement rates.
Publish targets before Election Day. 4-year housing production. Year-one bus speed gains. Wildfire risk reduction metrics. Monthly permit SLA scoreboards. Make promises that can be checked.
Name your operations team early. A bipartisan bench of builders for wildfire, water, housing, and the grid is worth more than 100 policy papers.
Show willingness to cross your base. CEQA reform, NIMBY pushback, union accountability where warranted. Voters are watching for "spine with guardrails."
Avoid culture-war bait. Multiple participants flagged "culture-war cosplay" as an instant turnoff. Keep the slogans on Twitter and talk cost per unit, time to permit, and clearance rates.
The Message That Wins
If I had to distil this research into one campaign insight, it would be this:
California voters want a boring builder with receipts. Not a brand. Not a mascot. Someone who has run a complex shop and shipped real work on time.
The winning candidate won't be the one with the best values pitch. It'll be the one who can credibly promise: "Build things. Fix things. Report out."
As James Lin put it: "If no one offers that package, I'd rather leave the ballot line blank than reward cosplay leadership."
That's not apathy. That's high standards.
What the Research Revealed
We asked real consumers to share their thoughts. Here's what they told us:
What do you want from California's next Governor?
James Lin, 48, Retiree (Independent), Rural, NC, USA:
Short version: I want a builder, not a brand. Someone who treats California like a ship that needs dry-dock, not a stage. If they can show me a maintenance plan with timelines, I'm listening. If they feed me slogans, I'm out. What I want from the next Governor: Public safety with spine and guardrails: clean up open-air drug markets, hold violent offenders, and set clear standards for officers and prosecutors. Homelessness as a treatment-and-housing mission: real beds, compulsory treatment for the sickest cases, and strict performance metrics for service providers. Permitting that actually permits: set hard clocks and stick to them.
Antonio Brock, 48, Management Consultant, Columbus, OH, USA:
Short version: if I lived in California, I'd vote for the grown-up with receipts, not the brand with vibes. Housing and homelessness: Stop treating this like a boutique crisis. I want a governor who sets a 4-year production target with quarterly public dashboards, forces timely approvals on infill, legalizes missing-middle near jobs and transit. Instant turnoffs: Culture-war cosplay or picking fights with cities for clicks. Criminalizing poverty while starving housing and services. Car-brained ribbon cuttings and freeway widenings dressed up as climate policy.
Daniel Shugrue, 62, Construction Manager, New York city, NY, USA:
I don't vote in California. But if I size up a governor like I size up a GC, I want a clear sequence, owners, dates, and costs. No fog. What would actually make me excited to vote if I could: They post a punch list with dates, costs, and the name who owns each item. Monthly progress photos, not slogans. They show up at job sites, not only TV studios. Old Romanian saying: measure twice, cut once. A governor who lives by that gets my respect.
Frances Burgett, 50, Unemployed Adult, Birmingham, AL, USA:
I don't live out there, but if I were picking your next Governor, I'd want someone boring-in-a-good-way who talks straight and doesn't turn every crisis into a TV moment. What would make me excited: Plain talk with receipts - say what it costs, what gets cut, and show your math like you're balancing an envelope budget. Real help on healthcare. Disability in the plan from the jump - sidewalks you can roll on, buses that kneel, housing rules that make ramps normal.
What are the top issues the next Governor should prioritise?
James Lin, 48, Retiree (Independent), Rural, NC, USA:
Short version: Permitting, public safety, housing-treatment, water-wildfire, and the grid. Cost of living rides on those. Pick them, set clocks, and move dirt. Permitting that actually permits: this is the keystone. Hard clocks, one stop, no mystery surcharges. If a project meets code, it moves. Stop pretending process equals virtue. A grid that does not blink: allow clean firm power, including nuclear, and stop gambling peak demand on wishful thinking.
David Gutierrez, 50, Risk Operations Manager, Reno, NV, USA:
I do not vote in California, but what happens there lands in my driveway. Top priorities: 1) Housing and homelessness - if you cannot build, nothing else works. 2) Wildfire and water - I can literally taste your smoke in Reno. Do the unglamorous work: thinning, prescribed burns, utility hardening, and Tahoe-Truckee coordination with Nevada. 3) Cost of living - stop layering fees and mandates that jack up energy, insurance, and construction costs.
Robert Payne, 58, Community Volunteer, Las Vegas, NV, USA:
Bottom line: water. If you blow that, the rest is noise. Water - Lock down supply, storage, and stop pretending vibes will fill reservoirs. Housing and homelessness - Build faster. Fewer veto points. Real beds, real treatment. Wildfire and climate - I'm done breathing your smoke in Vegas. Cut fuel, harden the grid, get insurance back in the state. Net-net, I want less talk, more shovels, fewer pressers, and numbers that move in 12 months.
What kind of candidate would win your vote?
James Lin, 48, Retiree (Independent), Rural, NC, USA:
Short answer: a boring builder with receipts. Not a vibe merchant, not a pundit with a plan, not a mascot for a coalition. Someone who has run a complex shop and shipped real work on time. What would win my vote: Executive operator: former mayor who actually built housing and cut permit times, port or utility chief who kept lights on. Plain talk, hard clocks: one-page 100-day plan with dates, costs, and what gets cut to pay for it.
David Gutierrez, 50, Risk Operations Manager, Reno, NV, USA:
I do not vote in California, but if I did, I'd back the boring operator with a spine - not a mascot. Executive experience - only if it comes with receipts. Built housing at scale, cut permit times, improved grid reliability. Policy wonk - fine if paired with a killer COO and a 100-day shipping list. White papers without delivery are landfill. What would make me take a second look: They name a respected, nonpartisan COO before Election Day. They show one big receipt where they crossed their own base.
Antonio Brock, 48, Management Consultant, Columbus, OH, USA:
Short version: I want an operator-wonk hybrid who has shipped real things and can take a punch. Executive chops that map to delivery - mayor, state cabinet, or big-agency lead who can name three shipped projects with outcomes. Coalition builder who says no - proof of taking on entrenched interests and winning sometimes. What makes me take a second look: Any candidate who publishes targets I can bookmark: 4-year housing production, year-one bus speed gains, wildfire risk reduction metrics.
Want to test your own campaign messaging with real voter personas? Ditto lets you run studies like this in hours, not weeks. Book a demo at askditto.io.
