A UCLA student is running to be California’s next governor.
Carolina Buhler, a rising fourth-year earth and environmental science student, announced Monday that she will enter California’s 2026 gubernatorial race as a Democrat. Buhler is running to fill the seat of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who will finish his second and final four-year term in January 2027.
Buhler said she chose to run because she believes that other candidates’ solutions are based on “pillars of collapse” – which she defined as the extraction, exploitation and devaluation of human life.
While candidates have until March 2026 to enter the primary election, 65 people have already filed statements of intention to run.
The list includes several current and former California public officials, including Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, former State Controller Betty Yee, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former U.S. Representative Katie Porter, all of whom entered the Democratic primary. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and former Fox News host Steve Hilton have also announced that they will run as Republicans. Former Vice President Kamala Harris is also considering a run for governor, according to Politico.
Gubernatorial candidates must be California residents and over the age of 18.
Buhler said she opposes the current U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids – which she called “kidnappings” – taking place across the country. Immigration enforcement officers detained over 1,600 immigrants in Southern California in June alone, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
She added that she would cancel contracts with California’s ICE detention centers – all of which are run by private, for-profit companies. Newsom previously failed to close these centers after a federal court found that a bill he signed in 2019 banning them infringed on the federal government’s authority by restricting its private detention contracts.
Buhler also said she would “pursue” ICE agents who have used force when detaining people.
“I’m going to make sure that there’s justice,” Buhler said.
Buhler said she is particularly passionate about addressing homelessness and making rent cheaper. She plans to give a tax return of 10% to renters who pay on time and create a policy that would prevent rent from being raised by more than 2% across the state every year. Landlords would also receive a 5% tax break annually, she said.
She also said she hopes to create tiny home villages – with 24-hour mental health access, an on-site doctor and nurse, a garden, a library and an education center – to reduce homelessness. She added that she believes creating these villages will cost less than “criminalizing homelessness,” which includes clearing encampments and ticketing those within them.
“There’s already been case studies in this state that have been successful in doing this,” Buhler said. “It’s actually more expensive to criminalize homelessness.”
Buhler said she would work to handle fire recovery – and would prioritize listening to environmental experts when creating these policies. She added that she would implement a regional, rather than state-wide, approach to handling fires, but did not specify what that plan would be.
The primary election will take place June 2, 2026. In California, candidates from all parties appear on the same primary ballot, with the top two advancing to the general election.
Ballot drop-off locations open May 5, 2026, and in-person early voting begins May 23, 2026. Eligible citizens must be registered to vote by May 18, 2026.
“I’ve gotten to learn a lot, actually, what civilizations last the longest and what causes collapse,” Buhler said. “It’s no secret to most UCLA students that it’s extraction, exploitation and the devaluation of human life. I don’t think any of the other candidates, because I’ve researched them, understand that.”
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