Steven Craig Bradford — Insurance Commissioner Candidate Questionnaire

• Office: Insurance Commissioner
• Election Date: June 2, 2026
• Candidate: Steven Craig Bradford
• Due Date: April 2, 2026

Thank you for seeking GrowSF's endorsement for the June 2, 2026 primary election! GrowSF believes in a growing, vibrant, healthy, safe, and prosperous city via common sense solutions and effective government.

As a candidate for state office, your day-to-day responsibilities in office will affect not just San Francisco, but California as a whole. As a representative of the people of California and of San Francisco, the policies you bring to Sacramento should reflect the best of what we have to offer.

The GrowSF endorsement committee will review all completed questionnaires and seek consensus on which candidates best align with our vision for San Francisco and have the expertise to enact meaningful policy changes.

We ask that you please complete this questionnaire by April 2, 2026 so we have enough time to adequately review and discuss your answers.

• Your Policy Goals
• Your Leadership
• The Issues
• Personal
• Thank you

Your Policy Goals

We'd like to get some details about your high-level goals and how you intend to use your elected office to achieve them.

What policies do you hope to change or preserve by running for Insurance Commissioner? Please be specific, and list them in order of priority.

Candidate did not answer.

Why those policies?

Candidate did not answer.

Explain why your #1 goal is your #1 goal.

Candidate did not answer.

How will you build the coalition and political capital to enact your #1 goal? What obstacles will you face, and how will you overcome them? Will the power of the office of Insurance Commissioner be enough to achieve this goal?

Candidate did not answer.

Will the power of the office of Insurance Commissioner be enough to achieve the other goals?

Candidate did not answer.

What is an "out there" change that you would make to state or local government policy, if you could? For the purpose of this question, you are not constrained to the office of Insurance Commissioner.

Candidate did not answer.

Your Leadership

We'd like to learn more about your leadership style and plan to execute effectively once you assume office.

Why are you running for Insurance Commissioner?

Candidate did not answer.

In your own words - or, in internet parlance, "Explain like I'm five" (ELI5) - what is insurance?

Candidate did not answer.

What exactly is the role and statutory responsibilities of the Insurance Commissioner?

Candidate did not answer.

What makes you uniquely qualified for this position?

Candidate did not answer.

What three measurable outcomes should Californians use to evaluate your success after your first two years in office?

Candidate did not answer.

The Issues

Next, we will cover the issues that voters tell us they care about. We hope to gain a better understanding of your policy positions, and we hope that you use this opportunity to communicate with voters.

Some small businesses in San Francisco complain about too-high rates for event or general liability insurance. Do you think these complaints have merit in general? What reforms ought the office of the Insurance Commissioner make to help small businesses thrive?

Candidate did not answer.

Are there currently any homeowners or renters insurance market failures where the Insurance Commissioner ought to step in to fix? What are they, and how would you address them?

Candidate did not answer.

Are current policies around earthquake insurance adequate to ensure the state can recover from a hundred-year earthquake? If not, how would you address this?

Candidate did not answer.

California's home-insurance market has faced major disruption, with several large insurers reducing coverage or leaving parts of Los Angeles County and other high risk areas. Are California's current fire-insurance policies and rate-approval processes adequate for the growing risks along the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI)?

Candidate did not answer.

Should insurance premiums in high-risk areas more closely reflect true wildfire risk, or should taxpayers subsidize that risk to keep coverage below market rates?

Candidate did not answer.

Recent reforms to California's insurance rate-setting framework allow forward looking, and risk-based pricing in order to stabilize the insurance market while protecting consumers. What other changes to rate-calculation rules would you prioritize to ensure insurers can price risk accurately without triggering excessive premium volatility or market withdrawal? Please name one concrete metric or safeguard you would use to judge whether these reforms are working (e.g., insurer participation, rate-filing approval timelines, or geographic availability of coverage).

Candidate did not answer.

What additional safeguards (beyond the Political Reform Act) will you commit to, to ensure independence from the insurance industry (e.g., recusals, donation bans, transparency dashboards)?

Candidate did not answer.

Identify one Department of Insurance policy, regulation, or enforcement decision from the past five years that you would have handled differently. Cite the policy, explain your reasoning, and specify what data guided your judgment.

Candidate did not answer.

Personal

Tell us a bit about yourself!

How long have you lived in California? What brought you here and what keeps you here?

Candidate did not answer.

What do you love most about California and/or your hometown?

Candidate did not answer.

What do you dislike the most about California and/or your hometown?

Candidate did not answer.

Tell us about your current involvement in the community (e.g., volunteer groups, neighborhood associations, civic and professional organizations, etc.)

Candidate did not answer.

Thank you

Thank you for giving us your time and answering our questionnaire. We look forward to reading your answers and considering your candidacy!