We Need an Independent Socialist Insurance Commissioner

Eduardo 'Lalo' Vargas stands in front of a crowd at a protest, giving a speech on the mic

One year since the Eaton and Palisades fires, regulators and politicians have set a precedent for how our government intends to address the climate crisis. When a climate disaster strikes, our government, led by a Democratic super-majority, has shown it will prioritize the profits of big business over the needs of survivors. While hundreds of fire survivors still struggle to rebuild their lives due to delays, denials, and underpayments, the same democrats throw up their hands and say that the best we can do is grant the insurers rate increases, one after another.

Those affected by the fires have filed over 40,000 insurance claims, racking up a $22.4 billion bill for insurers. In response, the insurance companies have demanded that the Department of Insurance grant them emergency rate hikes. The Insurance Commissioner has given them what they want, one right after the other. This has effectively passed the cost of the crisis back onto the consumers who survived the fires in the first place. 

Regulators, insurers, and policyholders agree that climate change will only increase the frequency of catastrophic wildfires. The question before our state now is this: how will we guarantee the security of our families in the face of these disasters? The response to that will be incumbent on the next Insurance Commissioner, who will decide whether ordinary people are expected to pick up the tab for the damage and destruction, or whether we will make the fossil fuel and utility industries pay for creating these crises in the first place.  

While insurers demand higher rates for the promise of compensation after an emergency, the testimonies of fire survivors prove that insurers often break this promise. Hundreds of fire survivors have reported that the same insurers demanding rate hikes have yet to adequately compensate them for damages caused by last year’s fires. Groups like the Eaton Fire Survivors Network have called on the Insurance Commissioner to put a freeze on rate hikes until fire survivors are fully compensated by their insurers. 

So far neither the current Insurance Commissioner nor any Democratic or Republican candidate for the 2026 Insurance Commissioner race have pledged to freeze rate hikes. The wide array of opinions of these candidates shows a significant limitation in their approach to solving this issue: they are completely tied to maintaining a private insurance market in California. We will not survive climate disasters if this system continues. That insurance is a commodity bought and sold on the private market and not a human right is exactly why we are in this situation in the first place.

The Democratic and Republican Parties, and those candidates financially tied to them, are bound to the whims of their billionaire donors and leadership. These forces ultimately restrict the efforts of any progressive candidate to disrupt the status quo. As we’ve seen with Governor Newsom and Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara, while they may talk about protecting working Californians on the campaign trail, their ultimate subservience is to the big businesses–the insurance and utility companies–that contribute to their campaigns. If we want to create a new system where private insurance companies are held accountable, then we need an independent socialist party that takes no money from billionaires. We need the Peace and Freedom Party.

Any of us could be a victim of the same governmental response when the next climate disaster hits, unless we take action now. We should take our cues from the fire survivors who, having lost their homes, neighborhoods, and loved ones, did not fall to despair but instead began to fight for justice. This is the struggle that the Peace and Freedom Party calls for, and that the Lalo Vargas for Insurance Commissioner campaign is building. Register with the Peace and Freedom Party, sign up to volunteer with our campaign, and donate today. 

We are building a movement of working people who stand up to the power of the billionaires in our country. The masses of working people taking a stand against ICE  in Minneapolis show us that a people’s movement is the real counterweight to Trump and the billionaire agenda he leads. This era of climate catastrophe, brought on through centuries of corporate exploitation of our people and our environment, is part of the same fight. The Lalo Vargas for Insurance Commissioner campaign and the Peace and Freedom Party calls for a government where working people are in charge and can plan the economy to meet the needs of the people and planet, not the billionaires. From Altadena to Minneapolis - Solo El pueblo salva al pueblo!