Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis finishes a speech during at the California Democratic Party Convention in San Francisco in February. Kounalakis is among six candidates running for state treasurer.

The Chronicle editorial board is powering through our endorsements for the June primary election, and we’ve already started interviewing candidates for governor. Stay tuned for that endorsement.

On Thursday, we published our pick for state treasurer.

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One of the candidates is Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who is running for a dry, wonky job that would seem to be a step down for someone once considered a contender for governor. 

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Kounalakis, who served as U.S. ambassador to Hungary under President Barack Obama, told the editorial board that the technical aspects of the treasurer’s office appealed to her after years of “standing in front of a podium with a visiting dignitary.”

Editorial writer Emily Hoeven, who wrote the endorsement, told me she didn’t have room to include this, but Kounalakis said that after Donald Trump was reelected president in 2024, “I just didn’t see … what my theory of the case was” for the governor’s office. Leading California would inevitably entail lots of showboating and tangling with Trump, and Kounalakis said that “my personality has always been much less showhorse and much more workhorse.”

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Five other candidates are running to replace Treasurer Fiona Ma, who’s termed out. Along with Kounalakis, another candidate who we thought stood out is state Sen. Anna Caballero of Merced, a former Assembly member and mayor of Salinas who also led the state Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency under Gov. Jerry Brown.

Read our endorsement to find out more about what the treasurer does and who we think deserves your vote. 

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And, check out our endorsements for other offices, including Alameda County Superior Court judge, San Francisco school board and District 2 supervisor, and lieutenant governor.

Who are you voting for?

Let us know what you think about the candidates and races. Send your letters to the editor or Open Forum submissions with our online form.

Correction: Sunset Dunes visits

Reader Mike Tsoi emailed to rightly point out that in last week’s newsletter, I mischaracterized the visitation data for Sunset Dunes park. 

The San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department counts a “visit” every time someone passes infrared sensors at Sunset Dunes. Since the park opened last year through March, there were 1.7 million visits. Someone could be counted more than once, or just passing through the park to Ocean Beach.

Guest opinions in Open Forum and Insight are produced by writers with expertise, personal experience or original insights on a subject of interest to our readers. Their views do not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Chronicle editorial board, which is committed to providing a diversity of ideas to our readership.

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The online version of last week’s newsletter has been updated.

Perhaps the 1.7 million figure is not as impressive, but Sunset Dunes is a popular attraction that people enjoy, and again, in my view, a benefit to the city.

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