Eduardo "Lalo" Vargas

Candidate Response - 7 of 8

This article is part of a multi-part series introducing candidates who are running for the position of insurance commissioner in California. Eight candidates responded to three questions posed by Journalist Don Jergler.

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Eduardo “Lalo” Vargas, running on as a Peace and Freedom party candidate, is a high school teacher, and he has been a volunteer firefighter and EMT. He was a candidate for The Los Angeles City Council in 2024.

If elected, he would deny approval for all major rate increases and launch an audit of rate hikes over the last five years. He would also will lead market conduct investigations of the 10 largest property/casualty insurers in California into internal claim procedures and unfair competition.

Q: How do you feel about the direction of the state’s insurance market?

Vargas: The insurance market is failing to provide affordable and accessible insurance for millions of Californians. With insurers leaving the state or raising premiums beyond what most people can afford, the market has been exposed as a weak foundation for our insurance system.

As climate change exacerbates fire risk, the market cannot manage the crisis without passing off the costs of catastrophic wildfires to ordinary consumers.

Californians deserve insurance as a human right, not as a commodity sold for profit. The foundation of our insurance system should be a public insurer that can guarantee coverage for all—whether in response to a natural disaster, a car crash or a health emergency. Everyone deserves affordable insurance as a human right.

Q: What changes will you make if you are elected to the insurance commissioner post that our readers should know about?

Vargas: Under socialist leadership, the Department of Insurance would operate under a simple principle: the needs of people must always be prioritized over the profits of the insurance industry. That means prioritizing enforcement and holding insurance companies accountable for exploitative business practices and claims procedures.

Californians deserve insurance as a human right, not as a commodity sold for profit. The foundation of our insurance system should be a public insurer that can guarantee coverage for all—whether in response to a natural disaster, a car crash or a health emergency.”

Eduardo “Lalo” Vargas

As Insurance Commissioner, I also pledge to deny all further rate hikes until insurance companies cease their exploitative business practices and pay the survivors of the Los Angeles fires the full compensation needed to rebuild and repair their homes.

Q: What separates you from the other candidates in the race?

Vargas: I am an environmental science and biology teacher. I spend most of my day teaching about climate change and the solutions to the crisis. To address the insurance crisis, the next Insurance Commissioner must deeply understand the climate crisis, wildfire risk, and have experience working with populations victimized by climate catastrophe.

We need a commissioner knowledgeable about soil composition and remediation, toxicology, forestry, particulate matter pollution and its effects on human health.

I’m also running as a socialist with the Peace and Freedom Party because I know that real change can’t just come from electing a single politician, it can only be achieved by an organized working-class movement. I stand for building a mass movement of fire survivors and all the other victims of the insurance industry.

Compiled by Don Jergler, West Coast Editor of Insurance Journal