Unlike most other elections in California, the superintendent is not elected under the state's "top-two primary".

Instead, the officially nonpartisan position is elected via a general election, with a runoff held on November 6, 2018, because no candidate received a majority of the vote.

The previous incumbent, Superintendent Tom Torlakson, was term-limited, so could not seek a third term.

As no candidate received a majority in the general election, a runoff was held between two Democrats: Marshall Tuck and Tony Thurmond.

Thurmond narrowly defeated Tuck.