In California’s primary, all candidates run on the same ballot to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom.
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California voters are casting ballots Tuesday to choose the next governor of America’s most populous state, bringing an end to a bizarre primary race.
The top two vote-getters, regardless of party, will advance to a November general election to replace the term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom (D). The next governor of the blue stronghold can take his baton as a leader of the Democratic resistance to President Donald Trump.
Multiple polls found the crowded race has narrowed to a three-way contest between Democrats Xavier Becerra, a former health secretary and state attorney general, and Tom Steyer, a billionaire climate activist, and Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host.
With its lack of cinematic or political stars, California’s gubernatorial race was atypical from the jump. But a mid-April scandal upended it, essentially allowing candidates to restart their campaigns. Still, Tuesday’s primary could bring unexpected results because more voters than usual held on to their ballots until the final stretch of the competitive race.
Polls will close at 8 p.m. local time, but California has taken days, sometimes weeks, to tally enough votes to project winners. Results for primaries in the state’s U.S. House districts are available here, and results in the hotly contested Los Angeles mayoral primary are available here.
Democratic politics have dominated California for decades. More recently, the state has led Democrats’ efforts to buck Trump, including on redistricting and his immigration crackdown.
California’s next governor will also be tasked with addressing issues deeply plaguing the state, including homelessness, environmental threats such as droughts and wildfires and affordable housing.
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Because so many Democrats ran to succeed Newsom without a clear frontrunner, some Democrats worried that they would split the vote and two Republican candidates would advance to November’s election. The odds of such a shutout slimmed significantly in recent weeks.
Former congressman Eric Swalwell, who at one point was the Democratic frontrunner, still appeared among 61 candidates on the ballot, though he dropped out of the race after allegations of sexual assault and misconduct.
After Swalwell’s mid-April exit, the other Democratic contenders rushed to attract his supporters and pull ahead in the race. At the time, political strategists expected Steyer and former congresswoman Katie Porter would benefit the most.
But it was Becerra who saw a sudden rise. For months, he had been trailing in polls and few people saw him as a formidable candidate. After Swalwell’s departure, many voters coalesced behind Becerra, boosting the odds California would have at least one Democratic candidate in the gubernatorial general election. The state has not elected a Republican governor since Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2006 reelection.
Of all the candidates, Becerra has the most extensive political resume, having served in Congress for more than two decades before Newsom appointed him as the state’s attorney general and President Joe Biden selected him to be his health secretary.
Steyer positioned himself as the most progressive candidate, with stances on immigration and health care that went further left than Becerra and the other Democrats. However, this message coming from a billionaire who has poured more than $200 million of his own money into his campaign has been a tough sell with some of California’s billionaire-wary voters. Still, Steyer‘s populist platform and ubiquitous advertising launched him into the top tier of candidates, possibly setting up a Democrat versus Democrat matchup in the general.
Hilton has been able to consolidate Republican support in the race, buoyed by a Trump endorsement in April. He has urged voters to choose him over Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a favorite of some conservative activists, to prevent Republicans from being shut out of the general election. If Hilton advances to November alongside a Democrat, he faces tough odds in a deep blue state. GOP strategists are counting Hilton’s performance in the liberal stronghold as a signal of voters’ dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party.
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