{"id":2332,"date":"2026-06-01T10:37:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T10:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2332"},"modified":"2026-06-01T10:37:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T10:37:31","slug":"what-to-know-about-californias-messy-governors-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2332","title":{"rendered":"What to know about California\u2019s messy governor\u2019s race"},"content":{"rendered":"

Its unusual primary system, combined with scandal and a low-profile field, have made this year\u2019s race harder to predict. <\/strong><\/p>

Read more Early Brief: The liberal-establishment divides in California\u2019s House primaries<\/a><\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
From left, California gubernatorial candidates Katie Porter, Tom Steyer and Xavier Becerra are among the Democrats running. (Getty Images\/Reuters)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

California voters are choosing their next governor, a leader who will inevitably star <\/b>in national politics at the helm of the country\u2019s biggest blue state that has steered the Democratic resistance against President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

But the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) has been bizarre.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s A-list Democratic politicians decided not to run, leaving behind a long list of lower-profile candidates and a sliver of a chance for Republicans to shut them out of the general election. Then came a scandal that knocked out the top Democratic candidate, making the race anyone\u2019s game.<\/p>\n

Now, a Democrat who had been trailing for months is leading the pack. Still, Democratic voters have been slow to return their mail ballots, a sign political strategists say means they\u2019re still figuring out which candidate has the best shot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s pretty clear they don\u2019t want to make a mistake, and that mistake would be not consolidating behind a front-runner,\u201d said Rob Stutzman, a GOP consultant in California who is not affiliated with any of the gubernatorial campaigns.<\/p>\n

For starters, California uses a \u201cjungle primary\u201d system. Under it, all primary candidates run on the same ballot regardless of party. Then, the top two vote-getters advance to the general election. This means primary candidates are competing against everyone in their race, not just those from the same party. The more crowded the field gets, the tougher it is to garner support because votes are split among a higher number of candidates.<\/p>\n

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From left, Democrats Antonio Villaraigosa, Katie Porter and Tom Steyer and Republican Steve Hilton participate in a California gubernatorial debate on May 5 in Monterey Park. (Ethan Swope\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

All of the big-name Democrats who would have had an easy in with voters opted out of this year\u2019s race \u2014 including former vice president Kamala Harris, California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Sen. Alex Padilla.<\/p>\n

Without them, the Democratic field became a cluster of candidates without significant political brands: former congressman Eric Swalwell, billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer, former congresswoman Katie Porter, former health secretary Xavier Becerra, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, former Los Angeles mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and the list went on. They struggled to excite voters and establish a lead.<\/p>\n

Swalwell had started to pull away <\/b>when he dropped out<\/a> of the race in April after allegations of sexual assault and misconduct. Once again, the race was wide open \u2014 and finally getting real attention.<\/p>\n

\n
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Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-California) listens to a question during a town hall event in Sacramento on April 7. Days later, he suspended his gubernatorial campaign. (Rich Pedroncelli\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

\u201cNobody on earth, at least in California, was thinking about the governor\u2019s race, and that scandal placed it front and center,\u201d said Brian Brokaw, a Democratic strategist who is not working with any of the governor candidates.<\/p>\n

With no Democrat gaining significant support, Democratic voters and strategists feared that the two Republican candidates in the race, former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, would advance to the general election because polls showed them in the lead.<\/p>\n

Democrats woke up in time for the primary, Stutzman said, realizing they needed to coalesce behind the top-polling candidates to prevent a GOP shutout. Distressed by that scenario in a Democratic stronghold, the party\u2019s voters have been paying close attention to polling as they decide their vote.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo they may like Katie Porter or Matt Mahan the most, but what\u2019s most important to them is not to have a Republican governor,\u201d Stutzman said.<\/p>

Read more Who\u2019s leading the wide-open 2028 Democratic presidential field?<\/a><\/p>\n

Given that posture, it is less likely that both Republicans make it to November now \u2014 but there is a good chance that one of them will appear on the general-election ballot.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n\n
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton speaks at a news conference in San Jose last week. (Manuel Orbegozo\/Reuters)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

Hilton has consolidated Republican support, due in large part to an early April endorsement from Trump. Polls still show him in the top tier of candidates, while Bianco has fallen out.<\/p>\n

If Hilton advances to the general election, he will almost certainly lose because California\u2019s Democratic voters will unite behind the party\u2019s candidate, strategists said. California has not elected a Republican governor in 20 years.<\/p>\n

Following Swalwell\u2019s exit, the crowded field scrambled to siphon his support<\/a>, especially the candidates who were just behind him in the polls, Porter and Steyer. But the boost seems to have actually gone somewhere few expected: Becerra.<\/p>\n

After lagging with single digits in the polls and little attention to his campaign for months, Becerra leapfrogged his opponents to become the leading Democratic candidate. Voters probably began to see Becerra as their most viable choice in the face of all the chaos the race had already brought, namely Swalwell\u2019s scandal-plagued<\/a> exit.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of that led to many voters feeling like they just need to tag home base and go with the safe bet,\u201d Brokaw said.<\/p>\n

Of all the candidates, Becerra has the most political experience. Before serving as the health secretary under President Joe Biden, he was California\u2019s attorney general and before that, a congressman for more than two decades. In a race filled with candidates voters are not enthusiastic about, Stutzman described Becerra as \u201cthe least unlikable guy with a r\u00e9sum\u00e9.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Becerra speaks during a campaign event in West Hollywood, California, last week. (Jae C. Hong\/AP)<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n

His closest competitor is Steyer \u2014 a billionaire who is running as the progressive, populist candidate<\/a>. Steyer has spent more than $215 million of his own money on his campaign, arguing that self-funding means he can avoid the influence of groups that want something in return. But his wealth has proved to be a sticking point for Californians.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s just a little bit of a psychological disconnect for a lot of voters about the billionaire who is championing all these progressive policies,\u201d Brokaw said. \u201cA candidate like that will always face doubt and skepticism about authenticity.\u201d<\/p>\n

In May, Becerra was in the lead with 25 percent of support, according to a poll from the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley published Friday. The findings put Hilton in second with 21 percent but showed Steyer \u201cwithin striking distance\u201d at 19 percent.<\/p>\n

California could come out of Tuesday without knowing who will be on the general-election ballot, including for the gubernatorial race. In past elections, the state has taken days and sometimes weeks to finish counting ballots.<\/p>\n

Though Becerra and Hilton are poised to be the top two vote-getters, there is still a chance Steyer \u2014 or even someone else \u2014 could take second place.<\/p>

Read more Unlucky 13: Tanner Bibee has longest win drought to start a season in Cleveland franchise history<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Its unusual primary system, combined with scandal and a low-profile field, have made this year\u2019s race harder to predict. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat to know about California\u2019s messy governor\u2019s race - Moving Insider USA<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2332\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What to know about California\u2019s messy governor\u2019s race - Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Its unusual primary system, combined with scandal and a low-profile field, have made this year\u2019s race harder to predict.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/?p=2332\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Moving Insider USA\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-01T10:37:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/movinginsiderusa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/3c7260f01e2ee0a4d0df461d6ce13195.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1238\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"825\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2332#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2332\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"headline\":\"What to know about California\u2019s messy governor\u2019s race\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-01T10:37:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2332\"},\"wordCount\":1185,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2332#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/0918a464e5c03c54ff21815918aeb992.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2332#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2332\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2332\",\"name\":\"What to know about California\u2019s messy governor\u2019s race - Moving Insider USA\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2332#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2332#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/0918a464e5c03c54ff21815918aeb992.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-06-01T10:37:31+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/22d40ab81790f6a361021763bb56ef03\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2332#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2332\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/?p=2332#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/0918a464e5c03c54ff21815918aeb992.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/movinginsiderusa.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/0918a464e5c03c54ff21815918aeb992.jpg\",\"width\":1238,\"height\":825,\"caption\":\"(From left) California gubernatorial candidates Katie Porter, Tom Steyer and Xavier Becerra. 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