Xavier Becerra beats rivals, heads to November California race

Democrat Xavier Becerra won the top spot in California’s unusual top-two June primary and will face November’s general election for governor. The first-place prize is secure; the race for the second spot remains unsettled as millions of mail and provisional ba

By the time the last votes from early ballot drops were still being tallied, the message on June 02 in Los Angeles sounded different than the one many poll watchers had been hearing just months earlier.

Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra—still in the lead as California counts its way through an unusually crowded top-two primary—will advance to the November election for governor. after a race call by The Associated Press. After days of counting ballots, it remains unclear who will secure the second spot in the fall.

California’s primary system doesn’t separate voters by party. All candidates, regardless of party, appear on a single ballot open to any registered voter. After the votes are counted, the top two advance to the general election. That means the outcome isn’t only about who convinces the base—it’s also about who captures enough votes to avoid getting pushed into elimination.

While Becerra’s position is now locked in for November. the state is still working through an estimated 3.5 million uncounted ballots. California also counts mail-in ballots that arrive up to seven days after Election Day as long as they are postmarked by Election Day. extending the suspense well past the night many campaigns expect.

The winner in November will lead the country’s most populous state, stepping into a governorship shaped by a large deficit and other major obstacles—among them the state’s high cost of living, homelessness and wildfire risk.

Becerra will enter that bigger stage with a political track record that includes serving as Health and Human Services secretary under President Joe Biden. He is also a former member of Congress and a former California attorney general. But the more immediate storyline is how he returned to contention in dramatic fashion.

As recently as April, polls were showing Becerra languishing in single digits in a crowded field. Instead, he surged to the top slot. In a written statement. Becerra said: “The people of the great state of California. in the greatest nation on earth. have spoken — loudly and proudly. We will not be bought. We will not be bullied. And we are never backing down. November, here we come.”.

The fight for second place has been just as volatile. Republican businessman Steve Hilton still has an edge over billionaire Democratic activist Tom Steyer, but Steyer has been gaining ground as ballots continue to be counted.

Hilton was endorsed by President Trump in April. and later polls showed him pulling ahead of Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. another major Republican in the race. Hilton is British-born and has worked as a former Fox News commentator. later serving as a political adviser to former British Prime Minister David Cameron. His campaign has been built around an argument that California needs change after 16 years under total Democratic control.

Steyer, meanwhile, has spent heavily to keep his candidacy alive. He spent more than $213 million of his own money to boost his run. making this the most expensive gubernatorial election in California. Despite the spending spree. he is currently in third place in the vote tally—though the unfinished counting keeps the outcome open.

California’s top-two map sets up high stakes for Democrats. especially because the state’s registered Democratic voters far outnumber Republicans. A second-place miss could force Democrats to go to the general election with a Republican alongside them—and it would guarantee the possibility of a Republican governor in a state where Democrats outnumber GOP voters 2 to 1.

That fear was part of what loomed over the race before it started to narrow. Some of the state’s most high-profile Democrats—including former Vice President Kamala Harris, U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla and California Attorney General Rob Bonta—stayed out.

The primary was also disrupted in April, when then-U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell’s campaign for governor imploded amid allegations of sexual assault and harassment. Swalwell resigned from Congress shortly after the accusations surfaced and has denied assault allegations. He had been gaining in polls, collecting high-profile endorsements, and his exit seemed to primarily benefit Becerra.

In the end, the narrowing field quieted Democratic worries that they would split their vote enough that Bianco and Hilton would win the top spots in the June primary—an outcome that would have resulted in a guaranteed Republican governor.

Becerra’s path to November also benefited from political groups operating independently of his campaign, adding another layer to why the momentum shifted.

For now, Becerra is headed to November. The state, the campaigns, and the voters left counting ballots are still waiting to learn who will join him in the general election.

Xavier Becerra California governor race top-two primary Steve Hilton Tom Steyer Chad Bianco Gavin Newsom election 2026 homelessness wildfire risk state deficit