{"id":110433,"date":"2026-06-12T02:09:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T02:09:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/110433\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T02:09:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T02:09:17","slug":"californias-gubernatorial-race-narrows-down-to-becerra-and-hilton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/110433\/","title":{"rendered":"California\u2019s gubernatorial race narrows down to Becerra and Hilton"},"content":{"rendered":"

Californians<\/a> picked their top two candidates in the primary election to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is term-limited. Now, officials are close to certifying these results.<\/p>\n

This race attracted more than 60 candidates, with Xavier Beccera and Steve Hilton rising to the top.<\/p>\n

With 95% of the votes reported, Becerra garnered 28% support, and Hilton secured 25%, according to the results posted as of Thursday evening.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, billionaire Tom Steyer, a progressive populist who came in third place, formally conceded the race.<\/p>\n

After facing scrutiny for its lengthy election tabulation process following the primary that drew national attention over allegations of election fraud, California is now looking toward the general election.<\/p>\n

According to the latest survey<\/a> by Berkeley\u2019s Institute of Governmental Studies, Becerra holds 52% support compared to Hilton\u2019s 31%.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s what we know about the two candidates who advanced to the November election.<\/p>\n

Who is Becerra?\"Election<\/p>\n

California Gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra answers questions from the media following a campaign event Mercado La Paloma on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Los Angeles. | Etienne Laurent, Associated Press<\/p>\n

Placing first in California\u2019s jungle primary, Becerra, in a statement, promised to push back against the Trump White House.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast week, Californians sent a clear message: more than four million voters chose a different path than the one Steve Hilton and Donald Trump are offering. That\u2019s the mandate I\u2019ll carry into November,\u201d Becerra said.<\/p>\n

Born and raised in Sacramento, he served as the U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services under President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n

Becerra received endorsements from Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Gavin Newsom after the primary. Both Harris and Newsom held off on throwing their support behind Becerra so as not to tip the scales in the primary.<\/p>\n

Harris congratulated Becerra on social media, stating, \u201cI am excited to offer him all the support I can as he sets out to become our state\u2019s next governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

She praised Becerra\u2019s time serving the White House and California, where he succeeded Harris as the attorney general from 2017 to 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have been fortunate to see firsthand how Xavier never shies away from the biggest fights,\u201d she said, \u201cwhether it was taking on the drug companies as Secretary of Health and Human Services or going after sex traffickers and big polluters as California\u2019s Attorney General.\u201d<\/p>\n

Becerra began leading in the polls after front-runner Eric Swalwell, a former representative, dropped out of the race following allegations of sexual misconduct.<\/p>\n

Who is Steve Hilton?\"Election<\/p>\n

California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton speaks during a campaign event on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, in Norwalk, Calif. | Benjamin Hanson, Associated Press<\/p>\n

Hilton, who previously worked as a Fox News host, has not held elected office before but he served as a top aide to ex-United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron.<\/p>\n

The British-born California gubernatorial candidate became an American citizen in 2021.<\/p>\n

He gained popularity after receiving Trump\u2019s endorsement. Aside from endorsing Hilton, Trump also alleged voter fraud in California.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started talking about Steve Hilton who\u2019s a fantastic guy and I saw them say it was going to be two weeks before they knew, and I started hitting them,\u201d Trump said at the Oval Office.<\/p>\n

The president said California officials approved Hilton to advance in the general election because \u201cThere was too much heat on them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s support \u201cis unlikely to broaden Hilton\u2019s base of support among the overall electorate in the general election,\u201d according to the Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is because large majorities of the state\u2019s electorate have consistently viewed Trump and the job he is doing as president in highly negative terms.\u201d<\/p>\n

California\u2019s rules regarding mail-in ballots are the reason why it takes the state days and weeks to finalize election results.<\/p>\n

Hilton\u2019s disadvantage ahead of the November election is the registration gap. As the Deseret News reported, California is home to about 10 million registered Democratic voters and 5.8 million Republican voters. Independents make up 5.23 million voters.<\/p>\n

According to NBC News<\/a>, Hilton, during a campaign event, told voters, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t matter if you are a Republican or Democrat, I think it\u2019s important to understand if we don\u2019t change direction in California, we really could be heading toward an economic crisis.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we continue down this path, we\u2019ll see more, more businesses leaving, more pressure on the budget that means taxes will have to go up,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Californians picked their top two candidates in the primary election to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[147],"tags":[544,12,542,2561,12622,9719,56683,23275],"class_list":["post-110433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-gavin-newsom","tag-california","tag-donald-trump","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-steve-hilton","tag-tom-steyer","tag-vice-president-kamala-harris","tag-xavier-beccera","tag-xavier-becerra"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116734706634520100","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}