{"id":836068,"date":"2026-06-01T04:39:18","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T04:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/836068\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T04:39:18","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T04:39:18","slug":"california-contests-for-governor-la-mayor-head-toward-primary-election-with-no-clear-leaders-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/836068\/","title":{"rendered":"California contests for governor, LA mayor head toward primary election with no clear leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"

LOS ANGELES<\/strong> \u2013 California spiraled toward a primary election Tuesday with its two marquee races defined by uncertainty and with a pair of outsider candidates looking to crack open the state\u2019s durable Democratic hierarchy.<\/p>\n

In the governor’s race, former Fox News TV host and British political adviser Steve Hilton is urging Republicans to unite behind him as he fights for one of two spots in the November election alongside two Democrats, billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer<\/a> and former state attorney general Xavier Becerra<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In the Los Angeles race for mayor, reality TV personality Spencer Pratt<\/a> is hoping to turn his insurgent campaign into a surprise upset of Democratic Mayor Karen Bass<\/a>. The two are tightly clustered with Nithya Raman, a progressive city council member running to Bass’ political left.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can’t give up on LA,\u201d Pratt told applauding supporters at a block party Sunday. \u201cWe’ve got to fight.\u201d <\/p>\n

Democrats once feared that the party\u2019s large field of gubernatorial candidates could open a path for two Republicans to advance to November. But now, in the campaign\u2019s closing days, Hilton is warning the opposite could happen \u2014 what he called a \u201cdoomsday scenario\u201d in which only Democrats advance.<\/p>\n

Hilton is pleading with his chief Republican rival, county Sheriff Chad Bianco, to pull out of the contest, fearing an all-Democratic ticket would dampen GOP turnout across the state and reorder races for Congress and the Legislature.<\/p>\n

Becerra and Steyer locking out a Republican from the November ballot would be \u201ca disaster for California, it means no change. It\u2019s a disaster for everyone who\u2019s running as a Republican up and down the ballot,\u201d Hilton said on the social platform X.<\/p>\n

Mail voting began in early May, but just 15% of voters had returned their ballots as of Sunday. That’s left the candidates seeing room for a last-minute shake-up in the race’s closing days.<\/p>\n

A vulnerable mayor looks for second term in LA<\/p>\n

In heavily Democratic Los Angeles, Bass’ shaky first term has left her vulnerable.<\/a> She points to a drop in homelessness, though encampments and rows of rusting RVs remain a common sight in many neighborhoods. Meanwhile, she’s still trying to overcome lingering fallout from the 2025 Palisades Fire<\/a>, the most destructive in Los Angeles history. Bass was in Ghana as part of a presidential delegation when the flames ignited. Pratt lost his home in the blaze and has made the fire and the city’s recovery a foundation of his campaign.<\/p>\n

At Pratt’s block party, Vivian Escalante, a historian who lives in the heavily Hispanic Boyle Heights neighborhood adjacent to downtown, said the quality of life has been sliding for years<\/a> \u2014 dirtier streets, more homeless encampments and a lack of pride in the neighborhood she’s called home all her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s gotten completely worse,\u201d Escalante said, with a Pratt cap perched on her head. The Democratic Party, she said, has \u201ccompletely abandoned us.\u201d<\/p>\n

The LA race is officially nonpartisan, but Bass is a Democrat, as is Raman, who made a last-minute decision to challenge her one-time ally and is among the top group of contenders.<\/p>\n

Pratt, who rose to fame<\/a> alongside his wife, Heidi Montag, on \u201cThe Hills,\u201d is a registered Republican who has received a nod of approval \u2014 if not an outright formal endorsement \u2014 from President Donald Trump. He has sought to distance himself from national politics, saying his concerns are strictly within city limits.<\/p>\n

A University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Governmental Studies poll, co-sponsored by The Los Angeles Times, found Bass tightly clustered with Raman and Pratt, with other candidates trailing. The poll of 1,351 likely voters conducted between May 19 and May 24 gave no candidate a statistically significant edge.<\/p>\n

The city is at a difficult juncture.<\/p>\n

Hollywood jobs have been decamping for years for cheaper filming locations. A downtown renaissance was crushed by extended pandemic closures and many office buildings remain desperate for tenants. The city has long struggled to provide basic services, whether paving buckled streets and fixing sidewalks or keeping streetlights on.<\/p>\n

A crowded governor’s race with no clear leader<\/p>\n

The governor’s race has been the most wide open in a generation. More than 50 names are on the ballot.<\/p>\n

Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom is banned by law from seeking a third term. Other candidates seeking to replace him include former Democratic U.S. Rep. Katie Porter,<\/a>Democrat Matt Mahan<\/a>, the mayor of San Jose, and Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff.<\/p>\n

Rebecca Katz, a strategist with Steyer\u2019s campaign, said Sunday that they are \u201cfeeling pretty good\u201d but emphasized how close the race was with a sporting reference, \u201cIt\u2019s three candidates for two spots, every possession counts.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steyer, a former hedge fund manager turned liberal activist, has set spending records<\/a> hoping to advance to the November contest. Hilton, a former Fox News host who has been endorsed by Trump<\/a>, has promised to bring down costs in a state with some of the nation’s highest gas prices, utility costs and taxes. Becerra has been stressing his experience in arguing he’s best prepared to lead the nation’s second most populous state, having served as the Biden administration’s health secretary, a former U.S. House member and state attorney general.<\/p>\n

Broadly, Republicans in the race are promising drastic change after years of Democratic governance \u2014 Democrats haven’t lost a statewide race in two decades and Republicans last elected a Los Angeles mayor in 1997. Democrats, though in charge for years, are promising to bring down costs and continue to fend off the Trump administration in its numerous conflicts with Democratic California.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Jesse Bedayn in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LOS ANGELES \u2013 California spiraled toward a primary election Tuesday with its two marquee races defined by uncertainty…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":836067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,46335,69,90,1854,240436,5413,151145,2961,224,5337,87937,80,342710,190258,258570,185911,61,342709,180448],"class_list":["post-836068","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-chad-bianco","tag-donald-trump","tag-elections","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-heidi-montag","tag-karen-bass","tag-katie-porter","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-matt-mahan","tag-politics","tag-rebecca-katz","tag-spencer-pratt","tag-steve-hilton","tag-tom-steyer","tag-u-s-news","tag-vivian-escalante","tag-xavier-becerra"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116673010893311201","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836068","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836068"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836068\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/836067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836068"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836068"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836068"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}