{"id":850494,"date":"2026-06-07T10:33:29","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T10:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/850494\/"},"modified":"2026-06-07T10:33:29","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T10:33:29","slug":"times-columnists-on-whats-ahead-in-california-governors-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/850494\/","title":{"rendered":"Times columnists on what’s ahead in California governor’s race"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The votes are still being tallied<\/a> but the result of Tuesday\u2019s top-two primary election <\/a>in California seems pretty clear.<\/p>\n

Despite an uptick in his performance, hopes for third-place finisher Tom Steyer are fading along with the number of uncounted ballots, suggesting Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton<\/a> will face off in November.<\/p>\n

Given the overwhelming Democratic advantage \u2014 both attitudinally and in registration \u2014 the outcome of the governor\u2019s race might seem preordained. But it\u2019s voters who decide elections, not know-it-all columnists<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Two of that breed, Mark Z. Barabak<\/a> and Anita Chabria<\/a>, can\u2019t see into the future. But they can try to make sense of what just passed, starting with a primary season that was a strange mix of ennui<\/a> and white knuckles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Barabak<\/b>: So Anita, now that the election is over how are you feeling? Relieved? Giddy? Depressed?<\/p>\n

Chabria:<\/b> Tired, with five months to go. And while it\u2019s true neither of us can see into the future, it\u2019s not too much of a long shot to predict that in a state where registered Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans, the next governor will likely be blue.<\/p>\n

So while the primary was bruising and confusing<\/a>, the general election will be much more predictable \u2014 it\u2019s Becerra\u2019s to lose, and he\u2019d have to try really hard to do that. <\/p>\n

But here\u2019s what I\u2019ll be looking for in the lead up to November: How far will Hilton go to capitalize on this moment for personal gain? There are plenty of real issues to be discussed where the Republican-Democrat divide could offer worthy debate. What should we do about gas prices<\/a>? What is the right balance between environmental regulation and building housing<\/a>?<\/p>\n

But my fear is, with little chance of winning, Hilton will instead focus on boosting his MAGA credentials<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In the past week, we\u2019ve seen him dive headfirst into voter-fraud conspiracies<\/a>, following the lead of President Trump<\/a>. Hilton\u2019s campaign is providing Trump with the biggest platform for this false propaganda of rigged elections<\/a> that California has ever endured. <\/p>\n

That is bad for our state and bad for democracy<\/a>, and it\u2019s troubling that we will likely be subjected to these lies \u2014 and that California could be used to further erode voting rights nationally \u2014 for the entire summer leading up to the midterms. <\/p>\n

What will you be keeping an eye on?<\/p>\n

Barabak<\/b>: How Becerra spends the next five months.<\/p>\n

One presumes he\u2019s smart enough not to take anything for granted. Meaning he won\u2019t spend the time between now and Nov. 3 at some swank beach resort<\/a>, sipping one of those colorful cocktails<\/a> with a little paper parasol while musing over his inaugural address.<\/p>\n

So it will be interesting to see how Becerra campaigns and whether he uses the next several months to build a mandate and also to prepare California voters for the rough road ahead. <\/p>\n

Becerra is smart enough, one would think, not to run as Mr. Sky Is Falling and tell voters, \u201cBoy, oh, boy things are really gonna suck going forward.\u201d But the next governor is going to face some really tough challenges, including a structural budget deficit<\/a> that\u2019s probably going to require both painful cuts and unpopular tax hikes.<\/p>\n

On top of that, there are the inevitable disasters, be they earthquake, fire or flood<\/a>, the latter quite possibly exacerbated this winter by what may be an epic El Ni\u00f1o<\/a>. There\u2019s also the continued challenge of dealing with a president who treats California<\/a> the way a dog regards a fire hydrant.<\/p>\n

Finally, there\u2019s the unknowable but certain catastrophes the next governor will face<\/a>.<\/p>\n

All of it makes you wonder why anyone would want the job \u2014 though Steyer panted after it enough to burn through more than $215 million<\/a> of his fortune in a bonfire of vanity.<\/p>\n

Chabria<\/b>: Steyer was bashed for being a self-funded billionaire<\/a>, but what his support showed is that there is a significant contingent of voters who are tired of the status quo<\/a> and want a governor with bold ideas. <\/p>\n

California definitely faces many problems, but we are also historically a state that pushes forward on hard issues<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Universal healthcare and standing our climate ground<\/a> in the face of federal rollbacks were two of Steyer\u2019s big talking points, along with standing up to corporate influence<\/a>. Becerra now inherits those thorny problems if he wants to form a more cohesive Democratic base. <\/p>\n

Becerra hasn\u2019t yet offered up his vision of the Golden State, as you point out. As much as it may benefit Hilton to focus on Trump in coming months, the same could be true for Becerra. <\/p>\n

Why get into messy policy when you can run on opposing MAGA in a very blue state<\/a>? I fear the next few months will be more about Trump than California. <\/p>\n

Barabak<\/b>: That\u2019s a charitable way to look at $teyer\u2019s campaign. <\/p>\n

Sure, he had plenty of ideas, though I think the promise of delivering universal healthcare \u2014 a political nonstarter<\/a> \u2014 was cheap pandering, not visionary leadership.<\/p>\n

There\u2019s no shortage of people with good ideas. The only reason anyone paid attention to Steyer, who\u2019s never served in any elected office, was the obscene amount of money he spent on his luxury-class ego trip. So it pleases me voters didn\u2019t reward his arrogance or buy his billionaire-turned-populist, \u201cAmazing Grace\u201d spiel. (\u201cI once was blind, but now I see.\u201d) <\/p>\n

And I\u2019m be gladder still that voters showed \u2014 once again<\/a> \u2014 the governor\u2019s office is not for sale.<\/p>\n

I do agree, however, that Becerra should to more than just cry MAGA! MAGA! MAGA! for the next five months, as if that incantation is magic and will solve all our problems. That applies, by the way, to Democratic candidates everywhere.<\/p>\n

All of that said, we should note the governor\u2019s race has yet to be officially decided and Steyer still has at least a theoretical possibility of slipping into the top two.<\/p>\n

What do you think about California\u2019s prolonged, much-derided long ballot count<\/a>? Is the criticism warranted?<\/p>\n

Chabria<\/b>: First, we\u2019ll have to agree to disagree. California is on a healthcare cliff<\/a> and even middle-class Americans (not just Californians) can\u2019t afford either insurance or care. <\/p>\n

Single-payer may be a dream, but it\u2019s my dream \u2014 for my kids, for my community and for my state, because healthcare shouldn\u2019t be just for the rich and that is increasingly the direction we are going. So any politician, Steyer included, who fights for inclusion rather than accepting exclusion will get my consideration. <\/p>\n

And let\u2019s be real \u2014 self-funded or corporate-funded \u2014 our elections are, to their detriment, too much about money. My outrage is for the 2010 Citizens United Supreme Court decision<\/a>, which unleashed the current no-limits mess and created a system in which it requires hundreds of millions from somewhere, anywhere to run for our highest offices. <\/p>\n

But back to ballots: Slow is not fraud. Slow is not bad if it\u2019s accurate<\/a>. Slow allows for greater voter participation by allowing mail-in ballots, and carefully checking all ballots for problems. Slow takes into account the federal mangling of the post office that has, yes, slowed down our mail<\/a>. <\/p>\n

And, slow happens because most of our county elections offices are understaffed and budget-starved. If you want fast, you\u2019ve got to pay for it. <\/p>\n

So keep your britches on people and don\u2019t buy Trump\u2019s (or Hilton\u2019s) manufactured hype. Every system can be improved, but there\u2019s far worse problems than slow. <\/p>\n

What\u2019s your take on the ballot controversy?<\/p>\n

Barabak<\/b>: Here\u2019s one where we agree.<\/p>\n

California goes out of its way to make it easy to vote, which, I believe, is a very good thing. Kim Alexander of the non-partisan California Voter Foundation, who\u2019s spent decades on the matter, has suggested ways we can have both wide access and a faster count<\/a>, starting with better funding of the state\u2019s over-extended county election offices.<\/p>\n

This prolonged count is something Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Democratic-run Legislature could have anticipated. Shame on them for not doing more to address it.<\/p>\n

Chabria<\/b>: Any final thoughts?<\/p>\n

Barabak<\/b>: Just this. I\u2019ve read the many plaintive pieces written about this boring, wholly-unworthy-of-the-Great-Golden-State<\/a> field of gubernatorial candidates.<\/p>\n

I, too, yearn for that perfect candidate who is firm but flexible, old but youthful in his or her thinking, masculine but also feminine, brilliant but not too smart and larger than life but also totally relatable.<\/p>\n

Maybe in 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The votes are still being tallied but the result of Tuesday\u2019s top-two primary election in California seems pretty…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":808396,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5123],"tags":[249686,205459,277555,1582,276,93619,8988,115316,2961,224,5337,347550,9105,16361,6176,290,286142,277,9111,14164],"class_list":["post-850494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-anita-chabria","tag-barabak","tag-becerra","tag-ca","tag-california","tag-california-governor","tag-election","tag-hilton","tag-la","tag-los-angeles","tag-losangeles","tag-maga-credential","tag-month","tag-november","tag-race","tag-state","tag-steyer","tag-trump","tag-voter","tag-way"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116708376996486801","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850494","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=850494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/850494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/808396"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=850494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=850494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=850494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}