Xavier Becerra and Steve Hilton Advance to California Governor’s Race in November After Slow Primary Count
Favour Bitrus
June 10, 2026
Picture Credit: Tradeoffs
Democrat Xavier Becerra and Trump-backed Republican Steve Hilton have secured the top two spots in California’s gubernatorial primary, the Associated Press determined this week, setting up a November general election to replace term-limited Governor Gavin Newsom.
California held its primary on 2 June, but the state’s notoriously slow vote-counting process meant the results took days to finalize. The AP called Becerra’s advancement on 5 June and confirmed Hilton had secured enough votes to advance on Tuesday, a full week after polls closed. Billionaire philanthropist Tom Steyer, who had been among the leading Democratic contenders heading into the primary, finished third with the AP determining there were insufficient remaining ballots for him to overtake Hilton.
Under California’s top-two primary system, the two candidates with the most votes advance to the general election regardless of party affiliation, meaning voters in November will choose between Becerra and Hilton to fill the state’s highest office.
The primary result settled months of anxiety within the Democratic Party over whether its crowded field of candidates would split the vote sufficiently to allow two Republicans to claim both spots on the November ballot. That concern intensified in April when then-Representative Eric Swalwell, who had been the Democratic frontrunner, suspended his campaign amid reported sexual misconduct allegations he denied. His exit created a period of significant uncertainty about which Democrat would emerge from the packed field.
Becerra, who served as Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Biden, surged in polling in the weeks before the primary and ultimately pulled ahead of the Democratic field. His advancement gives the party a candidate with a well-known name and significant executive and legal experience heading into the general election.
Hilton, a former political strategist for British Prime Minister David Cameron who secured Donald Trump’s endorsement in April, will face long odds in November. California has been governed by a Democrat since 2011, and the Cook Political Report rates the governorship as solidly Democratic, among the seats deemed least likely to change party control this cycle.
