Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra were leading on Wednesday morning in preliminary unofficial results and, judging by the early returns, appeared positioned to advance to November’s California gubernatorial election. The winner will succeed Democrat Gavin Newsom, who is barred from running again by term limits, and will lead the most populous U.S. state, as well as one of the world’s largest economies.
Hilton, a former British political strategist who became an American conservative commentator and Fox News Channel host, has been endorsed by President Donald Trump. Becerra previously served as California attorney general and later as a cabinet secretary in former President Joe Biden’s administration. Both remained ahead on Wednesday morning, though votes were still being counted and the results had not yet been certified.
“Change is coming to California, and it is long overdue,” Hilton told supporters at his primary-night watch party in Orange County.
In an interview with Fox News Digital after his speech, Hilton said his campaign had been helped by speaking to voters with “honest, simple truths.” “Everything is too expensive in California. We’re going to cut people’s costs,” he promised.
Becerra, who could become California’s first Latino governor since Romualdo Pacheco briefly held the office in 1875 if he wins in November, told supporters that his campaign’s success was “more than a Hollywood ending. More than a historic milestone. It is the everyday miracle of life in a state that makes the impossible inevitable. And I could not have done it without you.”
California, where Democrats dominate, uses a so-called “jungle” primary system: all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, appear on the same ballot, and the two who receive the most votes advance to the general election.
Billionaire hedge-fund founder Tom Steyer, who became an environmental activist and unsuccessfully sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, was in third place as vote-counting continued. He spent more than $200 million of his own money on his gubernatorial campaign. More than $80 million in outside funding was also directed into the race.
Other notable names were among the 61 candidates on the ballot: Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican, and several Democrats—former Representative Katie Porter, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.
Hilton is hoping to become the first Republican to win a California gubernatorial election since Arnold Schwarzenegger’s re-election in 2006.
During his remarks, Hilton showed the lining of his jacket, decorated with the U.S. and California flags, and said Schwarzenegger had advised him years earlier to wear such a jacket. “Arnold, I did this for you,” Hilton said.
Former Vice President Kamala Harris and Senator Alex Padilla had considered running for governor as Democrats, but both announced last year that they would not enter the race. As a result, for the first time in more than a quarter-century, California had no obvious front-runner for governor.
For much of last year, the campaign remained overshadowed by other events: destructive fires in the Los Angeles area and the Trump administration’s immigration raids, which dominated headlines in California.
Early this year, however, the race returned to the center of attention after one of the leading candidates, Democrat and House member Eric Swalwell, withdrew from the election and then left Congress following several accusations of sexual assault and harassment, which he continues to deny.
Swalwell’s exit from the race opened space first for Steyer’s rise in the polls and then for Becerra’s.
Bianco, who launched his campaign in April last year, long remained among the leading contenders, but Trump’s endorsement of Hilton in early April appears to have weakened his momentum.