Some things to remember about the CA Governor Race

[senseandsensibility]

There are a little over a hundred thousand votes separating Becerra and Hilton. That is nothing in a state as big as California. So many mail in ballots remain to be counted, and they traditionally favor Democrats. That's probably even truer this year because of the large number of Dems who held onto to their ballots to make a strategic decision.

And don't expect a quick resolution either. I did hear a pundit refer to waiting until "tonight's batch" of mail in ballots is reported, but later on my local Bay Area station the reporter said that San Francisco will not be updating until tomorrow.

Still, I feel pretty good about what happened last night. My district went for Becerra!

[LisaL]

1. It doesn't really matter how much separates Becerra and Hilton, because top two advance to

the general election. So as long as two of them remain the top two, they both advance.

[senseandsensibility]

2. I know

but it's galling to hear Rs crowing as if Hilton really is more popular in CA than Becerra and is "in first place". All you have to do is add Steyer to Becerra and you can see that Hilton can never get a majority.

[LisaL]

3. Exactly.

Democrats combined are getting a lot more votes than HIlton.

[vanlassie]

23. Which shows just how shockingly ignorant MAGAs are.

[._.]

4. The thing is..

The Dems have a solid lock on both houses of the California legislature. And they don't really care who is Governor. It doesn't matter much at all.

[senseandsensibility]

5. i don't agree with that

The Governor of the largest state in the union that is also the fourth largest economy in the world is a very powerful tool in fighting this administration. Newsom demonstrated that.

[moonscape]

6. As a Californian, I care a lot.

[senseandsensibility]

7. Me too

Don't really get why this would be disputed.

[LoisB]

8. Me too.

[calimary]

20. As a former Californian, I STILL care about that, a lot.

[obamanut2012]

14. Not true -- Arnold did a lot of damage

[NoRethugFriends]

27. Where did you get that idea from?

[FHRRK1]

31. I at first thought the same

But with Trump a R Gov could do a lot of damage. For example off shore drilling, lies about Fed Forrest’s, etc.

Plus all Repukes need to be crushed.

[karynnj]

9. As an out of state person, it is clear that it doesn't matter

Last edited Wed Jun 3, 2026, 08:30 PM - Edit history (1)

who finishes first or second. If you add all the Republicans, it is about 40 percent of the votes where Democrats add to nearly 60. This is exactly the numbers many people have posted as normal.

It will be interesting to get the final results and with more than 40 percent not counted, I notice the NYT and other sources have not counted anyone as in the runoff. The good news is that at least one Democrat will be running.

[senseandsensibility]

10. Yes, that's all true

but I for one wanted a two Dem result! I guess I'm greedy.

[obamanut2012]

12. I think that is still possible, but not probable

I'd say 25-30% chance, but it still could happen.

[karynnj]

13. Clearly would make everyone more comfortable!

I wonder if having just one Democrat might make the party more unified going forward. It would facilitate a narrative that in both California there are fundamental difference between Republicans and Democrats on the economy, affordability, health care etc.

Having both Steyer and Bercerra sounds like it could be a continuation of the attacks of the primary.

[quakerboy]

22. Would it?

While i can see the appeal of a guaranteed D win, I'd rather see Trumpians waste money in California than have it to spend elsewhere while two democrats attack each other.

[wanderer54]

15. Intra-Party Contest

Which would cost extra millions of $ and more bickering between factions

[calimary]

21. No, just forward-thinking.

[moonscape]

28. You know, I did too initially. Now,

I hope it’s Becerra v Hilton. We’ll keep the governorship without having to hear Dems rip each other. Let the Repubs waste $, and selfishly I didn’t enjoy Steyer’s negative strategy towards Becerra, and how disingenuous he was at the end. Wasn’t looking forward to new campaign launching from that baseline.,

[obamanut2012]

11. Sac has barely counted 40%, for example

Yolo 60%, and most of the outstanding votes will be Becerra or Steyer, probably Xavier.

[BigmanPigman]

17. If those who voted for Steyer vote for Becerra

he will get a lot of the votes in Nov. Between the 2 of them they got 49% while Hilton got only 27.8%.


Calif. Open primary
55% of results in
Candidate Percent Votes
Steve Hilton (GOP) 27.8% 1,387,167
Xavier Becerra (Dem) 25.4% 1,267,195
Tom Steyer (Dem) 19.6% 979,066

[senseandsensibility]

29. Yup

and that's going with what's available now. The remaining mail in votes tend to be bluer.

[BigmanPigman]

30. That's another reason I like to

drop my ballot off in person. These "jungle primaries" are ridiculous. I think I heard today that Arnold Schwarzenegger was the one that started this nonsense in 2011.

[BurnDoubt]

18. Pay attention to the "Septic Tank" vote...

the dynamics of political enmity are illustrated by this world-view and how it affects the conduct of Society.
It’s elemental. Some people are Social Animals, and some are not. This is one of the foundations upon which our unstable Society is built.

[Upthevibe]

19. senseandsensibility...........

Thanks for your post.... I think you're absolutely right.

At the beginning of MSNow's coverage last night, Ali Velshi gave a great and concise explanation of how it works out here.

I intentionally waited until yesterday (election day) to drop off my ballot. It was a relief seeing that weirdo Chad Bianca wasn't getting any traction.........Thank God!

[senseandsensibility]

25. Agree about Velshi and I also think we're in a good place

Just wish it didn't take so long to count the votes. As far as Bianco I saw he was winning in Riverside County where I have family. Didn't realize that area was so conservative, but I guess his "hometown crowd" where he is Sheriff came out for him.

[FHRRK1]

32. Riverside County, The 909

One of the handful of R districts in CA.

Exburbs, a lot of commuters who work in LA, Orange, and San Diego Counties.

After the 2020 Census some of us got realigned into a district that had parts of Riverside County.

Luckily with the mid census realignment I got moved back to what was basically the pre 2020 alignment.

The good news, the new district combined two R incumbent seats. One funded by Thiel, the other by Koch, and they spent a shit ton of money to get a net loss of one Seat.

[musette_sf]

24. I dropped my ballot in the drop box yesterday

Waited till the last minute to see how B was doing vs S. Voted for S. Have not yet gotten text verification from the county that my ballot was received, so I expect not even 50% of the votes are counted yet.

[senseandsensibility]

26. yes I haven't gotten verification either

and I mailed mine last week. Edited to add that I went online to check it out and for some reason my e-mail was invalid. So I updated and got the verification that my ballot was received.