This isn't good. FORMER Fox News host Steve Hilton is now in the lead.....

[a kennedy]

FORMER Fox News host Steve Hilton declared “change is coming” as he moved one step closer to replacing Gavin Newsom as California governor, with early results on Wednesday putting him ahead in the crowded race.

Hilton, who is running as a Republican, played a vital role in former British Prime Minister David Cameron’s rise to power across the pond, as he now seeks to lead California following Governor Gavin Newsom‘s departure.

Early results as of noon Pacific Time showed Hilton at 27.8%, followed by Democrat Xavier Becerra at 25.4% and billionaire Tom Steyer at 19.6%.

Hilton had 1,386,966 votes, while Becerra had 1,267,070, according to the California Secretary of State’s latest unofficial tally.

But the race is far from over, with all 19,788 precincts only partially reporting early Wednesday.

Early results showed Hilton narrowly ahead with nearly 1.4 million votes, followed by Becerra with nearly 1.3 million and Steyer with under 1 million.

https://www.the-sun.com/news/16445440/steve-hilton-california-governor-xavier-becerra/

[blm]

1. Why isn't it good? Math is as expected and favors Dem nominee in Nov.

[a kennedy]

6. Just wish it would have been someone else......

JMHO.

[UpInArms]

8. Truly

Dem votes are 45%+ and guardians of pedophiles are 25%

[Bluetus]

40. Right. Te only way this works for the Guardians of Pedophiles

is if they finish in the top 2 positions.

With about 55% counted (about 60% from red counties and about 50% from blue counties) it is nearing a mathematical impossibility that the GOP could finish 1-2. And there is no realistic possibility that will happen. The only question now is who will be facing Hilton in November.

If we look at the candidates with more than 1%, 5 are Dems, 2 are pedophile supporters. If you add that GOP vote, it only totals 39%. And by the time all the stronger Dem counties are counted, the GOP votes will probably be 35-36% That's s tough climb to win the Gov mansion, no matter how much money they spend. The 5 Dems total significantly over 50%. Is there any reason to believe that Katie Porter voters or Antonio Villaraigosa voters won't come out for Xavier Becerra?

[Bluetus]

31. Exactly. It looks like the perfect scenario for Dems

It is a "Jungle primary" that appears to be heading for a general election with Hilton facing one Dem (either Becerra or Steyer). All the gnashing of teeth was about the possibility that the Dem vote would be so divided that the top 2 finishers would both be Republicans. That ain't happening, and Hilton can't win the November race with 28%

Regardless of which Dem finishes in 2nd place, if even half the voters for the 3rd place finisher go to the Dem running in November, Dems will trounce Hilton.

The Sun is a Murdoch rag. That headline is ignorant.

[struggle4progress]

2. "We can do to California what Trump did to the White House!"

[leftieNanner]

3. Seriously??

This is the jungle primary. Top two will run against each other in the general election in November. Hilton may be number one now, but doubt he will win over all. I think there were something like 60 candidates.

[a kennedy]

9. Hope so.....and yah, there were at least 60.

[Bettie]

16. And the majority of them were

Democrats, so the "blue" vote is split a lot of ways.

[Frasier Balzov]

4. It says something about Newsom's viability.

About Newsom's viability as a presidential candidate.

[mr715]

18. Please explain.

I don't see a connection.

[Frasier Balzov]

25. Why is a Republican leading in an at-large primary?

Because of the questionable popularity of the Democratic incumbent.

This is what Newsom is leaving behind in his wake.

In California.

Where Newsom's presumed popularity should put Becerra ahead by a comfortable margin.

[mr715]

27. It is a jungle primary, and the democratic vote is split 8 ways

I don't think it says very much about anything yet.

If, in the general, Becerra (or Steyer) get less than 55%, I'd completely agree with you.

[spooky3]

28. That's quite an inferential leap. Nt

[Renew Deal]

29. that's not how math works

What is the combined vote of all the Democrats?

[LisaL]

32. No, republican is leading because democrats split the vote.

It's simple math. Democrats, combined, are easily beating republicans combined.

[Lifeafter70]

38. You know how popular my governor is?

The republican party tried to recall him spending tons of cash......it failed miserably.

[Frasier Balzov]

39. But reelected with a smaller margin than his first win.

And that reelection was four years ago.

Not a desirable direction of momentum for a national run.

Pallisades fire and L.A. encampments are just too toxic.

I do think Newsom is an excellent surrogate on the stump.

For somebody else.

[fujiyamasan]

42. Newsom's biggest weakness as a presidential candidate is simply being from California

I don’t think this primary is indicative of anything else.

It just shows that jungle primaries can create some weird skewed primary results. I wouldn’t read much into this.

[senseandsensibility]

5. This is good news.

Add Steyer and all the other Dems' percentages to see what Becerra can get in the general. He will trounce Hilton. There is no way Hilton will get over forty percent.

[a kennedy]

10. So hope you're right.

[chia]

7. Only 55% of the votes have been counted. Later votes will skew Democratic.

Becerra and Steyer together have as of right now 2,400,000 votes, Hilton and Bianco together 1,970,000.

Steyer's made up some ground today, this could get interesting.

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2026-primary-elections/california-governor-results

[karynnj]

11. Not to mention Porter, Mahan and other Democats

should also be added.

[Sympthsical]

24. It wouldn't be impossible for Steyer to come back

But, eh, I'm not sure how likely it is. He'd have to outperform Hilton in the remaining vote by about 11% to overtake him (I did some napkin math with the remaining 4 million votes).

So, again, not impossible. But there would have to be a giant chunk of overwhelmingly Democratic votes who also waited and voted for Steyer in the end. And while I and many others I know did exactly that, what we political junkies do and what your run of the mill voter do are frequently unaligned.

The average voter is really rather tedious and predictable.

But we'll see.

[haele]

12. I won't start paying attention until Friday.

Half of California votes by mail, and there's been a couple incidents of ballot box drop vandalism where they're asking people to check in if they think their ballot had been destroyed during the vandalism.

[NoveltySocks]

13. FWIW, myself and a good chunk of people I know

Voted for Steyer this round as a strategy to try and keep the GOP out of the general. Most of us would have voted for Becerra otherwise. I don't think this is uncommon. I genuinely don't see Hilton winning the general election, though I'd obviously prefer it if we'd managed to eliminate him from contention altogether.

[a kennedy]

33. Yes.....don't want him to even think he'd have a chance.

[Sympthsical]

14. California is generally a 60/40 Dem/Rep state

If you add up all the Democratic votes and all the Republican votes in the primary, you see more or less that 60/40 split.

Come November, you'll see the same in the general. There will be some variation, but 60/40 is going to be the baseline expectation of results.

Mix in we are still relatively early in voting returns. It takes the state forever to count, and due to the chaotic nature of this year's jungle primary, a lot of Democrats held their ballots until later in the cycle.

I expect Hilton's final percentage to be lower than where he currently is.

[a kennedy]

19. *fingers crossed*

[fujiyamasan]

41. Yes, we saw this in 2024

That’s why Trump ended with a popular vote of just under 50%. Of course that didn’t change the outcome (and he still won the plurality), but on election night it looked like he would win a majority of the popular vote too.

[LisaL]

15. Seriously?

Add all votes for democrats, and compare that to the republican total.
Jeez.

[a kennedy]

22. Yup, you're right, silly me, reading clickbait headlines eh??

[LetMyPeopleVote]

17. Hilton being in the lead is meaningless

Any Democrat who makes it through the California Jungle Primary will beat the only repug who is the November race.

[a kennedy]

20. Damn right.....

[LisaL]

21. Exactly.

Democrats are splitting the vote because it's a jungle primary. If you add the total for democrats versus republicans, democrats are easily beating republicans.

[a kennedy]

23. *thumbs up*

[MerryBlooms]

26. I aee it a little differently

Dems are solid leaders. Hilton isn't yet pulling trump's magat base number. We're in the good, so far!

[FHRRK1]

30. Said numerous times, but I will say it again

Add the Dem votes, add the R votes, compare.

I voted yesterday afternoon, held out as long as possible.

Why? Once one Dem was safely polling in the top 2, I went with the Dem polling 2nd. Imagine how many mail in voters did the same.

I purposely did not use candidates names, because it doesn’t matter. If Steyer makes the final two I will need to make a decision. If he doesn’t then decision made, I vote for Becerra.

Edit to add, I can’t see the logic of any Dem voter casting a ballot for Porter or Mahan, or anyone without a chance. What if we run into an issue with a single candidate but that person is the only Dem in the race? I mean it happened only two friggen months ago.

Also, if Repukes aren’t on the ballot for any of the top spots, it seems logical that R turnout would be negatively impacted, thus potential to pick up a close House seat or two.

[kimbutgar]

34. For the first time in a long time I did not mail in my ballot but walked it to the voting center to be counted later

I don’t trust the USPS with my ballot under the current head of the USPS.

[RockRaven]

35. It is completely unconcerning. The 6 main Dems got 56%, the 2 main Repugs got 39%.

I do not think a lot of Steyer or Porter voters will be going for Hilton, any more than Bianco voters will be going for Becerra...

[LisaL]

36. Exactly.

I don't see anything to be concerned about.

[lostincalifornia]

37. Ignore the bullshit MSM. Our jungle primary distorts reality. There were over

60 fricking can dates in the Governor’s race. And candidates like Matt Mahan had no business entering the race at such a late time, but the high tech billionaires gave him free money to run with.

It will. Be Hilton and Becerra in November, and steyers voters will vote for Becerra in the general

[regnaD kciN]

43. Irrelevant...

It only means there were more Democrats running in the race than Republicans. If the margins hold, Becerra will win 60-40 in November.