It’s official: Democratic former Health Secretary Xavier Becerra will face Republican former Fox News host Steve Hilton in the November runoff election to be the next governor of California.
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After a week of vote counting, The Associated Press determined that Hilton had padded enough of a lead over billionaire philanthropists Tom Steyer to move on. The Associated Press determined on Friday that Becerra had garnered enough of the vote to move forward in the top slot.
As of Tuesday evening, more than 8.3 million ballots had been counted in the race, with 2.3 million votes in favor of Becerra and nearly 2.1 million for Hilton, according to the California Secretary of State’s Office. Steyer, who briefly appeared to have a path forward if enough of the outstanding vote broke his way, trailed behind by less than 200,000 votes. The billionaire’s self-funded campaign was the most expensive in California primary history, having spent more than $200 million on his bid.
A matchup between Becerra and Hilton bodes well for the former health secretary’s chances of succeeding the term-limited fellow Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom as Democratic voters outnumber Republicans in the state by nearly 2-to-1. California has not elected a Republican to a statewide office since 2006 with former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s reelection.
Becerra, who was one of only two candidates ever to hold statewide office in his role as California attorney general, saw an unexpected surge of support in April following ex-Rep. Eric Swalwell dropping out of the race over sexual misconduct allegations.
The 68-year-old Democrat referred to himself as an “underdog” who stayed in the race despite calls to drop out in his election night speech to supporters. In a June 5 video posted to social media after he had advanced to the runoff, Becerra said that “California has spoken loudly and proudly.”
“We want a working class governor who cannot be bought, cannot be bullied and will never back down,” he said. “You stayed in the fight with me and on election night we proved this state is worth fighting for.”
Hilton, 56, said in a news release after The Associated Press called the race that “change is coming.”
“My mission is clear: to go to Sacramento, clean up the corruption, cut your costs, help your business, and fix our schools,” he said. “In the weeks ahead, we will lay out my plan in detail to make our state Califordable – particularly for workers and small businesses. We will draw a powerful contrast with Xavier Becerra, who represents more of the same cost, incompetence, and corruption.”
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The Democratic Governors Association said in a statement Tuesday evening that Hilton is the “last person Californians need or want as their governor,” referring to him as a “Trump-endorsed extremist.”
“The DGA has wasted no time holding Hilton accountable for his dangerous MAGA agenda, and we look forward to ensuring he doesn’t get anywhere near the governor’s office this November,” Executive Director Meghan Meehan-Draper said.
Steyer conceded the race in a statement Tuesday evening.
“It’s now clear that we do not have the votes necessary to advance to the general election in November,” Steyer’s statement said. “I’m proud of how we never compromised our values or lowered our sights for what California can and should be.”
Two days after Election Day, Hilton scolded state officials for how long it takes to count ballots. In California, ballots must be post marked on Election Day and received within a week to be counted. A new state law passed last year gives county election officials a 13-day deadline to count ballots, however, they still have 30 days to certify the final results.
“California’s election system has become another monument to government incompetence,” Hilton said in a June 4 news release. “We are the fourth-largest economy in the world, yet somehow we can’t tell people who won an election without making them wait a month. It’s insane.”
During a press conference in front of the Santa Mateo County Registrar of Voters, Hilton called on Newsom to establish an election support corps to help counties who were seeing counting delays. Newsom’s office told multiple news outlets in response that “it’s concerning that a candidate for governor doesn’t know the governor has nothing to do with counting ballots.”
The race to succeed Newsom was one of California’s most wide-open governor’s contests in years with more than 60 names on the ballot. Several Democratic heavyweights like former Vice President Kamala Harris and Sen. Alex Padilla passed on a bid, and no frontrunner clearly emerged until the final weeks before the election.
The general election between Becerra and Hilton will be held on Nov. 3 and the next governor will be inaugurated in January 2027.
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