{"id":1822,"date":"2026-06-01T09:33:41","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:33:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/california-contests-for-governor-la-mayor-head-toward-primary-election-with-no-clear-leaders\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T09:33:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:33:41","slug":"california-contests-for-governor-la-mayor-head-toward-primary-election-with-no-clear-leaders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/losangelesmovinginsider.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/01\/california-contests-for-governor-la-mayor-head-toward-primary-election-with-no-clear-leaders\/","title":{"rendered":"California contests for governor, LA mayor head toward primary election with no clear leaders"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 California spiraled toward a primary election Tuesday with its two marquee races defined by uncertainty and with a pair of outsider candidates looking to crack open the state\u2019s durable Democratic hierarchy.<\/p>

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In the governor\u2019s race, former Fox News TV host and British political adviser Steve Hilton is urging Republicans to unite behind him as he fights for one of two spots in the November election alongside two Democrats, billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer and former state attorney general Xavier Becerra.<\/p>\n

In the Los Angeles race for mayor, reality TV personality Spencer Pratt is hoping to turn his insurgent campaign into a surprise upset of Democratic Mayor Karen Bass. The two are tightly clustered with Nithya Raman, a progressive city council member running to Bass\u2019 political left.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t give up on LA,\u201d Pratt told applauding supporters at a block party Sunday. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats once feared that the party\u2019s large field of gubernatorial candidates could open a path for two Republicans to advance to November. But now, in the campaign\u2019s closing days, Hilton is warning the opposite could happen \u2014 what he called a \u201cdoomsday scenario\u201d in which only Democrats advance.<\/p>\n

Hilton is pleading with his chief Republican rival, county Sheriff Chad Bianco, to pull out of the contest, fearing an all-Democratic ticket would dampen GOP turnout across the state and reorder races for Congress and the Legislature.<\/p>\n

Becerra and Steyer locking out a Republican from the November ballot would be \u201ca disaster for California, it means no change. It\u2019s a disaster for everyone who\u2019s running as a Republican up and down the ballot,\u201d Hilton said on the social platform X.<\/p>

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Mail voting began in early May, but just 15% of voters had returned their ballots as of Sunday. That\u2019s left the candidates seeing room for a last-minute shake-up in the race\u2019s closing days.<\/p>\n

A vulnerable mayor looks for second term in LA<\/h4>\n

In heavily Democratic Los Angeles, Bass\u2019 shaky first term has left her vulnerable. She points to a drop in homelessness, though encampments and rows of rusting RVs remain a common sight in many neighborhoods. Meanwhile, she\u2019s still trying to overcome lingering fallout from the 2025 Palisades Fire, the most destructive in Los Angeles history. Bass was in Ghana as part of a presidential delegation when the flames ignited. Pratt lost his home in the blaze and has made the fire and the city\u2019s recovery a foundation of his campaign.<\/p>\n

At Pratt\u2019s block party, Vivian Escalante, a historian who lives in the heavily Hispanic Boyle Heights neighborhood adjacent to downtown, said the quality of life has been sliding for years \u2014 dirtier streets, more homeless encampments and a lack of pride in the neighborhood she\u2019s called home all her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s gotten completely worse,\u201d Escalante said, with a Pratt cap perched on her head. The Democratic Party, she said, has \u201ccompletely abandoned us.\u201d<\/p>

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The LA race is officially nonpartisan, but Bass is a Democrat, as is Raman, who made a last-minute decision to challenge her one-time ally and is among the top group of contenders.<\/p>\n

Pratt, who rose to fame alongside his wife, Heidi Montag, on \u201cThe Hills,\u201d is a registered Republican who has received a nod of approval \u2014 if not an outright formal endorsement \u2014 from President Donald Trump. He has sought to distance himself from national politics, saying his concerns are strictly within city limits.<\/p>\n

A University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Governmental Studies poll, co-sponsored by The Los Angeles Times, found Bass tightly clustered with Raman and Pratt, with other candidates trailing. The poll of 1,351 likely voters conducted between May 19 and May 24 gave no candidate a statistically significant edge.<\/p>\n

The city is at a difficult juncture.<\/p>\n

Hollywood jobs have been decamping for years for cheaper filming locations. A downtown renaissance was crushed by extended pandemic closures and many office buildings remain desperate for tenants. The city has long struggled to provide basic services, whether paving buckled streets and fixing sidewalks or keeping streetlights on.<\/p>\n