SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The race for California governor this fall will be a battle between a Democrat promising to cement the state's status as a stronghold of liberal policies and a Republican pledging to dramatically reverse course in the nation's most populous state.
Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News commentator backed by President Donald Trump, has won enough votes to advance to the general election, The Associated Press determined Tuesday. He'll face Democrat Xavier Becerra, a former state attorney general and health secretary under President Joe Biden.
The winner will succeed Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom to lead the state that is home to roughly 39 million people, Hollywood, a booming tech industry and a vast farming region that helps feed the nation. By itself California represents one of the largest economies in the world.
The next governor will have to take on stubborn issues including a high cost of living, housing shortages and homelessness.
Democrats outnumber Republicans in California
Hilton is banking his campaign on voters being frustrated enough to do something they have not done in two decades: elect a Republican to statewide office. The last time that happened was when Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger won a second term in 2006. Hilton has campaigned as an outsider who would bring change after more than 15 years of one-party rule.
“If you’re happy with the way that California is being run, Xavier Becerra is your guy,” Hilton said in a recent interview. “If you want change, vote for me.”
But simply having an 'R' next to his name stacks the odds against Hilton, since Republicans make up just about 25% of registered voters compared with Democrats' 45%. Trump's endorsement likely boosted Hilton with GOP voters during the primary but could be a major liability in the general election.
Becerra was a chief architect of the state's resistance to Trump during the first years of his presidency after then-Gov. Jerry Brown, a Democrat, appointed him attorney general in 2017. In that role Becerra filed at least 120 legal actions against the federal government.
Becerra has made pushing back against Trump's incursions a central piece of this campaign, as the president has repeatedly gone after the state during his second term including by curbing a signature plan to reduce planet-warning emissions from cars, withholding aid for wildfire recovery and suing over state policies supporting transgender student-athletes.
“Donald Trump is doubling down on decline and counting on people being too fearful, distracted or gullible to fight back,” Becerra told a crowd on primary night. “As governor I will never back down from the threats of small cowards in big offices.”
Results conclude a chaotic primary
It took nearly a week to determine the general election matchup for governor due to California's notoriously slow vote-counting process. Ballots are mailed to every eligible voter and they are counted if they are postmarked by Election Day and arrive at an election office within seven days. Counties process and count mail ballots in roughly the order they are received, so the last ones returned are the last ones counted.
The AP determined Friday that Becerra had won enough votes to advance to November. Hilton had been vying for a second spot against Democrat Tom Steyer, a billionaire hedge fund manager turned climate activist who poured $215 million of his personal fortune into the campaign and blasted Californians' screens with ads.
Steyer steadily narrowed Hilton’s lead for second place every day since Election Day on June 2. But he was never on track to fully close the gap. The AP advanced Hilton to the general election on Tuesday after determining there weren’t enough outstanding votes for Steyer to catch Hilton.
Election data shows that large numbers of Democratic voters held onto their ballots until the final days of the election. That helped explain why Steyer did better than Hilton in the votes counted after Election Day.
Steyer conceded Tuesday and urged his supporters to back Becerra.
“It would be a travesty for Steve Hilton to win the governorship, and Californians must unite behind Xavier Becerra to ensure he does not,” he said in a statement.
Affordability is a central issue
How to make the state more affordable was a major theme throughout the primary. Hilton promised to make Californians’ first $100,000 free of income tax, create a loan program for first-time homebuyers and freeze in-state tuition at public colleges. Becerra, meanwhile, said he would declare states of emergency to address high energy costs and housing shortages and to freeze home insurance rates.
The two have one thing in common: They both come from immigrant backgrounds.
Hilton moved to California from the United Kingdom in 2012 and became a citizen in 2021. Back in the U.K., he was an adviser to Conservative Party officials including former Prime Minister David Cameron.
Hilton has poked fun at his British accent by comparing himself to the Austria-born Schwarzenegger.
“I know that some of you may be watching and saying, ‘Who is this guy with a funny accent?’” he said on election night. “Well you know there was actually an immigrant who was governor of California not that long ago.”
Becerra was born to Mexican immigrant parents in Sacramento and also raised there. He said his family’s story mirrored his “underdog” campaign for governor.
“Like my parents, I never gave up,” he told supporters on election night. “I never stopped believing in the beaconlike goodness of California. And thankfully, neither did you.”
Becerra would be the state’s first Latino governor since the late 1800s.
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Associated Press journalists Nicholas Riccardi in Denver and Stephen Ohlemacher in Washington contributed.
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