Hilton, Becerra lead in California gubernatorial primary
Vote counting continued after the California gubernatorial primary, with just over half of the votes cast.
- Republican Steve Hilton currently has a narrow lead over Democrat Xavier Becerra, with more than half of the votes counted.
- Democrat Tom Steyer is in third place and is trying to take advantage of a late surge in Democratic voters to close the gap.
- California election officials are asking for patience, prioritizing accuracy and security over rushing votes.
California will have to wait to learn the final results of the June 2 gubernatorial primary as the nation’s most populous state continues to count votes.
The results could take weeks in the Golden State, which is currently led by Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra, as the Golden State’s large number of mail-in ballots and last-minute surge among liberal voters takes time to count, officials said.
State election officials are notorious for starting processing ballots postmarked by Election Day after in-person voting has concluded. They warned that it could take several weeks to know the final results.
“California election officials are prioritizing voting rights and election security over rushing vote counting,” Secretary of State Shirley Weber said in a June 2 news release. “We call on all Californians to be patient as we have a process by law that guarantees both the right to vote and the integrity of our elections.”
So far, about 56% of the total votes have been counted, and according to the Associated Press, Hilton, a former Fox News commentator, has a one-point lead over Becerra, a member of the Biden administration.
Mr. Hilton received 27.6% of the vote, while Mr. Becerra, who rose sharply in the final stages of the campaign, only received 25.6%. But trailing them is Democrat Tom Steyer, a billionaire climate change activist who is currently in third place with 19.6%.
“There are still about 3.5 million to 4 million votes that have not been counted,” Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data, a nonpartisan voter data company based in Sacramento, told USA TODAY. Mitchell estimates that about 9 million voters participated in the primary, about less than 40% of California’s 23 million registered voters.
“We should definitely know the details by at least Friday,” Mitchell said, adding that the 9 million voter participation is 2 million more than in the 2022 primary, where current Gov. Gavin Newsom easily sought re-election.
Here’s what the nation needs to know while waiting for California’s final preliminary results.
Steyer camp asks to ‘give democracy time’
Mr. Steyer currently trails Mr. Becerra in most counties by about 300,000 votes from the top two, meaning he needs to gain significant ground to catch up, Mr. Mitchell said.
In a June 3 letter provided to USA TODAY, the Steyer campaign reiterated the importance of counting each vote, calling on supporters to ensure their votes were received.
They have more than enough incentives. Steyer’s campaign alone spent more than $200 million, accounting for 64% of all dollars spent in the primary, according to media tracking firm AdImpact.
“There is still much to see, but we will give our democracy time to work,” Steyer campaign manager Heather Hargreaves said in the letter.
“The most important thing we can do while we wait is to visit our state’s vote tracker and confirm that our ballot was received,” Hargreaves added.
Will “Red Mirage” help Steyr?
Some Steyer supporters have argued that Hilton’s current lead is a “red mirage” in which the Republican candidate takes an early lead and subsides as subsequent votes arrive, as many unconvinced Democratic voters waited until Election Day rather than vote by mail early.
But Melissa Michelson, a political science professor at Silicon Valley’s Menlo College, said that’s unlikely to help Steyer’s chances. He said there is usually a backlash when deep-pocketed “big money” or “big tech companies” like Steyer try to influence the outcome of a campaign.
“So it’s very likely, it might be mathematically possible,” Michelson said of Steyer. “He surged early to buy name recognition, but was unable to close the deal as Californians finally took notice and started learning more about the candidate.”
Mitchell said Steyer has a good chance of finishing in the top two, ahead of his primary challengers, and they are also likely to receive more votes.
“He needs to make up about 14 to 15 percentage points, but over 50% of the votes have already been counted,” Mitchell said. “Not only does Mr. Steyer need to receive about 30% of the remaining votes, Becerra or Hilton would need to cut off about 6% of the remaining votes.”
Mr. Michelson gives a very frank assessment. “As far as I can see, voters just don’t want him.”
Hilton allies lament slow voting process
President Donald Trump, who supported Hilton, has long criticized mail-in voting and has repeatedly suggested, without evidence, that it is being used by Democrats to steal U.S. elections.
While some political commentators have dismissed speculation that a flood of votes could push Steyer into the top two, conservative activists are watching closely.
“Let’s say they were planning to steal this from you. Would you sue? If all of a sudden, 100 percent of the ballots were submitted in favor of Xavier or Tom, how would you act?” conservative podcast host Benny Johnson asked Hilton in a June 3 interview.
Hilton criticized how long California’s voting process is taking, but downplayed suggestions by MAGA-influenced media members that corruption was occurring.
“Right now, we don’t see any signs of that,” he said.
Ahead of Election Day, Democrats’ share in late voting, which often determines California’s results, had steadily increased as liberal voters began making their choices.
A month before the election, about 40% of mail-in ballots were from registered Democrats, according to L2 Data, a national voter data company. A week before the election, that percentage had increased to about 53%.
But Hilton said his campaign remains “very confident” there aren’t enough uncounted votes for his Democratic rival to crowd out the Republican this fall.
“Even if we had that kind of effect, it wouldn’t be enough to knock us out of the top two spots,” Hilton said.
