Hicks did not call on any specific candidates to leave the race, but asked those who continue their campaigns beyond this week to “be prepared to suspend your campaign and endorse another candidate on or before April 15th if your campaign cannot show meaningful progress towards winning the Primary Election in the coming weeks.”
The chair’s plea comes weeks after Democratic delegates failed to agree on an endorsement at the state party convention in San Francisco.
Since then, polling in the race has been largely static, with investor Tom Steyer (who has spent tens of millions of dollars on television ads) being the only Democrat to see significant traction in recent surveys.
Rep. Eric Swalwell, former Rep. Katie Porter and Steyer were the top polling Democrats in polls released last month by Emerson College and the Public Policy Institute of California.
Below that trio is a crowded field of Democratic hopefuls that includes Thurmond and Yee, along with former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, San José Mayor Matt Mahan and former Assemblymember Ian Calderon.
Meanwhile, Hilton and Bianco have faced little competition for the Republican primary vote.
Jon Slavet, a GOP tech entrepreneur who was polling at around 1%, suspended his campaign on Tuesday.
From left, Xavier Becerra, Steve Hilton, Matt Mahan, Tom Steyer, Tony Thurmond, Antonio Villaraigosa and Betty Yee stand on the stage during the California gubernatorial candidate debate on Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in San Francisco. (Laure Andrillon/AP Photo)
“The last few months have been a gift,” said Slavet, in a video posted on social media. “It’s also shown me that building a winning coalition, brick by brick, will take time.”
With Slavet out of the field, a primary election simulator created by Paul Mitchell, vice president of Political Data Inc., put the chances of a Republican vs. Republican general election at roughly 25%.
In his letter, Hicks said a Bianco-Hilton general election would not only upend Democratic leadership of state government, but also depress Democratic turnout in the California congressional districts that the party is hoping to flip in November.
“The result would present a real risk to winning the congressional seats required and imperil Democrats’ chances to retake the House, cut Donald Trump’s term in half, and spare our Nation from the pain many have endured since January 2025,” Hicks wrote. “We simply can’t let that happen.”