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Republican governor candidate Steve Hilton listens during a forum by the California Hispanic Chambers of Commerce in Sacramento on April 14.<\/p>\n
HECTOR AMEZCUA<\/p>\n
hamezcua@sacbee.com<\/p>\n
California Democratic Party chair Rusty Hicks repeated his call for low-polling candidates to drop out<\/a> of the governor\u2019s race to prevent the possibility of a Republican advancing out of the June 2 primary.<\/p>\n On Monday, former state controller Betty Yee withdrew from the race<\/a>, citing a lack of resources and voter disinterest in competency or experience, which she had built her platform around. She had been polling in the low single digits since launching her campaign two years ago.<\/p>\n Hicks told reporters on a media call that more Democratic candidates should follow suit as a party-commissioned poll showed a plurality of voters<\/a> were undecided (20%) or favored the two major Republicans, Fox News pundit Steve Hilton (16%) and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco (14%).<\/p>\n The poll showed billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer and former Attorney General Xavier Becerra tied at 13% support, followed by former Rep. Katie Porter (10%), San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan (5%) and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa (2%).<\/p>\n Yee and State Superintendent Tony Thurmond both were polling at 1%, along with former Rep. Eric Swalwell, whose campaign collapsed after five women accused him of sexual misconduct. The survey of 1,200 likely voters was conducted last week via phone and web, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.83 points.<\/p>\n Yee had previously resisted calls for her to step aside, saying the field was unsettled, while Thurmond, who is Black, said such calls<\/a> were targeting candidates of color.<\/p>\n Becerra had also been polling at low digits until he received a recent boost<\/a> from polls, social media attention and as members of Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s political team reconsidered his campaign. Hicks said he had no regrets about asking lagging candidates to drop out.<\/p>\n In a state where Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans and have held a legislative supermajority for a decade<\/a>, Hicks said it was a \u201cdesperate times, desperate measures\u201d moment for the party to coalesce around a frontrunner.<\/p>\n Newsom has so far declined to endorse a successor after he is termed out of office at the end of this year. CNN reported his reservations with the current field<\/a>, including concerns about Becerra\u2019s performance as Attorney General, worries that Porter would drive business away from the state and that Steyer held too wildly divergent political positions to govern effectively.<\/p>\n Hicks said he was hearing from a variety of people within the party and holding \u201cno shortage of conversations\u201d to force a shift in dynamics.<\/p>\n \u201cAs the old saying goes, \u2018if it wasn\u2019t for the last minute, nothing would get done,\u2019\u201d he told reporters. \u201cI do think that we are moving closer to seeing candidates move into leading positions. Certainly, this race looks a lot different than it looked like two weeks ago or even six weeks ago when we first begin this process, and so I expect it to change in coming weeks.\u201d<\/p>\n He said candidates were just starting to spend resources and voters were beginning to pay attention in \u201cnew and different ways,\u201d paving the way for the field to shift again.<\/p>\n \u201cI am aware, I am concerned, and (I am) certainly taking the appropriate steps to ensure that we send a strong Democrat into the general election, and I believe that\u2019s what we\u2019ll do,\u201d Hicks said.<\/p>\n This story was originally published April 20, 2026 at 2:51 PM.<\/p>\n Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n
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