{"id":308740,"date":"2026-05-10T08:09:30","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T08:09:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/308740\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T08:09:30","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T08:09:30","slug":"newsom-and-top-california-democrats-move-behind-the-scenes-in-governors-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/308740\/","title":{"rendered":"Newsom and top California Democrats move behind the scenes in governor\u2019s race"},"content":{"rendered":"

California Democratic leaders have shifted their strategy to prevent their party from being locked out<\/a> of the governor\u2019s race: Instead of thinking about consolidating the field, they have turned to behind-the-scenes operations and political spending aimed at tamping down Republicans and building up Democratic turnout.<\/p>\n

That is letting officials like term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi avoid picking from a field of off-and-on political allies while also saving them from embarrassment if their pick doesn\u2019t win.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople are not passive in terms of watching it happen,\u201d Newsom told CNN on Wednesday in an interview in Sacramento. \u201cThere have obviously been many conversations about this for many months, and people have been watching closely with daily tracking polls, and there\u2019s sort of an organized construct around seeing where things go, and to the extent necessary, taking certain actions to encourage that that\u2019s not the outcome.\u201d<\/p>\n

California\u2019s \u201ctop two\u201d system sends the two highest vote-getters from the June 2 primary election into November regardless of their party affiliation. The splintered field has long given Democrats fear that the two Republicans could advance in the race<\/a>, which is still recalibrating after the exit of Eric Swalwell after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct<\/a>, allegations he has denied.<\/p>\n

But with ballots arriving in Californians\u2019 mailboxes this week, Democrats are now confident based on public and private polling that while Republican candidate Steve Hilton might come in first, both billionaire investor Tom Steyer and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra are well-positioned to come in ahead of Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, the other major Republican in the field.<\/p>\n

\"Candidates,<\/p>\n

Candidates, including Steve Hilton, Tom Steyer, and Xavier Becerra arrive for the start of CNN\u2019s California Gubernatorial Debate on Tuesday, May 5, in Monterey Park, California. Grace Widyatmadja\/CNN – Grace Widyatmadja\/CNN<\/p>\n

According to three people familiar with the efforts, top Democrats are talking to major donors about funding Greater Golden State, an independent expenditure campaign that the Democratic Governors Association helped set up and is backing. One person called the group an \u201cinsurance policy.\u201d<\/p>\n

California campaign finance records<\/a> on Thursday afternoon listed the group as also being called: \u201cHilton for Governor 2026, sponsored by organizations opposing Republican candidates for governor.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group has received $1 million from businessman Bill Bloomfield, who did not respond when CNN emailed him for comment, and $250,000 from the California Service Employees International Union, one of the biggest labor organizations in the state, which earlier in the week jointly endorsed Steyer and Becerra as both \u201cready to stand by us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is once again the party establishment that has controlled CA for the last 16 years that is trying to put its thumb on the scale,\u201d said Hilton\u2019s communications director Hector Barajas.<\/p>\n

Barajas added that he suspects that rather than going after Hilton or Bianco, the money might end up being spent against one Democrat or another to try to make a clear favorite.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe party is not trying to force a specific candidate outcome,\u201d California Democratic Party chair Rusty Hicks told CNN. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to ensure we have a strong Democrat into the general election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pelosi, who weeks ago expressed confidence that a top-two lockout would not happen, remains sure of that, and has no current plans to endorse, a spokesperson told CNN.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Sen. Adam Schiff, who had previously endorsed Swalwell, referred to an early statement saying he is worried about a lockout and committed to preventing one, but did not comment on any update plans. A spokesperson for Sen. Alex Padilla, who had seriously looked at running for governor himself with Newsom\u2019s encouragement, did not respond when asked about his endorsement plans.<\/p>\n

Newsom has privately been working through his thoughts<\/a> about the field but told CNN he does not currently plan to endorse a candidate, though the option remains part of \u201cthe cross-spectrum of considerations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of friends in this race. And I don\u2019t say that lightly: people I\u2019ve quite literally known for decades \u2013 I\u2019ve been in politics a long time. I\u2019ve never had a particular desire to lean in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Newsom explained his endorsement of Josh Fryday in the lieutenant governor\u2019s race two weeks ago was different because he \u201cworks right here,\u201d referring to Fryday\u2019s service in his cabinet as the director of the Peace Corps-style Governor\u2019s Office of Service and Community Engagement.<\/p>\n

\"Josh<\/p>\n

Josh Fryday speaks at the 2026 California Democratic Party State Convention in San Francisco, on February 21. – Jeff Chiu\/AP<\/p>\n

Overall, Newsom said he hasn\u2019t watched any of the governor\u2019s debates, including the one hosted by CNN on Tuesday<\/a>. But his staff told him about when each of the hopefuls was asked to use one word<\/a> Tuesday to describe his performance as governor, though the only answer they\u2019d told him about was from Antonio Villaraigosa, the former Los Angeles mayor and his rival in the 2018 governor\u2019s race, who said \u201cperformative.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhatever. Everyone needs to do what they need to do,\u201d Newsom responded.<\/p>\n

Both Hilton and Bianco rated Newsom a failure. Former Rep. Katie Porter called him \u201cbold,\u201d Steyer called him \u201cprogressive,\u201d and Becerra called him \u201cgame-changing.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for the word that San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan chose \u2013 \u201cincomplete\u201d \u2013 Newsom called that a \u201cfair point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a work in progress governing. There is no having \u2018made it.\u2019 Success is not a place or definition, it\u2019s a direction,\u201d Newsom said, \u201cand so that\u2019s a word I think all of us should be associated with.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more CNN news and newsletters create an account at CNN.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"California Democratic leaders have shifted their strategy to prevent their party from being locked out of the governor\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":308741,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,5402,9,8,28687,18533,24115,457,15641,8669,115081,101,17382,25299,3707],"class_list":["post-308740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-democratic-party","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-chad-bianco","tag-democratic","tag-eric-swalwell","tag-gavin-newsom","tag-monterey-park","tag-nancy-pelosi","tag-party-affiliation","tag-san-francisco","tag-steve-hilton","tag-tom-steyer","tag-xavier-becerra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308741"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}