{"id":320246,"date":"2026-05-17T17:54:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-17T17:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/320246\/"},"modified":"2026-05-17T17:54:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-17T17:54:15","slug":"whats-next-in-the-still-undecided-california-governors-race-insiders-weigh-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/320246\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s next in the still-undecided California governor\u2019s race? Insiders weigh in"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Inside California Politics) \u2014 With a new poll showing a new top candidate in the California governor\u2019s race, Inside California Politics host Nikki Laurenzo spoke this week with two political insiders about the state of the campaign.<\/p>\n

In that survey, conducted by Emerson College Polling in partnership with Inside California Politics, Democratic candidate Xavier Becerra took a narrow lead in the race.<\/p>\n

Read more: New poll shows major shift in California governor\u2019s race<\/a><\/p>\n

Both analysts \u2014 Republican strategist Rob Stutzman and Democratic consultant Andrew Acosta \u2014 weighed in on whether Becerra\u2019s viral KTLA interview could hurt the now-top-polling candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you had seen a transcript of that with no names attached, you could easily conclude that was Donald Trump talking to a reporter,\u201d Stutzman said of Becerra\u2019s pre-interview question<\/a> of whether it was for a \u201cprofile piece\u201d and not a \u201cgotcha piece.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stutzman addressed the role Dana Williamson\u2019s plea deal<\/a> will play in the race. He noted that Williamson\u2019s attorney laid the conspiracy at the feet of Sean McCluskie, not Becerra.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt certainly helps him a great deal, but it\u2019s not going to stop his opponents from attacking,\u201d Stutzman said.<\/p>\n

Read more: Former Newsom, Becerra aide pleads guilty to 3 of 23 counts in corruption trial<\/a><\/p>\n

Even though Tom Steyer\u2019s support has shot up from 4% in December to 17% \u2014 and a virtual tie for second \u2014 in May, Acosta says the Democratic billionaire may have \u201chit a ceiling.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think voters are like, \u2018We\u2019ve heard everything we can about Steyer. What\u2019s left?\u201d Acosta said.<\/p>\n

Katie Porter has faced criticism for a recent ad that elevated a negative viral moment showing the then-congresswoman berating a staffer. Stutzman, however, said the choice to run the ad shows Porter\u2019s campaign had no other choice in a tough position.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat that means is the campaign discovered, \u2018We can\u2019t get past this, so we have to talk about it,’\u201d Stutzman said. \u201cShe\u2019s literally on debate stages and in ads saying, \u2018Let\u2019s talk about my temperament,\u2019 when no one else is saying, \u2018Hey, let\u2019s talk about your temperament.\u2019 But the voters have made judgements about her temperament.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is Porter held to a different standard than her male rivals, as several recent columns have suggested? Acosta says he\u2019s heard from Democratic women voters who say they did not like Porter\u2019s treatment of her staffer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe all work for tough bosses, but that\u2019s one of those [moments] where it probably crossed the line for a lot of people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Democratic voters are afraid of making a mistake, Acosta said, so they\u2019re holding onto their ballots until the last moment. The slow pace of returning ballots shows that although just 12% of voters are undecided, and many say they could still change their minds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing it statewide; turnout is not going through the roof,\u201d Acosta said.<\/p>\n

As for the two Republicans in the race, Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, Stutzman says they \u201creally don\u2019t like each other\u201d but seem to have a truce in televised debates as they know the best shot at victory for the party is the increasingly unlikely scenario where both finish in the top two.<\/p>\n

Watch the full episode of Inside California Politics in the media player at the top of the page.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40 News. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Inside California Politics) \u2014 With a new poll showing a new top candidate in the California governor\u2019s race,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320247,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[100894,7,2926,9,8,400,118701,3707],"class_list":["post-320246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-andrew-acosta","tag-california","tag-california-governor","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-california-politics","tag-emerson-college-polling","tag-xavier-becerra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320246","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=320246"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320246\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}