{"id":326841,"date":"2026-05-21T22:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/326841\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T22:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T22:38:11","slug":"california-governors-race-hear-from-top-candidates-in-2026-election-republicans-and-democrats-hoping-to-replace-gavin-newsom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/326841\/","title":{"rendered":"California governor’s race: Hear from top candidates in 2026 election, Republicans and Democrats, hoping to replace Gavin Newsom"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — With ballots already mailed out, California gubernatorial candidates are making their last push to gain votes in the highly-contested primary on June 2.<\/p>\n

The stunning collapse of Rep. Eric Swalwell’s California governor campaign upended the wide-open contest and left Democrats with no clear front runner up until recently, with May polls showing former Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra pulling ahead.<\/p>\n

As for the Republicans, Steve Hilton has been holding a steady lead and got a boost in GOP support after getting endorsed by President Donald Trump in early April.<\/p>\n

ABC7 News Eyewitness Political Reporter Monica Madden is aiming to catch up with all of the candidates as they swing through the Bay Area on the campaign trail, watch those full interviews below.<\/p>\n

Here’s a look at the prominent candidates:Chad Bianco (R)<\/p>\n

Riverside County Sheriff and California gubernatorial candidate Chad Bianco sat down with ABC7 Eyewitness News for a 1-on-1 interview.<\/p>\n

Katie Porter (D)<\/p>\n

ABC7 Eyewitness News Political Reporter Monica Madden sits down with California gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter.<\/p>\n

Matt Mahan (D)<\/p>\n

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan sat down for an interview with ABC7, saying he remains confident he can gain traction in the California governor’s race.<\/p>\n

Steve Hilton (R)<\/p>\n

ABC7 Eyewitness News political reporter Monica Madden interviewed Republican California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton one-on-one during a campaign stop in San Jose.<\/p>\n

Tom Steyer (D)<\/p>\n

Steyer is a billionaire who wants billionaires to pay their fair share<\/a>. He said California would not lose its competitive edge even if billionaires leave to shield their private wealth.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

ABC7 Eyewitness News Political Reporter Monica Madden has reached out to Steyer’s campaign and is working on scheduling an interview.<\/p>\n

Tony Thurmond (D)<\/p>\n

Thurmond is California’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction. He’s been elected statewide twice, in 2018 and most recently in 2022, when he earned 63.7% and 5,681,318 votes.<\/p>\n

\"\"Xavier Becerra (D) <\/p>\n

Becerra served as the Secretary of Health and Human Services<\/a> under President Biden — the first Latino in that role. Becerra also served as California Attorney General from 2017 to 2021, and before that was in Congress.<\/p>\n

Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced Wednesday he is running for governor next year.<\/p>\n

ABC7 Eyewitness News Political Reporter Monica Madden has reached out to Becerra’s campaign for an interview and is waiting to hear back.<\/p>\n

Antonio Villaraigosa (D)<\/p>\n

Villaraigosa served as L.A. mayor from 2005 to 2013. He also served as co-chair of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign and chair of the 2012 Democratic National Convention.<\/p>\n

Villaraigosa ran for governor in 2018, the year Gavin Newsom was elected.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

ABC7 Eyewitness News Political Reporter Monica Madden has reached out to Villaraigosa’s campaign and is working on scheduling an interview.<\/p>\n

ABC News, the Associated Press and KGO-TV contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 KGO-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — With ballots already mailed out, California gubernatorial candidates are making their last push to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":326842,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[135864,7,9,8],"class_list":["post-326841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-135864","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326841","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=326841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/326841\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/326842"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=326841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=326841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=326841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}