{"id":331530,"date":"2026-05-25T12:15:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T12:15:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/331530\/"},"modified":"2026-05-25T12:15:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T12:15:06","slug":"california-dems-arent-stressing-about-gubernatorial-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/331530\/","title":{"rendered":"California Dems aren\u2019t stressing about gubernatorial race"},"content":{"rendered":"

With just over\u00a0a week until the June 2 primary, California House Democrats\u00a0are growing increasingly confident they\u2019ll have one or even two Democrats emerge in the runoff for the Golden State governorship.<\/p>\n

For months,\u00a0a crowded Democratic field and two viable Republicans meant it was possible that\u00a0no Democrats would advance<\/a>\u00a0to the general election in this blue-state stronghold. House races across California are key to who controls the chamber next year, especially after Democrats there\u00a0redrew the congressional map<\/a>\u00a0to add up to five new blue seats.<\/p>\n

But the combination\u00a0of President\u00a0Donald Trump\u00a0endorsing\u00a0<\/a>Steve Hilton<\/a>,<\/a>\u00a0along with former Rep.\u00a0Xavier Becerra\u00a0(D-Calif.) and\u00a0Tom Steyer\u00a0pulling away from the field,<\/a>\u00a0has eased Democratic fears.<\/p>\n

California Democrats\u00a0on Capitol Hill told us they see Becerra as most likely to advance to the general, with Steyer as the second most likely Democrat.<\/p>\n

Things weren\u2019t always going\u00a0this smoothly. For a period in early spring, the sprawling Democratic field meant there was an outside chance that Hilton and GOP candidate\u00a0Chad Bianco\u00a0would be the two general-election candidates.<\/p>\n

Crowded house.\u00a0Part of the problem was that\u00a0California\u2019s Hill delegation\u00a0never solidified around a single candidate. Many Democrats wanted\u00a0Kamala Harris\u00a0or Sen.\u00a0Alex Padilla\u00a0(D-Calif.) to jump in. That never happened.<\/p>\n

A number\u00a0of members, including Sen.\u00a0Adam Schiff\u00a0(D-Calif.), had started to coalesce around former Rep.\u00a0Eric Swalwell\u00a0(D-Calif.) in the opening months of 2026. That fell apart when Swalwell\u00a0dropped out amid a sexual assault scandal.<\/a><\/p>\n

Steyer rose\u00a0in the polls after pouring\u00a0nearly $200 million of his own money<\/a>\u00a0into the race. Becerra also surged after Swalwell\u2019s exit.<\/p>\n

Other Democrats\u00a0endorsed former Rep.\u00a0Katie Porter\u00a0(D-Calif.), while a handful are behind San Jose Mayor\u00a0Matt Mahan.<\/p>\n

But even supporters\u00a0of the lower-polling Porter and Mahan admitted their candidates didn\u2019t have a chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like,\u00a0if you believe the polling, that Becerra is pulling away a little bit,\u201d said Rep.\u00a0Dave Min\u00a0(D-Calif.), who has endorsed Porter. \u201cIt might end up being him and Hilton; might end up being him and Steyer. I thought Katie would get more momentum after the Swalwell stuff, but that didn\u2019t happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Ami Bera\u00a0(D-Calif.), who endorsed Mahan, predicted that Becerra and Hilton will advance to the general election.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like Xavier\u00a0is in a pretty strong position and Steyer\u2019s a little bit behind him,\u201d Bera said. \u201cMatt just didn\u2019t quite break through. He probably got into the race too late.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Mahan\u00a0supporters, like Rep.\u00a0Sam Liccardo\u00a0(D-Calif.), blamed Democratic fears of a general election lockout for Mahan\u2019s failure to launch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were excessively utilized\u00a0by some party insiders who wanted to favor frontrunners,\u201d Liccardo said. \u201cIt\u2019s remarkable how we\u2019ve seen the numbers of everyone who is not a frontrunner drop dramatically in the polls in a matter of just a few days. It seems hardly coincidental.\u201d<\/p>\n

The frontrunners\u2019 takes:\u00a0Rep.\u00a0Salud Carbajal\u00a0(D-Calif.), an early Becerra endorser, predicted Becerra would win the governor\u2019s race.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll polling\u00a0is showing that they want somebody who has the experience and qualifications and has done it to lead California,\u201d Carbajal declared.<\/p>\n

Rep. Ro Khanna\u00a0(D-Calif.), who\u2019s backing Steyer, said \u201cit\u2019s neck and neck\u201d between Steyer and Becerra.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn my district,\u00a0there\u2019s a lot of support for Steyer. But Becerra has a lot of support down in Southern California,\u201d Khanna said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known\u00a0both Tom and Xavier a long time. We\u2019d be well served with either,\u201d Rep.\u00a0Mike Levin\u00a0(D-Calif.) said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With just over\u00a0a week until the June 2 primary, California House Democrats\u00a0are growing increasingly confident they\u2019ll have one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":331531,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-331530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331530","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=331530"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/331530\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/331531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=331530"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=331530"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=331530"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}