{"id":339205,"date":"2026-05-30T15:59:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T15:59:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/339205\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T15:59:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T15:59:14","slug":"steyer-vs-becerra-its-possible","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/339205\/","title":{"rendered":"Steyer vs. Becerra? It’s possible"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With just days left to campaign and polls putting him in an unexpectedly strong third place<\/a> \u2014 maybe even second \u2014 Tom Steyer is down-not-out. But Riverside\u2019s favorite MAGA sheriff and Republican contender Chad Bianco<\/a> is almost definitely shoulders-to-the-mat done. <\/p>\n

That means there\u2019s no chance of a Republican sweep<\/a> in this blue state, and suddenly, what has up until now been a pretty dry governor\u2019s primary race has turned into one that has a slim-but-genuine chance at a surprise ending \u2014 two Democrats on the November ticket. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a low probability,\u201d political data guru Paul Mitchell<\/a> told me, \u201cBut there\u2019s always a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

He puts it somewhere under 10%. But stranger things have happened. Spencer Pratt, for instance.<\/a><\/p>\n

Those of you who have hung on to your ballots like winning lottery tickets, and those who plan on voting in person, will largely decide what happens next: An Xavier Becerra-Steve Hilton top two is a virtual election for Becerra since there just aren\u2019t enough Republican voters in the state to carry a general election. A Becerra-Steyer face-off would force both candidates to define a vision of California beyond generic liberal ideas. <\/p>\n

Personally, I wouldn\u2019t mind seeing California have that Dem-on-Dem showdown so that voters of all parties (or none) have the chance to pin these would-be leaders down on the details of their policies. So far, this election has been light on the specifics, but the state faces real problems \u2014 from a failing healthcare system<\/a> to gas prices that literally mystify even lawmakers. <\/p>\n

Everything changes when a candidate becomes a winner, so maybe it would be good for democracy to have an old-fashioned war of ideas in this moment when the future of California holds so many unknowns. <\/p>\n

Is Steyer just a billionaire dilettante trying to buy an office? Is Becerra beholden to the many corporate interests who have funded his campaign? Those are just the top-line questions many voters still have. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s lots of shades of blue,\u201d pointed out Chad Peace of the Independent Voter Project, on a press call to support open primaries. \u201cWhen we only look at things as, \u2018Oh, there\u2019s red and there\u2019s blue,\u2019 we forget that.\u201d<\/p>\n

But voters remain nervous, and the ballot is still packed \u2014 along with the top three, former Rep. Katie Porter<\/a> and San Jos\u00e9 Mayor Matt Mahan<\/a> are still campaigning, though with falling support. <\/p>\n

Voters, Mitchell said, \u201care really thinking about the implications\u201d of their vote, and perhaps don\u2019t want to throw it away on a candidate they perceive as having no chance. That\u2019s why the new polls showing Steyer as a contender have the potential of stirring up momentum, especially for voters who originally saw themselves filling in the bubble for one of those candidates on the decline. <\/p>\n

Recent polls have put Steyer in a near-dead-heat with Republican front-runner Hilton, both hovering slightly above or below 20%. Becerra, the former California attorney general and a former Biden Cabinet secretary, leads them both by a few points, especially among Latino voters. As my colleague Gustavo Arellano has pointed out, Becerra would be the state\u2019s second Latino governor, after Romualdo Pacheco<\/a>, who held the office for 10 months in 1875. <\/p>\n

\u201cA Dem-Dem race, maybe we\u2019ll get more people involved, because it\u2019s going to be a harder fight, you know?\u201d Diane McClure told me. She\u2019s a board member of the California Nurses Assn., which endorsed Steyer early \u2014 in large part because he supports a plan for single-payer health insurance, which that union has long fought for. <\/p>\n

McClure, of course, would love to see Steyer take the top spot in that easy-win scenario against Hilton, though that seems doubtful. But a Steyer-Becerra race?<\/p>\n

\u201cMaybe it\u2019s a good thing, maybe it\u2019ll wake some people up,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

For his part, Steyer is staying the course. At a Sacramento stop Friday, he bounded around chatting with about four dozen mostly union supporters, wearing trademark Nikes, this time a vintage pair with a tartan plaid swoop. <\/p>\n

\u201cFour days,\u201d Steyer said when he finally took the microphone. \u201cI really need you to stand with me. But let me say this: you stand with me, I stand with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unlike his debate performances, Steyer is passionate, and, though it seems unlikely based on his television appearances, has an amiable charisma dotted with a fair amount of light profanity. <\/p>\n

\u201cMake a decent living, buy a house, have a great education for your kids, and retire,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re trying to build here. We can easily do that. When people say that\u2019s not possible, bull\u2014, that\u2019s bull\u2014.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was enough to sway Ricky Carter, one of the few non-union members in the room, who was invited because his wife, Barbara, was on a prayer chain with another invitee. An older Black man originally from South Los Angeles, Carter represents a demographic where Steyer has growing popularity. <\/p>\n

\u201cI believe him. He got it right in here,\u201d he said, pounding a fist over his heart. \u201cIt ain\u2019t about no color, creed and race. … It\u2019s about the people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Indeed, elections are about the people, though it doesn\u2019t always feel like it. But suddenly, this one does. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With just days left to campaign and polls putting him in an unexpectedly strong third place \u2014 maybe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323735,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[29238,27535,7,13540,320,139824,60817,8642,48,52,51,29233,47,50,49,63,42726,346,38107,2328,1522],"class_list":["post-339205","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-becerra","tag-blue-state","tag-california","tag-candidate","tag-chance","tag-diane-mcclure","tag-general-election","tag-hilton","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-large-part","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-more-people","tag-office","tag-steyer","tag-union","tag-voter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339205","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=339205"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/339205\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323735"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=339205"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=339205"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=339205"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}