{"id":348829,"date":"2026-06-06T00:40:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-06T00:40:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/348829\/"},"modified":"2026-06-06T00:40:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-06T00:40:20","slug":"becerra-advances-in-california-governor-race-as-hilton-steyer-battle-for-second-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/348829\/","title":{"rendered":"Becerra Advances in California Governor Race as Hilton, Steyer Battle for Second Spot"},"content":{"rendered":"

Democrat Xavier Becerra surged to the top in the millions of votes counted after Election Day, making a remarkable political comeback after trailing in much of the primary campaign.<\/p>\n

Marisa Lagos<\/a>Guy Marzorati<\/a>\"\"<\/p>\n

Xavier Becerra, candidate for governor, speaks to supporters on election night June 2, 2026. \u00a0(David Crane\/MediaNews Group\/Los Angeles Daily News via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

An estimated 3.5 million ballots still remain to be counted, and the later ballots were expected to skew more Democratic, according to voter data analysts.<\/p>\n

Under California\u2019s open primary system, the top two vote getters move on to the runoff, regardless of party affiliation. The state also counts mail-in ballots that arrive up to seven days after Election Day, as long as they are postmarked by Election Day.<\/p>\n

Becerra\u2019s No. 1 finish, called Friday afternoon by the Associated Press, marks a remarkable political comeback for the former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary, who spent much of the primary campaign languishing in the single digits in polls. He was among the lower-tier group of candidates facing pressure from party leaders to drop out of the race earlier this year amid fears that the crowded field of Democrats could split the vote and allow two Republicans to advance.<\/p>\n

\"\"Supporters of Democrat California Gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra are seen silhouetted on early election results during an election night event in downtown Los Angeles, on June 2, 2026. (Frederic J. Brown\/AFP via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

In mid-February, with Becerra mired<\/a> at around 5% in public polling, his campaign manager Emma Harris published a memo outlining the former attorney general\u2019s path to victory. It harked back to the 1998 primary election, when Lt. Gov. Gray Davis leaned into his resume to pull his campaign out of last place in the polls and claim the nomination.<\/p>\n

And it previewed a comeback theory that rested on a novel statistic: Becerra\u2019s ratio of voters who saw him favorably versus those who were not familiar with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cBecerra\u2019s high net favorability rating (+40 points, 9:1 favorable) as a ratio of the unfamiliarity with him (49% unfamiliar) is the strongest in the upper tier of candidates,\u201d Harris wrote. \u201cThe data points towards substantial growth.\u201d<\/p>\n

It turned out to be prescient.<\/p>\n

After Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race<\/a> amid shocking sexual misconduct allegations, Becerra leapfrogged ahead of his competitors.<\/p>\n

Amanda Renteria, who worked for Becerra when he was California attorney general, said despite Becerra\u2019s slow start in the race, he and his campaign always recognized a narrow path to victory. She said he remained steadfast as the pressure mounted on low-polling candidates to drop out.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was kind of like that story of, hey, we\u2019re not at [the] playoffs yet. Our team is looking pretty good. And when the tournament starts, we\u2019re going to be ready for it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

She said that while people tend to underestimate Becerra, his mellow demeanor makes him approachable to voters.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe isn\u2019t going to evoke a deep hate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

That shield of likability may have helped Becerra weather an onslaught of attacks once he assumed the mantle of Democratic frontrunner.<\/p>\n

His rivals tore into his record as Health secretary and needled him over the scandal that engulfed his former top adviser, Sean McCluskie, who pleaded guilty to stealing campaign funds from Becerra\u2019s account. Those attacks were amplified by Steyer, who emerged as the other main Democratic contender as he spent over $200 million on his campaign.<\/p>\n

But Becerra\u2019s support never waned, and he appeared to grow more steady in later candidate debates. In the closing weeks of the campaign, the cavalry arrived: more than $15 million in pro-Becerra spending from groups including the California Association of Realtors and companies such as Meta, joining a steady drumbeat of anti-Steyer spending funded in large measure by PG&E<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As Election Day neared, the historic nature of Becerra\u2019s candidacy came into focus: If elected, he would be California\u2019s first Latino governor in modern history. At a campaign stop in San Jos\u00e9 last weekend, he was greeted by home care workers who chanted \u201cVivo Latino!\u201d and \u201cBecerra para presidente!\u201d as he entered the room.<\/p>\n

\"\"Mark Murphy, center left, and friend Kimberley J. Rodler, hold handmade signs in support of Xavier Becerra\u2019s gubernatorial bid during a campaign event at Mount Diablo High School in Concord on April 23, 2026. (Estefany Gonzalez for KQED)<\/p>\n

Through it all, Becerra returned to his resume. The path from the attorney general\u2019s office to the governorship has been well trod: by Earl Warren, Pat Brown, George Deukmejian and Jerry Brown.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a pretty open book; I\u2019ve been around quite a while, whether you knew me when I was in Congress or when I was attorney general fighting Donald Trump,\u201d he told KQED after the San Jos\u00e9 campaign stop. \u201cYou sort of know who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, the question for Becerra is who he will face this fall. A Hilton win would set him on a glidepath to victory: Winning statewide would be an uphill battle for any Republican, in a state where there are nearly twice as many Democrats as Republicans, and no GOP candidate has won statewide in 20 years.<\/p>\n

Steyer would present a rockier road for Becerra. If the billionaire former hedge fund manager makes the runoff, it will set up an expensive intraparty fight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Democrat Xavier Becerra surged to the top in the millions of votes counted after Election Day, making a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":348830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":["post-348829","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\/348829","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=348829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/348830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}