{"id":680468,"date":"2026-06-02T20:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-02T20:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/680468\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T20:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T20:23:09","slug":"california-primary-election-2026-voters-to-decide-key-races-for-governor-los-angeles-mayor-and-key-congressional-districts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/680468\/","title":{"rendered":"California Primary Election 2026: Voters to decide key races for governor, Los Angeles mayor and key congressional districts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">Candidates in California&#8217;s crowded gubernatorial race made a final push for votes Tuesday, as three leading contenders sought to distinguish themselves in a closely watched primary.<\/p>\n<p>Tom Steyer and Xavier Becerra made last-minute campaign stops in SoCal in a final push for California governor. Meanwhile, Steve Hilton asked Chad Bianco to drop out of the race.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Supporters shook hands and rallied voters as polling opened, underscoring the urgency of an election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;There are really only three people for two spots,&#8221; billionaire businessman Tom Steyer said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Steyer, who has poured more than $200 million of his personal fortune into the race, campaigned Tuesday morning along Los Angeles&#8217; new D-Line extension, greeting riders and emphasizing his campaign message.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;I&#8217;ve been trying really hard to work for California people, taking no money from corporations. They&#8217;re spending tens of millions of dollars against me, but I recognize that the people can&#8217;t afford to live here anymore,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Steyer, polling in third place, is attempting to overtake Republican Steve Hilton, who is working to consolidate conservative voters and prevent two Democrats from advancing to the November election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">California has not had a Republican governor in 15 years after former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger left office in 2011.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;People are done with all the taxes and chaos and the crime and the homeless, the high cost of gas and the high cost of housing,&#8221; he said. &#8220;It&#8217;s obvious we need change in California, and this is our moment to get it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Both candidates remain behind former state Attorney General and Biden cabinet member Xavier Becerra, who has made fewer public appearances in recent days but continues to campaign on addressing the state&#8217;s housing crisis.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">&#8220;On my first day as governor, I will declare California&#8217;s housing shortage a state of emergency,&#8221; he said. &#8220;No more studies, no more task forces. We have homes to build right now.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The gubernatorial primary has surpassed $315 million in ad spending and reservations, according to AdImpact, making it the most expensive governor&#8217;s race on record.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Candidates in California&#8217;s crowded gubernatorial race made a final push for votes Tuesday, as three leading contenders sought&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680469,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[296431,23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-680468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-296431","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680468"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680468\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680469"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}