California holds crowded primary in race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s gubernatorial primary comes to a close Tuesday as voters choose from an extensive field of candidates hoping to replace termed-out Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The end of the voting period, which began in early May, concludes a chaotic contest without a clear front-runner. Candidates tried to elbow each other out in the final stretch as each sought to convince voters that they were best prepared to lead the most populous state and one of the world’s largest economies.

California puts all candidates on a single primary ballot regardless of party, and the top two finishers advance to the November general election. About 60 candidates were on the ballot, most of them largely unknown to the state’s roughly 23 million voters.

On the Democratic side, top contenders include Xavier Becerra, a former state attorney general and U.S. health secretary; Tom Steyer, a billionaire climate activist; Katie Porter, a former member of Congress; and Matt Mahan, the mayor of San Jose.

The two most prominent Republicans are conservative commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.

The Democrats campaigned on fighting Trump administration attacks on the state’s liberal policies, while Republicans vowed to bring change after more than 15 years of Democratic leadership in Sacramento. But the through line of the race was how to tackle the state’s notoriously high cost of living.

Drivers were paying $6.08 per gallon at the pump as of the end of May, $1.65 higher than the national average, according to AAA. Meanwhile the nonpartisan Legislative Analyst’s Office has estimated that the typical home is about $775,000, more than double the national average. And Californians pay the second-highest residential electricity rates behind Hawaii, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Some candidates proposed suspending the state’s gas taxes, which total roughly 70 cents a gallon, while others floated subsidizing in-state tuition at public colleges. A few of the Democrats said they would eliminate private health insurance in favor of a government-run system with no premiums, while the Republicans vowed to increase oil and gas production and reduce regulations.

“The truth is that we’ve gone off track — we’ve got one-party rule,” Hilton said at a debate in May. “The results have been such a disappointment. It is time for some balance.”

Primary system creates uncertainty

Earlier in the race, Democrats worried about possibly being locked out of the general election even though they count 45% of the state’s registered voters compared to Republicans’ 25%.

The concern was that their relatively crowded field of candidates could split the Democratic vote enough for the two Republicans to advance under the single primary system, which was first used at the statewide level in 2014.

Two candidates from the same party have never made the general election in a California governor’s race, though it happened twice for U.S. Senate elections in 2016 and 2018.

Recent developments, however, have diminished Democrats’ fears as a few candidates emerged as leading contenders. In the race’s final days it was Hilton warning that Republicans could be locked out if they failed to coalesce behind him.

Candidates squabbled over their records

Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell’s resignation and withdrawal from the race after sexual assault allegations were made against him left an opening for Becerra, who previously had struggled to gain traction.

Highlighting his long political resume, Becerra started raising more money and won the endorsements of powerful labor groups and Latino legislative leaders.

But that momentum also made him a target, and his rivals criticized his leadership as health secretary including his handling of an influx of unaccompanied migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2021, when Becerra’s Department of Health and Human Services was responsible for shelters where they were housed. Some of them were criticized as having inadequate living conditions, and there were also concerns about authorities failing to thoroughly vet sponsors with whom some children were placed.

“The secretary has never met a crisis that he couldn’t ignore,” Mahan said at a debate in April.

Steyer’s campaign spent or booked more than $203 million in ads for broadcast TV, cable and radio, according to tracker AdImpact. On the campaign trail, he was attacked over past investments in fossil fuels and private prisons at a hedge-fund he founded in the 1980s and left more than a decade ago. And some accused him of trying to buy the election.

“This race will come down to those who’ve earned it versus those who are trying to buy it,” Becerra told CNN in April.

Republicans, for their part, never coalesced behind a strategy to send both Hilton and Bianco to the general election, and the two fought to consolidate support. President Donald Trump’s endorsement in April of Hilton, a former political adviser to a conservative British prime minister, likely boosted him among GOP voters and diminished Bianco’s chances of advancing.

Trump on Monday evening again urged people to vote for Hilton, saying Democrats have done an “absolutely horrendous job” running the state.

“Steve can turn it around, before it is too late, and, as President, I will help him to do so!” Trump posted on his social media platform.

A final result could take a while

All California voters receive a mail ballot, and election officials count those that are received up to a week after Election Day so long as they are postmarked by then. That often results in a drawn-out count, with no winners declared until days or even weeks later.

It is the first time in over two decades that there has not been a political superstar in the governor’s race. In 2003, A-list actor and Republican Arnold Schwarzenegger rocketed into office in a recall election that ousted then-Gov. Gray Davis; in 2010, former Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown cemented a political comeback by winning nearly three decades after his first two terms; and in 2018, Newsom had already established a national profile after stints as lieutenant governor and San Francisco mayor and won easily.