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LOS ANGELES — With the polls closed, all eyes are on the California governor’s race.
With over 40% of the votes in, Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra were neck and neck, with both candidates at about 26%. Tom Steyer was in third with 20%, followed by Chad Bianco at 11%. The remaining candidates had under 5% of the vote each.
Matt Mahan and Antonio Villaraigosa dropped out of the race early in the evening as the early results were announced.
Two polls released in the last week showed the same candidate in first place: former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra. But who will get that second spot in the runoff is a toss-up.
It’s likely to be either former Fox News host Steve Hilton or billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer. For weeks, Hilton has tried to get the other Republican in the race, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, to drop out and endorse him. Bianco responded on social media, writing, “It’s clear that Steve Hilton supporters should unite and support me. While they’re at it, Becerra, Steyer, Porter, Mahan, Thurmond, AND Villaraigosa supporters should vote for me too.”
Steyer has put more than $216 million of his personal fortune into his campaign.
Here’s a look at the major candidates running for California governor
Chad Bianco (R)
Bianco, the sheriff of Riverside County, is one of the two biggest names running on the Republican ticket. He’s been sheriff since 2019 and is a well-known figure in the law enforcement community.
“I am the antithesis to California state government because I am going to take a nuclear bomb into that building and absolutely destroy everything that they do to us behind closed doors,” he told Eyewitness News during a recent one-on-one interview.
Although he’s been elected by the voters twice, Bianco says he’s not a politician — which is why he believes his campaign for California governor is resonating, as reflected in the polls.
“I am the antithesis to California state government because I am going to take a nuclear bomb into that building and absolutely destroy everything that they do to us behind closed doors,” Chad Bianco told 7.
Katie Porter (D)
Porter is a former congresswoman from Orange County who served in Washington, D.C. from 2019 to 2025, leaving to run for Senate and losing in the primary to Adam Schiff. Porter has a long career as a law professor and is a tenured professor at UCI’s law school.
She said that if she’s elected governor, California would continue to serve as the resistance to Trump, but she also said that the affordability crisis cannot be blamed solely on the administration.
“This is not a crisis that is just because of Donald Trump,” Porter told Eyewitness News. “His tariffs, his economic instability, his immoral ICE raids are worsening California’s housing crisis, but this is about our own policy decisions.
“If California would build housing at the same speed that our competitor states do, we could take almost 20% off the cost of housing.”
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter says California would continue to serve as the resistance to the Trump administration if she’s elected governor.
Steve Hilton (R)
Hilton is a former Fox News host and a vocal supporter of Trump. He was born in the UK where he served as director of strategy for former Prime Minister David Cameron, and then moved to California in 2012.
He became a U.S. citizen in 2021.
Hilton blames climate change policies for the housing and affordability crisis in California, saying the policies have made it more costly to build. He added that he doesn’t believe climate change played a role in last year’s destructive and deadly wildfires.
“It’s a complete failure of Democrat policies, and to blame it all on climate change is an insult to everybody who lost their home,” Hilton said.
Eyewitness News asked Hilton if he supports Trump’s tactics for immigration enforcement, to which he said, “Everybody supports.”
“I can’t imagine a single person who doesn’t support what’s been done to close our southern border and stop this absolutely outrageous undermining of the law we saw in the Biden years. I’m a legal immigrant, and I’ve said many times, I’m the candidate of the legal immigrant community for the legal immigrant community,” Hilton said.
Leading in some polls in the wide-open California Governor’s race as the June primary creeps closer is Republican and former Fox News host Steve Hilton.
Tom Steyer (D)
Steyer is a billionaire who wants billionaires to pay their fair share. He said California would not lose its competitive edge even if billionaires leave to shield their private wealth.
He also addressed a proposed one-time 5% wealth tax that has not yet made the ballot.
“In theory, I support it, and I’m going to wait and see what happens before I decide specifically if there is a wealth tax on the ballot,” he said.
Steyer also wants a special election to rewrite Proposition 13’s tax limits for commercial properties.
“Large businesses that own huge office buildings and huge malls have been getting a tax loophole for over 40 years that makes no sense,” Steyer said.
He added that the state remains an excellent place to start and grow companies but said controlling housing and health care costs plays a role.
“If we can control housing costs, and if we can control health care costs, that is going to make this a much easier place to do business,” he said.
California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer outlined his positions on health care, homelessness and his approach to the Trump administration.
Tony Thurmond (D)
Thurmond is California’s State Superintendent of Public Instruction. He’s been elected statewide twice, in 2018 and most recently in 2022, when he earned 63.7% and 5,681,318 votes.
Prior to serving as California’s superintendent of public instruction, Thurmond served in the State Assembly, and before then on the Richmond City Council and the West Contra Costa School Board.
In response to Hicks’s request for candidates polling in the single-digits to drop out, Thurmond said the party is “essentially telling every candidate of color … to drop out.”
“This act doesn’t reflect the Democratic Party of 2026,” he said in a video his campaign posted on social media. “Aren’t we supposed to be the party who embraces democracy? A party of, by and for the people. Well, the establishment might not be, but our campaign is, and that’s why we’re in this race, to win it.”
Xavier Becerra (D)
Becerra served as the Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Biden — the first Latino in that role. Becerra also served as California Attorney General from 2017 to 2021, and before that was in Congress.
Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra announced Wednesday he is running for governor next year.
He said some of his top priorities include building more housing, healthcare, and education.
“I am not running on inflated promises,” he said in a video posted to his X account. “I am running on my record. Right now, I can tell you, I’ve taken on a reckless federal government. I have taken on ruthless corporations. I have defended workers’ wages. I have defended women’s reproductive rights. I have defended immigrants’ rights up and down the state of California.”
News and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
