Democrat Xavier Becerra is moving on to California’s general election in November, according to projections from the Associated Press, NBC News, and Decision Desk HQ. The former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary under President Joe Biden becomes the first candidate to secure a spot in the high-stakes race. He’s locked in a razor-thin battle with Republican Steve Hilton for the top position in the state’s hotly contested gubernatorial primary, separated by less than a single percentage point as of June 5. Meanwhile, Democrat Tom Steyer lingers in third place with 66% of votes counted.
California’s nonpartisan “jungle primary” sends only the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, to the general election. Becerra’s advancement comes on the same day Hilton called on Governor Gavin Newsom to immediately create an “Emergency Election Support Corps” to speed up ballot counting, labeling the state a “laughingstock of the nation when it comes to election reporting.” At a news conference in San Mateo, Hilton urged Newsom to deploy state employees and rapid-response teams to counties facing significant delays. “We cannot continue with a process that leaves millions of voters waiting weeks for results,” Hilton said. “If India can count over 600 million ballots in 24 hours, surely California can count a tiny fraction of that number in twice the time. End the farce. Count the votes.”
Newsom’s office fired back, stating in an email to USA TODAY, “It’s concerning that a candidate for Governor doesn’t know the Governor has nothing to do with counting ballots.” The governor doesn’t administer elections or certify results—those duties fall to local election officials under state law, overseen by the separately elected Secretary of State. “Governor Newsom wishes the vote count moved faster, too,” his office added.
Adding fuel to the fire, Bill Essayli, the First Assistant U.S. Attorney for California’s Central District, announced on June 5 that his office would launch multiple investigations into potential election fraud in Los Angeles. In a post on X, Essayli said he’d work with the FBI to conduct a comprehensive audit of voter rolls. He pointed to a plea deal by Brenda Lee Brown Armstrong, a signature collector for ballot initiatives who admitted in May to paying homeless people in Los Angeles’ Skid Row to register to vote in federal elections. “California’s election system has serious structural vulnerabilities,” Essayli wrote. “Universal vote-by-mail with no voter ID requirements creates conditions where fraud can go undetected and unpunished, eroding public confidence.”
Experts, however, push back on claims of widespread fraud. “By and large, fraud is largely a made-up problem,” Paul Smith, senior vice president at the Campaign Legal Center, told USA TODAY in 2024. A 2025 analysis by the Brookings Institution found mail-in voting fraud is rare. The Justice Department sent an attorney to observe ballot processing in Los Angeles on June 5, according to the county’s elections office. Mike Sanchez, a spokesman for the Registrar-Recorder office, said the observer was briefed on the public observation program and walked through operations. Ballot processing is open to the public, and officials routinely host observers from various groups, including candidates and advocacy organizations.
The prosecutor’s visit follows President Donald Trump’s social media posts questioning California’s slow ballot counting, including unsubstantiated claims that Democrats are “stealing the Vote.” Trump endorsed Hilton and has long criticized mail-in voting, despite using it to cast a ballot in Florida’s primaries this year. In response, Becerra went on the offensive. “Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. He lost California by millions of votes in the 2024 election, and now he’s trying to undermine confidence in our elections because he’s a repeat loser here,” Becerra said in a June 4 post on X. “Sorry Donald, the voters decide who leads California. Not you.”
With 60% of votes counted, Hilton leads at about 27.2%, followed by Becerra at 26%, and Steyer at 20%, per the Associated Press. Steyer’s tally has stagnated despite his campaign spending over $200 million—64% of every dollar spent in the primary, according to AdImpact. Political analysts remain skeptical of a Steyer surge. “What I think is going to happen is it will continue to be Hilton and Becerra at the top,” said Melissa Michelson, a political science professor at Menlo College. “If Steyer is going to have any chance, he would need overwhelming support in the remaining ballots.” Brian Sobel, a veteran political analyst, estimated about 4 million ballots remain uncounted. “Steyer is about 400,000 votes behind Hilton, and about 100,000 behind Becerra; it doesn’t look good,” Sobel said. “The math doesn’t seem to be in Steyer’s favor.”
As the count drags on, state officials urge patience. “I would call on all Californians to be patient,” Secretary of State Shirley Weber said in a June 2 news release. At nearly $316 million, the governor’s race is already the most expensive on record and the fifth-most costly non-presidential race for ad spending, per AdImpact. Caroline Heldman, a politics professor at Occidental College, noted that 85% of California voters cast ballots by mail, sacrificing speed for accessibility. “We sort of know, we feel like we know that it seems likely it will be Hilton and Becerra in the end,” Heldman said. “But that’s the beauty of this process. We don’t.”
