California is still California.
Democrats still have the state’s built-in advantage, but the latest unofficial count out of the governor’s primary is the kind of number they usually pretend they never saw.
As of the California Secretary of State’s June 6, 2026 update at 6:04 p.m., Democrat Xavier Becerra led with 1,824,635 votes, or 27.0 percent.
Republican Steve Hilton sat right behind him at 1,757,533 votes, or 26.0 percent.
That is a one-point gap at the top of a statewide governor primary in deep-blue California.
Something unprecedented is happening.
We launched Victory '26 this week: a unified Republican effort with us, candidates from Governor to down the ballot, along with members of the Senate and Assembly.
Let's win together and deliver the California we all deserve! pic.twitter.com/cEGBVmiZSS— California Republican Party (@CAGOP) June 5, 2026
The California Secretary of State’s official results page makes clear the count is still unofficial and still moving:
California Primary Election Tuesday, June 2, 2026
Unofficial Election Results
Governor – Statewide Results
Results will be certified by July 10, 2026.
( 19,788 of 19,788 ) precincts partially reporting as of June 6, 2026, 6:04 p.m.
Visit the County Reporting Status page to determine when a county has submitted its latest report.
Vote-by-mail, provisional, and other ballots will continue to be processed and counted after Election Night.
ADVERTISEMENTElection results will change throughout the ballot counting canvass period as vote-by-mail ballots, provisional ballots (including conditional voter registration provisional ballots), and other ballots are tallied.
Xavier Becerra (Party Preference: DEM) 1,824,635 27.0%
Matt Mahan (Party Preference: DEM) 256,833 3.8%
Katie Porter (Party Preference: DEM) 300,780 4.5%
Tom Steyer (Party Preference: DEM) 1,437,976 21.3%
Chad Bianco (Party Preference: REP) 719,842 10.7%
Steve Hilton (Party Preference: REP) 1,757,533 26.0%
That caveat matters. California’s late and mail ballots can absolutely move the order at the top.
But the snapshot matters too, because Democrats did not expect to be explaining a margin like this in a state they treat like a permanent possession.
Tom Steyer pulled 1,437,976 votes, or 21.3 percent. Sheriff Chad Bianco took 719,842 votes, or 10.7 percent.
Add the two major Republican governor candidates together, and the GOP vote is not a rounding error.
The state party noticed, which is why the California Republican Party rolled out Victory ’26 this week as a coordinated push from governor all the way down the ballot.
A unified ticket only works if there is a mood to ride. The polling says there is.
PPIC’s May survey showed the mood underneath the vote was already ugly for the Sacramento status quo:
California’s registered voters have received their June 2 primary ballots in the mail. The gubernatorial primary has generated high levels of interest because of the uncertainty about the top-two candidates who will move on to the general election in November.
These are the key findings of the Californians and Their Government survey on the 2026 elections, the state budget and taxes, state issues, and national issues that was conducted May 14–18, 2026:
The leading candidates in the top-two gubernatorial primary are Xavier Becerra (D; 23%) and Steve Hilton (R; 20%) followed by Tom Steyer (D; 15%), Chad Bianco (R; 13%), and Katie Porter (D; 12%). Seven in ten likely voters are following the news about the governor’s race very or fairly closely.
About half of Californians name the cost of living, inflation, and housing costs and availability as the most important issues facing California today. Majorities think that things in California are going in the wrong direction and that California will have bad times financially during the next 12 months.
A majority of California adults (57%) and about half of likely voters (52%) believe that things in the state are generally headed in the wrong direction. Majorities across most partisan, regional, and demographic groups share this pessimistic outlook—the exceptions are college graduates (49%), residents of the San Francisco Bay Area (45%), and Democrats (32%).
That is the real problem for Democrats.
Republicans did not invent California’s affordability crisis, the homelessness crisis, or the anger at one-party rule. They are just the only people on the ballot who are not already running the place.
Jenny Rae Le Roux, who won her Republican primary in California’s 47th Congressional District, told Fox News Digital that voters are fed up with the way the state is run.
Her blunt read was simple: “Californians are tired of one-party rule.”
Le Roux serves as director of CAL DOGE, the private-sector fraud-fighting initiative founded by Hilton, and Fox reported that she is now headed into a general-election race against incumbent Democrat Dave Min.
Honesty matters here, so a caveat: the Cook Political Report still rates that Min-Le Roux House race as Solid D.
A primary win is not a general-election win, and nobody should oversell that seat.
Democrats still keep their registration advantage. They still keep the machinery.
They still keep the maps.
What they do not keep is the assumption that a Republican cannot get within shouting distance at the top of a statewide ballot.
Hilton ran one point off the lead while the state GOP organized a full slate and the public mood curdled.
That combination still leaves Democrats favored in November.
It also gives them a headache they cannot laugh off.
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