Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra Lead Race for California Governor
California also held primaries today for Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, and other statewide executive positions.
The primaries occurred today in California to select candidates for the November 2026 general election. This post covers the races for statewide executive offices in the Golden State. That includes contests for Governor, Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, Secretary of State, Treasurer, Controller, Insurance Commissioner, Superintendent of Public Instruction, and four seats on the Board of Equalization. Separate posts will be covering the primaries for federal races, both chambers of the state legislature, mayoral seats, and county contests.
In California, all candidates compete on the same ballot today regardless of partisan affiliation. The top two finishers in the primary regardless of party will then advance to the general election. A candidate can’t avoid the second round by obtaining a 50%+1 majority today. All of the offices detailed below are partisan except for the race for Superintendent. As such, those party labels will be included.
The general election for all of these statewide executive offices will be held on November 3, 2026.
Governor:
Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton will advance with 28.0% (2,460,340) and 24.8% (2,181,055) against Democrat Tom Steyer with 22.6% (1,985,838), Republican Chad Bianco with 10.2% (899,039), Democrat Katie Porter with 4.4% (382,234), Democrat Matt Mahan with 3.6% (314,663), Democrat Antonio Villaraigosa with 1.2% (101,664), Democrat Tony Thurmond with 0.7% (60,058), Peace and Freedom’s Ramsey Robinson with 0.5% (47,986), Democrat Betty Yee with 0.4% (38,881), Democrat Eric Swalwell with 0.3% (26,955), Republican Tim Nelson with 0.3% (22,859), Republican Randeep Dhillon with 0.2% (21,033), Democrat Barack Obama Shaw with 0.2% (16,074), Democrat Carolina Buhler with 0.2% (14,157), Republican Leo Zacky with 0.2% (14,090), Republican Gretha Solórzano with 0.1% (12,147), Democrat Matthew Levy with 0.1% (10,592), Libertarian Tom Woodard with 0.1% (8,773), Democrat Erin Zezulak with 0.1% (8,647), Democrat Louis De Barraicua with 0.1% (8,275), Democrat Mohammad Arif with 0.1% (8,046), Republican Leo Naranjo IV with 0.1% (7,760), Independent Nancy Young with 0.1% (6,733), Republican James Athans Jr. with 0.1% (6,466), Independent Joseph Cabrera with 0.1% (5,815), Republican David Zickefoose with 0.1% (5,666), Independent Christine Sarmiento with 0.1% (5,422), Democrat Satish Rao with 0.1% (5,395), Independent Jon Henderson with 0.1% (5,262), Republican Alicia Olivia Lapp with 0.1% (5,171), Independent Amanda Martin with 0.1% (4,990), Republican Rafael Hernandez with 0.1% (4,989), Independent Frederic Schultz with 0.1% (4,987), Democrat Scott Shields with 0.1% (4,907), Democrat Derek Grasty with 0.1% (4,821), Democrat Larry Azevedo with 0.1% (4,542), Independent Elaine Culotti with 0.1% (4,188), Independent Mauro Alberto Orozco with 0.1% (3,976), Republican Patricia De Luca Basualdo with 0.0% (3,875), Democrat Sophia Edum-a-Sam with 0.0% (3,437), Democrat Raji Rab with 0.0% (3,410), Independent Brent Maupin with 0.0% (3,019), Democrat Akinyemi Agbede with 0.0% (2,931), Independent Lewis Herms with 0.0% (2,789), Independent Naomi Bar-Lev with 0.0% (2,603), Independent Daniel Mercuri with 0.0% (2,505), Democrat Gary Howard Kidgell with 0.0% (2,358), Democrat Joel Jacob with 0.0% (2,209), Democrat Thunder Parley with 0.0% (2,208), Independent Margaret Trowe with 0.0% (2,176), Independent LivingForGod AndCountry DeMott with 0.0% (2,072), Independent Reza Safarnejad with 0.0% (1,956), Independent Don Grundmann with 0.0% (1,829), Independent Duane Terrence Loynes Jr. with 0.0% (1,817), Independent Anne Komarovsk with 0.0% (1,502), Independent Dawit Kellel with 0.0% (1,322), Independent Sam Sandak with 0.0% (1,184), Independent Max Fomin with 0.0% (792), Independent Lukasz Adam Filinski with 0.0% (505), and Independent Serge Fiankan with 0.0% (457). 8,781,452 votes counted.
Lieutenant Governor:
Democrat Fiona Ma and Republican Gloria Romero will advance with 19.1% (1,549,949) and 18.0% (1,463,583) against Democrat Josh Fryday with 14.6% (1,186,733), Democrat Michael Tubbs with 13.2% (1,071,895), Democrat Oliver Ma with 7.3% (589,998), Republican David Collenberg with 6.9% (562,504), Republican David Fennell with 6.2% (500,681), Republican Skip Shelton with 4.1% (332,413), Democrat Janelle Kellman with 3.6% (293,658), Republican Ebie Lynch with 1.8% (148,823), Democrat Tim Myers with 1.5% (125,159), Peace and Freedom’s Alice Stek with 1.4% (116,536), Democrat Jeyson Lopez with 1.1% (89,840), Democrat Abdul Sikder with 0.6% (49,220), Independent Sean Collinson with 0.3% (23,617), and Independent Rakesh Christian with 0.2% (12,238). 8,116,847 votes counted.
Attorney General:
Democratic incumbent Rob Bonta and Republican Michael Gates will advance with 56.5% (4,728,803) and 38.2% (3,199,046) against Green Marjorie Mikels with 5.3% (447,766). 8,375,615 votes counted.
Secretary of State:
Democratic incumbent Shirley Weber and Republican Donald Wagner will advance with 58.5% (4,831,953) and 37.0% (3,056,333) against Green Mike Feinstein with 2.4% (195,536) and Green Gary Blenner with 2.1% (176,279). 8,260,101 votes counted.
Treasurer:
Democrat Eleni Kounalakis and Republican Jennifer Hawks will advance with 36.5% (2,992,658) and 24.2% (1,984,537) against Democrat Anna Caballero with 16.3% (1,334,874), Republican David Serpa with 12.9% (1,054,089), Democrat Tony Vazquez with 7.1% (582,428), and Green Glenn Turner with 2.9% (241,138). 8,189,724 votes counted.
Controller:
Democratic incumbent Malia Cohen and Republican Herb Morgan will advance with 56.6% (4,658,676) and 37.8% (3,110,719) against Peace and Freedom’s Meghann Adams with 5.6% (460,317). 8,229,712 votes counted.
Insurance Commissioner:
Democrat Jane Kim and Democrat Ben Allen will advance with 27.2% (2,203,553) and 19.4% (1,571,031) against Republican Stacy Korsgaden with 15.7% (1,268,929), Republican Robert Howell with 7.7% (622,462), Democrat Patrick Wolff with 7.2% (581,875), Republican Merritt Farren with 6.8% (547,286), Republican Sean Lee with 5.4% (437,974), Democrat Steven Bradford with 4.9% (398,425), Peace and Freedom’s Eduardo Vargas with 2.9% (232,596), Republican Eric Thor Aarnio with 1.8% (150,150), and Independent Keith Davis with 1.0% (79,437). 8,093,718 votes counted.
Superintendent of Public Instruction (Nonpartisan):
Chino Valley USD president Sonja Shaw and San Diego USD member Richard Barrera will advance with 22.8% (1,670,548) and 20.2% (1,478,694) against Los Angeles Community College trustee Nichelle Henderson with 9.6% (703,688), Semitropic Elementary School superintendent Wendy Castaneda Leal with 8.8% (645,875), State Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi with 8.4% (612,873), former State Assemblymember Anthony Rendon with 8.1% (596,075), union leader Frank Lara with 7.5% (548,696), former State Senator Josh Newman with 6.8% (500,896), teacher Ainye Long with 5.5% (402,022), and teacher Gus Mattammal with 2.2% (159,414). 7,318,781 votes counted.
Board of Equalization:
District 1:
Republican Shannon Grove and Democrat Nelson Esparza will advance with 34.3% (583,418) and 34.0% (576,847) against Democrat Donald Williamson with 15.2% (258,721), Republican Dusty Beach with 12.1% (204,973), and Republican Nader Shahatit with 4.4% (75,115). 1,699,074 votes counted.
District 2:
Democratic incumbent Sally Lieber and Democrat John Pimentel will advance with 56.6% (1,163,441) and 15.6% (321,363) against Republican Bill Shireman with 11.2% (230,715), Republican J. Brett Marymee with 9.0% (184,346), Republican Mark McComas with 4.6% (93,723), and Republican John Zaruka with 3.0% (62,115). 2,055,703 votes counted.
District 3:
Democrat Mike Gipson and Democrat Samuel Sukaton will advance with 27.9% (513,973) and 18.2% (335,304) against Democrat Yvonne Yiu with 12.8% (235,479), Republican Carlo Basail with 10.5% (193,489), Republican Rey Portela with 10.1% (185,575), Democrat Rudy Bermudez with 6.0% (110,925), Republican Stephan Hohil with 5.7% (105,581), Democrat Baru Alejandro Sanchez with 5.7% (104,540), Independent Marie Manvel with 1.6% (30,326), and Democrat Zhijing Liu with 1.5% (27,548). 1,842,740 votes counted.
District 4:
Republican Denis Bilodeau and Democrat Tom Umberg will advance with 45.1% (963,290) and 20.7% (442,330) against Democrat Cody Petterson with 18.4% (392,232), Democrat Martin Arias with 14.2% (303,633), and Libertarian Gardner Osborne with 1.6% (33,312). 2,134,797 votes counted.