Becerra and Hilton lead California governor race as ballots are counted

California’s governor race is already drawing a sharp regional map even as ballots keep moving through the count. Xavier Becerra led the statewide tally with 2,177,268 votes, or 27.7%, followed by Steve Hilton with 1,974,675, or 25.1%; Tom Steyer had 1,759,073, or 22.4%. The county lines show a contest that is not just about first place, but about which coalition can stretch from coastal metros into the suburbs and interior counties ahead of November.

The June 2 primary used California’s all-party, top-two system, putting roughly 60 candidates on one ballot to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom. Results remain unofficial until certification, with county elections officials due to report final tallies by July 3 and the state scheduled to certify the race on July 10. The statewide turnout tracker stood at 33.6% as of June 8 at 4:59 p.m., a reminder that much of the electorate was still being captured in the canvass.

In the Bay Area, Becerra’s path ran through the region’s suburban Democratic counties, while Steyer held a strong pocket in San Francisco. Alameda County had Becerra at 31.6% and Steyer at 30.6% with 63% counted. Contra Costa showed Becerra ahead with about 51,500 votes, ahead of Hilton’s roughly 42,000. San Francisco tilted to Steyer, who had about 40,600 votes to Becerra’s just under 30,000, while Santa Clara gave Becerra a modest edge over Hilton, with a little more than 59,000 votes to nearly 49,900.

Los Angeles County, the state’s biggest prize, underscored Becerra’s strength with Latino and urban Democratic voters. Becerra led there with 627,158 votes, or 31.4%, ahead of Steyer’s 512,372 and Hilton’s 401,565. Antonio Villaraigosa’s 51,581 votes and Chad Bianco’s 126,555 also showed how the county’s Latino and law-and-order lanes fractured, but Becerra still emerged with the clearest hold on the county.

Hilton’s strongest terrain came inland and in the suburbs. Orange County gave him 257,148 votes, or 35.9%, well ahead of Becerra’s 169,392 and Steyer’s 123,331. San Diego County, another coastal prize, also went to Hilton with 199,775 votes, or 31.2%, to Becerra’s 169,065 and Steyer’s 127,560. Fresno County was even more lopsided, with Hilton at 41,609 votes, or 37.8%, compared with Becerra’s 22,193 and Bianco’s 14,041. In Imperial County, by contrast, Becerra led with 4,837 votes, or 26.7%, ahead of Bianco’s 3,590, Steyer’s 3,338 and Hilton’s 3,217, suggesting that heavily Latino counties are not moving as a single bloc.

That split matters because the early map points to two very different routes to a November runoff. Becerra is building on big margins in Los Angeles and much of the Bay Area, while Hilton is consolidating support in Orange County and the interior. As more vote-by-mail and provisional ballots are processed, the final count will show whether those coalitions are firming up or already starting to leak.