California’s race to succeed term-limited Governor Gavin Newsom remains undecided early Wednesday, as a void in Democratic leadership fractured the primary electorate. Early vote counts show three candidates—Republican Steve Hilton and Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer—leading a crowded field of 61 hopefuls.
Under the state’s jungle primary system, only the top two vote-getters advance to the November general election regardless of party affiliation. Election officials caution that verifying a backlog of mail-in ballots will delay the final election results.
The Democratic party feared their large candidate pool would split the vote, potentially allowing Republicans to sweep the top two spots and secure the governor’s office in the heavily Democratic state for the first time since Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2006 re-election. Many voters purposely delayed returning their ballots until Election Day to assess the field and prevent a Republican lockout.
Facing insurmountable early math, prominent candidates including San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and former Congresswoman Katie Porter officially conceded. Meanwhile, in the Los Angeles mayoral primary, incumbent Karen Bass advanced to the runoff, with former reality television star Spencer Pratt currently leading progressive city council member Nithya Raman for the second ballot spot.
Steyer, a billionaire climate activist, injected $200 million of his personal fortune into his campaign to position himself as a progressive outsider. To combat the delayed vote-counting process, state legislators recently enacted new reporting deadlines requiring all non-problem ballots to be counted within 13 days, a reduction from the previous 30-day window.