{"id":1017,"date":"2026-06-01T23:07:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T23:07:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1017"},"modified":"2026-06-01T23:07:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T23:07:58","slug":"california-runoff-tests-gops-bid-to-reform-california","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1017","title":{"rendered":"California runoff tests GOP\u2019s bid to reform California"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The polls ahead of California\u2019s jungle primary for governor Tuesday show Republican Steve Hilton will likely secure one of two spots on the November ballot after his insurgent campaign to turn the state around and end years of liberal governance.<\/p>\n

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Still, his place on the ballot is not a done deal, and it will put his pitch to reform the deep-blue state to the test after 15 years of Democratic rule.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hilton, eyeing poll numbers showing his victory at risk, urged voters Monday to drop their support of fellow Republican candidate Chad Bianco and coalesce behind him.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hilton, who comfortably led or placed second in earlier polling, is suddenly neck-and-neck with Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer, which could push him out of the No. 2 spot and eliminate the sole Republican from the November ballot.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very, very tight race. Three people, competing for two spots in the general election,\u201d Mr. Hilton said, leveling with his followers in a video post. \u201cTom Steyer is catching up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although the race centers on a few top candidates, the field is huge.<\/p>\n

Voters will choose among 61 candidates in the governor\u2019s race. Election officials also must count mail-in ballots that voters began sending in weeks ago.<\/p>\n

The state is unlikely to determine the winners Tuesday night, California Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber told KCRA News. \u201cIt is possible, but we\u2019ve got 60 candidates. \u2026 It is not likely that we will know that night for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Hilton has been at or near the top of the heap throughout his campaign to lower taxes, reduce government spending and slash burdensome regulations.<\/p>\n

He told The Washington Times that Californians are \u201csick of it and they want change\u201d after one-party Democratic rule has led to higher costs, higher unemployment, a massive homelessness crisis, terrible schools, increasing poverty and a housing shortage.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hilton\u2019s reform message has reverberated through the mayor\u2019s race in Los Angeles, where a wave of voter discontent after the disastrous response to the Palisades fire has elevated reality TV star Spencer Pratt, giving him a shot at a spot on the November ballot.<\/p>\n

Still, California is a blue state, and like Mr. Pratt, Mr. Hilton is facing an electorate skewed toward Democratic voters, who outnumber Republicans by nearly 2-to-1.<\/p>\n

Mr. Hilton told his social media followers that he is the only viable Republican running in the primary, and if Mr. Bianco\u2019s backers do not switch their vote to him, the state is guaranteed to elect another Democrat in November.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about the future of California, and if we don\u2019t get a Republican in the top two, we have no chance for change,\u201d Mr. Hilton said.<\/p>\n

Polls show California voters may be on the verge of rejecting Mr. Hilton\u2019s change agenda.<\/p>\n

Mr. Bianco, the Republican sheriff of Riverside County, has sunk to single digits after being at or near the top of the polls just a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Democrat and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, previously languishing in very low single digits, has ascended to the lead over all candidates, followed by Mr. Hilton and a closely trailing Mr. Steyer.<\/p>\n

At least one poll shows Mr. Steyer, an environmental activist who has positioned himself as the most progressive candidate in the race, narrowly winning the No. 2 spot behind Mr. Becerra. Such an outcome would end any chance of electing the first Republican governor in two decades.<\/p>\n

An Emerson College poll of likely California voters taken May 27-28 showed Mr. Hilton in a tight contest for a spot on the November ballot.<\/p>\n

It showed Mr. Becerra leading with 28% of the vote, followed by Mr. Steyer with 22% and Mr. Hilton close behind with 21%.<\/p>\n

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\u201cXavier Becerra maintains frontrunner status in the final Emerson poll ahead of Tuesday\u2019s primary, while Tom Steyer and Steve Hilton both have paths to advance to the November general election,\u201d said Spencer Kimball, executive director of Emerson College Polling.<\/p>\n

He said Mr. Hilton will benefit from the erosion of support for Mr. Bianco. Mr. Steyer, meanwhile, needs to mobilize younger voters, \u201cwhile limiting further gains by Becerra, whose growing coalition could siphon support for Steyer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Democrats are eager for the primary to be over. Earlier polls showed Mr. Bianco and Mr. Hilton leading, while Democratic candidates who trailed in polls faced the possibility of being locked out of the November ballot entirely. That scenario would have guaranteed that a Republican governor would succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is term-limited and considering a 2028 White House run.<\/p>\n

At one point, California Democratic Party Chairman Rusty Hicks publicized internal polls hoping to nudge poorly performing Democrats, Mr. Becerra among them, out of the race.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly, we are ready for this primary to be over,\u201d Mr. Hicks told KCRA News this week.<\/p>\n

The race and its low-polling Democrats were jolted by the April sexual misconduct scandal that forced the top-performing Democratic candidate, Rep. Eric Swalwell, to drop out of the governor\u2019s race and leave Congress.<\/p>\n

His departure cleared a path for Mr. Becerra, the only candidate to have previously won statewide office.<\/p>\n

Mr. Becerra, who served as California attorney general from 2017 to 2021, has had to defend his leadership abilities amid a scandal involving his former chief of staff, Sean McCluskie.<\/p>\n

McCluskie pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit bank and wire fraud and stealing $225,000 from Mr. Becerra\u2019s campaign war chest. Although Mr. Becerra was not implicated in the crime and said he knew nothing about it, the matter has raised questions about his competence.<\/p>\n

His low poll numbers nonetheless rose quickly once Mr. Swalwell quit the race.<\/p>\n

At a May 30 rally in Long Beach, Mr. Becerra, son of Mexican immigrants who he said arrived in the United States with $12, pledged to fight the Trump administration\u2019s deportations of illegal immigrants and the president\u2019s social welfare spending reforms.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs your governor, I will not bend a knee to Trump\u2019s trillion-dollar assault on Medicaid,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr. Becerra, who was secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services under President Biden, also promised to declare California\u2019s housing shortage \u201ca state of emergency\u201d and to steer the state, now $497 billion in debt, toward a universal healthcare system.<\/p>\n

He referred to Mr. Steyer as \u201ca billionaire\u201d and Mr. Hilton as \u201cTrump\u2019s handpicked candidate.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Steyer, who called himself \u201ca huge climate guy,\u201d has shattered spending records by pouring $195 million of his fortune into broadcast, cable and radio advertising, according to the firm AdImpact, which tracks political ads.<\/p>\n

Mr. Steyer pledged to lower costs for all Californians while enacting an environmental justice agenda.<\/p>\n

He has pitched a plan to tax the \u201cgreedy\u201d corporations and billionaires and build 1 million homes while forcing power companies to lower electricity bills by 25%. He also promised to bar U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency that carries out deportations, from California.<\/p>\n

He attacked Mr. Becerra\u2019s campaign for receiving support from Chevron and Pacific Gas and Electric Co.<\/p>\n

\u201cCorporations buy politicians like Xavier Becerra to protect their profits,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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The polls ahead of California’s jungle primary for governor Tuesday show Republican Steve Hilton will likely secure one of two spots on the November ballot following his insurgent campaign to turn the state around and end years of liberal governance.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1016,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1017","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-politics"],"yoast_head":"\nCalifornia runoff tests GOP\u2019s bid to reform California - Home Buyer Relocation<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/homebuyerrelocation.com\/?p=1017\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California runoff tests GOP\u2019s bid to reform California - 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