Election 2026 updates: Democrat Becerra, Republican Hilton advance to CA governor face-off

Republican Steve Hilton will face off against Democrat Xavier Becerra in the November general election for California governor, ABC News projects.

In Tuesday's drop of election results, with 88% of the expected votes counted, Becerra maintained his lead at 28% of the vote, and Hilton followed behind him with 25% of the vote.

Hilton led the pack a week ago on election night, but as more election results came in, Becerra rose to first place, and AP News projected he would advance to the November election on Friday.

Democrat Xavier Becerra will advance to the general election in the California gubernatorial race, the Associated Press projects.

Democrat Xavier Becerra has advanced to the general election for California governor after pitching himself as an experienced choice to lead the nation's most populous state, AP News projects.

In a new drop of election results on Friday evening, Becerra took the lead over Republican Steve Hilton. In the latest totals, Becerra has 26.7% of the vote, and Hilton has 26.4% of the vote. Tom Steyer is in third with 21% of the vote.

In the latest update on Friday evening, 65% of the expected votes had been counted.

AP has not yet projected which candidate Becerra will face.

Becerra leaned on his more than 35 years in public office - including as state attorney general and U.S. health secretary - to argue that he was the most qualified candidate in a crowded field.

"I am ready to lead the fight to uphold California's promise to make sure we have the governance worthy of our gifts," he said on election night.

Once an afterthought in the race, he surged in the final months and vowed he would maintain the state's mantle as a chief antagonist to President Donald Trump.

AP News contributed to this report.

Gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra responded to President Trump's unsubstantiated claims Democrats are trying to "steal" the California primaries.

"Donald Trump lost the 2020 election. He lost California by millions of votes in the 2024 election, and now he's trying to undermine confidence in our elections because he's a repeat loser here," said Becerra on a post published on the social media platform X.

"Sorry Donald, the voters decide who leads California. Not you," the post continued.

Trump posted to social media late Wednesday night accusing the Democratic Party in California of trying to "steal" the California gubernatorial and Los Angeles mayoral primaries, offering no evidence to support the allegation.

In his posts, Trump complained about the alleged misuse of mail-in ballots and also accused the Democratic Party of delaying the tallying of votes - claims for which there is currently no supporting evidence.

The president also claimed that the votes are "under investigation" by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles. That office declined to comment on the president's statement in response to an ABC News request.

California Democratic Party Chairperson Rusty Hicks told ABC News that Trump's claims were "baseless."

"Everyone knows California will complete a fair and accurate count. End of story," Hicks further said.

"Trump is lying about California again," Gov. Gavin Newsom's press office posted online early Thursday morning about the president's assertion.

Trump has often claimed, without evidence, that elections are rigged and has complained about mail-in ballots and the possibility of fraud. Despite this, he voted by mail in a Florida special election earlier this year.

According to the California secretary of state, "vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before Election Day and received within seven days after the election, as well as any provisional ballots cast, must still be counted."

County election officials have up to 30 days after the election to count ballots. Final results from Tuesday's primary must be reported to the secretary of state by July 3, 2026.

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ABC News contributed to this report

It appears less than a quarter of California voters cast ballots in this primary election. Data from the Secretary of State's website shows just over 23% voter turnout.

It appears less than a quarter of California voters cast ballots in this primary election.

Data from the Secretary of State's website shows just over 23% voter turnout as of Thursday morning as ballots continue to be counted.

Here in the Bay Area, San Francisco and Sonoma counties had the biggest showings. But that's still far from previous elections.

The biggest turnout in California history was 57% for the Presidential primary in February of 2008.

Eight years later, the primary in June of 2016 saw a 47% turnout.

The primary in March of 2020 was close behind, at 46%.