Democrat Xavier Becerra’s lead increased slightly Sunday in the race to be the next California governor, with Republican Steve Hilton in second place for a likely runoff election in November.
The latest vote tally from the California Secretary of State’s Office showed Becerra with 1,883,083 votes, or 27.2%, and Hilton with 1,790,532, or 25.9%, a difference of 92,551 votes.
Billionaire Tom Steyer remained in third place with 1,488,520 votes, or 21.5%. He added 127,416 votes, but his percentage only increased slightly.
Ballots processed between Saturday evening and Sunday evening totaled 591,375, with 3,055,949 ballots statewide left to count, according to the secretary of state’s website. An additional 56,296 ballots must have signatures verified or minor mistakes corrected.
Certification for the primary election results was expected by July 10.
Gov. Gavin Newsom is termed out after reelection in 2022, prompting this year’s open field of candidates.
Raman takes over second place in LA mayor race
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman surpassed former reality television star Spencer Pratt on Sunday in the race for second place in LA’s mayoral election.
An updated vote count Sunday revealed Raman had 196,198 votes in the primary, the voting for which culminated last Tuesday. Raman’s 27.12% put her total ahead of Pratt’s 193,085 votes, or 26.69%.
Republican California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton weighed in on the LA contest.
“Los Angeles needs change, and that means Spencer Pratt,” Hilton posted on social media. “
A choice between the incompetent incumbent and an extremist ideologue is no choice at all. It would be an absolute travesty for @spencerpratt to be shut out of the general election. Fight on!”
Mayor Karen Bass has a guaranteed spot in the November runoff with 250,871 votes as of Sunday, or 34.68%.
After learning of Raman’s second-place positioning, Bass’ campaign issued a statement: “We look forward to winning a contest against an opponent who allows encampments near schools and fights against hiring more cops, yet is MIA on saving Hollywood jobs and fighting back when ICE invades LA.”
Voting results usually take longer in California compared with other states because officials at the county level of government must process large numbers of mail-in ballots, which sometimes arrive as many as seven days after the election.
Election results and information are available at electionresults.sos.ca.gov.
