After weeks of slow-motion vote counting, California’s June primary has finally locked in its top two: Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton are heading to the November general election. Final tallies put Becerra at roughly 28.1 percent of the vote and Hilton near 24.7 percent, with Tom Steyer finishing third. The late-breaking order reflects a wave of mail-in ballots and county-by-county updates that shuffled the leaderboard long after Election Day.
Those totals come from the state’s official returns. The California Secretary of State’s unofficial results show Becerra with 2,591,857 votes (28.1%), Hilton with 2,277,315 (24.7%) and Steyer at 2,110,704 (22.8%), according to figures posted on the Secretary of State’s results portal. The California Secretary of State lists the full county-by-county breakdown and the canvass timeline that leads to certification.
How The Late Count Flipped The Leaderboard
On election night and in the days that followed, the scoreboard looked a lot less settled. Early drops from counties showed Hilton with a narrow edge, with some tallies putting him at about 27% and Becerra at 26% when roughly 57% of expected votes had been counted. It was a textbook reminder that early returns can be highly misleading in a vote-by-mail state. The Los Angeles Times and other outlets walked through that sequence of updates as the picture gradually clarified while more ballots were processed.
Accusations And A Quick Rebuttal
The slow drip of results did more than frustrate impatient politicos. It also drew national heat and unfounded claims. President Trump alleged on social media that Democrats were trying to "steal" the California races as late-arriving mail ballots were added to the count. Becerra fired back publicly, writing, "Sorry Donald, the voters decide who leads California. Not you," according to local coverage of the exchange. ABC7 Los Angeles reported on the back-and-forth and noted that election officials and analysts describe late ballot processing as a routine part of California’s system, albeit a politically combustible one.
What This Means Heading Into November
Looking ahead, political analysts see Becerra and Hilton charting very different paths into November. Becerra, a Democrat with a long public-service résumé, is widely viewed as the favorite in a heavily Democratic state. Hilton, backed by national conservatives and a high-profile endorsement, has injected energy into the GOP lane and is banking on enthusiasm and dissatisfaction with the status quo. Coverage from national outlets framed the final primary lineup as the opening salvo in a fall showdown that will test whether ideological fervor or California’s basic partisan tilt ultimately decides the race. The Associated Press compiled the immediate political takeaways as both campaigns pivoted to general-election messaging.
Next up is the formal canvass. Counties were required to report their final unofficial totals to the Secretary of State by early July, and the office will certify results on its posted schedule. Turnout in the June primary was low, just over 23% of registered voters, according to figures reported during the post-election count. The California Secretary of State outlines the certification timeline, while local reporting has tracked turnout and the final drops that locked in the statewide order of finish. Campaigns on both sides are already shifting their resources and rhetoric for the November fight.
