California governor’s race remains too close to call as vote-counting continues | California
Three days after Californians went to the polls, key races in the primary were still too close to call, and experts warned that counting could continue for days.
In the governor’s race, British-born conservative pundit Steve Hilton had a narrow lead with an estimated 60% of the votes counted Friday morning. He was followed closely by Xavier Becerra, the former US health and human services secretary under Joe Biden, while billionaire Tom Steyer followed behind the duo. The two names with the most votes will participate in the general elections to be held in November.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass learned she would advance to a runoff Tuesday evening, but it wasn’t yet clear whether she would face former reality TV star Spencer Pratt or progressive city councilwoman Nithya Raman on Friday. With an estimated 65% of the votes counted, Pratt was leading Raman, but the rankings could still change significantly.
The delays immediately fueled misinformation about the integrity of California’s elections, with Donald Trump accusing the state of “rigging.” U.S. attorney Bill Essayli announced Friday that his office, along with the FBI’s Los Angeles office, has “numerous election fraud investigations ongoing” and that the state’s election systems have “serious structural weaknesses.”
Voters who want to know who will hold key positions may have to wait weeks to find out who they will face in November. Under state law, California counties must complete vote counting by June 15, but some ballots are exempt from that deadline. For example, mail-in ballots postmarked on election day and received by June 9 are valid and may be processed beyond the deadline.
There are an estimated 3,606,128 ballots statewide that still need to be processed and counted, according to the California secretary of state’s office.
“California county election officials are working extensively to count the millions of ballots cast by California voters for the June 2 primary election, ensuring the accuracy and integrity of each vote,” Secretary of State Shirley Weber said in a statement.
Experts expect most of the uncounted votes to favor Democrats. That’s because Republicans are more likely to vote early or vote in person on election day. Those votes are counted first. More Democrats than ever waited until the last minute to vote this year, weighing up which candidate had the best chance of landing one of the top two spots.
Still, the ongoing trend did not prevent Trump from declaring victory for his preferred candidate. The president congratulated Hilton, accused California of rigging the election and told reporters Thursday that the Justice Department would open an investigation.
“We don’t want our elections to be rigged. You see it in California. These numbers are dropping rapidly. Last night, they found a shockingly large number of mail-in ballots. We don’t want that,” Trump said in the Oval Office on Thursday.
California governor Gavin Newsom’s office released a clip of a CNN video explaining how the nation’s most populous state prioritizes accuracy and accessibility over speed.
“For the record, we also wish the votes would be counted more quickly,” Newsom’s office said.
Before the election, the governor said misinformation about the election could spread if results were delayed and urged counties to speed up their counts.
“Time is of the essence to prevent the spread of election lies,” Newsom said. letter To county election offices last month. “We are facing an attack on our democratic values that we have never seen before, and it is our duty to protect these values.”
Last year, Newsom signed a bill requiring vote counting to be completed within 13 days instead of the previous 30 days. To receive an extension, districts must notify the secretary of state of the reason for the delay.
Democratic state assemblyman Marc Berman, who wrote the bill that would speed up vote counting, said Trump’s comments about the counting process were disappointing and a “lie.”
“While Trump is focused on lying about our elections and undermining voters’ faith in our democracy so Republicans can try to pass policies that make it harder for people to vote, like voter ID laws, our priority is to make sure every validly cast ballot is counted,” he said in a statement.
Hilton criticized the state’s count as “another mess brought to you by California Democrats” in a video posted on X. But he also said the campaign hasn’t seen anything so far to suggest it should go to court.
In addition to the governor’s and Los Angeles mayoral races, many congressional contests are still too close to call. In California’s sixth congressional district, which was realigned to give Democrats an advantage, Kevin Kiley, a former Republican and now an independent congressman, was ahead. Republican Michael Stansfield finished second, just ahead of former state lawmaker Richard Pan, a Democrat, with tens of thousands of votes remaining.
Associated Press contributed reporting
