Becerra, Hilton spar over electoral integrity as Trump alleges cheating

As President Trump pushes false claims that California’s election was rigged, ballot box security has become a major flashpoint in the state’s 2026 governor’s race on Tuesday.

Republican Steve Hilton sidestepped questions about the president’s claims that the state’s election officials were “rigged” as he called for major reforms in how Californians vote and their votes are counted. Democrat Xavier Becerra defended the integrity of the state’s elections and argued that the proposed restrictions would disenfranchise many voters.

The men showed up less than 20 miles away in Southern California, a week after the contentious primary election that led Trump to repeatedly make false claims about the integrity of California’s slow vote-counting process; These allegations were triggered as Democrat Nithya Raman was about to surpass Republican Spencer Pratt for second place in the Los Angeles mayoral race.

Hilton, whose endorsement from Trump propelled him to the forefront of the GOP gubernatorial field, said he saw no evidence of impropriety in this month’s election results.

“We are very, very focused on making sure everything is OK,” Hilton told reporters in Norwalk. “We have teams on standby, our lawyers are on standby, and they’re very focused on this. We don’t want to disappoint anyone, we don’t want to let anything slip through our fingers, and we haven’t seen anything.”

The two men emerged from a crowded field of candidates in the most unpredictable gubernatorial race in more than a quarter-century. While Becerra won a spot Friday in the June 2 primary and will advance to the November general election, Hilton had not been officially declared the winner by the Associated Press on Tuesday afternoon.

But Hilton appears to be on the verge of taking second place in the voting. Billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer is in third place in the current polling, and the chances of him overtaking Hilton are looking slim.

“I’m very happy to say that we remain confident that I will be in the top two and that California will have a real election for change in November,” Hilton said at a news conference outside the Los Angeles County polling station. “We’re not popping the champagne yet, but we’re very confident.”

Hilton has called for election reform, including supporting a voter ID requirement for the November election, ending mail-in ballots to every registered voter, no longer counting ballots received after election day (all of which are requested by Trump), and increasing resources at county vote counting centers.

“Voter ID [is] It’s not the only thing, but it’s the biggest, quickest, simplest thing we can do to restore trust in the system and make sure that these elections are completed quickly in a way that inspires confidence, and that’s why I’m hoping that Xavier Becerra will join me in my campaign so we can have a united front,” the former Fox News commentator and British political strategist told reporters.

Hilton did not directly address Trump’s false claims about voter fraud in California. But he noted that Bill Essayli, the assistant U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, had the full resources of the Justice Department and found no evidence of wrongdoing.

Essayli said on NewsNation Monday that his office is investigating voter fraud but has not found a case. But Essayli told host Chris Cuomo that voter rolls should be audited.

“In my opinion, this is the best way to address most people’s doubt. We have a system that breeds skepticism and distrust,” Essayli said. “There needs to be some transparency and trust in our system.”

Becerra, a longtime elected official and former Biden administration Cabinet secretary, questioned whether Hilton could be trusted to protect the state from Trump’s fraud allegations.

“This is the person who supports Steve Hilton,” Becerra told reporters at a South Los Angeles lunchroom, referring to Trump. “That’s who Steve Hilton aligns with.”

Becerra was greeted with cheers “Si se puede!” Diners criticized the proposed voter ID ballot measure, arguing it would create barriers for many Californians to participate in the democratic election process. The measure, led by Republican Assemblyman Carl DeMaio of San Diego and others, would require election officials to verify that voters are U.S. citizens eligible to vote.

“I am against voter suppression. I am against anything that tries to restrict a Californian’s right to vote,” said Becerra, who previously served as California attorney general.

Becerra, who reporters said wanted Hilton to campaign for Becerra’s ballot initiative, gestured to the packed dining hall and replied, “Come join me, where the real people are.”

Becerra acknowledged his concern about the length of time vote counting is taking in California. He suggested that one of the problems was a lack of workers and equipment at county vote counting centers.

Another problem is that there is a “vote backlog” because so many people wait until after the election to vote, he said, comparing last-minute voters to shoppers heading to Costco at the end of the day.

“If you wait until 7 p.m. when we’re getting ready to close, you’re probably going to find more people there,” Becerra said.

Trump and his supporters’ attacks on the election process are likely to greatly impact people’s trust in the system. Trump has made baseless claims for years that the 2020 election was stolen from him, leading his supporters to storm the US Capitol when lawmakers were scheduled to certify the election results. In addition, Trump’s allegations about the California election and the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court ruling on vote counting could have a significant impact on the midterm elections that will decide which party will control Congress for the final two years of Trump’s presidency.

A poll released Friday by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies found that 41% of California voters are “not confident” that this year’s elections will be free of federal interference. Although 48 percent were confident there would be no intervention, the concerns expressed were still significant, said political scientist Eric Schickler, the institute’s co-director.

79 percent of registered Democratic voters said they trust election officials to accurately count votes. According to the poll, 55 percent of Republicans said they were not sure it would happen.