⁠Republican television commentator Steve Hilton and Democratic former cabinet secretary Xavier Becerra have taken an early lead in the primary race for California governor.

On Tuesday, they emerged as favourites to advance to the November 3 election, which could set ⁠up a race between a Democrat and a Republican, highly unusual for the Democratic Party stronghold that is California.

California’s next governor, who will succeed Democrat Gavin Newsom after he serves the maximum two terms, will ⁠take charge of a $4 trillion economy – among the largest in the world – while confronting deep challenges, including water accessibility, affordability and homelessness.

Hilton was ahead with 26.9 percent of the vote and Becerra had 25.7 percent with 76.1 percent of election precincts partially reported, according to official results. Each candidate had more than 1.1 million votes with Becerra only about 49,000 votes behind his counterpart.

Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer trailed them at 19.8 percent, nearly 260,000 votes behind, while none of the dozens of other candidates on the ballot cracked double digits.

Becerra is a former state attorney general and US congressman ‌from Los Angeles who was secretary of health and human services under former President Joe Biden. If he were to prevail in November, he would become the first Latino elected governor in a state where 40 percent of the population is Hispanic or Latino.

The Democrat used this as a connecting point with the public as he mixed Spanish and English in a celebratory speech on Tuesday night.

“While I take nothing for granted – there are lots of ballots left to be counted – it appears that we are on track to advance to November,” he told a jubilant crowd. “One step closer to the son of those hardworking immigrants, Maria and Manuel Becerra, becoming the next governor of the great state of California.”

Hilton is a British-born former Fox News host who was personally endorsed by President Donald Trump. He became a United States citizen in 2021 after serving as an adviser to former United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron. Hilton campaigned against the Democrats’ record on homelessness, affordability and ⁠government regulations in a state where Republicans have not been in office since former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s two terms ended in January 2011.

Sounding triumphant in an appearance before his supporters, Hilton suggested he could follow Schwarzenegger as yet another immigrant to become governor.

“California, what an incredible honour. The first time I’ve run for office, over a million people rising, voting for me this time ⁠with a funny accent,” Hilton said.

In the Los Angeles mayor’s race, incumbent Karen Bass took an early lead in her re-election bid against a field of more than a dozen challengers. Many voters urged officials to focus on issues like homelessness, affordability and the aftermath of the devastating 2025 wildfires. Bass was challenged within her party by City Council member Nithya Raman, who was running third with 21 percent.

California’s primaries are unusual in the US because candidates from all parties run against one another, and the top two candidates advance to November’s election. In the heavily Democratic state, that often means two Democrats compete against each other in the final contest. Other states hold primaries by party, so candidates from the same party compete against one another for the opportunity to advance to an election in which a Republican and a Democrat will face off along with potentially candidates from other smaller parties.