The state results showed Hilton with 1,417,689 votes, or 27.6%; Becerra with 1,310,710 votes, or 25.5%; and Steyer with 1,013,488 votes, or 19.7%. The Associated Press had not called the primary for any candidate as of Wednesday evening.
California uses a top-two primary system, meaning all candidates appear on one ballot and the two highest vote-getters advance to the November election regardless of party. The race will decide who succeeds Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who is term-limited.
California governor primary top three, unofficial. Source: California Secretary of State, 3 June 2026 5:48 p.m.
The count is not final. The Secretary of State's results page said all 19,788 precincts were partially reporting, results would be certified by 10 July, and vote-by-mail, provisional and other ballots would continue to be processed after election night. CalMatters reported that ballots postmarked by 2 June can arrive as late as 9 June and still be counted.
That timing is the main counter-perspective to reading Hilton's lead as a settled outcome. AP reported that both Becerra and Steyer gained several thousand votes on Hilton after more than a dozen counties released additional results on Wednesday, and that late-arriving mail and drop-off ballots have sometimes shifted California outcomes during the canvass period.
Mark DiCamillo, director of the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll cited by the Los Angeles Times before the primary, had cautioned that low turnout and late Democratic ballot returns made it unclear which candidates would finish first and second. That warning remains relevant after the first post-election updates because the top-two system turns a narrow third-place gap into the central question.