Xavier Becerra (D) and Steve Hilton (R) are running in the general election for governor of California on Nov. 3. They advanced from the top-two primary on June 2. In the primary, Becerra received 28% of the vote and Hilton received 25%. Incumbent Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is term-limited.
AP's Sophie Austin writes, "The race for California governor this fall will be a battle between a Democrat [Becerra] promising to cement the state’s status as a stronghold of liberal policies and a Republican [Hilton] pledging to dramatically reverse course in the nation’s most populous state."
Becerra is running on his experience as a congressman, attorney general of California, and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Joe Biden (D) administration. Becerra says he is best suited to offer voters what he calls the California Dream and to take on the issues California faces, including a high budget deficit, cost of living, homelessness, and wildfire risk. According to CalMatters, Hilton says Becerra is a career politician and the "embodiment of the same decade and a half of Democratic control." Hilton also argues that he is the candidate for change and that California has been negatively affected by "long term policy failures, serial mismanagement and staggering incompetence of Democrat one-party rule."
