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After a primary campaign filled with twists, turns and scandal, the election to determine California’s next governor has narrowed to two candidates: Xavier Becerra, a Democrat and veteran of California politics, and Steve Hilton, a Republican immigrant and ally of President Trump.
The two have similar origin stories as the sons of working-class immigrants — both even worked construction jobs to earn money as teenagers — but they have vastly different visions for California’s future. If elected, Becerra promises to solidify many of the state’s liberal policies and its opposition to Trump; Hilton pledges to reverse course by cutting taxes, ending regulations and shrinking state government.
The race is open because after two terms at the state’s helm, outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom is blocked from running again. He has endorsed Becerra and is considering a run for president in 2028.
In a state where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by nearly a 2-to-1 margin, Hilton has acknowledged his campaign is an uphill battle. Since the primary he has focused on reaching out to independent voters and making the case that after 16 years of Democratic control, poverty and wealth inequality in California have only worsened.
Both have spent the last few weeks courting voters, articulating their agendas and attacking one another — though by varying degrees. Here’s more about the two candidates, along with their stances on a few top issues.
California’s general election takes place on Novemer 3. Learn about L.A.’s city and county races as well races for state office.
Xavier Becerra
Top job: U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services
Biggest splash: As California attorney general, sued the Trump administration roughly 120 times.
Particulars: Becerra, 68, lives in Sacramento with his wife, Dr. Carolina Reyes, and they have three adult daughters. Born in Sacramento, he is the son of Mexican immigrants: His mother was a clerical worker and his father picked vegetables, worked in construction and had other jobs. Becerra is a Democrat.
Once considered an underdog among the many Democrats vying to replace Newsom, Becerra shot to the top of the polls when former Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race after he was accused of sexual assault and misconduct. In the scandal’s aftermath, several of Swalwell’s campaign advisors jumped to Becerra’s team. Voters in search of a new candidate said they were drawn to Becerra’s calm demeanor and decades of experience in government.
He finished first in the June 2 primary with 28.1% of the total vote. Under California’s top-two primary system, all candidates were listed on the same ballot, regardless of party, and first- and second-place finishers advanced to the Nov. 3 general election.
Xavier Becerra was polling at around 4% in numerous polls taken in February, March and early April. Then, he surged.
A steady, if inconspicuous presence in California Democratic politics over the years, Becerra largely is perceived as a risk-averse candidate who would continue the status quo if elected.
The son of working-class Mexican immigrants — his mother was from Guadalajara and his father was born in Sacramento but raised in Tijuana — Becerra grew up in Sacramento with three sisters. In high school, he convinced a classmate to hand over their unused application to Stanford University rather than throw it away. He filled it out and was accepted, becoming the first in his family to attend college, and graduated with degrees in law and economics.
Following a brief period doing legal aid work in Massachusetts while his wife finished medical school, Becerra returned to California to work as a legislative staffer for former state Sen. Art Torres and as a deputy attorney general. Within a few years, he was recruited to run for a San Gabriel Valley Assembly seat.
Though he boasts a long résumé in California electoral politics, Becerra went decades without a challenging election fight. Backing from a group of powerful Latinos helped him win his first Assembly race and, two years later, an open U.S. House seat, which he held for 24 years.
Xavier Becerra says he is the best candidate for California governor because of his long experience in government. His critics say that same record shows poor leadership on his part.
In 2017, Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Becerra as state attorney general to fill the vacancy left by Kamala Harris’ election to the U.S. Senate. He quickly became a top legal foe of the first Trump administration, suing more than 120 times over issues including immigration enforcement, protections for clean air and endangered species and the Affordable Care Act.
Four years later, President Biden nominated Becerra to lead the sprawling Department of Health and Human Services, and he was narrowly approved by the Senate. He faced criticism in the role for keeping a low profile during the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign and for his oversight of tens of thousands of migrant children in federal custody who crossed the border without a parent or guardian. A New York Times investigation found that as a result of scaled-back vetting processes, many of the children ended up working, often in dangerous jobs at factories, farms and construction sites.
Becerra has defended his record at the Health Department, arguing that the Trump administration left the agency ill-equipped to care for so many children and disputing the number of unaccompanied minors who were “lost.”
During this year’s primary campaign, Becerra faced criticism over a corruption case involving two former advisors and a lobbyist who siphoned $225,000 from one of his campaign accounts. Sean McCluskie, Becerra’s former chief of staff; Dana Williamson, a Democratic advisor and former chief of staff to Newsom; and lobbyist Greg Campbell pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges and are awaiting sentencing. Becerra has not been accused of wrongdoing.
Xavier Becerra is under attack in California’s governor’s race after his trusted advisor Sean McCluskie pleaded guilty to stealing from Becerra’s campaign account.
For months after the primary, Becerra kept a low profile with few public events. His absence from the campaign trail drew sharp criticism from Hilton, who challenged Becerra to accept debate invitations from multiple news outlets. Though Becerra promised multiple debates, he and Hilton met in only one televised face-off, which was hosted by CNN in late September.
The two candidates to become California’s next governor painted vastly different portraits of the state they want to lead during a televised CNN debate Wednesday night — though they both agreed the state faces tremendous challenges.
The Democrat also has offered few concrete policies he would pursue as governor. He has declined to commit to a specific number of homes he would aim to build, saying only that the state needs to at least double its construction rate. While he has pledged to prevent millions of people from losing their health insurance, Becerra has not said exactly how he would do it or what it would cost.
“I won’t make you inflated promises. I will run on my record,” he said at an August summit hosted by Politico.
Steve Hilton
Top job: Senior advisor to British Prime Minister David Cameron
Biggest splash: Fox News commentator
Particulars: Hilton, 57, was born in England and lives in the San Francisco Bay Area town of Atherton with his wife, Rachel Whetstone, who worked as a public relations executive for Google, Uber, Facebook and Netflix. They have two children. He is a Republican.
With Trump’s backing, Hilton consolidated enough Republican support to finish second in the primary with 24.6% of the vote. The president’s endorsement, though, is a double-edged sword in California, where Trump is deeply unpopular.
Hilton has said he is “deeply honored” to have his endorsement. Since the primary, however, he has made overtures to independent and Latino voters, arguing that even if they dislike Trump, voters should choose him if they are dissatisfied with California’s progress on affordability, homelessness and other issues.
“We may not agree about national politics, but I think we can agree that we need change in California, and I’m going to bring that change,” he said during a July press conference.
Hilton initially sought to keep the spotlight on Becerra’s handling of the child migrant crisis, releasing video interviews with a whistleblower and teenagers who said the Health Department released them to traffickers who forced them to work and did not intervene to stop sexual abuse. But as the general election nears, he has focused primarily on affordability, taxes and homelessness.
The Republican has kept an active campaign schedule, visiting all of the state’s 58 counties, participating in hundreds of media interviews and filming dinnertime conversations with voters about their household costs.
Hilton has thrown increasingly aggressive attacks against Becerra, bashing him as an “empty suit” favored by special interests and a “lazy” campaigner who is doing little to earn the state’s top job.
“Xavier Becerra is not running for governor, he’s just hanging around and being handed the job. He is coasting,” Hilton said at a West Sacramento campaign stop in early October. He called Becerra “smug, arrogant, lazy, entitled” and accused him of taking voters “for granted.”
Steve Hilton’s sudden rise in California politics comes a decade and a half after he pitched the U.K. Conservative Party with a very different idea: Britain could learn a lot from the Golden State.
Born in London to parents who fled conflict in their native Hungary, Hilton began a career in politics with Britain’s Conservative Party after graduating from Oxford University. He was a close friend and advisor to Cameron, who served as the United Kingdom’s prime minister from 2010 to 2016.
In British politics, Hilton earned a reputation as a zany but genius marketer who pushed the Conservative Party to embrace same-sex marriage and climate-friendlier policies. He was satirized on the BBC political sitcom “The Thick of It” as Stewart Pearson, the Tories’ “eco-friendly, media-savvy, blue-sky-thinking” communications director. He was an early supporter of Brexit, the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union.
Hilton and his family moved to California in 2012 after his wife was promoted to lead global communications at Google. In the Bay Area, he became a visiting scholar at Stanford and co-founded Crowdpac, a nonpartisan political fundraising platform. He left the company after his support for Trump stirred controversy.
For six years, he hosted “The Next Revolution,” a weekly Fox News show which Trump regularly tweeted clips from. On the show, Hilton lambasted lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic and called for an investigation into alleged voter fraud after Trump lost the 2020 election.
Hilton became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2021 and last year renounced his British citizenship. Before running for governor, he founded Golden Together, a policy institute focused on researching issues like housing costs, homelessness and the state’s business climate. He has written books that explore his ideas of “positive populism,” the role businesses play in social influence and the “failures” of California government.
How much they have raised
Fundraising data will be updated regularly until the election.
Housing
Fixing one of California’s most pressing issues — a severe housing shortage and sky-high prices — has been a rare point of unity in the governor’s race. During the primary, all major candidates agreed on the need to reduce roadblocks to homebuilding and permitting.
Becerra would declare California’s housing shortage a state of emergency and direct his administration to identify ways to reduce the cost of building. He would expand the state’s down payment assistance program for first-time buyers and supports blocking institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes.
Becerra promised to continue Newsom’s legal crusade against cities that do not plan or build enough housing under state law. As attorney general, he sued Huntington Beach and other cities to get them to build more housing. Becerra has endorsed Proposition 1, an $11.25-billion affordable housing bond, and Proposition 37, a $25-billion down payment assistance program.
Hilton argues that layers of rules and permits effectively have halted construction of smaller and more affordable starter homes. He plans to prioritize construction of 1,000-square-foot homes by fast-tracking their approval, reducing fees and placing a moratorium on new housing regulations.
He has proposed changing the California Environmental Quality Act to limit lawsuits that slow or stall new home development. He has also criticized the state’s “density bonus” law, which allows developers to increase the scale of housing projects if they include a certain percentage of affordable units.
“We’ve got this attitude that the only place you can build is inside what’s currently developed,” Hilton said during a town hall hosted by the Los Angeles Times and LAist. “My plan is to open that up so that we build outwards, not just upwards, increasing the amount of space we use for housing.”
Hilton has proposed building 10 new cities around the state. To incentivize construction, his administration would front major infrastructure costs and build UC campuses to anchor new communities.
California’s notorious cost of living and taxes
Hilton has promised to deliver $3 gas, slash utility bills by half and make Californians’ first $150,000 in earnings tax-free (an increase from his earlier proposal of $100,000). He said he can do all this by taking “a sledgehammer to our bloated, bureaucratic nanny state” and rolling back climate policies, which he blames for increased energy costs.
To lower gas prices, he has proposed increasing domestic oil production and cutting regulations on refineries. Hilton also has proposed abolishing the Department of Motor Vehicles and lowering car and truck registration fees to $73.
Becerra would address the cost of living “by standing up to price gouging and unjustified rate hikes, expanding help with child care and essential costs, and using the power of the state to lower prices where the market has failed.”
He does not specify how he would achieve those goals but touts his experience challenging anticompetitive practices among hospital systems as attorney general and negotiating more affordable prescription drugs for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries as Health Department secretary.
Becerra is open to a new mileage-based fee for drivers, something state officials are considering as electric vehicles become more mainstream. The fee would replace lost gas tax revenue, which funds road repairs and is generally not paid by EV drivers. “Everything should be on the table,” Becerra told KCRA-TV in Sacramento when asked about the proposal. “Should people who drive electric vehicles, who don’t need gas, pay for those roads to be repaired as well? Absolutely.”
In California, fuel prices often are higher than anywhere else in the country, a reflection of the state’s high cost of living that voters want their next governor to address.
While Becerra supports California’s goals to reduce carbon emissions and phase out gas-powered vehicles, he would be open to delaying certain deadlines if certain costs become too burdensome for families. And though he opposes Proposition 40, a proposed wealth tax for billionaires, Becerra supports ensuring the state’s wealthiest “pay their fair share.”
Healthcare costs and coverage for undocumented immigrants
Early in his campaign, Becerra pitched himself as a “healthcare governor” who would lower costs and expand access to medical care by drawing on years of experience writing and implementing major healthcare laws. He was criticized by other Democrats during the primary for not committing to state-sponsored single-payer health care; Becerra said he supports nationwide Medicare for all.
Becerra’s 12-point healthcare plan includes expanding CalRx, the state’s generic drug manufacturing program, expanding access to telehealth appointments and investing in robust, community-based programs to screen for and prevent diseases.
After years of expanding Medi-Cal coverage for undocumented immigrants, Newsom and lawmakers last year froze enrollment to stem increasing costs. Becerra has said he would reverse the cuts, arguing it is more cost-effective to provide regular care than push uninsured people into emergency rooms.
In a video posted to Facebook in early June, Hilton promised to eliminate “free healthcare to citizens of other countries who shouldn’t even be here.” He said he would lower costs by increasing competition among health insurance companies and stop consolidation in the healthcare industry.
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