California, with its entertainment mecca Hollywood and innovation cluster Silicon Valley, has nearly 40 million residents and is widely seen as a Democratic stronghold. Current Governor Gavin Newsom, who, at the turn of the year, had served the two permitted terms, has repeatedly criticized President Donald Trump and is rumored to have his own White House ambitions.
"Look at how the price of gasoline is going up. It's because of Trump's rule," he said this spring about the Iran war, accusing the president of preferring to talk about his banquet hall than about killed soldiers and how the war can be ended.
Now a Trump-backed aspirant could become Newsom's successor in the governor's residence in Sacramento.
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The Democrats' own attempts to produce an attractive gubernatorial candidate have not gone very well.
It started with the fact that neither former Senator Alex Padilla nor former presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris ran. Then Congressman Eric Swalwell’s candidacy imploded, after allegations of sexual assault that also forced him to leave the House of Representatives. And Swalwell’s former congressional colleague Katie Porter has fallen in the polls after media reports that she had been mean to staff. The fact that she cut short an interview with CBS last fall when she thought the follow-up questions were too many – a clip that went viral – didn’t make matters any better.
"I don't want to have an unpleasant experience with you," Porter told the reporter.
In recent weeks, former US Health Secretary Xavier Becerra has risen in the polls. He and financier and climate activist Tom Steyer are the best placed among the party's many aspirants.
Top two
But the election is a so-called “jungle election.” Unlike regular primary elections, where each party nominates its candidate, it is the two participants who receive the most votes who advance – regardless of party affiliation.
This means that the gubernatorial election in November could be between two Republicans.
The party's leading candidate, Steve Hilton, a British immigrant and a former Fox News host who has received President Trump's endorsement, is currently in a dead heat with Becerra in the polls.
But Republican Sheriff Chad Bianco has also run a successful campaign to push against illegal immigration, which could backfire at a time when the state is struggling with high unemployment and homelessness.
California has previously had successful Republican governors, including former actors Ronald Reagan and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Both were politically centrist.
About 60 people have registered as candidates for this fall's gubernatorial election in the US state of California. Primary elections will be held on June 2. The two who receive the most votes, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the decisive election to be held on November 3.
This is how the support for the leading candidates looks in percentage (party affiliation, Republican or Democrat, indicated in parentheses):
Xavier Becerra (D), former US Health Secretary: 22%
Steve Hilton (R), host, political consultant: 21.6%
Tom Steyer (D), philanthropist, climate activist: 15.8%
Chad Bianco (R), Riverside County Sheriff: 11.6%
Katie Porter (D), former House of Representatives member: 8.3%
Matt Mahan (D), entrepreneur and mayor of San José: 5.8%
Antonio Villaraigosa (D), former mayor of Los Angeles and speaker of the state legislature: 2%
Sources: Ballotopedia, The New York Times, Real Clear Politics compilation of five current opinion polls
