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# It’s official: California picks Xavier Becerra to replace Gavin Newsom
- URL: https://www.communityforwardredlands.com/its-official-california-picks-xavier-becerra-to-replace-gavin-newsom/
- Published: 2026-11-04T07:24:55.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T07:24:55.000Z
- Description: Democrat Xavier Becerra easily won for race for governor in the most populous Democratic state in the country.
- Author: CalMatters
- Tags: Election 2026, CalMatters

By [Jeanne Kuang](https://calmatters.org/author/jeanne-kuang/?ref=communityforwardredlands.com), CalMatters

*This story was originally published by* [*CalMatters*](https://calmatters.org/?ref=communityforwardredlands.com)*.* [*Sign up*](https://calmatters.org/subscribe-to-calmatters/?ref=communityforwardredlands.com) *for their newsletters.*

Xavier Becerra is California’s next governor after easily securing a victory that ensures Democrats continue their 16-year streak controlling the state. 

With nearly half the votes counted, the former attorney general and U.S. health secretary had 65% of the vote, while Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host and British American political strategist who had 34% of the vote Tuesday night. The Associated Press declared Becerra the winner.

He will be the first Latino to serve as governor in a century and a half, and the first to be elected to the seat. In a jubilant election night speech to supporters in West Sacramento, he told the crowd that his Mexican immigrant parents came to California with $12\. 

“A construction worker and a clerical worker earned every dollar, saved every penny,” he said of his parents. “I didn’t run to make history. I ran to make a difference … for the next construction worker and clerical worker who want to buy their own home.”

Hilton conceded the race about an hour after polls closed.

“Change may be delayed, but change is coming,” he said to supporters in Orange County.

Becerra’s win caps a whirlwind and unexpected rise for a mild-mannered, risk-averse politician who just eight months ago polled so low he was being pressured to drop out of the race. 

But when the leading Democratic contender in a crowded primary dropped out in April over sexual assault allegations, Becerra was the mainstream Democrat whom party insiders and interest groups coalesced behind the most. By the time he and Republican Steve Hilton finished first and second in the primary election in June, he was already being considered the presumptive next governor of California. 

In a comfortable position in the polls and facing a GOP opponent whom he could easily tie to President Donald Trump, Becerra avoided sweeping policy promises and instead focused on his longtime experience in government. 

With Becerra’s election, it’s unlikely the state will significantly depart from the policies of outgoing Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, including in its longstanding disputes with the Trump administration. Becerra has said he supports changes Newsom and the Democratic-led Legislature have enacted to speed up housing construction, and he generally supports the state’s transition to clean energy — but also wants to find ways to lower gas prices. 

He is, however, likely to differ in style compared to his predecessor. Newsom’s signature was ambition; he swept into office eight years ago with a litany of goals such as millions of new housing units and progressive moonshots like single-payer healthcare, not all of which he achieved. Becerra has avoided such promises, instead speaking generally about prioritizing working families, and says he doesn’t want to lose any public trust by overstating what he could accomplish. 

“Californians don’t expect a miracle from government,” he said Tuesday night. “They just want a government that works.”

## GOP saw best chances with Hilton

Hilton, meanwhile, rolled out a litany of deregulatory and sometimes-eccentric policies. He called for tax cuts, abolishing the Department of Motor Vehicles, canceling the high-speed rail project and ending the state’s climate goals in an aggressive campaign focused on lowering the cost of living. But he faced long odds running as a Republican in a blue state, during an election in which Democrats were expected to sweep offices nationwide.

He represented the best hope in years for a GOP victory. He raised more than $33 million to Becerra’s $38 million and ran hard on a series of ambitious promises to lower costs by slashing regulations and taxes. He portrayed Becerra as the embodiment of the California political status quo, someone who would make decisions that benefit influential special interest groups like organized labor. 

On Tuesday night, he cast his campaign as the beginning of a “people-powered movement for change.” He set his sights on breaking up the Democratic supermajority in the Legislature in 2028 and electing a Republican governor in 2030\. 

“We were up against a machine that’s been in power for a very long time now,” he said. “They think they own this state.”

![Steve Hilton speaks with reporters during a campaign event, smiling as television news microphones are held toward him while photographers and audience members frame the foreground.](https://calmatters.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/060226_Hilton-Election_JAH-CM-18-682x1024.jpg)

Gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton speaks to members of the press at his watch party at The Waterfront Beach Resort in Huntington Beach on June 2, 2026\. Photo by Jules Hotz for CalMatters

Hilton struggled to rid himself of the baggage from Trump’s endorsement.

Becerra reminded voters of Hilton’s link to Trump at every turn, and cast himself as a fighter who would, like Newsom, challenge decisions in Washington such as Trump’s aggressive deportation campaign. 

He dismissed Hilton as unserious and [primarily campaigned on his longtime experience](https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/08/california-governor-becerra-profile-promises/?ref=communityforwardredlands.com) representing Los Angeles in Congress and serving as state attorney general and as U.S. health secretary.

The election comes at a particularly delicate time for California. 

Street homelessness rose for years and only began to decline again in 2025\. Wildfires have made it harder to buy homeowners insurance. Inflation, much of it attributable to Trump’s warin Iran, tariffs and immigration crackdown, have added to the already-high cost of living.

The state budget, always subject to the boom and bust of the stock market, has become particularly dependent on the fortunes of the artificial intelligence industry. Under Newsom, the state has made aggressive regulatory moves to curb the use of climate-warming fossil fuels. But despite recent polling that shows a majority of Californians support the green transition, [fewer are willing to pay higher prices](https://www.ppic.org/publication/ppic-statewide-survey-californians-and-the-environment-july-2026/?ref=communityforwardredlands.com) for energy than were a decade ago.

And the state’s liberal politics have often put it in the crosshairs of the Trump administration, which has withheld federal funds, challenged California’s environmental policies and attempted to intervene in this election. 

Both candidates acknowledged Tuesday night that there is widespread concern that the “California dream” is out of reach for many and needs to be restored. Hilton blamed special interests pushing for too many regulations; Becerra said the state’s environmental policies, LGTBQ rights, immigrant communities and access to healthcare were under attack from the Trump administration.

“As governor, my mission is straightforward: Deliver a California we can afford, and defend a California we can’t afford to lose,” he said. 

*This article was* [*originally published on CalMatters*](https://calmatters.org/politics/2026/11/california-election-2026-governor-race/?ref=communityforwardredlands.com) *and was republished under the* [*Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives*](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/?ref=communityforwardredlands.com) *license.*