See more of our coverage in your search results.

Steve Hilton is still sitting in the lead in the California gubernatorial primary — but that could soon change.

An overnight surge placed the Republican slightly ahead of Democrats Xavier Becerra and billionaire Tom Steyer, but late ballots are expected to lean blue.

Hilton currently has 27.8% of the vote, Becerra is on 25.4%, and Steyer has 19.6%, according to the Associated Press. The last voting update was around 6:45 a.m. Wednesday morning, with 58% of the vote counted.

The Republican had about 1.38 million votes, Becerra had about 1.26 million, and Steyer had just under 980,000 votes.

Fellow Republican Chad Bianco, whom Hilton urged to join with him in the waning days of the election, has 11.3% of the vote and was even leading Riverside County in the last update. Bianco’s refusal to join with Hilton undoubtedly hurt the former Fox News host’s vote totals.

Hilton expressed confidence that he will advance to the general election at his watch party in Huntington Beach.

“We’re not there yet, but it’s looking good. It looks very much as if Californians really will have the chance to vote for change in November…and take our state in a new direction — a fresh start for our state — which is long overdue,” he said.

The Associated Press had yet to call any candidate to advance in the primary early Wednesday due to California’s “history of substantial vote updates after election day that can sometimes shift the outcome of elections as late-arriving mail and drop-off votes are counted.”

Election analysts agreed with the sentiment.

California’s top news, sports and entertainment delivered to your inbox every day.

Please provide a valid email.

By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Please provide a valid email.

Never miss a story

Here is the latest on the 2026 California governors race

“In the context of this gap that Steyer faces here against Hilton, which is just under 300,000 votes right there, again it’s just that late-arriving vote by mail is such an element in this thing,” NBC election guru Steve Komacki said of the race Tuesday.

Kornacki said earlier in the night that Democrats would need a “flood” of Democratic ballots to push Steyer and Becerra over Hilton.

The progressive billionaire Steyer said his campaign would wait “until every ballot is counted.”

“We’re going to give democracy a time to work and we know we finished really strong,” he said.

As the vote currently stands Wednesday morning, Hilton and Becerra would face each other in the general election in November.