In case you forgot the California Governor race is underway with 11 candidates gunning for the spot. The primary election on June 2 is set to be a difficult decision for the usual straight ticket voters as nine of the candidates are Democrats and two wear the Republican title.
In case you forgot the California Governor race is underway with 11 candidates gunning for the spot. The primary election on June 2 is set to be a difficult decision for the usual straight ticket voters as nine of the candidates are Democrats and two wear the Republican title.
The two highest voted candidates in the primaries will advance to the General Election. Seeing as Gov. Gavin Newsom is in his final term and is ineligible for reelection due to term limits, it’s likely you have yet to familiarize yourself with the names that will be on the ballot.
Matt Mahan
The San Jose mayor is the most recent person to throw his hat into the ring. Mahan joined the race on Jan 29.
A Democratic candidate Mahan has publicly criticized Newsom in the past as Newsom’s “leap into meme land” as Mahan wrote in San Francisco Standard back in August 2025 failed to provide tangible change.
“It might be a winning strategy for his presidential campaign, but it’s a losing one for improving the lives of Californians,” wrote Mahan.
Xavier Becerra
With 35 years of service under his belt Becerra has served in Congress, as California Attorney General and was the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services under the Biden administration. In that time he brought up 122 court cases against Trump where in his own campaign page he claims to have won “most lawsuits on behalf of California families.”
Becerra is running on the platform of lower healthcare costs for Californians also tackling the cost of living crisis in the state.
“We will prosecute, we will investigate independent of the federal government anyone who tries to step on California and our rights and our Constitution and we will do this together…” said Becerra in a short clip of his Jan. 22 California Community Foundation gubernatorial forum appearance posted to his Instagram on Jan. 30.
Katie Porter
A Democrat who previously served California in Congress, she is known for her advocating to hold corporations accountable. Porter is running on a similar platform hoping to assist in the affordability in the state, including building affordable housing, and advocating for healthcare.
She has every intent to battle the Trump administration.
“The biggest threat to our health care in California will be from Trump and his allies in Washington,” her campaign page said.”As your Governor, I will fight these cuts with every fiber of my being and work to fortify our health care system at the state level so we can protect, expand and improve health care for all of our residents…”
Porter’s approach is aggressive as she stated in a press clip posted to her Instagram on Jan. 28.
“ …If you are not willing to stand up and keep people safe you have no business running for government because that is the most important thing that people need.”
Steve Hilton
One of the two Republican candidates gunning for governor, Hilton is an English immigrant who moved to California in 2012. He’s a regular on Fox News segment “The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton.”
“The home of free spirits and rebels has become plagued by endless rules and regulations, bossing everyone around, telling people what to do and how to live,” his official website reads.
Charlie Kirk had provided Hilton with an endorsement prior to his death. Hilton reposted the endorsement on Feb 2.
Hilton has taken on a familiar slogan “Make California Golden Again” making the claim he’d work with the president, no matter who was in power.
Chad Bianco
The Riverside County Sheriff is the other Republican contender, and a heavy critic of how California is currently run. Bianco is campaigning on the basis of small business assistance, affordable living and criminal justice reform.
Bianco believes the government has appeased activists (environmental) far too much, a stance he made clear at the Governor Candidate Forum at the Economic Summit in October 2025. Bianco claims that it prevents the fire departments (Cal Fire) from removing the obstacles that pose a threat to California areas.
“The government has its boot on our backs keeping us down with over regulation activism, appeasement of activists instead of taking care of the majority of Californians as a whole. And it’s an agenda it is a complete agenda of… making sure that government is in control of all of our lives instead of us being in control of government…” said Bianco in a message when referring to the issues that face California on a clip posted to the right page “Real America’s Voice News” posted in August 2025.
Tom Steyer
A billionaire Democrat and environmental activist Steyer like many others in this race has vowed to fight for an affordable California, making mentions of investments into education and building affordable housing. He is devoted to making sure that the billionaires and corporations of California contribute to the state.
“It’s time for billionaires like me and big corporations to buy into the future of California and be willing to pay more…,” said Billionaire Steyer in a campaign post on Jan 26.
Tony Thurmond
The current Superintendent of Public Instruction, Thurmond is a Democrat who is running on the prioritization of the youth’s education as well as tackling the homeless crisis. He cites his upbring as to why he feels so passionately for these topics.
Thurmond has worked on several actions in his time as superintendent that help provide students with education. He notes Transitional Kindergarten as one of his solutions, as well as free preschools and free lunches.
Antonio Villaraigosa
A Democrat and the former mayor of Los Angeles, is running on the platform of the cost of living, climate change, and homelessness.
When introducing himself at the 2025 California Economic Summit, Villaraigosa made his positions clear.
“The issue at hand is the issue of affordability people can’t afford this state can’t afford to buy a home can’t afford to buy gas utilities the second highest in the country gone up 60 percent we need a proven problem solver…,” said Villaraigosa, citing his qualifications as a former mayor of a large city as his own reasons as to why he would be the one for this job.
Betty Yee
Democratic candidate former California state controller, Yee says she has the experience to to focus on the state’s budget, curating her campaign slogan to match: “Let’s make California add up for all of us+”
Yee has built her campaign on tackling all forms of affordability in the state including housing, health care and the cost of living itself.
“As a large global economy I still find myself questioning, where’s our ambition?… How we’re gonna build middle class jobs is this, we’ve got to center everything that we do with an economic outcome,” said Yee when asked about the plan for developing California’s workforce at the California Economic Summit.
Ian Calderon
A bitcoin enthusiast, Democrat Ian Calderon was the first millennial elected to state legislature, becoming the youngest majority leader in the state’s history in 2012. Leaving to raise his family, now he’s back and running for governor on the platform of affordability of everyday needs such as food, housing and childcare costs.
Calderon has some “outside of the box” thoughts on how to increase the budget suggesting Bitcoin as a possible solution, “What if we had some money that was actually tied to an asset that would grow up and grow our revenue over time so that we can lower the cost and reduce tax burdens and investment burdens on people in the state? And if bitcoin could be there, then why not?” was what Calderon said to some effect (as the interview was edited slightly for clarity) in an interview with The San Francisco Examiner published on Feb 1.
Eric Swalwell
A Democrat candidate and Congressman serving as the U.S. representative for California’s 14th congressional district since 2023, helped lead the charge of Trump’s second impeachment when he was appointed as an impeachment manager on Jan. 12, 2021. He runs on the platform of California’s affordability, housing and unemployment issues.
He is sure to make it known he will fight against the current administration as he was one of the individuals in congress at the time of the Jan. 6, 2020 insurrection.
