California‘s gubernatorial primary comes to a close Tuesday as voters choose from an extensive field of candidates hoping to replace termed-out Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom.
Closely observed congressional battles will also be on the ballot following a redistricting campaign Newsom led in response to a GOP gerrymandering push that would favour Republicans in November’s midterm elections.
The end of the voting period, which began in early May, concludes a chaotic gubernatorial contest without a clear front-runner as scores of candidates vied to lead the most populous US state and the world’s fifth-largest economy.
California puts all candidates on a single primary ballot regardless of party, and the top two finishers advance to the November general election. About 60 candidates were on the ballot, most of them largely unknown to the state’s roughly 23 million voters.
On the Democratic side, top contenders include Xavier Becerra, a former state attorney general and US health secretary under Joe Biden; Tom Steyer, a billionaire climate activist; Matt Mahan, the mayor of San Jose; and Katie Porter, a former member of Congress known for her whiteboard-and-black-marker presentations in the people’s chamber.
Among the Republicans, the two most prominent candidates are conservative commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.
High cost of living
The Democrats campaigned on fighting the Trump administration attacks on the state’s liberal policies and its leadership in Newsom while Republicans vowed to bring change after more than 15 years of Democratic leadership in Sacramento. But the throughline of the race was how to tackle the state’s notoriously high cost of living.
Read moreEx-reality TV star Spencer Pratt is ‘running Trump’s playbook’ in LA mayoral race
Drivers were paying $6 per gallon at the pump at the start of June, $1.72 more than the nationwide average, according to the American Automobile Association, or AAA. And Californians pay the second-highest residential electricity rates behind Hawaii, according to the US Energy Information Administration.
To tackle rising costs, some candidates proposed suspending the state’s gas taxes, which total roughly 70 cents a gallon, while others floated subsidising in-state tuition at public colleges.
A few of the Democrats said they would eliminate private health insurance in favour of a government-run system with no premiums, while the Republicans vowed to increase oil and gas production and reduce regulations.
Shifting momentum
Earlier in the race, Democrats worried about being locked out of the general election even though they account for 45 percent of the state’s registered voters compared to 25 percent for Republicans.
The concern was that their relatively crowded field of Democratic candidates could split the vote, allowing the two Republicans to advance under the single primary system, which was first used at the statewide level in 2014.
Recent developments, however, have diminished these fears as a few candidates emerged as leading contenders. In the race’s final days, it was Hilton warning that the Republicans could be locked out if they failed to coalesce behind him.
Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell’s resignation and withdrawal from the race in April after sexual assault allegations were made against him left an opening for Becerra, who had previously struggled to gain traction.
Highlighting his long political résumé, Becerra started raising more money and won the endorsements of powerful labour groups and Latino legislative leaders.
But that momentum also made him a target, and his rivals criticised his leadership as health secretary – including his handling of an influx of unaccompanied migrant children at the US-Mexico border in 2021, when Becerra’s Department of Health and Human Services was responsible for the shelters where they were housed.
Some of them were criticised as having inadequate living conditions, and there were also concerns about authorities failing to thoroughly vet the sponsors with whom some children were placed.
Trump on Monday evening again urged people to vote for Hilton, insisting vaguely that Democrats have done an “absolutely horrendous job” running the state.
Republicans, for their part, never coalesced behind a strategy to send both Hilton and Bianco to the general election, and the two fought to consolidate support. Trump’s endorsement of Hilton, previously a political adviser to former British prime minister David Cameron, likely boosted him among GOP voters and diminished Bianco’s chances of advancing.
“Steve can turn it around, before it is too late, and, as President, I will help him to do so!” Trump posted on his social media platform, Truth Social.
Race to redistrict
California has been a bright spot for Democrats in a redistricting war kicked off by Trump to help his party retain control of the House as polls show support for the president hitting record lows, sparking fears among Republican candidates ahead of the midterms.
Republicans believe they can win up to 14 additional seats from redrawing districts in Texas, Florida, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio and Tennessee. Democrats think they could gain up to six seats with new districts in California and Utah.
Meanwhile, the conservative majority on the Supreme Court gutted a key provision of the Voting Rights Act, letting Republicans eliminate some majority-Black congressional districts in the South and setting off a mad frenzy to redistrict ahead of November’s midterms.
Californians voted in a November referendum to allow Democrats to redraw their own state map after Texas redrew its map to make as many as five more seats winnable for the GOP.
Tuesday’s primary will be the first indication of whether that strategy will pay off.
(FRANCE 24 with AP)
This story originally appeared on France24
