Xavier Becerra (D) defeated Steve Hilton (R) in the general election for governor of California on November 3, 2026. Click here for detailed results. They advanced from the top-two primary on June 2, 2026. In the primary, Becerra received 28% of the vote and Hilton received 25%. Incumbent Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) was term-limited.

AP's Sophie Austin wrote, "The race for California governor this fall will be a battle between a Democrat [Becerra] promising to cement the state’s status as a stronghold of liberal policies and a Republican [Hilton] pledging to dramatically reverse course in the nation’s most populous state."

Becerra ran on his experience as a congressman, attorney general of California, and U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in the Biden (D) administration. Becerra said he was best suited to offer voters what he called the California Dream and to take on the issues California faced, including a high budget deficit, cost of living, homelessness, and wildfire risk. According to CalMatters, Hilton said Becerra was a career politician and the "embodiment of the same decade and a half of Democratic control." Hilton also argued that he was the candidate for change and that California had been negatively affected by "long term policy failures, serial mismanagement and staggering incompetence of Democrat one-party rule."

Becerra served as the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services from 2021 to 2025. He previously served as attorney general of California from 2017 to 2021, and in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1993 to 2017. Becerra's priorities included addressing affordability issues related to housing, healthcare, child care, and utilities. Becerra said, "Here's what we are fighting for: a California where every child gets a great education, every family can afford a home, and no one loses their health care because of where they were born or how much money they have. This November, voters will choose between a governor who will fight for that future and one who would hand Sacramento to Donald Trump."

Hilton was a Fox News Channel contributor who hosted The Next Revolution on the network from 2017 to 2023. He previously worked as a senior advisor to former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and as an advertising executive. Hilton's priorities included addressing housing, affordability, and education, cutting income and gas taxes, and increasing oil drilling. Hilton said, "We need to make California an inspiration again, not a warning of what not to do. We need to revive our spirit, our energy, our optimism, our dynamism. It’s time to restore the California Dream – especially for working people who’ve had it so tough these last few years. There’s only one way to do it. We need to end the one party rule that got us into this mess. That’s why I’m running for governor. To make California Golden Again."

At the time of the election, California had had a Democratic trifecta since 2011 and last elected a Republican governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, in 2006.

This was one of 36 gubernatorial elections that took place in 2026. At the time of the 2026 elections, there were 26 Republican governors and 24 Democratic governors. Click here for an overview of all 36 gubernatorial elections that took place in 2026.

Heading into the 2026 elections, there were 23 Republican trifectas, 16 Democratic trifectas, and 11 divided governments where neither party held trifecta control. There were 24 Republican triplexes, 21 Democratic triplexes, and five divided governments where neither party held triplex control.

A state government trifecta refers to a situation where one party controls a state's governorship and majorities in both chambers of the state legislature. A state government triplex refers to a situation where the governor, attorney general, and secretary of state are all members of the same political party.