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LOS ANGELES – Election officials across California continue tallying ballots in two of the most volatile, high-stakes primary contests in the state's modern history.
The early returns are beginning to shape the crucial November matchups under California's unique voting system.
By the numbers:
Here are the latest results in the key races:
Local perspective:
Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra appeared headed to November's general election Wednesday as they held the top two spots in California's gubernatorial primary.
Hilton saw a boost in support, moving past Bianco, after being endorsed by President Donald Trump in April. He has urged voters to back his bid for governor to avoid the possibility of being locked out of the November election by two Democrats. Hilton has spent most of his career as a political strategist and observer. He worked for former British Prime Minister David Cameron, after which he moved to California, where he’s resided for close to 15 years. Hilton has made tax reductions, spending limits and curbs on bureaucratic red tape some of his central campaign themes.
With returns still being counted statewide, Hilton had 1,386,966 votes, or 28%, while Becerra received 1,267,070 votes, or 25%, according to the California Secretary of State's Office.
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Democrat and billionaire hedge fund manager Tom Steyer was third with 979,007 votes, or 20%, followed by Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco with 566,679 votes, or 11%.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass advanced to November's general election in her bid for a second term as she was running ahead Wednesday in the mayoral primary, with Spencer Pratt holding second place and Nithya Raman trailing in third.
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With returns still being counted, Bass received 172,720, or 35%, of the ballots counted by the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk. Pratt had 151,149 votes, or 30%, followed by Raman with 110,848 votes, or 22%.
TMZ’s Harvey Levin joins Good Day LA to talk about the latest California primary election results.
Tech entrepreneur Adam Miller was fourth with 19,556 votes, or 4%, while housing advocate Rae Chen Huang was fifth with 13,816 votes, or 3%.
In the race for Los Angeles County Sheriff, Robert Luna was leading with 512,114 votes, or 44%, over Alex Villanueva, who had 24%, or 284,028 votes, according to the latest data.
Eric Strong was a distant third with 11%.
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If no candidate wins a majority in the primary, Luna and Villanueva will likely face off in the November general election. However, if either candidate secures more than 50% of the vote now, they win the sheriff’s race outright.
Big picture view:
California uses a "top-two" primary system—often called a jungle primary—for all statewide and congressional races. Instead of separate ballots for each political party, every candidate is pooled together onto one single ballot that all registered voters can use, regardless of their own party affiliation.
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The two candidates who receive the most votes move on to the November general election.
In the sprawling race to succeed term-limited Governor Gavin Newsom, a crowded field of 61 candidates has left voters highly fragmented, while in Los Angeles, an equally tense nonpartisan mayoral primary is seeing incumbent Karen Bass fight to defend her seat against reality TV star Spencer Pratt and progressive council member Nithya Raman.
This means party lines do not guarantee a spot in the fall; a candidate must survive the initial, crowded vote-split, which can occasionally result in two candidates from the identical party facing off against each other in November.
What’s next:
Election workers continue to scan the first wave of results, which primarily consist of mail-in ballots received before election day.
However, because California law allows mail-in ballots to be counted as long as they are postmarked by election day and arrive up to seven days later, a definitive winner may not be known on election night if the margins are tight.
As of 9 a.m., more than 1 million ballots had officially been counted.
County officials have a maximum of 30 days to conduct a mandatory post-election audit, verify provisional ballots, and finalize the official tallies before the election results are formally certified.
Because California uses a "top-two" primary system, every candidate is pooled together onto one single ballot. The two candidates who receive the most votes move on to November, regardless of party affiliation.
Tight margins mean definitive winners in the closest setups may not be known for several days.
The Source: This report is based on data provided by the California Secretary of State and the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk.
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