By LACP Staff Report
California’s June 2 primary delivered a political earthquake across Los Angeles County Tuesday night, with a term-limited governor’s race producing a stunning Republican frontrunner, a 30-year congressional veteran humiliated in his own primary, a sitting city attorney knocked out of her own runoff, and a billion-dollar healthcare tax measure going down — at least for now.
With roughly half the expected vote counted statewide, the results will keep shifting for weeks. Under California law, mail ballots postmarked by Election Day can be received and counted through June 9, and LA County won’t certify final results until July 10. The Registrar updates tallies daily through late June, meaning margins in close races could flip entirely before anything is official.
Governor: Hilton Leads, But Democrats Hold the Math
Republican Steve Hilton leads the all-party governor’s primary with 27.8% statewide, with Democrat Xavier Becerra in second at 25.4% and billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer at 19.6%. Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco sits at 11.3%, effectively out of contention for a top-two slot.
Both Hilton and Becerra are widely expected to advance to the November general election — the real suspense is whether Steyer can mount a late surge to overtake Becerra as Democratic mail ballots are counted. Democrats collectively are outpolling Republicans by a wide margin statewide, which historically favors candidates like Becerra as the count continues. Three major Democratic candidates — Matt Mahan, Antonio Villaraigosa, and Katie Porter — have already conceded.
The November matchup of Hilton vs. Becerra would set up a sharp ideological contrast to replace the termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom: a Trump-backed former Fox News commentator against a veteran Democratic cabinet secretary who served as California Attorney General and U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary.
LA Mayor: Bass Advances, But Second Slot Still Unsettled
Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass leads the city’s mayoral primary at 34.78%, with Republican reality TV personality Spencer Pratt in second at 30.44% and progressive City Councilmember Nithya Raman at 22.32%. No candidate came close to the 50%-plus-one threshold that would have ended the race outright Tuesday.
Bass is headed to November. The fight is over who joins her. Pratt holds an 8-point lead over Raman, but that margin is almost certain to narrow as uncounted mail ballots — which skew heavily Democratic — are processed. Whether it narrows enough to flip second place is the defining question of the next two weeks.
The Shocker: City Attorney Incumbent Bounced From Runoff
The most stunning result of the night may be the Los Angeles City Attorney race, where incumbent Hydee Feldstein Soto finds herself in third place with just 19.53% — out of the November runoff entirely. Challenger Mike Roy leads at 37.37%, with James McKinney in second at 32.83%. Feldstein Soto’s collapse is one of the cycle’s sharpest incumbent failures.
Sherman Trails a Republican in His Own Primary
In another jaw-dropping result, 28-year congressional veteran Brad Sherman is currently running second in his own CD-32 primary — behind Republican Larry Thompson, who leads 37.2% to Sherman’s 36.2%. Both advance to November under California’s top-two system regardless of the margin, but finishing behind a Republican in a district he has dominated for nearly three decades is a significant embarrassment for Sherman and a warning sign heading into fall. Progressive challenger Jake Levine drew 13.2%, suggesting anti-Sherman sentiment runs deep even within Democratic ranks.
Measure ER: Healthcare Tax Failing, But Count Isn’t Over
LA County’s Measure ER — a temporary half-cent sales tax to offset federal Medicaid cuts and keep county health clinics open — is currently failing 53.11% to 46.89%, a gap of roughly 74,000 votes. Supporters say the remaining uncounted ballots could close the margin, but reversing a six-point deficit is a steep climb. The measure needed only a simple majority to pass. If it falls short, the county faces a serious reckoning over how to backfill more than $2 billion in federal healthcare cuts triggered by the Trump administration’s budget legislation.
County Supervisors: Horvath Cruises, Durazo Dominant
Third District Supervisor Lindsey Horvath is headed to a second term after leading her primary at 62.48%, well clear of challenger Thomas Arey at 18.90%. In the First District, termed-out Supervisor Hilda Solis’s seat goes to Maria Elena Durazo, who led at 56.09% — a dominant performance that likely avoids a November runoff.
Sheriff: Luna vs. Villanueva — Again
Sheriff Robert Luna leads at 44.04% but falls short of the majority needed to avoid November. His second-place finisher: none other than former Sheriff Alex Villanueva at 24.43%, setting up a rematch of their 2022 showdown. Luna beat Villanueva, then, with 61% of the vote.
The Count Goes On
California’s vote-counting timeline routinely frustrates those expecting election night finality. The state’s universal mail ballot system means millions of ballots arrive at registrar offices for days after Election Day, each requiring signature verification before counting.
LA County alone expects to process ballots through June 26. Races separated by hundreds or even thousands of votes tonight could look entirely different by month’s end — a reality that makes any result carrying a margin under five points genuinely unsettled.
