California primary election results for key 2026 races including governor, LA mayor and more

California voters were still eagerly awaiting results in key primary elections on Thursday, including in the gubernatorial and Los Angeles mayoral races, as workers continued to count ballots more than 36 hours after polls closed on Tuesday night.

Under California’s top-two primary system, the two candidates with the most votes will move on to the November general election, regardless of party affiliation.

As of Thursday morning, CBS News had not yet projected any candidates to advance in the governor’s race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is term-limited. Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, and Democrat Xavier Becerra, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary under President Biden, both appeared poised to advance but Democratic billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer was looking to make a late push as counting continued.

Hilton, who has positioned himself as the change candidate, framed his early success as a referendum on what Californians want to see going forward.

“We’re not there yet, but it’s looking good,” Hilton said Tuesday night. “It looks very much like Californians really will have the chance to vote for change in November and take our state in a new direction.” 

Becerra on Tuesday night stated that he felt he was “on track to advance to November.” 

As early results began to trickle in on Tuesday night, high-profile Democrats such as former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa conceded. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, the only other major Republican candidate, had not yet conceded as of Thursday morning.

In LA, CBS News projected that Mayor Karen Bass will advance to a runoff election in November as she seeks reelection. Her opponent remains undetermined.

The race has been a rare challenge of an incumbent mayor of the heavily Democratic city. All three candidates, including Bass, Former “The Hills” star and Palisades Fire survivor Spencer Pratt, and city council member Nithya Raman, were in a virtual deadlock, according to polls.

“I haven’t seen a race this close in decades, especially for the city of Los Angeles. Everybody is tied within the margin of error,” campaign strategist Luis Alvarado told CBS LA several days before the election.

Still, a strong early showing from Bass netted her the CBS News projection on Tuesday night.

Pratt, who has heavily criticized city leadership’s handling of the destructive blaze as well as the homelessness crisis, showed initial strength compared to Raman but his progress slowed in LA County ballot drops on Wednesday.

When will all the California primary votes be counted?

According to the California Secretary of State, counties have 30 days to count ballots on a provisional basis. Mail-in votes must be postmarked before or on election day, but those ballots must be counted as long as they are received within seven days. Here are when some major population centers expect their next updates to be released: