California held primary elections on June 2, 2026, to select candidates for governor, Los Angeles mayor, US House seats, and other offices across the state [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. The state uses a "top-two" jungle primary system for the governor’s race, where the two highest vote-getters advance to the November general election unless a candidate wins an outright majority [1, 6, 3, 4].
Partial results showed Republican Steve Hilton leading the California gubernatorial contest with 27.6% of the vote, followed by Democrats Xavier Becerra at 25.6% and Tom Steyer at 19.8% [6, 7, 8]. As of June 4, roughly 56% of votes had been counted, with mail-in ballots — which tend to favor Democrats — still arriving [7, 8]. No candidate had crossed the majority threshold, so a runoff between the top two remains likely.
In the Los Angeles mayoral race, incumbent Democrat Karen Bass secured one runoff spot with about 35% of partial votes counted. The race for the second spot was tight between Republican Spencer Pratt, polling between 29.9% and 30.4%, and Democrat Nithya Raman, with 22.8% to 29.9% [1, 7, 8]. About 62% of the mayoral ballots had been tallied by early June 4 [7, 8].
Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump publicly alleged on June 3 and 4 that Democrats were trying to "steal" the California governor and Los Angeles mayor primaries through late-counted mail-in ballots. He claimed there was "big cheating" and accused vote counting delays of being under investigation by the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles [6, 7, 8]. Trump tweeted, "The Dumocrats are at it again! They are trying to STEAL THE GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA PRIMARY, AND THE MAYOR OF LOS ANGELES, PRIMARY, AWAY FROM TWO GREAT REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES. Here we go with the very late and massive numbers of MAIL IN BALLOTS" [6].
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles declined to confirm any investigation into election fraud, denying any comment on Trump's claims [6]. No credible evidence has emerged to support the allegations.
Primaries also took place June 2 in Iowa, New Jersey, Montana, New Mexico, and South Dakota, which will determine contenders for critical November midterm races [1, 2, 3, 5]. In Iowa, Democrat Josh Turek won the Senate nomination and will face Republican Ashley Hinson in November. Turek pledged, "I will be a real fighter for Iowans, the middle class and our working families" [9, 3]. In New Jersey, Democrat Rebecca Bennett won her primary and will challenge Republican Tom Kean Jr in a key swing district [10, 9].
As of June 4, California officials continue counting mail-in ballots, with final results expected in the coming days to confirm the November matchups in statewide and local races.
