Candidates for governor Xavier Becerra, left, and Tom Steyer attend SEIU-United Service Workers West’s Gubernatorial Candidate Worker Forum at Meruelo Studios in Los Angeles on Jan. 10, 2026.AFP via Getty Images
By Anabel Sosa, Senior California politics reporter May 4, 2026 (SFGate.com)
Another poll was released this week just as ballots head to California voters’ mailboxes, revealing that a Republican and a Democrat are now tied for first place in the governor’s race.
A recent poll published Monday by the California Democratic Party found that Republican Steve Hilton, the British-born former Fox News commentator, and Democrat Xavier Becerra, the former state attorney general and health and human services secretary, are tied with 18% of likely voter support.
With less than a month until Election Day, it appears voters are becoming more decisive regarding their chosen candidates.
Trailing behind Hilton and Becerra is Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, with 15% of likely voter support, and Tom Steyer, the only billionaire candidate, with 12%. Former Rep. Katie Porter, who emerged as a leading candidate and was polling ahead of Becerra and Steyer in late February, now has 9% support; San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, the most recent candidate to announce his run, has 7% support, which is steadily up since he joined the race in late January.
Meanwhile, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and Tony Thurmond, the public schools superintendent, remain in the low single digits, with 3% and 2%, respectively, and 13% of voters are considered undecided. For months, Hilton’s consistently been polling in the lead. He and Bianco are the only two Republicans running. Meanwhile, six remaining Democrats are splitting the party vote.
Now that Becerra is leading, there has been more scrutiny over his track record as both attorney general and working in the Biden administration. Last week, KQED pointed out that Becerra has changed his tune on single-payer healthcare, having received high-power endorsements from the California Medical Association, a doctor-funded PAC. The state Legislature has repeatedly tried to pass single-payer healthcare reform but has failed to pass an overhaul.
Steyer, who has never served in public office, has also reportedly changed his tune on single-payer healthcare. When he ran for president in 2020, he said he was against the public healthcare system, but he switched his stance in December. The other Democratic candidates, except for Mahan, support a single-payer system. Both Bianco and Hilton have suggested alternatives to the system but do not explicitly support a single-payer system.
Rusty Hicks, the chair of the California Democratic Party, sent smoke signals in a March 3 letter that unless some underperforming candidates dropped out, a Republican lockout in the general election was “implausible” but a possibility.
Since then, two Democrats have dropped out of the race. Rep Eric Swalwell ended his campaign, and resigned from Congress, after he faced multiple allegations of sexual assault. Betty Yee, the former state controller, ended her campaign at the end of April after polling in the low single digits. She immediately endorsed Steyer after her announcement. Even though both Swalwell and Yee are out of the race, both will still appear on the ballot.
The poll surveyed 1,200 Californians between April 30 and May 2 and was conducted by phone and online in both English and Spanish. There is a margin of error of plus or minus 2.8 percentage points.
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May 4, 2026
Senior California politics reporter
Anabel Sosa is the senior California politics reporter at SFGATE. She previously covered the statehouse and elections for the Los Angeles Times. She has a masters degree in investigative journalism from UC Berkeley. You can reach her at anabel.sosa@sfgate.com.
