Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host and adviser to former British Prime Minister David Cameron, will advance to the November general election in the race for California governor, CBS News projects. He will face Democrat Xavier Becerra, the former U.S.
Health and Human Services Secretary and California attorney general, who surged late in the contest after the exit of former Representative Katie Porter. Becerra overtook Hilton in the vote count on Friday, leading CBS News to project his advancement.
Hilton secured the second spot in California's top-two primary, holding off billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, a Democrat. If elected, Hilton would become California's first Republican governor since Arnold Schwarzenegger left office in 2011.
Hilton served as Cameron's director of strategy from May 2010 to May 2012. Before moving to California in 2012, he ran unsuccessfully for a U.K.
parliamentary seat as a Conservative Party candidate in 2005. Hilton has positioned his candidacy as a catalyst for change in California, where Democrats hold a supermajority in the state Legislature.
As results trickled in on election night, he framed his early success as a referendum on voter sentiment. "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," he said on Tuesday.
Several high-profile candidates saw their campaigns end shortly after polls closed. Former Orange County Representative Katie Porter, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa each acknowledged they would not become California's next governor.
Other notable candidates included State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, a Democrat, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican. As of Sunday, neither candidate had conceded.
Hilton was one of two major Republicans in the race. Bianco and Hilton maintained a similar pace in polling until President Trump endorsed Hilton in April, which helped Hilton pull away.
"I have known and respected Steve Hilton, who is running for Governor of California, for many years. He is a truly fine man, one who has watched as this once great State has gone to Hell," Trump wrote on Truth Social.
"Steve Hilton has my COMPLETE & TOTAL ENDORSEMENT." Since election night, Hilton has criticized the state's lengthy ballot-counting process. During a news conference in San Mateo County on Friday, he pledged to "make sure all votes are counted within 48 hours of the mail-in deadline" if elected governor.