California Governor

Tue, Nov 3 · Governor Gavin Newsom Democratic since Jan 2019 (not a candidate in 2026)

Xavier Becerra 58.5Steve Hilton 34.3

Average of 4 polls, Oct 9 to Oct 25, from VoteHub · how it’s calculated

Newest poll

Newest · UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, field dates Oct 19 to Oct 25, released Oct 30, 1,477 likely votersPoll sponsored by Los Angeles TimesPolls fetched Oct 30, 2:02 a.m. ET, from VoteHub

Steve HiltonRepublican

Polls over time

9 polls, through Election Day Nov 3

Each dot is one published poll. The thick line is the 7-week average, not a forecast. How it’s calculated. All polls. Polls fetched Oct 30, 2:02 a.m. ET, from VoteHub.

The polls in this chart (9)

4 polls released in the last 14 days · latest results range from 54–64% (D) and 32–36% (R) (newest 5 polls on the chart)

Each dot is a poll with both names, 9 of the 9 for this race. Dots and lines follow the field end date. The table adds the day each poll was released.

Polls shown in the chart, newest field end date first, with the day each was released
Pollster	Field dates	Released	Sample	Becerra	Hilton
UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies	Oct 19 to Oct 25	Oct 30	1,477 likely voters	61	34
SurveyUSA	Oct 19 to Oct 24	Oct 27	799 likely voters	54	32
Emerson College	Oct 17 to Oct 19	Oct 21	1,000 likely voters	64	36
University of California Berkeley Jack Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research/Verasight/TrueDot	Oct 9 to Oct 14	Oct 21	909 likely voters	55	35
UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies	Sep 15 to Sep 20	Sep 24	4,512 likely voters	58	33
SurveyUSA	Sep 15 to Sep 20	Sep 22	742 likely voters	55	33
University of California Berkeley Jack Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research/Verasight/TrueDot	Sep 11 to Sep 16	Sep 25	1,983 likely voters	54	36
UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies	Aug 3 to Aug 9	Aug 13	2,310 likely voters	55	37
Kreate Strategies	Jun 13 to Jun 17	Jun 18	900 likely voters	58	33

Side by side

Becerra left, Hilton right

Age on Election Day: 68; Not available

How these are counted

What changed in this race

Newest first

Oct 30
NEW POLLCalifornia Governor
California Governor: Xavier Becerra 61, Steve Hilton 34
UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies, Oct 19 to Oct 25, 1,477 likely voters · via VoteHub (CC BY 4.0)
Oct 27
NEW POLLCalifornia Governor
California Governor: Xavier Becerra 54, Steve Hilton 32
SurveyUSA, Oct 19 to Oct 24, 799 likely voters · via VoteHub (CC BY 4.0)

All changes

More about this race

Candidates on the ballot

Xavier BecerraDemocraticVoting Rights Attorney
Steve HiltonRepublicanSmall Business Owner

Source: elections.cdn.sos.ca.gov (PDF), dated Aug 27

Vote in California

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Official results for California

History (6 elections for this seat)

Governor, California, 2022, every candidate
Candidate	Party	Votes and share	Share
DemocraticGavin NewsomWon(incumbent)	Democratic	6,470,10459.2%	59.2%
RepublicanBrian Dahle	Republican	4,462,91440.8%	40.8%

Governor, California, 2018, every candidate
Candidate	Party	Votes and share	Share
DemocraticGavin NewsomWon	Democratic	7,721,41061.9%	61.9%
RepublicanJohn H. Cox	Republican	4,742,82538.1%	38.1%

Governor, California, 2014, every candidate
Candidate	Party	Votes and share	Share
DemocraticJerry Brown Jr.Won(incumbent)	Democratic	4,388,36860.0%	60.0%
RepublicanNeel Kashkari	Republican	2,929,21340.0%	40.0%

Votes for listed candidates: 10,095,185
Election day: November 2, 2010

Governor, California, 2010, every candidate
Candidate	Party	Votes and share	Share
DemocraticJerry Brown Jr.Won	Democratic	5,428,14953.8%	53.8%
RepublicanMeg Whitman	Republican	4,127,39140.9%	40.9%
OtherChelene Nightingale	American Independent	166,3121.6%	1.6%
LibertarianDale F. Ogden	Libertarian	150,8951.5%	1.5%
GreenLaura Wells	Green	129,2241.3%	1.3%
OtherCarlos Alvarez	Peace and Freedom	92,8510.9%	0.9%
Scattered write-ins		3630.0%	0.0%

Votes for listed candidates: 8,679,416
Election day: November 7, 2006

Governor, California, 2006, every candidate
Candidate	Party	Votes and share	Share
RepublicanArnold SchwarzeneggerWon	Republican	4,850,15755.9%	55.9%
DemocraticPhil Angelides	Democratic	3,376,73238.9%	38.9%
GreenPeter Miguel Camejo	Green	205,9952.4%	2.4%
LibertarianArt Olivier	Libertarian	114,3291.3%	1.3%
OtherJanice Ellen Jordan	Peace and Freedom	69,9340.8%	0.8%
OtherEdward C. Noonan	American Independent	61,9010.7%	0.7%
Scattered write-ins		3680.0%	0.0%

Votes for listed candidates: 7,476,311
Election day: November 5, 2002

Governor, California, 2002, every candidate
Candidate	Party	Votes and share	Share
DemocraticGray DavisWon	Democratic	3,533,49047.3%	47.3%
RepublicanBill Simon	Republican	3,169,80142.4%	42.4%
GreenPeter Miguel Camejo	Green	393,0365.3%	5.3%
LibertarianGary David Copeland	Libertarian	161,2032.2%	2.2%
OtherReinhold Gulke	Ai	128,0351.7%	1.7%
OtherIris Adam	Nl	88,4151.2%	1.2%
Scattered write-ins		2,3310.0%	0.0%

All rows: Cha, Kuriwaki and Snyder, Candidates in American General Elections, version 3.1 (2006-2023 governor rows), retrieved Oct 28, 2026

Governor races before 2002 are not loaded yet.

Data notes (13)

Source priority per race: (1) a state election office's own certified results parsed in scripts/data/gov_results.py (NJ Division of Elections PDFs, Virginia Department of Elections, the Civera ElectionStats databases run by CT, VA, VT, CO, NY, NM and SC, the Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth, the NC State Board of Elections archive); (2) the open Cha/Kuriwaki/Snyder 'Candidates in American General Elections' file (Harvard Dataverse, CC0), which copies each state's statement of vote; (3) OpenElections county files and the 2020 Dataverse official-results tables, used only to add named candidates the Dataverse file omitted and to add the write-in count; (4) MEDSL precinct sums, used the same way and only when their Democratic and Republican totals agree with the Dataverse rows to 0.3 percent. Each race's source is listed in web/data/sources/gov-results.json.
total is the sum of the candidate rows in the file, and pct is votes divided by that total, rounded to one decimal. Blank, void, over and under votes are never in total. Write-in votes are in total as a 'Write-ins' row (writein: true) wherever a source reports them: the official databases, OpenElections, and MEDSL precinct returns. The Dataverse file leaves write-ins out, so MEDSL's write-in sum is added when MEDSL's count for every named candidate equals the Dataverse count exactly (for example AK 2022, 784 write-ins, and AL 2022, 9,432, both matching the state's statement of vote). Each race's source ids are in the race's source and sourceAlso fields and in the gov-results-<st> entry of sources.json.
151 races not taken from a state's own results file have no write-in row. Either the state counted no write-ins, or the sources on file leave them out (MEDSL's precinct sums did not match every named candidate exactly, or MEDSL has no file for that year); where they were left out, total is short by the write-ins and pct can run slightly above the state's printed percentage: AK 2006, AK 2010, AK 2014, AL 2006, AL 2010, AL 2014, AL 2018, AR 2006, AR 2014, AR 2018, AR 2022, AZ 2002, AZ 2014, AZ 2022, CA 2014, CA 2018, CA 2022, DE 2008, DE 2012, DE 2016, DE 2020, DE 2024, GA 2014, GA 2018, HI 2006, HI 2010, HI 2014, HI 2018, HI 2022, IA 2006, IA 2010, IA 2014, ID 1998, ID 2006, ID 2010, ID 2022, IL 2010, IL 2014, IL 2018, IN 2004, IN 2008, IN 2012, IN 2016, IN 2020, KS 2006, KS 2010, KS 2014, KS 2018, KS 2022, KY 2007, KY 2011, KY 2015, KY 2019, LA 2007, LA 2011, LA 2015, LA 2019, LA 2023, MD 2006, MD 2014, MD 2022, ME 2006, ME 2010, ME 2014, ME 2022, MI 2006, MI 2010, MI 2014, MI 2022, MN 2006, MN 2010, MN 2014, MO 2020, MS 2007, MS 2011, MS 2015, MS 2019, MS 2023, MT 2000, MT 2004, MT 2008, MT 2012, MT 2016, MT 2020, MT 2024, ND 2008, NE 2006, NE 2010, NE 2014, NE 2018, NE 2022, NH 2008, NH 2010, NH 2012, NH 2014, NH 2024, NM 2010, NV 2006, NV 2010, NV 2014, NV 2018, NV 2022, OH 2014, OH 2018, OK 2006, OK 2010, OK 2014, OK 2018, OK 2022, OR 2006, OR 2010, OR 2014, OR 2018, OR 2022, PA 2002, PA 2006, PA 2010, PA 2014, PA 2018, PA 2022, RI 2006, RI 2010, RI 2014, SC 2006, SD 2006, SD 2010, SD 2014, SD 2018, SD 2022, TX 2014, TX 2018, TX 2022, UT 2008, UT 2010, UT 2012, UT 2020, WA 2008, WA 2012, WA 2016, WI 2006, WI 2010, WI 2014, WI 2018, WV 2008, WV 2011, WV 2012, WV 2016, WV 2020, WV 2024, WY 2002, WY 2006.
party is D, R, I, L, G, O or N from the party label in the source; party_label keeps the source's wording. The Dataverse file prints short labels (Lbt, Grn, Const, DFL, NPA); those are expanded to Libertarian, Green, Constitution, Democratic-Farmer-Labor and No Party Affiliation. Fusion candidates (NY, CT, SC, and the Democratic-Progressive line in VT) are one candidate with all of their ballot lines added together.
Names: the Dataverse file stores 'LAST, FIRST MIDDLE (NICKNAME), SUFFIX'; the display name uses the nickname when there is one (Josh Shapiro, Bob Riley) and otherwise the given names. All-caps source names were title-cased by rule and can be wrong for internal capitals (DiGiulio, DeWine). Official lists that print only surnames (NJ 1997; MA tickets from 2010 on) take the full name from the Dataverse row of the same race where the surname and party match, otherwise stay surname-only.
incumbent is true or false only for races built from the Dataverse file (it carries an incumbency code; code 3, a governor who succeeded to the office, is treated as incumbent). It is null for official-source races and for candidates added from OpenElections or MEDSL.
Louisiana uses an open primary with a runoff. One race per election is stored: the round that decided it (the October primary when someone won more than 50 percent, otherwise the November runoff, marked runoff:true). Exact dates for those rounds come from the Dataverse/official files where present and are set in the script otherwise (LA_DATES); check them before showing a date.
Recall elections (Wisconsin June 2012, California September 2021) are not included. Only regular and special general elections for the office are stored; primaries and runoff primaries are not.
scripts/data/federal_results.py, if it is re-run, rewrites every web/data/results/governor/{ST}.json to []. Run scripts/data/gov_results.py after it, or remove build_governor() from that script.
CA: No governor general-election result in this file for 3 of 9 expected election years between 1990 and 2025: 1990, 1994, 1998. No open or official bulk source was found and parsed for them yet; they are gaps, not zeroes.
Candidate name is the sitting governor's officials-file spelling for 16 rows (the race's winner, same state, race within the governor's tenure, same surname and a compatible first name). Text encoding and casing are repaired by scripts/data/names.py.
Governor races earlier than the first year listed are not loaded yet for 50 states (AK from 2006; AL from 2006; AR from 2002; AZ from 2002; CA from 2002; CO from 1990; CT from 1990; DE from 2008; FL from 1990; GA from 2002; HI from 2006; IA from 2002; ID from 1994; IL from 2006; IN from 2004; KS from 2006; KY from 2007; LA from 2007; MA from 1990; MD from 2006; ME from 2006; MI from 2006; MN from 2006; MO from 2008; MS from 2007; MT from 2000; NC from 1992; ND from 2008; NE from 2006; NH from 2006; NJ from 1993; NM from 2002; NV from 2006; NY from 1994; OH from 2002; OK from 2006; OR from 2006; PA from 2002; RI from 2006; SC from 2006; SD from 2006; TN from 2002; TX from 1994; UT from 2008; VA from 1993; VT from 1990; WA from 2008; WI from 2006; WV from 2000; WY from 2002). The sources on file start later; nothing was filled in from memory. Each governor page says so under History.
1 duplicate candidate rows merged: a 0-vote placeholder row beside the real row is dropped. governor/CO 2022 Paul Noël Fiorino