Since our prior coverage this week tracking the California primary count, the AP has made it official: Xavier Becerra advances to November. That part is settled.

The real drama is still unresolved.

Where the Count Stands

As of Friday, June 5, with roughly 60% of ballots counted, here are the numbers according to the Associated Press:

• Steve Hilton (R): 27.2%
• Xavier Becerra (D): 26.0%
• Tom Steyer (D): 20.2%
• Chad Bianco (R): 11.2%
• Katie Porter (D): 4.5%

An estimated 3.5 million uncounted ballots remain, per NPR. California accepts mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day and received up to seven days after. That's state law — passed by the legislature, signed by the governor.

Steyer has been closing the gap on Hilton as later batches arrive, according to Fox News reporting. This race is not over.

The Mainstream Media Problem — On Both Sides

Left-leaning outlets like BBC framed Becerra's advance as a triumphant comeback story — which it genuinely is, since NPR noted he was polling in single digits as recently as April. But those same outlets are glossing over Becerra's actual record in office.

The Daily Signal documented it directly: Becerra, as California attorney general, filed 15 criminal charges in 2017 against pro-life journalists David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt for undercover reporting on Planned Parenthood. Those charges eventually collapsed — Daleiden and Merritt pleaded no contest to a single felony under a settlement in January 2025, with no jail time, no fines, and the case expunged in April 2025.

Becerra also fought to force pro-life pregnancy centers to refer women to abortion providers — a law the Supreme Court struck down 5-4 in 2018 as a First Amendment violation. He also defended California's demand that conservative nonprofits hand over their donor lists, a position the Supreme Court rejected 9-0 in 2021.

This is not a moderate.

The Fraud Narrative — State It Accurately

On the right, the coverage has gone off the rails in the opposite direction.

Breitbart's Alex Marlow claimed Democrats are "trying to steal" California races. Senator Tommy Tuberville told Marlow's show that California Democrats are going to "come up with the amount of votes they need" — explicitly comparing it to his claims about 2020. Zero evidence was offered for either assertion.

Trump posted "There's BIG cheating by the Dumocrats in California" at 1:05 a.m. on Thursday, per the New York Times. Also zero evidence attached.

California's slow count is a feature of its election code, not a bug. Florida counts faster because Florida does NOT allow mail ballots arriving after Election Day. California does. That's a policy debate worth having. It is not the same thing as fraud.

Nolte at Breitbart correctly pointed out that Florida counts ten million votes in hours while California — a global tech hub — had counted only 60% of gubernatorial votes after three days. That's a legitimate criticism of California's election administration efficiency. But "inefficient" and "fraudulent" are not synonyms, and conflating them destroys the credibility of the actual argument.

What November Actually Looks Like

If the count holds and Hilton finishes second, California Republicans will have their first real shot at the governorship in over a decade. The Daily Signal reported that Hilton campaigned hard on affordability, homelessness, and sanctuary policies — the exact issues that have driven middle-class Californians out of the state in massive numbers.

Becerra, meanwhile, has framed his entire campaign around fighting the Trump administration. That's a GOTV strategy, not a governing vision. California faces a large budget deficit, a cost-of-living crisis, and wildfire exposure.

If Steyer surges and claims second place instead, November becomes a Democrat-vs-Democrat race — which is what California's jungle primary system was arguably designed to produce in a state where registered Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly 2-to-1.

Becerra is in. The second slot is genuinely uncertain. The counting timeline is legal. The fraud claims are evidence-free. And the guy the media keeps calling a moderate spent years using the California AG's office as a weapon against political opponents — and lost at the Supreme Court twice for it.

Californians deserve to know all of that before November.