In eight months, California will be voting on who their new governor will be. The current governor, Gavin Newsom, has served California since 2019. He has reached his term limits though and ten total candidates are running to take his place. An Eastvale resident who opted to remain anonymous stated, “I’m glad we’re finally moving on from Newsom. I want to see more change in California.”
Antonio Villaraigosa (Democratic Candidate)
From 2005 to 2013, Villaragiosa served as the mayor of Los Angeles. He also notably served as a co-chair of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign. Villaraigosa recently received endorsement from current mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass.
Betty Yee (Democratic Candidate)
Yee served as the State Controller of California from 2015 to 2023. She also served as a member on the State Board of Equalization from 2004 to 2005. Yee currently sits at 5% in the governor race, but she remains optimistic and recently filed to have her name on the ballot for the November race.
Chad Bianco (Republican Candidate)
Bianco has served as the sheriff of Riverside county since 2019. Bianco has no previous political experience, but he is one of the biggest Republican candidates and he has campaigned himself to be a man of the people.
Eric Swalwell (Democratic Candidate)
Swalwell announced his bid for governor in November of 2025, five years after his unsuccessful presidential bid in 2020. His campaign originally became popular because of his outspokenness against the current president of the United States, Donald Trump. But Swalwell publicly said he plans to focus his campaign on local and state issues while also standing for what he believes is right.
Katie Porter (Democratic Candidate)
Porter is a former congresswoman who served in Washington, D.C. from 2019 to 2025. She left her position as congresswoman to run for Senate and lost in the primary to Adam Schiff. Porter was formerly a professor at California University of Irvine, where she taught law for many years. Porter plans to focus her campaign on standing against President Trump while also addressing the affordability crisis.
Matt Mahan (Democratic Candidate)
Mahan has served as San Jose’s mayor since 2023. Mahan admitted that he is not well known in Southern California, but he plans to fix that by focusing his campaign on many So-Cal cities. Mahan has addressed homelessness and crime in San Jose through his time as their mayor, reducing homelessness by one third. Mahan was recently involved in controversy around a campaign donation he received, which was from major tech industries, but he remains hopeful in his bid for governor.
Steve Hilton (Republican Candidate)
Hilton is a former Fox news host and a very vocal supporter of President Trump and his policies. Hilton was born in the United Kingdom, where he served as a Director of Strategy for the former Prime Minister David Cameron. He moved to California in 2012, and became a U.S. citizen in 2021. Hilton has centered his campaign around the affordability crisis, which Hilton believes has been caused by Democratic climate change policies. Hilton is also an advocate for legal immigration, using his own story as an example of legal immigration and how it can be done.
Tom Steyer (Democratic Candidate)
Steyer is a wealthy individual who has centered his campaign on having other wealthy individuals pay their fair share. He has proposed a special election to rewrite Prop 13’s tax limits for commercial properties, citing that big businesses are using a tax loophole that needs to be fixed. Steyer wants to control housing and healthcare costs to make California an “even better place to do business.”
Tony Thurmond (Democratic Candidate)
Thurmond is California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction. He was elected once in 2018 and once in 2022, where he earned 63% of the statewide vote. Thurmond also served in the State Assembly. Despite his low polling, Thurmond remains in the race, hopeful to win governor and represent many minorities who feel silenced.
Xavier Becerra (Democratic Candidate)
Becerra served as the Secretary of Health and Human Services under former President Biden. He was notably the first Mexican-American to serve in that role. Becerra also served as California Attorney General from 2017-2021, and served in Congress before this role. He plans to focus on housing, healthcare and education.
