(AFP) – Californians go to the polls Tuesday in the first round of voting for a new governor, with a tight three-way race for two run-off spots, while people in Los Angeles will also be voting for a new mayor. The state’s so-called “jungle primary” pits all comers against each other — regardless of party — with the top two vote-getters advancing to the November general election to replace term-limited Governor Gavin Newsom. More than 60 names appear on the lengthy ballot papers that have been mailed out to all registered voters in the heavily Democratic state of 40 million people.
The latest polls show a three-way split, with former president Joe Biden’s health secretary Xavier Becerra in the lead. Duking it out for second place and the chance to take on Becerra in November are Democrat Tom Steyer and Donald Trump-backed Republican Steve Hilton. Steyer, a billionaire hedge fund manager, has spent more than $200 million of his own money on an insurgent campaign advocating for higher taxes on rich people and lower utility bills for California’s squeezed middle class. Hilton, a former British political strategist and erstwhile Fox News commentator, has spent most of his campaign lashing out at Democrats who have a stranglehold on California’s levers of power, insisting that they cannot fix what ails the state because they created its problems.
Those problems are legion, and whoever wins in November will have a towering inbox. Despite its huge economy — California would have the world’s fourth largest if it were a country — and its pockets of unbelievable wealth, America’s most populous state is disgruntled. While the tech bros of Silicon Valley enjoy fabulous homes, the soaring cost of houses — and an almost pathological aversion to building new ones — leaves millions struggling to pay the rent. Eye-watering utility bills and the nation’s priciest gas, coupled with high taxes and crumbling public services, add to the general sense of unfairness.
There’s also the very visible, and seemingly intractable, problem of homelessness, which inflicts misery on the thousands who suffer it and scars the streets of great cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. The high stakes and the wall-to-wall television advertisements notwithstanding, the race has never really caught fire, and the public has seemed decidedly unenthusiastic — even if the vote could have national implications. Incumbent Newsom is believed to have his eyes on the White House in 2028, following in the footsteps of one Ronald Reagan, who occupied the governor’s mansion from 1967 to 1975.
Voters in Los Angeles are also voting Tuesday in the city’s mayoral primary. Incumbent Karen Bass, who is making her case for a second term, is sandwiched between a challenge from the left by a former ally on the city council and one from the right in the form of a pugnacious reality TV star. Bass, an ex-US congresswoman and Democratic Party stalwart, had an unremarkable start to her stint at the helm of America’s second biggest city and seemed headed for a quasi-automatic re-election in the liberal city. But her flat-footed handling of the huge fires that tore through the city in January 2025 left her in trouble.
A well-received response to federal immigration raids in the fiercely diverse city somewhat righted the ship, but she remains vulnerable, and the latest polling suggests she is neck and neck with councilmember Nithya Raman, a Democratic Socialist. Bringing up the insurgent rear is Spencer Pratt, a one-time reality TV villain whose house burned down in the devastating fires. Pratt has channeled widespread anger over the slow rebuild process, LA’s potholed roads, drug-addled homeless, and a city hall seen as inefficient and in thrall to special interests. His message — like Hilton’s in the gubernatorial — is public safety and tough-on-crime, and is resonating, even with some traditional Democrats.
There are around a dozen other candidates, but none is expected to trouble the headline writers. If anyone secures 50 percent of the votes on Tuesday, they win outright; anything less means the top two candidates go through to the November 3 general election.
– Huw GRIFFITH
© 2024 AFP
