Democrat Xavier Becerra wins California governor’s race, defeating Republican Steve Hilton

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Xavier Becerra, a Democrat who ran on his decades of experience in public office, will take over from California Gov. Gavin Newsom as the next governor of the nation’s most populous state.

The victory by Becerra, a former state attorney general and Biden administration official, ensures California and the White House will remain adversaries for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s second term. Becerra repeatedly tied his opponent, Republican Steve Hilton, to the president and promised to defend California against Trump’s policies on everything from immigration to voting rights.

“If anyone wants to come after California or any one Californian, they better be ready for a fight,” Becerra said Tuesday night in front of a crowd near Sacramento.

Becerra argued he was best positioned for the job after serving more than 35 years in state and federal office, including as a congressman and health secretary in President Joe Biden’s administration. Hilton, a former Fox News host and adviser to former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, has never held elected office.

Becerra will be California’s first Latino governor since the late 19th century.

He sustained Democrats’ 16-year winning streak in statewide California elections, which Hilton tried to break by arguing one-party rule was to blame for the state’s high cost of living and homelessness crisis. He argued Becerra would prolong his party’s failure to adequately address homelessness.

“This is what you get with one-party rule,” Hilton said at a news conference before Election Day. “You get a bunch of people in charge who think that they can get away with anything.”

He said after losing to Becerra that “the change we hoped for may be delayed, but the change is coming.”

The state Democratic leadership is likely to face greater scrutiny if Newsom, who was barred from seeking a third term, embarks on a bid for the presidency.

The two candidates emerged from a large primary field with half a dozen prominent Democrats and two notable Republicans.

Becerra wasn’t considered a top contender for the first months of his campaign. He admitted at a recent rally that his campaign was “an afterthought, maybe even a punchline” at the time.

That changed when former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who had been viewed as a front-runner, dropped out of the race and resigned from Congress following allegations he sexually assaulted several women. He’s denied the accusations. His departure caused the party establishment and voters to look for a more reliable alternative, and they found one in Becerra.

He sought to take advantage of Trump’s deep unpopularity in the state by tying Hilton to Trump, noting the president has endorsed the Republican. Becerra’s campaign launched a website that lists quotes of Hilton expressing support for the president and his policies. The site includes illustrations of the two Republicans standing side by side.

Most voters who said the economy was the top issue facing the country supported Becerra, who also won the vast majority of voters who said the state of democracy was the top issue facing the country, according to The AP Voter Poll.

Becerra also won a majority of voters who said the cost of living was “crucial” for their vote for Congress or said government corruption was “crucial.”

Hilton tried to break through by releasing splashy ads, sometimes with AI-generated content, to encourage voters who typically choose Democrats to try something new. He also tried to appeal to the public by making ambitious promises, including pledging to abolish the DMV and cut gas prices to $3 a gallon, a rate the state hasn’t seen in years.

Becerra was born in Sacramento to a mother from Mexico and a father who was born in California and raised in Mexico. He’s made appealing to Latino voters a key part of his campaign strategy, including by releasing ads and social media posts in Spanish.

“I’m running to be what the haters fear most: a proud son of immigrants with a law degree and a union card governing America’s most diverse and successful state,” Becerra said at a recent rally.

California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton speaks during an election night event on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Garden Grove, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton, left, is interviewed during an election night event on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Garden Grove, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

Attendees celebrate at an election night event for California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra on Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra holds a t-shirt at an election night event Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra smiles after addressing supporters at an election night event Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Noah Berger)

California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton responds to car registration prices during a campaign event at Cal Expo on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Villegas)

California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra speaks during a campaign event on Sunday, Nov. 1, 2026, in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jill Connelly)

California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton speaks with supporters during a campaign event on Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Compton, Calif. (AP Photo/William Liang)

California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra reacts at a campaign event, Monday, Nov. 2, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

Democrats have won control of Congress in Tuesday’s 2026 midterm elections in a widespread repudiation of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party, a drubbing that reached deep into reliable GOP territory.

Democrats flipped at least seven Senate seats in ruby-red states and battlegrounds alike: Kansas, which hasn’t elected a Democratic senator in nearly a century, Iowa, Texas, Ohio, Maine, North Carolina and South Carolina. They held on to battleground seats in Georgia and Michigan. In the House, Democrats flipped more than two dozen districts, some that voted for Trump by double digits in 2024.

Democrats Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia, Amy Acton in Ohio, Rob Sand in Iowa and Gina Hinojosa in Texas won races for governor, flipping GOP-held offices.

Trump faces a profoundly reshaped Washington for the last two years of his presidency. Democrats will have the power to block his legislative agenda, reject his appointees and investigate his administration.

After telling voters repeatedly to “pretend I’m on the ballot,” Trump tried to shift the blame away from himself, saying Democrats “did a good job” in their campaigns and blaming GOP candidates for losses. Most voters appear to blame his administration for high costs and want Congress to impose more checks on him, according to The AP Voter Poll.

Here's the latest:

Trump has no public events scheduled for Wednesday, according to the White House, following Democrats’ resounding midterm election wins that will give them control of the House and the Senate for his final two years in office.

The Republican president spoke to Fox News Channel for an interview that aired early Wednesday, saying Democrats “did a good job” and faulting GOP candidates for their losses. “I don’t view it as a hit on me,” he said.

Trump had all but guaranteed the results would be seen as a referendum on him by repeatedly urging voters to “pretend I’m on the ballot.” But the results showed how voters rejected his handpicked candidates while airing widespread concerns about high costs following the Iran war and his punishing tariff policy.

The results leave Trump — who watched returns at the White House with his advisers and members of his Cabinet — with dramatically diminished political capital at home and abroad.

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham says the midterm results show the importance of ending the Iran war, which has sent fuel prices soaring.

“The world has an opportunity now to unite around the issue that is affecting us all, and that’s the cost of living,” he said.

Burnham said he would be “working for de-escalation” in the Middle East and urging other leaders to do the same.

He said: “I can’t get people’s cost of living pressures down until the conflict in the Middle East is resolved (and) the conflict in Ukraine started by Russia. These are the things we have to focus on now, and I hope the world has a moment to do that.”

“While the outcome of this midterm is not what we’d hoped and fought for, a new battle is just beginning,” the Republican speaker said overnight on social media.

Johnson is expected to face a challenge from Republican rivals if he tries to stay on as GOP leader in the new Congress, which Democrats will control after the midterm rout. He did not immediately address his plans.

He said, “come 2028, we WILL take back the House and we will finish the job.”

Across the country, states elected a wave of governors who are the first Black, Latina or female leaders of their respective states.

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, the only current Black governor, won reelection on Tuesday. Republican Byron Donalds in Florida and Democrat David Crowley in Wisconsin were elected as the first Black governors in their states.

Latino Democrats also will take on the highest state office in two of the biggest states. Texas voters rejected Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in favor of Gina Hinojosa, who will be the state’s first Latina governor. And Xavier Becerra, a former California attorney general, outpaced Republican Steve Hilton. Becerra will be California’s first Latino governor since Romualdo Pacheco in 1875.

Meanwhile, Tennessee elected its first female governor. Republican U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn beat Democrat Jerri Green, a Memphis city councilwoman.

The country’s first Black female governor, the first Native American female governor, the first Native female senator and the first openly gay male U.S. senator had been declared winners on Tuesday.

By early Wednesday, the first Muslim U.S. senator was added to the list of barrier-breaking milestones.

The astonishing Democratic wave also means the United States will likely have its first-ever Black speaker of the House.

“These firsts show how our country is changing,” Alexis Anderson-Reed, president and CEO of State Voices, a network of advocates for civic engagement and equity in democracy, said in an email.

A California measure to tax the net worth of billionaires that divided liberal leaders nationally and triggered one of the most expensive ballot fights in state history was too early to call Wednesday morning as the vote tally continued.

Proposition 40 would impose a one-time 5% tax on the wealth of Californians whose net worth exceeds $1 billion, with most of the revenue dedicated to replacing federal funding cuts to healthcare. The measure left ultra-rich people, some of whom spent heavily to defeat it, scrambling to figure out whether they would pay the tax or leave California.

After more than a decade with Donald Trump at the epicenter of U.S. politics, most voters appear exhausted and exasperated by him, according to The AP Voter Poll, a survey of midterm voters in all 50 states.

The president’s failure to deliver on key promises — most prominently, his vows to tame inflation, which has worsened instead — clearly weighed on his fellow Republicans in Tuesday’s midterm elections for the House and the Senate. The polling shows that voters generally saw Trump as being more focused on his own fortune and gold-leafed existence than their needs.

The president also helped elevate candidates with obvious flaws, amplifying their struggles in an already challenging year.

But the poll also contains a serious note of caution for Democrats. Many voters dislike the party — and while Democrats hold an advantage on key issues such as the economy, their edge is relatively slim. About 7 in 10 voters said that Congress isn’t doing enough to provide checks and balances for the president, setting the bar for Democrats who won back the Senate and the House.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa says the Democrats taking control of the House and the Senate in the U.S. midterms is going to “introduce a new era in world relations.”

Ramaphosa says he hopes South Africa will be able to improve its bilateral relationship with the United States after his country became a target for criticism during President Donald Trump’s second term.

Trump’s Republican administration has made several moves against South Africa’s government, which he has baselessly accused of discriminating against its white minority. Those moves include excluding South Africa from meetings of the Group of 20 countries this year in the U.S. and suspending it from AGOA, a key U.S.-Africa trade program.

Supporters cheer as Democratic gubernatorial candidate Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford speaks at an election night event Wednesday, Nov. 4, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)

Guests attend an election night event for Republican Senate candidate Mike Collins, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Ryan Murphy)

Supporters check a phone at an election night event for Republican gubernatorial candidate Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Hollywood, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

A supporter of Wisconsin Democratic gubernatorial candidate David Crowley touches an "I voted" sticker at an election night event Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Jerry Lorimer votes at the Kanwaka township hall Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026, near Lawrence, Kan. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)