California governor primary remains too close to call

California’s race for governor remained unsettled Wednesday, with millions of ballots still to be counted and three leading candidates fighting for two places on the November ballot.

With 50% of the expected vote counted, according to NBC News’ Decision Desk, Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, led the all-party primary with 27%. Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, followed with 26%, while billionaire activist Tom Steyer, also a Democrat, had 20%. Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco was fourth with 11%.

California uses a “top two” primary system in which all candidates appear on the same ballot and the two highest vote-getters advance to the general election, regardless of party. The final result could take days or longer because of the state’s extended ballot-counting process. The Guardian reported that mail-in voting is popular in California, ballots undergo verification and many Democrats held their ballots until the last minute.

The race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom drew a sprawling field of 61 candidates, including two Democrats who had withdrawn and a professor who changed his name to Barack Obama after the 44th president was elected, The Guardian reported. Shortly after polls closed, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, both Democrats, conceded.

Hilton, Becerra and Steyer each told supporters the race was not finished.

“We’re not there yet, but it’s looking good,” Hilton said. “It looks very much as if Californians really will have the chance to vote for change in November and take our state in a new direction, a fresh start for our state, which is long overdue.”

Becerra pointed to what he called his “underdog story,” saying he had been “counted out, an afterthought, overlooked by many, outspent by a ton, even called along the way to drop out and save us the trouble.” He added: “Well, guess what? The underdog stayed in the fight. Like my parents, I never gave up.”

Steyer, who spent $200 million of his own money on the campaign, urged patience. “It might take some time to figure out where this is going, we’re going to wait till every ballot is counted, we’re going to give democracy a time to work, and we know we finished really strong,” he said.

Several other major California contests were also unresolved. In Los Angeles, Mayor Karen Bass advanced to the November runoff, but her opponent was not yet clear. With about half the expected vote counted, Bass had about 37%, former reality TV star Spencer Pratt had 29% and City Council member Nithya Raman had 21%.

“Tonight may not give us a final answer on this race,” Raman told supporters, adding that “many thousands of votes will be counted in the days ahead.” Pratt said he was looking forward to having “five months to get deep into every community that hasn’t heard my message to make them safe.” Bass told supporters, “We got a lot more to go, but so far it’s looking good.”

Uncalled House primaries could also shape the battle for Congress. In the 22nd District, Republican Rep. David Valadao was comfortably in first, while Democrats Randy Villegas and Jasmeet Bains were competing for the second runoff spot, 30% to 26%, with less than half the expected vote counted. In the open 48th District, Republican Jim Desmond led, while Democrats Marni von Wilpert and Ammar Campa-Najjar were in second and third.

In Northern California’s 6th District, independent Rep. Kevin Kiley was in a tight contest with Democrat Richard Pan and Republican Michael Stansfield, who was narrowly ahead of Pan after the two traded the lead. In San Francisco, state Sen. Scott Wiener advanced in the race to succeed retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi, while Pelosi-backed Connie Chan led progressive activist Saikat Chakrabarti for the second spot, 29% to 15%.