On the cusp of California’s gubernatorial June 2 primary, a poll shows voters are closely divided among three candidates vying to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom at a perilous moment in history for the state and the nation.

Among likely California voters, 25% support Xavier Becerra, a Democrat and former Biden Cabinet secretary, according to the survey by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies that was co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times and released Thursday. Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News commentator and British political strategist, has the backing of 21%, while 19% backed billionaire hedge fund founder turned environmental activist Tom Steyer, a Democrat.

The survey provided the clearest indication yet that the three have separated themselves from the rest of the field. Support increased for Becerra, Hilton and Steyer since the last Berkeley IGS poll in March. Becerra leapfrogged everyone. In early March, he wallowed near the bottom of the pack at just 5% support among likely voters, and now is the front-runner.

The other candidates floundered. Support for Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican, dropped 5%, and he now finds himself in a distant fourth place. Former Democratic Rep. Katie Porter of Irvine dropped by almost half to 7%. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond — all Democrats — remained mired in the single digits.

Poll director Mark DiCamillo cautioned that it remains unclear which candidates will finish in first and second place in the June 2 primary, a pivotal question since only the top two finishers will advance to the November general election regardless of party affiliation. The low voter turnout thus far makes predicting the outcome especially difficult.

Although every registered voter in California was sent a mail-in ballot, many have not returned them or dropped them off at voting locations — a telltale sign of the uncertain nature of this year’s governor’s race. The survey, which included all 61 of the gubernatorial candidates on the ballot, found that Democratic turnout thus far is noticeably lower compared with past primary elections, DiCamillo said.

Steve Hilton arrives for a news conference at the San Jose Diridon rail station on Tuesday.

(Jason Henry/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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“We’re assuming that … the Democrats will in fact turn out in the final week after we had concluded our poll and begin to make up ground on what looks like an early lead for Hilton, and those voters favor Becerra,” DiCamillo said.

The survey, conducted between May 19 and 24, found that likely Democratic voters favored Becerra over Steyer by 11 percentage points. Voters registered as “no party preference” were evenly divided among Becerra, Steyer and Hilton. Among likely Republican voters, Hilton led Bianco by almost 2 to 1.

Becerra also had a notable edge over Steyer among women and Latino voters, while Steyer had an advantage among Black voters. Hilton was favored over the two Democrats among self-identified libertarians and among voters in Orange County, the Central Valley and northern coast and Sierra region.

The poll found that 7% of voters remained undecided.

For the first time in more than a quarter of a century, the contest to lead the nation’s most populous state and the world’s fourth-largest economy has consistently lacked a front-runner despite a plethora of candidates.

Two of California’s best-known Democrats, former Vice President Kamala Harris and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla, both toyed with a run for governor before deciding not to run, which contributed to the sluggishness of the race. The 2026 campaign for governor also languished in the shadow of the mayhem stirred up by President Trump, including his immigration raids throughout Southern California, and the devastation wrought by the 2025 Pacific Palisades and Altadena wildfires.

But a whirlwind of recent developments has drawn attention to the race.

Former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin), once a front-runner in the contest, withdrew from the race and resigned from Congress in the aftermath of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct and assault that he denies.

Tom Steyer takes part in a campaign event in Santa Rosa on Wednesday.

(David Paul Morris / Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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Additionally, record-breaking amounts of money have flowed into the race. Steyer has smashed state self-funding records by contributing $212 million to his campaign as of Tuesday, according to the California secretary of state’s office. Nearly $85 million has been donated to independent expenditure committees by corporations, labor unions, tech titans, Native American tribes and other special interests, most of which will have policy interests that will be in front of the next governor.

Although the 2026 California governor’s race lacks the allure of recent contests that featured candidates such as global movie star Arnold Schwarzenegger, political scion Jerry Brown and former San Francisco mayor and likely 2028 presidential candidate Gavin Newsom, it is unfolding at a crucial time for Californians.

The state’s most vulnerable residents are facing severe reductions to medical care because of looming federal healthcare funding cuts, and California’s budget, already volatile because of its reliance on the state’s wealthiest residents, may grow more unpredictable. California’s highest-in-the-nation gas prices increased even more because of the U.S.-Iran war, adding to the state’s entrenched affordability crisis, which has driven many residents out of the state.

The cost of living, homelessness and public safety were among the top concerns expressed by voters, according to the poll. Protecting voting rights was also supported by most voters, though their underlying concerns could be starkly different based on their political views.

Democrats have been focused on the disenfranchisement of voters, a fear that has heightened in the aftermath of a recent Supreme Court decision that gutted a section of the Voting Rights Act that forced states to draw voting districts to help elect Black or Latino representatives to Congress. Republicans echo President Trump’s claims of elections being rigged.

Chad Bianco is interviewed May 6 after the gubernatorial debate at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles.

(Jason Armond / Los Angeles Times)

Voters split largely along party lines about issues such as Trump’s policies about climate change, immigration and taxes.

Voters’ uncertainty in the governor’s race is partly driven by California’s unique, voter-approved “jungle” primary system, in which the two candidates who win the most votes in the June 2 primary advance to the November general election, regardless of party affiliation.

Although the state’s voters are largely registered Democrats, the party’s leaders feared earlier this year that they would splinter among the multiple Democrats on the ballot, leading to Hilton and Bianco advancing to the November general election and ensuring that a Republican would be elected governor. Bianco had the backing of 11% in the new Berkeley survey.

The Republicans were once roughly tied in polls, until Trump endorsed Hilton in April. More than one-third of likely Republican voters said Trump’s endorsement of Hilton made them more likely to support him. Among voters who identified with the “Make America Great Again” movement, nearly two-thirds supported Hilton while less than 3 in 10 backed Bianco.

Though Bianco’s followers seem to be more passionate, “Hilton has got the much broader base of support, and then he got Trump’s endorsement,” DiCamillo said.

He added that Hilton’s rise is unusual in California, where statewide candidates typically spend enormous sums of money to raise their visibility among the state’s 23.1 million registered voters.

“What’s interesting about Hilton is that he hasn’t really done much of his campaigning in the traditional way. He hasn’t run huge amounts of television advertising, you don’t see his name out there in the traditional media, other than in free media,” DiCamillo said. “You can see that in the data, because almost a third of voters still have no opinion of Hilton … about what it was back in March, which is startling for a candidate who is among the leaders.”

Democrats’ fear of being locked out of the November general election led party leaders and allies to effectively urge low-polling candidates to drop out of the race in remarkable public statements in March.

The tables have since turned — the prospect of two Republicans winning the top spots in the June primary appear nonexistent, while polling shows a small possibility of two Democrats advancing to the general election.

“I’m not saying it’s likely, but it’s possible that two Democrats could emerge, and that would have huge implications on turnout in the [November] election,” DiCamillo said, pointing to California congressional races that could shape control of the U.S. House of Representatives. “If you don’t have a Republican at the top of the ticket, it would be dismal for the Republicans’ chances.”

The poll of 8,578 registered California voters was conducted online in English and Spanish and has a margin of error of about 2 percentage points in either direction.

Many people in the workplace struggle with expense reports and imposter syndrome. And then, according to the FBI, there is David J. Rush — a former CIA official who is accused of taking gold bars and bulk cash to his Virginia home while also allegedly lying about his education and military service, according to federal court records.

Rush, a former senior executive service-level CIA employee in Virginia, was arrested on May 19, after FBI agents searching his home seized more than 300 1-kilogram gold bars valued at more than $40 million, according to an affidavit from FBI Special Agent Matthew T. Johnson, who works in the counterintelligence division of the FBI’s Washington field office.

“FBI agents also seized approximately $2 million in United States currency,” the document states. “Finally, FBI agents seized approximately 35 luxury watches, many of which were Rolex brand.”

Rush, who is listed as living in Ashburn, Va., is charged with a felony count of theft of public money, according to court documents. He remains in the custody of the U.S. Marshals Service after his request to be released on bond was denied.

Requests for comment from Rush’s defense attorney were not immediately returned. Federal court records show that he waived a preliminary hearing and was scheduled for a detention hearing in Alexandria, Va., on Friday. But Magistrate Judge William E. Fitzpatrick agreed to a request from both sides of the case to postpone that hearing to the morning of June 5.

The CIA says it informed the FBI of its suspicions about Rush, who apparently fell under scrutiny after he began asking for gold bars last November. That’s when he began making “several requests … to obtain a significant quantity of foreign currency and tens of millions of dollars in gold bars for work-related expenses,” according to the affidavit.

“After a CIA internal investigation identified potential violations of the law, CIA Director John Ratcliffe referred the information to the FBI for a law enforcement investigation,” a CIA spokesperson told NPR via email, in a statement jointly issued with the FBI.

A review of a storage space Rush used at the CIA found that only part of the cash was there. The agency’s inquiry into the matter is ongoing, but it has not yet found any record of why Rush said he needed the massive amount of money.

The FBI affidavit accuses Rush of taking gold bars and currency, making false statements to the agency and on national security background forms, and filing fraudulent timecards.

Rush holds a Top Secret/Secure Compartmented Information clearance, according to the FBI affidavit. But the agency alleges that beginning with Rush’s successful 2009 CIA job application, he fabricated academic and military achievements that helped him attain that status and, as a result, earn higher wages.

Rush enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1997, and was later commissioned as an ensign in the U.S. Navy Reserves after providing a transcript showing he earned an undergraduate degree from Clemson University, the affidavit states. In three different applications to join the CIA, he claimed to have attained an undergraduate degree from Clemson, along with a master’s degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, or RPI, and other credentials.

But this spring, registrar offices at both Clemson and RPI told the FBI that their institutions have no record of Rush ever attending classes there.

Similarly, Rush’s alleged claims that he was a military pilot and served in prominent related roles were undermined by records showing he never underwent any evaluations as a pilot and does not hold a pilot’s license, according to the affidavit.

Explaining the allegation of timecard fraud, the FBI says that while military records show Rush was honorably discharged from the Navy Reserves as a lieutenant in 2015, he continued to claim military leave on his timesheets for the next 10 years, and allegedly told the CIA that he had risen to the rank of captain in the Navy Reserves.

“Here we are today. Back at this bridge. When I was a little girl, Dr. King said to us, ‘Children, when I ask you, what do you want, I want you to say freedom.’ And here we are, 61 years later.” 70-year-old Sheyann Webb-Christburg fears progress is being undone in Alabama as the state’s Republican-led Legislature races to redraw the state’s voting map before the midterm elections. Last month, the Supreme Court struck down a key Voting Rights Act protection for minority voters. Now, the extent of that ruling is being tested. After a federal court ruled that the state’s redrawn map discriminates against Black people, Alabama has appealed to the Supreme Court to allow the state to use it. Sheyann says the effort reignites memories of a darker past. “Many people, if they registered to vote back in the 60s, their lives was threatened.” At 8 years old, she witnessed it firsthand. “What happened here on Bloody Sunday?” “As we made our way across this bridge, I’ll never forget seeing the policemen with tear gas. People had begun to be beaten, just trampling over people as if they weren’t human beings. And the picture of Bloody Sunday has never left my heart.” Since the Supreme Court ruling, Republican leaders have moved quickly to break up majority Black districts across the South, including here in Alabama. These two Democratic districts were created to allow Black voters the opportunity to elect a candidate of their choice. But with five months before the midterms, conservatives across the South argue race should not be a factor in the creation of voter districts. “You cannot say that we are all created equal, and that states must treat everyone equal under the law, and then allow a law to sort people based upon race.” “I’m looking forward to the day when Alabama gets a 7-0 congressional representation. It’s consistent with who we are as a very conservative state.” “A reminder that justice matters. Truth matters. Democracy matters because biblical justice protects those who are vulnerable.” In Montgomery, a history of disenfranchisement leaves Alabama’s heavily Democratic Black population fearing their district and their voices will be erased. “Not happy with what’s being done in the statehouse.” “Yeah.” “I feel like I’ve reached the top of the stairs and someone just — and pushed me.” “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” “And pushed my children.” “What would losing representation mean to people in this district?” “There are people who don’t have running water and who have live sewage in their front yards. And it was not until representation was present that those neighbors were actually able to be served. If you have no one at the table who is representing your interest and who is concerned about you, then you know that you will not be represented in the result.” Beyond representation, activists like Anneshia Hardy worry this redistricting battle will cause voters to lose faith in the democratic process. “Folks are like, ‘Are elections still happening? Will it even matter if we go and vote?’ So when you cause that type of confusion, oftentimes it results in disengagement. And that does not just hurt Black folks. That hurts us all.” Crowd: “We’re not going back.” The New York Times reached out to Alabama’s Republican leadership, but they did not acknowledge our interview requests. “Ain’t no power like the power of the people cause the power of the people don’t stop.” It remains unclear which maps will be used in the midterm elections. Until then, advocates are organizing rallies to register their protest. “As a Black woman in this country, just about every right that I have is some type of law that can be overturned. And in my lifetime, I’m actively watching those efforts happen. Even as they dilute the power, we need folks to go and vote. We need folks to continue to show up even more.” In silent defiance, Sheyann marched in Selma again. “Much blood, sweat, and tears were shed in an effort for African Americans to gain their right to vote. We got to fight for them. Even though they are no longer with us, in my mind, they are counting on us.”