California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton launched a new campaign ad Saturday targeting former Biden administration official Xavier Becerra, signaling the general election fight may already be underway even as primary ballots continue to be counted.

The 55-second ad mocks Becerra’s lengthy political career and record in government, portraying the Democrat as a continuation of California’s political status quo.

The ad features silent clips of Becerra appearing on an old-fashioned TV screen while captions flash across the screen, including: “I’ve been a career politician for 36 years. Vote for me.”

Other captions reference issues likely to become central themes in the governor’s race, including homelessness, California’s high-speed rail project and Becerra’s tenure as secretary of Health and Human Services in former President Joe Biden’s administration.

HILTON, BECERRA, IN THE LEAD WITH VOTES STILL BEING COUNTED IN BATTLE FOR CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR

The ad also attempts to tie Becerra to Gov. Gavin Newsom, ending with the message: “I’ll change nothing about how California is governed,” followed by the tagline, “Don’t watch another rerun.”

Fox News Digital reached out to the Becerra and the Hilton campaigns for comment.

The ad comes less than 24 hours after The Associated Press projected Becerra would advance to California’s November gubernatorial election to succeed the term-limited Newsom.

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As vote counting continued Saturday, Becerra led the field with 26.8% of the vote, according to AP totals. Hilton received 26.4%, while Democrat Tom Steyer had 21.1%.

Roughly 68% of ballots had been counted as of Saturday afternoon.

In a statement after the AP race call, Becerra celebrated the result and framed his campaign as a fight for California voters.

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“The people of the great state of California, in the greatest nation on earth, have spoken — loudly and proudly,” Becerra said. “We will not be bought. We will not be bullied. And we are never backing down. November, here we come.”

Becerra’s campaign also said the result makes him the first Latino candidate to advance from a California gubernatorial primary to a general election, calling it a historic milestone for the state.

If elected in November, Becerra would become California’s first Latino governor since Romualdo Pacheco, who briefly served as governor in 1875.

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Becerra, a former California attorney general, served as Health and Human Services secretary during the Biden administration before launching his gubernatorial campaign.

Hilton, a former Fox News host and political commentator, has campaigned as a political outsider and agent of change, arguing California is headed in the wrong direction under Democratic leadership.

Results from Tuesday’s primary have not yet been certified.

A federal judge sided with California and other Democratic states on Friday in a preliminary injunction that blocked the Trump administration’s attempt to condition food benefits on compliance with the president’s policies on gender and immigration.

Twenty states and the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit in March against the Trump administration in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, arguing that the “unlawful” and “unconstitutional” funding requirements are vague and designed to force policies on states.

Billions in federal funding are ultimately at stake, including money for school lunch programs that provide meals to 30 million children nationwide and food stamps that support about 40 million Americans living in low-income households.

“As the Trump Administration tries to use essential programs and billions in funding as leverage to advance their hateful, discriminatory agenda, California continues to fight to uphold the law and ensure that our communities can continue to access the funding they need to thrive,” said California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta in a statement.

The policy shift from the United States Department of Agriculture marks another effort by the president to force left-leaning states to submit to his positions on hot-button political and cultural issues to receive government funding. California’s current budget relies on $174.5 billion in federal dollars, or roughly one-third of the overall state budget funds.

Last year, the Trump administration canceled a sexual education grant to California after the state declined to remove gender identity from sexual education curriculum. The administration is also restricting federal funds in an attempt to force states to ban transgender athletes from competing in women’s sports.

The funding conditions from the USDA relate to gender ideology, women and girls’ sports and immigration, according to the lawsuit.

States argue that the conditions do not explain what activities are prohibited for entities that receive grants. The USDA did not cite any law allowing the organization to impose anti-discrimination policies that go beyond federal law, the suit states.

The states that joined the lawsuit contend that they are left with the “unlawful” choice of adhering to the conditions or risk losing up to $74 billion in collective federal assistance from the USDA.

U.S. District Judge Myong Joun approved a preliminary injunction Friday and is expected to issue a memorandum later explaining the decision, according to the Associated Press.

A senior House Democrat is joining the growing chorus of critics questioning Senate candidate Graham Platner’s claim that he was unaware of his tattoo’s Nazi origins.

“There’s no way he didn’t know what the tattoo was,” Rep. Brad Schneider, D-Ill., said Friday in remarks reported by Punchbowl News. “Own it and move on.”

“He’s not willing to do that,” Schneider, the chairman of House Democrats’ largest caucus, lamented.

Schneider’s comments make him one of the most high-profile Democrats to criticize the Maine Senate hopeful, who has also faced mounting scrutiny over sending sexually-explicit messages to other women while newly married, a decades-long history of offensive social media posts and alleged abuse in previous romantic relationships.

DEMOCRAT CONGRESSMAN SLAMS GRAHAM PLATNER’S NAZI-LINKED TATTOO AS ‘DISQUALIFYING’

Platner, a far-left populist, is vying to unseat Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, in one of the most hotly contested races of November’s midterm elections. He is Maine Democrats’ presumptive nominee, though some party insiders have expressed doubts about the viability of his candidacy amid a string of scandals.

Schneider’s public criticism came after The New York Times reported Thursday that several of Platner’s ex-girlfriends said the Senate hopeful knew about his tattoo’s Nazi-linked design.

One of the women, Lyndsey Fifield, told The Times that Platner taught her the words behind the black skull-and-crossbones tattoo, referring to it as “my Totenkopf.”

“He would joke about it being a Nazi tattoo,” Fifield said, adding that Platner said he chose the tattoo because of his belief that his unit shared similarities to the Nazi SS paramilitary forces.

Platner vigorously denied Fifield’s account during an interview with MS NOW’s Chris Hayes on Thursday. But he struggled to answer when pressed about how Fifield sent a text to friends saying he had a Nazi-linked tattoo in August 2025, when he first publicly disclosed it two months later during an October podcast episode of “Pod Save America.” 

“How does she know it’s a Nazi tattoo in August of last year, and you don’t know it’s a Nazi tattoo in August of last year?” Hayes asked Platner.

“I can’t say why,” Platner said, adding that he was not a recipient of Fifield’s message. “I certainly didn’t know, and the text messages she’s sending to friends may have recognized it. They didn’t tell me that.”

Fifield also alleged that Platner assaulted her at one point during their relationship — an allegation that Platner said was false. 

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Platner has since had the tattoo covered up after it became a campaign issue in late 2025. He wore it for nearly two decades after he said he got it during a night of drinking with his fellow Marines while stationed in Croatia in 2007.

Amid Democrats’ divisions over Platner’s candidacy, Schneider indicated that he would struggle to support him at the ballot box if he were a Maine voter.

“I’ll leave it to the people of Maine to elect who they want,” he said, in remarks reported by Punchbowl News. “I’m grateful I don’t have to make that choice. I wouldn’t want to have to make that choice.”

Rep. Jake Auchincloss, D-Mass., and Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., have also sharply criticized Platner’s statements related to his since-covered-up tattoo.

“All I’m saying is when I was growing up, if someone had a clear Nazi tattoo on them, you probably could conclude that they’re a Nazi sympathizer,” Fetterman told CNN earlier this week. “Are you going to continue to defend that or dismiss that?”

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Schneider’s New Democrat Coalition is the largest caucus among House Democrats, with more than 100 members.

Fox News Digital reached out to the Platner campaign before publication.