L.A. mayor, California governor races shift focus to November election; Republicans scrutinize process

The frontrunners in the California governor’s race and Los Angeles mayor’s race are looking ahead to the November general election, as some Republicans scrutinize the state’s ballot-counting process.

Votes continue to be counted, but with the majority of results in, news outlets are already calling clear winners in both races.

So are the candidates, with several making appearances Tuesday to officially kick off their general election campaigns.

Mayor Karen Bass led the mayoral primary race with 34% of the vote, and the Associated Press called Progressive City Councilmember Nithya Raman in second place Monday with 29%, overtaking Spencer Pratt.

Bass joined supporters in downtown Los Angeles Tuesday morning, saying she won Tuesday and will win again in November, despite challenges including the Palisades Fire and the city’s ongoing homelessness crisis during her first term.

“It’s hard for me to express how much it means to me to have all of you here, to feel your embrace, to feel your power, and to feel your encouragement because we’re going to have four more years,” she said.

Meanwhile, there is no word on when Raman will make an appearance, but she took to social media to declare victory, saying she was incredibly proud and encouraging voters to join her movement.

“We got here because people across Los Angeles believe in something better: a city where Angelenos can afford to live, work, and build a future,” she said.

Raman had made a last-minute entry into the race, after she had endorsed Bass for reelection.

The mayoral race has historical markers, with Bass being the first Black woman to hold the post, and Raman could be the first South Asian woman on the job.

The election will test whether voters in the heavily Democratic city want to move further to the political left to address long-running problems of homelessness, buckled streets and sidewalks and climbing rent and home prices.

Meanwhie, in the California gubernatorial primary, NewsNation’s Decision Desk called Steve Hilton a winner with 25% of the vote, behind Xavier Becerra’s almost 28% of the vote.

Hilton held a press conference Tuesday morning at the Registrar’s Office, kicking off his general election campaign ahead of the November runoff.

While Hilton said he is not officially declaring victory until the Associated Press calls the race, he used the opportunity to discuss voter reform.

“You can send in your mail-in ballot for a week after the election,” he said. “And here’s the theory. We have to really understand, this simple example shows you just how broken this system is.”

Hilton called for California to limit mail ballots to those who request them, rather than sending them to all registered voters.

The President Donald Trump-backed candidate will face Democrat Xavier Becerra, who is also expected to kick off his campaign Tuesday.

Becerra leaned on his more than 35 years in public office, including as state attorney general and U.S. health secretary, and argued that he was the most qualified candidate in a crowded field.

Trump has condemned California’s elections, citing voter fraud. So far, the Registrar’s Office has defended the process, saying the allegations were made prior to the election.

In California, vote-by-mail ballots postmarked on or before Election Day and received within seven days after the election, as well as any provisional ballots cast, will be counted.

KTLA’s Angeli Kakade and the Associated Press contributed to this report.