By Jeanne Kuang, CalMatters

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The game of musical chairs in the race to be California’s next governor lost another player last week. 

After Democratic businessman Stephen Cloobeck — who was polling at below half a percent — dropped out of the race and endorsed Rep. Eric Swalwell on Monday, at least 10 candidates remain. 

Voters are hardly to blame if the names don’t ring a bell. Though it’s wound on for more than a year now, the 2026 governor’s race remains unexpectedly wide open. In one poll released last month, 44% of surveyed voters did not have a preference for governor and no candidate polled above 15%.

The primary election is next June. Here’s a look at the field right now: 

XAVIER BECERRA

If former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra was looking for attention for his campaign, he found it in the form of negative headlines. 

Last month, federal prosecutors indicted a Sacramento powerbroker in an alleged corruption scandal that rocked the state’s Democratic establishment. At its center? A dormant campaign account held by Becerra, from which prosecutors allege Gov. Gavin Newsom’s former chief of staff Dana Williamson conspired with other political consultants to steal $225,000. Williamson is charged with helping to divert the funds to the wife of Becerra’s longtime aide, Sean McCluskie, who has pleaded guilty in the alleged scheme. 

Becerra was California’s first Latino attorney general before serving as a cabinet secretary for former President Joe Biden. He is running primarily on a platform of lowering health care costs. 

He has not been accused of wrongdoing in the case and has said he was unaware of what was happening. But it’s still possible the association — and the implication he wasn’t paying attention — will taint his campaign, already polling at just 8%. 

The controversy is one of a few moments of intrigue in an otherwise quiet race. 

KATIE PORTER

In October, former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter, a Democrat, was caught on camera trying to walk out of a TV interview with a reporter who pressed her on whether she needed Republican support in the race. A second video followed, showing Porter berating a staff member during a Zoom call. At the time considered the front-runner, she rode out the news cycle and later said she “could have done better” about the behavior in the videos, but they appeared to have dropped her approval ratings. She is essentially tied with the top Republican candidate. 

Porter made a name for herself as one of a “blue wave” of female, Democratic lawmakers elected to Congress during the first Trump administration in 2018. A law professor at UC Irvine who ran unsuccessfully for U.S. Senate last year, she gained attention for her tough questioning of corporate executives using her signature whiteboard. 

TOM STEYER

Joining a wide field of other Democrats, billionaire investor and climate activist Tom Steyer announced last month he is jumping into the race. 

Steyer, who made his fortune by founding a San Francisco hedge fund, has used his wealth to back liberal causes, including the environment. He’s never held public office before, but ran a short-lived campaign for president in 2020. 

CHAD BIANCO

Pro-Trump Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is neck-and-neck with Porter in the polls, though he is unlikely to last near the top of the pack in a state where Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly two-to-one and a GOP candidate hasn’t won a statewide seat in nearly 20 years.

The cowboy-hat-toting Bianco has heavily criticized Democratic governance. He argues for loosening regulations on businesses and says he wants to overturn California’s sanctuary law that restricts local police from cooperating with federal deportation officers. 

ERIC SWALWELL 

Other Democrats have focused on their biographies and experiences in government to try to distinguish themselves in a race where name recognition is low across the board. All have said they want to make California more affordable and push back on the Trump administration’s impact on the state. 

Swalwell, a former prosecutor and Bay Area congressman, will likely lean heavily on his anti-Trump bonafides. He was one of several members of Congress appointed by former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to help lead the second Trump impeachment after the attempted Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection and is now the latest Democrat under attack by the Trump administration over his mortgage.

ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA

Former Los Angeles mayor and former Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa is among the more moderate of the Democratic field. He boasts of his time running the state’s largest city, during which he boosted the police force. He ran for governor unsuccessfully in 2018. 

BETTY YEE

Former state Controller Betty Yee emphasizes her experience with the state budget and the tax system, having been a top finance office in ex-Gov. Gray Davis’ administration and having sat on the state Board of Equalization. 

TONY THURMOND

State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, a Democrat, is the only candidate currently in a statewide seat. He emphasizes his background as a social worker who grew up on public assistance programs in a low-income family. He has stated an ambitious goal of building two million housing units on surplus state land. 

IAN CALDERON

Ian Calderon, a former Democratic Assembly majority leader, is emphasizing his relative youth. He was the first millennial member of the state Assembly, and is part of a Los Angeles County political dynasty. He has some ties to the cryptocurrency industry and has name-dropped it in ads and debates. 

STEVE HILTON

Republican Steve Hilton, a Fox News contributor, was an adviser for British conservative Prime Minister David Cameron before pivoting to American politics. Before launching his campaign he released a book this year calling California “America’s worst-run state.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

Three migrants reportedly fell off the U.S.-Mexico border wall after scaling it in Southern California and were taken to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, according to a CBS affiliate.

Newsweek contacted U.S. Customs and Border Protection for comment.

Why It Matters

Unlawful crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped to their lowest level in more than half a century, according to data released on October 7 from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

The three—two women and a man—were detained in the Otay Mesa neighborhood in San Diego County after San Diego Fire-Rescue Department personnel were called out, CBS8 reported.

The apparent fall comes as plans are underway to improve the border wall in the area to boost security.

What To Know

The migrants were conscious and breathing when they were taken to hospital just after midday Friday. Details of their condition were not released, per CBS8, citing comment from San Diego Fire-Rescue Department spokeswoman Candace Hadley.

The wall in the area, which is opposite the Mexican city of Tijuana, is 30 feet high. A Border Patrol agent in the San Diego Sector said the three had apparently fallen off the wall after scaling it from the Mexican side.

“Border Patrol agents from San Diego Sector encountered three individuals who appeared to have fallen from the border barrier west of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry after illegally entering the country,” Border Patrol Agent Eugene Wesley said in a statement. 

The DHS and U.S. Customs and Border Protection recently awarded $4.5 billion in new contracts funded by President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act to expand wall construction along the Southwest.

The projects will add roughly 230 miles of new “Smart Wall” barriers and nearly 400 miles of integrated surveillance and detection systems, which include lighting, cameras and sensors.

The plans also include nearly 10 miles of new border wall in two high-traffic areas of San Diego County, including near Otay Mesa, CBS8 reported in September.

Environmentalists say the wall breaks up critical wildlife habits and blocks the migration of species like bighorn sheep and mountain lions along the California-Mexico border.

What People Are Saying

DHS chief Kristi Noem, in an October statement: “We have had the most secure border in American history and our end-of-year numbers prove it. We have shattered multiple records this year and once again we have broken a new record with the lowest number of Southwest border apprehensions in 55 years. Under President Trump, we have empowered and supported our law enforcement to do their job and they have delivered.”

Laiken Jordahl, Southwest conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, to CBS8 in September: “These wildlife have evolved for millennia to migrate freely across the border in search of food and water. Now we’re building this solid wall that will effectively wall off the entire state of California.”

Solo EV drivers using California carpool lanes will face ticketing beginning Monday as the perk disappears.

Though the benefit technically ended for solo drivers a few months ago, the Department of Motor Vehicles offered a 60-day grace period that ended Monday. Now, solo drivers face fines of up to $490.

With this, most carpool lanes require vehicles with more than two people.

Here is what to know:

How many people are affected?

As of Aug. 14, more than half a million motorists statewide had an active decal on their vehicle to access carpool lanes. California has an estimated 1,171 carpool lane-miles, with 803 miles in Southern California and 366 miles in Northern California, according to a UC Berkeley study.

With more than 35 million total registered vehicles in California, that means 1% to 2% of the vehicle fleet will lose access to the carpool lane, said Antonio Bento, professor of public policy and economics at USC.

What’s the background?

Federal legislation has allowed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to grant solo drivers in low-emission and energy-efficient cars to use the carpool, or High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV), lane.

The goal was to promote the adoption of alternative-fuel vehicles and assist in meeting environmental goals that included reducing fuel consumption and pollution caused by congested freeways, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Over time, states developed incentive programs, choosing which car models to give carpool access to.

California is one of 13 states that offered this type of incentive program to its residents. Qualified drivers in the Golden State include those who drive fuel cell electric, natural gas or plug-in electric cars.

Why is the perk ending?

In 2015, Congress authorized California’s program through a highway funding bill, but that authorization expired Sept. 30.

In an effort to extend the decal program, state Assemblymember Greg Wallis (R-Bermuda Dunes) wrote Assembly Bill 2678, which would push the end date to Jan. 1, 2027.

The bill was signed into law by Gov. Gavin Newsom last year.

But the change never got the required federal approval so the extension was moot.