Becerra and Hilton spar about electoral integrity as Trump claims California elections are rigged
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As President Trump pushed unfounded allegations that California’s elections are rigged, the security of the ballot box became a major flash point in the state’s 2026 race for governor on Tuesday.Republican Steve Hilton called for major reforms to how Californians cast ballots and how their votes are tallied, while sidestepping questions about the president’s claims that the state’s elections officials “were cheating.” Democrat Xavier Becerra defended the integrity of the state’s elections and argued that proposed restrictions would disenfranchise many voters.The men appeared less than 20 miles apart in Southern California one week after a contentious primary election that prompted Trump to repeatedly make unfounded claims about the integrity of California’s slow vote-counting process, allegations triggered as Democrat Nithya Raman was about to overtake Republican Spencer Pratt for second place in the race for Los Angeles mayor.Hilton, whose endorsement from Trump pushed him to the front of the GOP gubernatorial field, said he has not seen any evidence of impropriety in this month’s election results.“We’re very, very focused on making sure that everything’s OK,” Hilton told reporters in Norwalk.“We’ve got teams standing by, we’ve got lawyers standing by, very focused on that.
We don’t want to let anyone down, we don’t want to let anything slip away, and we’ve seen nothing.”The two men emerged from a crowded field of candidates in the most unpredictable governor’s race in more than a quarter of a century.While Becerra on Friday nabbed a spot in the June 2 primary and will advance to the November general election, Hilton has not officially been declared a victor by the Associated Press, as of Tuesday afternoon.
Hilton, however, appears on the cusp of clinching the second spot on the ballot.Billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer is in third place ...