2026 California gubernatorial election

For related races, see 2026 United States gubernatorial elections.

The 2026 California gubernatorial election will take place on November 3, 2026, to elect the next governor of California. The nonpartisan top-two primary election will take place on June 2, 2026. Incumbent Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom is term-limited and cannot seek re-election to a third term.

2026 California gubernatorial election

← 2022 November 3, 2026 (2026-11-03) 2030 →

Incumbent Governor Gavin Newsom Democratic

As of July 2025, over a dozen candidates have already declared a campaign, with the field of candidates expected to expand. Republicans have not won any statewide race in the state since 2006 and have not held any statewide office in California since 2011.

Candidates

Democratic Party

Declared

• Toni Atkins, former President pro tempore of the California State Senate (2018–2024) from the 39th district (2016–2024) and former Speaker of the California State Assembly (2012–2016) from the 78th district (2010–2016)^[1]
• Xavier Becerra, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (2021–2025) and former Attorney General of California (2017–2021)^[2]
• Carolina Buhler, UCLA student^[3]
• Stephen Cloobeck, founder of Diamond Resorts^[4]
• Zoltan Istvan, founder of the Transhumanist Party, Libertarian candidate for governor in 2018, and Republican candidate for president in 2020^[5]
• Katie Porter, former U.S. representative from California's 47th congressional district (2019–2025) and candidate for U.S. Senate in 2024^[6]
• Tony Thurmond, California State Superintendent of Public Instruction (2019–present)^[7]
• Antonio Villaraigosa, former mayor of Los Angeles (2005–2013) and candidate for governor in 2018^[8]
• Betty Yee, California Democratic Party vice chair (2021–present) and former California State Controller (2015–2023)^[9]

Filed paperwork

• Raji Rab, pilot and perennial candidate^[10]

Publicly expressed interest

• Rick Caruso, CEO of Caruso and runner-up for mayor of Los Angeles in 2022^[11]

Withdrawn

• Eleni Kounalakis, Lieutenant Governor of California (2019–present) (running for state treasurer)^[12]
• Fiona Ma, California State Treasurer (2019–present) (running for lieutenant governor)^[9]

Declined

• Rob Bonta, California Attorney General (2021–present) (running for re-election)^[13]
• Laphonza Butler, former U.S. senator (2023–2024)^[14]
• Kamala Harris, former vice president of the United States (2021–2025), former U.S. senator (2017–2021), and nominee for president in 2024^[15]
• Adam Schiff, U.S. senator (2024–present)^[16]

Republican Party

Declared

• Ché Ahn, pastor^[17]
• Chad Bianco, Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner (2019–present)^[18]
• Sharifah Hardie, business consultant^[19]
• Steve Hilton, political commentator and former adviser to UK prime minister David Cameron (2010–2012)^[20]
• Brandon Jones, marketing agency founder^[21]
• Kyle Langford, construction manager^[22]
• Daniel Mercuri, author, candidate for governor in 2021 and 2022, and candidate for California's 25th congressional district in 2020^[23]
• Jimmy Parker, former judge^[24]
• David Serpa, real estate business owner and runner-up for California's 39th congressional district in 2024^[25]
• Leo Zacky, vice president of Zacky Farms and candidate for governor in 2021 and 2022^[24]

Publicly expressed interest

• Grant Cardone, private equity fund manager^[26]
• Jake Steinfeld, actor and fitness personality^[27]

Declined

• Mel Gibson, actor and filmmaker^[28]
• Kevin McCarthy, former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives (2023) from California's 20th congressional district (2007–2023)^[29]

Green Party

Declared

• Butch Ware, associate professor and nominee for vice president in 2024^[30]

Peace and Freedom Party

Declared

• Ramsey Robinson, school social worker^[a][31]

No party preference

Publicly expressed interest

• Ethan Penner, real estate investor^[32]

Declined

• Nicole Shanahan, attorney and running mate of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the 2024 presidential election^[33]

Primary election

Endorsements

Toni Atkins (D)

U.S. representatives

• Scott Peters, CA-50 (2013–present)^[34]
• Juan Vargas, CA-52 (2013–present)^[35]

Statewide officials

• Shirley Weber, California Secretary of State (2021–present)^[1]

State legislators

• Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, AD-04 (2016–present)^[36]
• David Alvarez, AD-80 (2020–present)^[37]
• Catherine Blakespear, SD-38 (2022–present)^[37]
• Tasha Boerner, AD-77 (2018–present)^[37]
• Susan Eggman, SD-05 (2020–2024)^[38]
• Christine Kehoe, SD-39 (2004–2012)^[1]
• John Laird, SD-17 (2020–present)^[36]
• Brian Maienschein, AD-76 (2012–2024)^[37]
• Caroline Menjivar, SD-20 (2022–present)^[36]
• Mike McGuire, SD-02 (2024–present)^[39]
• Steve Padilla, SD-18 (2022–present)^[37]
• Richard Roth, SD-31 (2012–2024)^[36]
• LaShae Sharp-Collins, AD-79 (2024–present)^[36]
• Chris Ward, AD-78 (2020–present)^[37]
• Akilah Weber, SD-39 (2024–present)^[37]
• Scott Wiener, SD-11 (2016–present)^[38]

Local officials

• 8/9 members of the San Diego City Council^[b][40]
• Paloma Aguirre, San Diego supervisor from the 1st district (2025–present)^[41]
• Todd Gloria, mayor of San Diego (2013–2014, 2020–present)^[40]
• Terra Lawson-Remer, San Diego County supervisor from the 3rd district (2021–present)^[40]
• Holly Mitchell, Los Angeles County supervisor from the 2nd district (2020–present)^[42]
• Cori Schumacher, former Carlsbad city councilor from the 1st district (2016–2021)^[43]

Labor unions

• International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 569^[44]
• Western States Regional Council of Carpenters^[45]

Organizations

• California Legislative LGBTQ Caucus^[38]
• LPAC^[40]
• LGBTQ+ Victory Fund^[46]
• San Diego County Young Democrats^[47]

Xavier Becerra (D)

Executive branch officials

• Ron Klain, former White House Chief of Staff (2021–2023)^[48]

Chad Bianco (R)

Executive branch officials

• Bill Essayli, U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California (2025–present)^[49]

U.S. representatives

• Mary Bono, CA-45 (1998–2013)^[50]
• Ken Calvert, CA-41 (1993–present)^[51]
• Darrell Issa, CA-48 (2001–2019, 2021–present)^[52]

State legislators

• Juan Alanis, AD-22 (2022–present)^[52]
• Leticia Castillo, AD-58 (2024–present)^[49]
• Phillip Chen, AD-59 (2016–present)^[53]
• Jordan Cunningham, AD-35 (2016–2022)^[54]
• Laurie Davies, AD-74 (2020–present)^[50]
• Diane Dixon, AD-72 (2022–present)^[54]
• Heath Flora, AD-09 (2022–present)^[54]
• Jeff Gonzalez, AD-36 (2024–present)^[49]
• Heather Hadwick, AD-01 (2024–present)^[50]
• Dennis Hollingsworth, SD-36 (2002–2010)^[53]
• Tom Lackey, AD-34 (2014–present)^[55]
• Devon Mathis, AD-33 (2014–2024)^[52]
• Joe Patterson, AD-05 (2022–present)^[54]
• Kate Sanchez, AD-71 (2022–present)^[54]
• Kelly Seyarto, SD-32 (2022–present)^[56]
• Tri Ta, AD-70 (2022–present)^[50]
• Greg Wallis, AD-47 (2022–present)^[49]
• Scott Wilk, SD-21 (2016–2024)^[53]

Local officials

• Don Barnes, Orange County Sheriff-Coroner (2019–present)^[53]
• Curt Hagman, member of the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors from the 4th district (2014–present)^[50]
• Paul Miyamoto, San Francisco Sheriff (2020–present) (Democratic)^[57]
• 36 other county sheriffs^[54]
• 3 county district attorneys^[54]

Organizations

• Deputy Sheriffs' Associations of San Diego County^[58] and Santa Barbara County^[59]

Stephen Cloobeck (D)

Individuals

• Mike Madrid, political strategist and co-founder of The Lincoln Project (Republican, candidate's campaign consultant)^[60]

Steve Hilton (R)

U.S. representatives

• Kevin Kiley, CA-03 (2023–present)^[61]
• Tom McClintock, CA-05 (2009–present)^[62]

State legislators

• Gloria Romero, SD-24 (2001–2010)^[c] (campaign advisor)^[63]
• Tony Strickland, SD-36 (2025–present) (campaign co-chair)^[61]

Local officials

• Andrew Gruel, at-large Huntington Beach city councilor (2025–present) and celebrity chef^[64]
• Jeff Reisig, Yolo County district attorney (2007–present)^[65]

Individuals

• Charlie Kirk, activist and founder of Turning Point USA^[61]
• Vivek Ramaswamy, former CEO of Roivant Sciences and 2024 presidential candidate^[66]
• Jon Voight, actor^[67]

Katie Porter (D)

Organizations

• Vote Mama^[68]

Tony Thurmond (D)

U.S. Representatives

• Laura Friedman, CA-30 (2025–present)^[69]

State legislators

• Sabrina Cervantes, SD-31 (2024–present)^[40]
• Jackie Goldberg, AD-45 (2000–2006) and Los Angeles Unified School District president (1983–1991, 2019–2024)^[40]

Antonio Villaraigosa (D)

U.S. senators

• Barbara Boxer, former U.S. senator from California (1993–2017) (campaign co-chair)^[70]

Individuals

• Michael Eisner, former CEO of The Walt Disney Company^[71]
• Rob Reiner, director^[71]
• Ryan Seacrest, producer^[71]

Butch Ware (G)

Political parties

• Green Party of California^[72] and Santa Clara County^[73]

Eleni Kounalakis (D) (withdrawn)

Executive branch officials

• Roberta Achtenberg, former member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights (2011–2016)^[40]
• Hillary Clinton, former U.S. Secretary of State (2009–2013), former U.S. senator from New York (2001–2009), and Democratic nominee for president in 2016^[74]

U.S. senators

• Barbara Boxer, former U.S. senator from California (1993–2017)^[75] (endorsed Villaraigosa after Kounalakis withdrew from the race)^[70]

U.S. representatives

• Nancy Pelosi, CA-11 (1987–present)^[76]
• Luz Rivas, CA-29 (2025–present)^[74]
• Mike Thompson, CA-04 (1999–present)^[74]

State legislators

• Bill Dodd, SD-03 (2016–2024)^[74]
• Evan Low, AD-26 (2014–2024)^[40]
• Diane Papan, AD-21 (2022–present)^[74]

Local officials

• Art Agnos, former mayor of San Francisco (1988–1992)^[77]
• Kevin McCarty, mayor of Sacramento (2024–present)^[74]

Kamala Harris (D) (declined)

State officials

• Rob Bonta, California Attorney General (2021–present)^[13]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[d]	Margin of error	Toni Atkins (D)	Xavier Becerra (D)	Chad Bianco (R)	Steve Hilton (R)	Eleni Kounalakis (D)	Katie Porter (D)	Tony Thurmond (D)	Antonio Villaraigosa (D)	Betty Yee (D)	Other	Undecided
	August 8, 2025	Kounalakis withdraws from the race
Emerson College[78]	August 4–5, 2025	1000 (RV)	± 3%	2%	3%	7%	12%	3%	18%	1%	5%	2%	11%[e]	38%
Emerson College[79]	April 12–14, 2025	899 (LV)	± 3.2%	2%	3%	4%	–	3%	12%	2%	5%	3%	12%[f]	54%

Hypothetical polling

with John Cox

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[d]	Margin of error	Toni Atkins (D)	Xavier Becerra (D)	John Cox (R)	Kamala Harris (D)	Eleni Kounalakis (D)	Katie Porter (D)	Tony Thurmond (D)	Antonio Villaraigosa (D)	Betty Yee (D)	Other
Capitol Weekly[80]	February 3–7, 2025	692 (RV)	–	2%	4%	21%	23%	2%	16%	1%	2%	2%	27%[g]
		1073[h]		3%	5%	21%	–	5%	26%	2%	3%	3%	30%[i]

with Brian Dahle

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[d]	Margin of error	Toni Atkins (D)	Xavier Becerra (D)	Chad Bianco (R)	Brian Dahle (R)	Steve Hilton (R)	Eleni Kounalakis (D)	Katie Porter (D)	Tony Thurmond (D)	Antonio Villaraigosa (D)	Betty Yee (D)	Other	Undecided
USC/CSU Long Beach/ Cal Poly Pomona[81]	September 12–25, 2024	1,685 (LV)	± 2.4%	1%	3%	5%	5%	4%	2%	14%	1%	3%	3%	9%[j]	50%
Tulchin Research (D)[82][A]	August 8–12, 2024	800 (LV)	± 3.5%	–	–	–	13%	10%	10%	4%	4%	13%	7%	–	39%

with Steve Garvey

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[d]	Margin of error	Toni Atkins (D)	Xavier Becerra (D)	Chad Bianco (R)	Steve Garvey (R)	Eleni Kounalakis (D)	Katie Porter (D)	Tony Thurmond (D)	Antonio Villaraigosa (D)	Betty Yee (D)	Other	Undecided
Breakthrough Campaigns[83][B]	November 22–26, 2024	1,228 (LV)	± 2.8%	1%	2%	6%	18%	8%	21%	3%	3%	3%	23%[k]	12%
				3%	6%	14%	21%	9%	24%	2%	3%	6%	1%[l]	11%

with Kamala Harris

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[d]	Margin of error	Toni Atkins (D)	Chad Bianco (R)	Kamala Harris (D)	Eleni Kounalakis (D)	Katie Porter (D)	Tony Thurmond (D)	Antonio Villaraigosa (D)	Betty Yee (D)	Other	Undecided
Emerson College[79]	April 12–14, 2025	911 (LV)	± 3.2%	1%	4%	31%	2%	8%	1%	2%	1%	11%[m]	39%

"Democratic Primary Poll"^[n]

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[d]	Margin of error	Toni Atkins (D)	Kamala Harris (D)	Eleni Kounalakis (D)	Katie Porter (D)	Tony Thurmond (D)	Antonio Villaraigosa (D)	Betty Yee (D)	Other	Undecided
Emerson College[84][C]	February 10–11, 2025	469 (RV)	± 4.5%	3%	57%	4%	9%	1%	4%	2%	5%[o]	17%
				3%	–	5%	21%	3%	9%	3%	12%[p]	45%

Debates

2026 California gubernatorial primary debate

No.	Date	Host	Moderator	Link	Democratic	Democratic	Democratic	Democratic
Key:  P  Participant   A  Absent   N  Not invited   I  Invited  W  Withdrawn
					Atkins	Kounalakis	Thurmond	Yee
1	Sep. 29, 2024	National Union of Healthcare Workers Los Angeles Times, The Associated Press, Politico	Laurel Rosenhall Lisa Matthews Melanie Mason	YouTube	P	P	P	P

General election

Predictions

Source	Ranking	As of
The Cook Political Report[85]	Solid D	January 23, 2025
Inside Elections[86]	Solid D	February 6, 2025
Sabato's Crystal Ball[87]	Safe D	May 1, 2025
Race to the WH[88]	Safe D	August 9, 2025

See also

• 2026 United States gubernatorial elections

Notes

1. Robinson is a member of both the Peace and Freedom Party and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
2. When the article was published, San Diego had 8 city councilors, all 8 of whom endorsed Atkins. A ninth councilor was sworn in after the 2024 election.
3. She held this seat as a Democrat and switched to Republican in 2024.
4. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
5. "Someone else" with 7%; Rick Caruso (D) with 4%
6. "Someone else" with 5%; Kyle Langford (R) with 2%; Stephen Cloobeck (D), Daniel Mercuri (R), Jimmy Parker (R) and Brandon Jones (R) with 1%; Sharifah Hardie (R), Butch Ware (G), Michael Younger (D), and Leo Zacky (R) with 0%
7. Lanhee Chen (R) with 10%; Rick Caruso (D) with 8%; Rob Bonta (D) with 7%; Laphonza Butler (D) with 2%; Stephen Cloobeck (D) with 0%
8. Total says 1073, but numbers add up to 1071
9. Rob Bonta (D) and Lanhee Chen (R) with 9%; Rick Caruso (D) with 8%; Laphonza Butler (D) with 4%; Stephen Cloobeck (D) with 0%
10. Rob Bonta (D) with 4%; Rick Caruso (D) with 3%; Lanhee Chen (R) with 2%
11. Brian Dahle (R) with 9%; Rob Bonta (D) with 6%; Rick Caruso with 5%; Laphonza Butler (D) with 3%; Stephen Cloobeck (D) with 0%
12. Stephen Cloobeck (D) with 1%
13. "Someone else" with 3%; Kyle Langford (R) with 2%; Stephen Cloobeck (D), Sharifah Hardie (R), Brandon Jones (R), and Jimmy Parker (R) with 1%; Daniel Mercuri (R), Butch Ware (G), Michael Younger (D), and Leo Zacky (R) with 0%
14. Survey asked only Democratic voters. In California, all candidates run on the same ballot in a “blanket primary.”
15. "Someone else" with 3%; Stephen Cloobeck (D) and Michael Younger (D) with 1%
16. "Someone else" with 8%; Stephen Cloobeck (D) with 3%; and Michael Younger (D) with under 1%

Partisan and media clients

1. This poll was sponsored by Villaraigosa's campaign
2. This poll was sponsored by Woman Up
3. This poll was sponsored by Inside California Politics and The Hill