Becerra Becomes First Latino Elected Governor as 16 Black Candidates Lead in California Races

November 4, 2026

Joe W. Bowers Jr. | California Black Media

Black candidates are leading in 16 of the 23 state and federal contests in which they appeared on California’s Nov. 3 General Election ballot, according to semi-official results counted as of midnight. The Associated Press (AP) has declared 10 of them winners, including Secretary of State Shirley Weber (D), Controller Malia Cohen (D) and the state’s three Black members of Congress.

Every Black incumbent on the ballot is leading.

At the top of the ballot, AP called the governor’s race for Democrat Xavier Becerra at 8 p.m., when polls closed. Becerra, a former state attorney general and U.S. secretary of health and human services, led Republican Steve Hilton 64.1% to 35.9%. He will be the first Latino elected governor of California. Romualdo Pacheco, the only Latino to hold the office before him, became governor in 1875 when the elected governor left for the U.S. Senate.

Weber, who became California’s first Black secretary of state when she was appointed in 2021, led Republican Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner 64.8% to 35.2%. Cohen led Republican Herb Morgan 63.9% to 36.1%. When Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond leaves office in January, Weber and Cohen will be the state’s only Black statewide officeholders. The Black candidates for governor, lieutenant governor, insurance commissioner and superintendent were eliminated in the June primary.

Assemblymember Mike Gipson (D-Compton), who is termed out of the Legislature, led fellow Democrat Samuel Sukaton, a labor union organizer, 60.8% to 39.2% for the open Board of Equalization District 3 seat, which covers Los Angeles County. In Compton-based Assembly District 65, the seat Gipson is leaving, school board member Ayanna Davis (D) led Republican Lydia Gutiérrez 81.6% to 18.4%.

In Congress, Rep. Maxine Waters (D) won reelection with 82% in Congressional District (CD) 43, which includes South Los Angeles and Inglewood. Rep. Lateefah Simon (D) won with 80.1% in Oakland-based CD 12, and Rep. Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D) defeated fellow Democrat Samantha Mota with 65.4% in CD 37, which covers Southwest Los Angeles and Culver City.

“I want to thank you for voting. I want to thank you for helping to strengthen this democracy because it was being killed by the President of the United States of America. We’ve got a lot of work to do, Waters told supporters in her victory speech at her headquarters in Hawthorne on the evening of Nov. 3.

“We’ve got a lot of things to correct,” Waters continued. “One of the first things I’m going to see, even though it’s not in my committee, is: We’re going to get food stamps back for the children. We’re going to get Medicare back. We will put together the biggest housing bill in 35 years.”

Former Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln (R) trailed Rep. Adam Gray (D) 38.4% to 61.6% in the Central Valley’s CD 13, one of the most closely watched House races in the state. Gray won the seat in 2024 by 187 votes, and Proposition 50 redrew the district before this year’s election to include more Democratic voters. A Lincoln victory would have made him the fourth Black member of California’s congressional delegation. In San Diego County’s CD 52, Jeff Belle (R) trailed Rep. Juan Vargas (D) 31.6% to 68.4%.

In the State Senate, Sen. Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D) won reelection in South Los Angeles-based Senate District 28. In Riverside County’s Senate District 32, physician Tiffanie Tate (D) trailed Sen. Kelly Seyarto (R) 46.9% to 53.1%, a closer margin than her 16-point deficit in the June primary. In the Central Valley’s Senate District 12, Libertarian William Brown Jr. trailed Republican Nathan Magsig 36.5% to 63.5%.

All eight Black Assembly incumbents on the ballot are leading. AP has called the races for Lori Wilson (D) in Solano County-based Assembly District 11 with 64.8%, Mia Bonta (D) in Oakland’s Assembly District 18 with 78.9%, Sade Elhawary (D) in South Los Angeles-based Assembly District 57 with 89.2% and Tina McKinnor (D) in Assembly District 61, which includes Inglewood and Hawthorne, with 83.8%. Rhodesia Ransom (D) led with 66.6% in Stockton-based Assembly District 13, Isaac Bryan (D) with 69.7% in Assembly District 55, which includes Ladera Heights and Culver City, Corey Jackson (D) with 65.2% in Riverside County’s Assembly District 60 and LaShae Sharp-Collins (D) with 66% in San Diego’s Assembly District 79.

Three of those Assembly races were certain to elect a Black legislator because both finalists are Black. Bonta faced Andre Sandford (D), Bryan faced school social worker Ashley M. Brown (D) and Elhawary faced Constance Jewel Menzies (R).

In the closest race involving a Black candidate, Democrat Paula Swift, a small business owner, trailed Assemblymember Tri Ta (R) 48.9% to 51.1% in Assembly District 70, which includes Westminster, Garden Grove, Fountain Valley and Los Alamitos. Ta has held the seat since 2022, and Swift trailed him by nearly 8 points in the June primary.

Elsewhere, Rickey Tracy Hayes II (R) trailed Assemblymember Pilar Schiavo (D) 39.7% to 60.3% in Assembly District 40, and Carolyn Essex (D) trailed Assemblymember Josh Lowenthal (D) 31.4% to 68.6% in Long Beach-based Assembly District 69.

If the results hold, the California Legislative Black Caucus (CLBC) will keep its 12 members, with Davis replacing Gipson. A Swift victory would raise the caucus to 13.

In Los Angeles, Councilmember Nithya Raman held a narrow lead over Mayor Karen Bass, 50.16% to 49.84%. In 2022, Bass trailed businessman Rick Caruso on election night and did not take the lead until three days later. She won by nearly 10 points, 54.8% to 45.2%.

In Oakland, Mayor Barbara Lee, a former member of Congress who won a special election in 2025, led three challengers with 84.7% of the vote.

The results are semi-official. Counties will continue processing vote-by-mail ballots, which count if they are postmarked by Election Day and received by Nov. 10, along with provisional ballots, conditional voter registration ballots and damaged ballots that must be remade. County elections officials must report final results to the Secretary of State by Dec. 4, and the Secretary of State will certify the election by Dec. 11.