Quick Take
Santa Cruz County’s gubernatorial primary results revealed a clear demographic divide: Tom Steyer performed best in whiter, more college-educated communities, while Xavier Becerra drew strong support from Latino-majority areas such as Watsonville, helping propel him into the November run-off against Republican Steve Hilton.
Tom Steyer beat Xavier Becerra in more white, college-educated areas in the 2026 California primary, but the tables turned in Latino-majority neighborhoods, according to Lookout’s analysis of Santa Cruz County’s unofficial results and U.S. Census Bureau data.
Latino supporters helped deliver Becerra, a former health secretary under President Joe Biden, a spot alongside Republican candidate Steve Hilton in November. In California’s open primary, the top two vote-getters face off in the general election regardless of party.
Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara and San Francisco were Steyer strongholds in the primary, but their support wasn’t enough to save the billionaire’s campaign. “It’s now clear that we do not have the votes necessary to advance to the general election,” Steyer said Tuesday.
Votes in Santa Cruz County show a divide between the Democratic candidates, with both Becerra and Steyer each taking around a third of the vote as of Tuesday. Hilton took 15% of votes and fellow Republican Chad Bianco took nearly 5%. Lookout’s analysis, which covers more than 75% of votes counted, focused on the top two candidates from either party.
Steyer, a hedge fund founder-turned-climate activist, had the biggest share of votes in 15 of 28 communities, but opened sizable leads in only four areas.
In the city of Santa Cruz, for instance, Steyer won around 40% of the vote against Becerra’s 32%. Margins were thin in other communities, such as Aptos and Boulder Creek.
Becerra widely outperformed Steyer in areas with higher Latino populations. In Watsonville, the county’s second-most populous city, Becerra took around 41% of the vote versus Steyer’s 22%. Additionally, Becerra secured 41% of the vote in Interlaken and 36% in Freedom.
Becerra also had an edge in Rio Del Mar and Twin Lakes, which have majority-white populations.
Hilton, a British-born former Fox News host, found the most support in high-income and white areas. He got 26% of the vote, his highest share by community, in Mount Hermon, which had a median income of $158,000 and was 81% white between 2020 and 2024, according to the U.S. Census.
The strongest showing for Republicans was also in Mount Hermon, with 34% of the vote going to Hilton and Bianco, followed by Corralitos with 32% and Aptos Hills-Larkin Valley with 30%.
Hilton faces a daunting challenge in California’s Nov. 3 general election. No Republican has won statewide office since Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006.
And with Steyer out of the race, Becerra is now favored to become California’s first Latino governor. Becerra has enjoyed a meteoric rise: He polled in the single digits before disgraced former congressman Eric Swalwell dropped out.
“The underdog stayed in the fight,” Becerra told supporters on the June 2 election night.
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