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The Story Is with Elex Michaelson
Voters Head To Polls In 6 States For Primary Elections; Vote Counting Underway In California Governor's Primary; L.A. Mayoral Candidate Spencer Pratt Speaks To Supporters; California Governor's Race Too Early to Call; L.A. Mayor Karen Bass Will Advance to a Runoff. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired June 03, 2026 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're in. Right? So that's if you're in a R plus 30 seat, you're great. You want Donald Trump in. If you're in a purple state, you don't want Donald Trump in. So, you know, it all depends. There's lots of places in America Donald Trump will campaign. You need to get your base out. Donald Trump's very good at turning the base out. So I think it's still a net positive for Donald Trump all across America.
LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR: You've heard it here. Democracy, it depends. Thank you so much, everyone tonight. Thank you all for watching.
It does it for me. But Elex is going to be here picking up his special edition of The Story Is Election Night in America. Right now.
ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Elex Michelson live in Los Angeles. Welcome to a very special edition of The Story Is, Election Night in America. Six states holding primaries, including New Jersey, South Dakota, Iowa. Some of the biggest races are happening right now right here in California, vote counting is underway with the governor and mayor's races in the spotlight.
The latest projections show a crowded ballot in the governor's race narrowing to just a few candidates. At the head of the pack, you see right there, Republican Steve Hilton is in the lead, closely followed by Democrat Javier Becerra. Tom Steyer, the billionaire businessman, trying hoping to get into that top two spot, the top two advance. But right now Hilton and Becerra are looking really good to advance.
A lot to celebrate at the headquarters of the Becerra campaign, Arlette Saenz is there. And I know we expect Becerra to speak sometime soon, right?
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Right now the crowd here at Javier Becerra's campaign event is in a waiting game, waiting for results and also waiting for their chosen candidate to speak. We're hoping that this might take place at some point in the coming hour. But right now the Becerra campaign has certainly seen some encouraging signs in the latest results that show both Becerra and Hilton at the top of the pack in this very crowded governor's race. Hilton, I know, spoke with you a bit earlier today tonight as well, saying that he was also encouraged by what he was seeing. But one thing here in California is that the state typically is very slow to count their votes. Part of the reason due to the size, part of the reason because of the universal mail in ballot with voters being able to postmark their ballots as late as today. So that will contribute to some of the uncertainty of these results as the campaigns are fully waiting to see what happens.
A bit earlier we heard from progressive Tom Steyer, who told his support supporters that now is a time to be patient. But he's still holding out some hope that he will be able to emerge into that top two. But we will see how this all unfolds in the coming hours.
For Javier Becerra, he is speaking eventually here in downtown LA. This is an area that he used to represent when he was a member of Congress. There are many people who have known Becerra for quite some time at this event and they are hoping that after tonight he will be in that top two finishing to head to that matchup come November.
MICHAELSON: Arlette, thank you. We will get back to you soon. Votes are coming in right now in the L.A. mayors race. Let's take a look at the latest numbers there.
The mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, the incumbent looking good in terms of advancing. She's at 36.6 percent. There's a battle for second place and right now it certainly looks good for Spencer Pratt, the challenger, former reality show star, now community advocate, looks at the moment very strong for being in a runoff with Karen Bass. Nithya Raman, the city council member, in third place.
Right now, CNN's Kyung Lah is outside the watch party for LA mayoral candidate Spencer Pratt. Usually something like this, Kyung, there'd be a big event where the media is invited in, there's a big speech. But Spencer Pratt hasn't done anything the usual way since he started his race and that includes tonight.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT:: And you know, I think that's part of his appeal and that's really what's interesting to watch. Even though I'm standing on a sidewalk when we should be actually seeing the candidate and talking to supporters, this is different. And I think different is really what has sort of propelled this campaign.
So, if you haven't been watching what's been happening tonight, this black curtain that you're seeing here is erected in front of a Mexican restaurant here on the west side of Los Angeles. There are some unconventional supporters who are popping up. The press is standing here on the sidewalk.
You can see some of the people who did not get an invite to the private party just standing out here. The thing that I can tell you is that we, we personally haven't seen him.
[01:05:03] We don't know if he's going to be coming out here. There is no campaign contact person for us to talk to. We did hear at that first drop a big cheer coming from the other side of the black curtain. They've been playing music throughout the evening. We haven't heard any speeches. But that cheer after that first drop certainly signaling at least some encouragement. They're charged up after seeing some of those results come in for him.
But as far as anything else, there was celebrity Billy Bush come out, make a brief statement, but then went inside. But really we haven't heard any of the big supporters come out and talk yet. It's really hard to tell, Elex, too, if Spencer Pratt is going to come out and chat because I'm on this side of the curtain. Elex.
MICHAELSON: Kyung Lah, thank you for that. We are standing by to head to Huntington Beach. We are awaiting Steve Hilton to speak momentarily. It is looking good for him as we bring in CNN's chief data analyst Harry Enten, live at the Magic Wall.
Harry, you're looking at the governor's race. It's all about the top two. And it seems like, you know, the top two that a lot of people were predicting may end up as the top two.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: It is what we thought it was, Elex Michaelson. It is what we thought it was. This is what the late pre-election polling suggested it was what the prediction market suggested is what went on the air on Monday and suggest what was likely going to happen. And you can see it right here.
Look, you got Steve Hilton, Javier Becerra one and two and then you got Tom Steyer all the way back at 20 percent. Now I will note there's this key nugget right, we have about 49 percent of the estimated vote remaining but so far the votes that are in are quite good for both Hilton and Becerra. And you can just see it on the map right here. Look at this, in this light red, look at all of the Steve Hilton, a lot of light red.
And then the light blue, Javier Becerra, look at this. I think one of the key things that we were kind of looking at here or thinking was, you know, this is the home area right around the San Francisco Bay area of Tom Steyer who's in dark blue, but who's in light blue all around the San Francisco Bay area. It is in fact Javier Becerra who is leading in that area. And I will note more than that in even if you zoom in. Right.
The only dark blue I can really find in the San Francisco Bay area is in fact San Francisco County. But even here, look at this. Tom Steyer, he's ahead, but he's only at 32 percent. The rest of the San Francisco Bay area is all light blue. And then of course, Javier Becerra is from down here in the Los Angeles area. Right. And what do we see?
We see Javier Becerra, one, but it's not Tom Steyer in very blue Los Angeles. Right. A county that went overwhelmingly for Kamala Harris. And in fact, Tom Steyer is actually running slightly a bit in third place at this point. Now the other thing I will note, of course was there's this whole idea, right? Oh, is there potential that the Democrats might get locked out of the top two? That was one of those years. But look at where the other Republican is.
Look at where Chad Bianco is. He's all the way back at 11 percent right now. So right now what we're really talking about is a top two between Hilton and Becerra. And I guess the real question, which is yet unknown at this hour is with this 49 percent of the vote in, I'm going to underline it right here.
When we get that additional 51 percent of the vote, will in fact Tom Steyer be able to close? I was looking at the preelection polling. It did not in fact suggest it would be good enough for Steyer to actually close it. But we'll see.
MICHAELSON: And we have seen some momentum for Steyer in the last few days. We're just going to see how much momentum. Thank you to Harry Enten. Let's go to Huntington Beach. This is where Steve Hilton started his campaign. He's back in the same exact spot to now talk tonight. Let's listen in.
STEVE HILTON, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: Who was governor of California not that long ago? Not that long ago. And I remember -- I remember when I became an American citizen, that certain governor, you may remember, he said, congratulations, he made a very nice video. He said, but Steve, you got to get the wrong jacket.
You got the wrong jacket. And I made a pledge that day that one day I would get the jacket that Arnold told me to get on my road to being governor of California. And here it is. I am a proud American. There's the jacket. And I am a very proud Californian. A very proud. A very proud Californian tonight.
Arnold, that was for you. Yes, exactly. So you didn't see it. All right, look.
[01:10:14]
And California. California. So I've been traveling this state for the last year. We started off a scrappy little startup, just a handful of rebels, believing that this state could better than it is today. We're already the best place in the world. No question about that. There's nowhere better than California. But we all know. We all know that this state has gone off track and we need to get it back on track.
And I've seen the struggle that Californians are facing today. That is the word. And it's a very sad thing to say about our beautiful state. And I've been on the road and doing hundreds of events and the town halls and all the people that come. And I see it in your eyes, the struggle of running a small business. The struggle for working people in California.
Young people who don't see their future in California anymore, who think that they have to move to another state to have that dream of owning their own home that we used to offer better than anywhere else in the world. That's what we need to get back for California, the belief that we can offer that.
And so to every young person watching in California, whether you voted for me or not tonight, I just want you to know that I see you, I believe in you. I know that you can do it. I know that we can do it. We can make California a place where when you work hard, it's not just a struggle. That's why my plan is so simple and practical, not ideological. We've had enough ideology in California, haven't we?
It's time. It's time for positive, practical things. I'm fighting for working people in California so that you can keep more of what you earn. The best way to put money in people's pockets is to take less out of it in the first place. And that's what I'll do as your governor. Your first hundred grand, tax free. Simple, practical things to make life less of a struggle for working people and for small businesses.
Most of my career has been in business. I've run small businesses, including restaurants. That is a tough business, by the way. And here's how we're going to help small business in California. Number one, simple, practical things. $800 every business has to pay to the government just for existing. That's crazy. We're going to get rid of that. We're going to help small business. Working people in California paying the highest gas prices in the country. That's insane.
When we have abundant oil reserves right here in California. As long as we are using oil and Gas in California, let's use California oil and gas. That's the plan. And that way we can get our gas prices down $3 a gas. That's the plan. The highest --
MICHAELSON: We've been listening in to Steve Hilton at his rally in Huntington Beach. We want to bring in our panel now. Joining me in studio is the former U.S. Senator from California, Barbara Boxer, the former lieutenant governor of California, Abel Maldonado, and Paul Mitchell, the vice president of Political data and owner of Redistricting Partners.
Abel, let's start with you. You were lieutenant governor to Arnold Schwarzenegger, who he just referenced there, the real jacket, Arnold Schwarzenegger warrant, the one that said governor on it, which he hasn't quite gotten yet.
What do you make of Steve Hilton's performance and his messaging in trying to convince an electorate now that is not just Republican?
ABEL MALDONADO, FORMER LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF CALIFORNIA: I think he had a pretty good night tonight to be very sincere. He's leading. He's leading to the top. And look, his message was simple, Elex, and just a couple of three things. And now he's going to have to figure out what the next step is going to because the registration is so lopsided toward the Democrat Party. How is he going to reach independence, decline the states? And in order for Steve Hilton to become governor, he needs to have Democrats that are going to vote for him.
So right now it's going to be thread on the needle in the next couple of months and then we're going to know a little bit more Javier Becerra. I mean, look, Javier came out of nowhere six weeks ago. He was at 4 percent and organically, look where he's at. I mean, Smallwell drops out, he goes up declined estates, independents go to him and he's going to be the nominee. It's great.
MICHAELSON: I mean, we will see. Tom Steyer has not conceded that point yet, but the numbers so far are good for Javier Becerra. To that point, you know, ABC7 was going to do a debate at USC and Javier Becerra did not even make the stage because his poll numbers were so low.
[01:15:06]
There was an uproar over that. And then he ends up, they end up canceling that debate. He ends up now making stages after Eric Swalwell drops out. But an extraordinary comeback if you think about it in terms of a political race. If Javier Becerra, who was outspent by Tom Steyer almost 200 million to one, still beat him.
BARBARA BOXER, FORMER U.S. SENATE DEMOCRAT: Yes.
MICHAELSON: We'll see -- we'll see if he beat him, but it certainly looks that way.
BOXER: Yes. Yes. Well, let me just say to my good friend about Hilton, the thing about Hilton is he's endorsed by Trump and, you know, we can't forget about it the fact that we're having this election at the same time that there's a congressional election to get a check and balance on Trump. So, with all due respect to my friend, I -- and every time I hear he's so good, fun to listen to I love the accent, but I think I'm in the British Parliament and I'm thinking the guy's so rough on immigrants and here he is, you know, so I don't really see it.
And if you look at the numbers and our numbers man here, the best in the world here could tell us this. But if you just look, if Javier just gets the other votes from the other Democrats and if Hilton gets the votes from the one Republican, it's 60, 40. So I think we're looking good on the governor's race.
MICHAELSON: The numbers guy, she's talking about his -- Paul Mitchell, how do you read the numbers and sort of what Tom Steyer would need to do now in order to get into the top two?
PAUL MITCHELL, V.P. POLITICAL DATA AND OWNER, REDISTRICTING PARTNERS: Yes. So we don't know exactly how many ballots are still to be counted, but if we take this CNN number that about 50% of ballots have been counted and if Steyer is six points behind, that means that in the remaining ballots, he needs to be winning those remaining ballots by 12 points, which is an 18-point shift from where we are right now. So it does seem like an incredibly high hill to beat.
Now, the other question is, are those late ballots incredibly Democratic? We know Democrats were holding their ballots. There was this ballot clutching by Democrats waiting for somebody to tell them what the right person to vote for was. If the late ballots are more and more and more Democratic, you could start to see Steyer catching up to Hilton and Hilton coming down. The challenge is, and the thing that I was looking for immediately is what's the gap between Bianco and Hilton.
MICHAELSON: Looks at it -- let's look at it right now.
MITCHELL: You got 15-point gap.
MICHAELSON: Yes, a 15 point. Which tells you what?
MITCHELL: It tells me there was consolidation on the Republican side and that 15-point gap will likely carry through to all the counting. And so what that means is that by the end of the day I would guess that you're going to have Hilton at 25 and Bianco at 10. When all of is said and done and it's hard to see Hilton coming down and Tom Steyer being able to pass him or Becerra.
MICHAELSON: Yes. Hard for him get to 26 percent. Thank you all. We appreciate it. We'll be continuing to talk to you throughout the night. We're going to sneak in a quick break. We'll have more of CNN special coverage of Election Night in America. We expect to hear from Javier Becerra very soon.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:22:20]
SPENCER PRATT, REPUBLICAN CANDIDATE FOR LOS ANGELES MAYOR: And Fox, we can do debates every Friday if she would like, because this actually became my most favorite thing to do. So, yes, as many debates as Mayor Bass would like.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But not it's on.
PRATT: I mean, she knows it's on. She's -- I hope she's ready, you know, because I am -- I literally could not be more excited.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a campaign that started because you lost your home in the Palisades fire, because your parents lost their home in the Palisades fire. But you have said it's evolved. Now you're concerned with public safety and rebuilding. Is that the platform that you're going to start with right now in these next five months?
PRATT: Again, I got in this because as a citizen, I felt like my city failed myself, my neighbors, my family. And when I got on this mission, now I look around and the city's failing most of Los Angeles. And now I'm in all these communities and I'm hearing everyone's issues and problems.
Excuse me, sir. You know. Yes, thank you. People are all across the city are --
UNIDENATIFIED MALE: You're talking about homelessness, you're talking about drugs, you're talking about crime, you're talking about the lack of police, the fire --
PRATT: The list of failures across the city. There's people that just want the potholes fixed. Mayor Bass has allowed the city to be covered in potholes. We don't have sidewalks, we don't have lights. So on the basic level, there's people that care about that. Then there's the moms who want to be able to go to the parks and not see anybody shooting up bent and all, with their pants off. I was in the Valley yesterday, a beautiful Persian restaurant, and the lovely owner said, Spencer, they have naked drug addicts in front of the kids when we're trying to have food at the restaurant. This is across the city.
And again, as mayor, I'm going to help these homeless people, these drug addicts. Right now, this idea that it's just, we need more beds. I agree. We do need beds in treatment facilities, mandatory treatment. That's not jail. Criminals deserve to go to jail. If you're abusing animals, you're going to jail. If you are doing crimes, you go to jail.
But if you're just an addict addicted to super meth or fentanyl, I'm going to get you the mandatory help that these moms come up to me and say, my daughter is not homeless. She has a family, but she needs to get off of meth.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For everybody, for the voters of Los Angeles, for those -- if you've been the voice of the angry and the frustrated here in LA? We know you got to go, but --
PRATT: I don't have to go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're just closing.
PRATT: I almost think we just invite you guys all into the back of my -- into my facility here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you see an uphill battle in the next five months?
PRATT: Absolutely not. I think the next five months is I'm going to have time to build out this team to show everybody the level of Democratic supporters that I have behind me, the heavy hitters that are in this room that are all behind me.
[01:25:07]
And I think this idea that I don't represent Democrats and Republicans and independents, anyone that's just a Los Angeles citizen that wants basic quality of life, I'll be able to show that in five months. Right now the media likes to say, oh, he's this. I'm not that. I'm an Angelino who said enough is enough and I had to step up. I didn't know I'd be here tonight. But it's obviously God's plan and I'm going to go all the way and I'm going to show everybody that I'm their mayor. I'm not going to, you know -- yes, sir?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What does this moment mean to you personally? You know, you got into this on the year after the fires --
MICHAELSON: So that's Spencer Pratt and our -- our thanks to the photographer who's doing as good a job as they can on a crowded street trying to get Spencer Pratt of this impromptu press gaggle that we are looking at as well, on a night where he's putting up a pretty good number.
He had hoped, he had told me, that he was going to get to 50 percent and win this thing outright. That's what he told me yesterday. It certainly doesn't look like that, but it is looking increasingly likely that he is going to be in the top two, meaning a runoff between him and Karen Bass in the fall.
And by the way, speaking of debates, we'd love to host one here on CNN if the mayor and Spencer Pratt want to join us.
Joining me now from New York is Democratic strategist and former Gavin Newsom campaign manager Addisu Demissie, who is one of the smartest and most successful political strategists in California. You actually know what it's like to win elections in California.
Since we're on the mayor's race, let's go there first and you just listen to Spencer Pratt, your thoughts about him, about Karen Bass, about what this Pratt number, which clearly is not just Republicans, says about where voters are at.
ADDISU DEMISSIE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think he's obviously channeling a certain level of frustration that Angelenos have that Angeleno voters have with the state of the city. I also think he's getting a little ahead of himself. You know, Paul was talking about this. I think on the last segment.
There are a lot more votes left to come and those votes are going to be increasingly based Democratic votes that may go I would actually guess they will go more towards Bass and relative to the votes that are already in towards Bass and Rahman as opposed to him.
So there is actually still a chance, I think, that he's, he's going to end up in third. But assuming he does end up in the, in the general election, I do think he's channeling something for real. I also think he's a Republican in a Democratic state running in a Democratic year come November, if that's the case. And it's going to be an uphill battle against the sitting mayor once he consolidates the Democratic Party.
MICHAELSON: And of course, as he points out, it's a nonpartisan election, so it does not say Republican or Democrat on the ballot. But I'm sure Karen Bass and her friends in the Democratic Party will spend a whole lot of money to rem of that fact, as they did against Rick Caruso, who had changed parties and was a former Republican. And they spent a lot of money and did that and it helped her to win the last time around. Let's talk about the governor's race.
You know what it's like to win a governor's race in California. You won the last one with Gavin Newsom.
DEMISSIE: Yes.
MICHAELSON: You also have sort of as good of an understanding of the numbers that we don't see the numbers behind the numbers. What -- how are you reading the results right now and in terms of how likely is it that we end up with Becerra and Hilton and not Steyer in that top two?
DEMISSIE: I think it's very likely at this point that that's where we end up. I think it is irresponsible to call it because, you know, more than half the vote is likely out there and those votes deserve to be counted. But I think, you know, probably we're talking about tomorrow's vote dumps. I think most people watching this probably know what usually happens the day after Election Day is counties will count all day and then sometime around 4 or o'clock Pacific Time, we'll sort of drop a big dump of -- of that count and that will continue over the course of the rest of this week.
Those votes that get counted over the course of the next 24 hours, I think will tell us basically everything we need to know because Tom Steyer needs to win those votes and win them big to close the gap between him and second place. And it's possible. I do think there's a theory that he had some momentum here at the end and that people strategically voted, but the gap is pretty big at six points right now. And I think it's going to be hard. He needs to win them and win the big.
So I think the race probably ends up getting called tomorrow at about 5:00 o'clock when we see L.A. County, San Francisco County, Santa Clara, the big counties dump, and we see if sorry doesn't have enough momentum at that point, enough closing of the gap, it's going to be over by then.
MICHAELSON: And in a sentence or two, how did Becerra pull this off? Why do you think it's him?
DEMISSIE: It's a really good question. I think -- I think really there were a couple seismic moments in the race. Obviously, the biggest one that affected Becerra was Swalwell getting out of the race. But we also had relatively, at the same point, Hilton being endorsed by Trump.
[01:30:05]
And I think at that point, those two things happening in such close proximity led voters to finally tune into the race.
And I think ultimately, voters were largely, I don't want to say uninspired, but underwhelmed by their choices. And they saw somebody they knew, they'd heard of. He had high favorabilities. He had high name recognition and essentially settled on him as an acceptable option amongst the options remaining post Swalwell.
And so you know, he's going to win with not a majority of Democrats even voting for him, but enough Democrats consolidating behind him to win.
MICHAELSON: Addisu Demissie, who has been one of the most successful strategists in California, joining us tonight from New York. Thanks for staying up late with us as we all watch these numbers come in. Always great to see you.
DEMISSIE: Good to see you too, man. MICHAELSON: We've got some breaking news here at CNN. CNN is now
projecting that Karen Bass, the incumbent mayor of Los Angeles, will advance to a runoff. And so she's going to make the top two. The question is, who is she going to be running against?
But we know that Karen Bass has punched one of the two tickets to a runoff. She's not going to get 50 percent, which means that there will be a runoff.
As you just saw, Xavier Becerra has just stepped to the mic. Let's listen in to him as he speaks here in Los Angeles.
(LIVE EVENT: XAVIER BECERRA SPEECH)
XAVIER BECERRA (D), CANDIDATE FOR CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: -- voters have spoken loudly and proudly. And while I take nothing for granted, there are lots of ballots left to be counted, it appears that we are on track to advance to November.
One step closer -- one step closer to the son of those hardworking immigrants, Maria and Manuel Becerra, becoming the next governor of the great state of California.
Now that's more than a Hollywood ending, more than a milestone. It's the everyday miracle of living in a state that regularly makes the improbable seem inevitable. And I couldn't have done it without you.
The doctors who clocked double shifts but still found time to canvass, the teachers who became our best volunteers the minute the afternoon school bell rang, the small business owners and union members who kept our economy running by day while walking door to door at night.
The firefighters, the janitors, the caregivers, the nurses and longshoremen, the students. Most of all, I wouldn't be here without Carolina, Clarissa, Olivia, and Natalia. You are my superpower. You are my secret sauce.
Everything I do, I do for families just like ours who deserve their shot at the California dream.
You know, I ran for the job because I know how important California is as a shining light to the world, radiating hope, freedom, opportunity, an unwavering belief in science, public schooling, enterprise, and foundational justice and human rights.
California is America on fast forward. It's gleaming spotlights on the better angels of a more perfect union. A preview of an America not just for the privileged or the partisans, but for all the people, by the people.
An economic engine so powerful, so diverse, with more jobs, more capital, more R&D, more GDP. We lift up the entire nation. We are America's center tent pole.
But I also know there are powerful forces aligned to darken our light -- distrust, disinformation, division, and distraction. Make no mistake, those forces did not want tonight to happen because their success depends on our failure.
The last thing these forces want is a working-class governor with a law degree and a union card, ready to call them out. They know that I can't be bought. They know I can't be bullied, and they know I will not back down.
[01:34:45]
BECERRA: Now, we also recognize that despite all of California's growth and innovation, wealth and workforce, there are still too many Californians who feel shut out, priced out of the winner's circle. They feel disconnected from the economy, from our government, from the job market, the housing market, and from one another.
In this new world, it feels like, looks just like the old guarantees no longer apply, and the promise of a brighter future is an artifact of the past.
For all of California's greatness, we sometimes struggle to meet the standards we set for ourselves or to be the example that a divided nation, or the next generation of dreamers so desperately need us to be.
MICHAELSON: We've been listening to Xavier Becerra --
BECERRA: As your governor, I am ready to lead the fight to uphold California's promise.
MICHAELSON: -- as he's speaking in Los Angeles. A very good night for Xavier Becerra so far.
CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten looking at how good a night with the numbers at the Magic Wall, Harry.
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: You know, he was wearing a Columbia blue collared shirt. We have him in Columbia blue on our board here. And you could see -- I can crack jokes at 1:35 here in the East, 10:35 out there in the West. We got --
MICHAELSON: -- prime time, baby out here.
ENTEN: Yes, there we go. Beautiful, beautiful. On prime time in the West. I know it's prime time somewhere.
We got Xavier Becerra right here at 26 percent of the vote, as we've talked about right at the top two who advance. Becerra is hoping to advance. We got Steve Hilton here at 26.9 percent. The name of the game as we go forward now, as we have now 50 percent of the vote.
Last time we spoke, we had 49 percent of the vote is whether or not Tom Steyer in your navy blue can catch either Becerra or Hilton.
And I will note at this particular point, what you're seeing here is a lot of Xavier Becerra Columbia blue in areas that we might have expected Tom Steyer to do well, and specifically around his home in the San Francisco Bay Area. You can see it right here. There is only one county that is, in fact,
navy blue for Tom Steyer. The rest of it is all Columbia blue for Xavier Becerra.
And that's San Francisco itself. And even there we see Tom Steyer only up 32 percent to 25 percent. But at this point, I think the key nuggets to take away here is Steve Hilton and Xavier Becerra lead.
But who's the next closest Republican? Its Chad Bianco at just 11 percent. So the name and question of the game here going forward, as we wait and count the final 50 percent of the vote, is whether Steyer can count Becerra and then we get a Democrat and a Republican, or whether Steyer actually catches Hilton and some of the late pre- election polling, in fact, suggested that when we get the later vote and there were a lot of Democrats waiting to hold onto their ballots, as those votes come in, my guess is Becerra stays pretty gosh darn good in this thing.
But maybe we see Hilton start to fall, Steyer start to rise. But at this point, what we're looking at is we just see a lot, a lot, a lot of that Columbia blue, including down here because Xavier Becerra from the Los Angeles area up over Tom Steyer.
But now what we've seen, even when the last time we counted, we actually had Steyer and Hilton flipped.
So we've seen Steyer gain a little bit. Can Steyer continue to gain, my dear friend Elex Michaelson? Because that is ultimately what's going to happen here.
And as your last guest and you were talking about, we'll get a lot more information as the day goes on and we'll continue to get some vote counts here.
But at this point, it's Hilton one, Becerra two. Becerra coming out and that to me, seeing what he says, I agree with the gentleman.
MICHAELSON: Harry Enten, thank you for that. We'll check back in with you in a moment.
ENTEN: I'll be here.
MICHAELSON: We've got another great panel standing by as well.
We've got to pay some bills though. We're going to sneak in a quick break.
We'll be right back with more of ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA.
[01:38:34]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAELSON: It's ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA and in Los Angeles, where right now, CNN projects that Karen Bass will advance to a runoff. It's unclear who she will advance to that runoff against either Spencer Pratt or Nithya Raman. Right now, Pratt is in second place.
And in the governor's race, we have not projected that anybody will advance. But Steve Hilton, Xavier Becerra are looking good right now. Tom Steyer trailing in third place. The top two advance regardless of party.
This is such a big night that we've got two political panels with us. Now, we're bringing in Ron Brownstein, CNN senior political analyst and opinion columnist for Bloomberg; Elisha Krauss, conservative commentator and op-ed writer for the "Washington Examiner"; and Peter Hamby, founding partner at Puck News and also a host at Snapchat for "Good Luck, America. Good luck to everybody that's counting votes right now.
Let's talk about the governor's race, your thoughts in terms of where we're at and some of the messaging we're hearing so far, including from Xavier Becerra in the last ten minutes.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: You know, it's kind of interesting. I mean, the end of the governor race and the beginning of the Gavin Newsom '28 presidential race has been kind of dissonant, really.
Almost all of the governor candidates have basically been portraying California as off on the wrong track and needing a fundamental change of one kind or another, which is not exactly -- not exactly consonant with his California miracle that he's delivered, for example, at the Center for American Progress a couple of weeks ago.
[01:44:45]
BROWNSTEIN: Becerra is somewhat of an exception. He's the closest thing to (INAUDIBLE). Becerra basically says there's a lot going right in California, but we've got to do better at including everyone in it. And that -- that is something that I think is more comfortable for Newsom.
I think Hilton's problem is that his core message has been road tested in blue states and fundamentally rejected. And, you know, Donald Trump looms over this heavily. And Hilton's message, like the Republican gubernatorial candidates last year in Virginia and New Jersey is the state will be better off with a governor who works with him than one who fights him.
And that simply did not work. Over 90 percent of voters who disapproved of Trump voted Democratic in the New Jersey and Virginia governor's race. And I think when we get to November, you're going to see the same thing here.
MICHAELSON: Yes. It's been -- it's interesting because to that point, Xavier Becerra came on this show and I asked him about what would be a policy you would change. He didn't come up with one.
All of his opponents on the Democratic side shared that out as an example of something that was bad. And yet he's winning. PETER HAMBY, FOUNDING PARTNER, PUCK NEWS: This is the confusing thing
about Xavier Becerra success in this race. When he -- when Eric Swalwell imploded and voters just kind of moved to Becerra and stuck there, a lot of people in our circles out here in California were asking why.
This is a 68-year-old who was in Congress for 20 years, long time ago. Not exactly the dynamic future of the Republican party. Yes, he has appealed to nonwhite voters, Latinos, especially here in Los Angeles, because of his long experience in politics.
But Katie Porter called him out in one of the debates for not having any ideas around tax policy. You know, he just doesn't seem like a nimble thinker, a strategist, like a good policy guy.
I talked to -- this was an open secret during the campaign because people were quoting. Susan Rice, called him an idiot. Many people in the Biden administration thought Becerra was an empty suit.
And I -- I've quoted them in my articles. Lots of people have. But here's the thing. He just -- he felt like a safe choice for voters after they shopped around.
BROWNSTEIN: Wasn't he Biden 2020? I mean, really -- basically what -- you can't separate Becerra from the fear among Democrats of being locked out. And for the -- you know, none of these Democratic candidates have really excited the Democratic base or galvanized them.
And what most Democrats, I think, in the state wanted was what most Democratic primary -- presidential primary voters wanted in 2020. They just wanted someone to get into the general against the Republican, stop the Trump acolyte from being governor. And Becerra like Biden in '20, seemed like the safe choice.
MICHAELSON: And Becerra may now be able to campaign in the basement.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
MICHAELSON: Your thoughts on all of this and Steve Hilton, somebody that you like and support?
ELISHA KRAUSS, CONSERVATIVE COMMENTATOR: Yes. Steve, is definitely something that I like and support. And I would disagree with you because I actually think he's already run a very different campaign than Winsome Sears did in Virginia. And I'm blanking on the Republican candidate's name in New Jersey.
(CROSSTALKING)
KRAUSS: Because yes -- yes. And but to that point, he's actually run on issues that makes sense for every single California voter. The affordability issue, no income tax on the first $100,000 that you make, affordable gas, like $3 and under, getting government out of the way, that allows people to succeed.
I think a lot of the language that you're hearing from Tom Steyer and Becerra is, oh, big, bad rich people have made California this way. No, government overreach and government failure has made California this way.
And if you want a change, don't vote for the person with a D after their name, because it's the Democratic Party that has ruined this great state.
HAMBY: This billionaire tax, is probably going to be on the ballot in November. It'll be very interesting to see Xavier Becerra's reaction to that.
(CROSSTALKING)
MICHAELSON: This is a question to basically tax the wealth of people over a billion -- who have over $1 billion, a 5 percent tax on them.
It's something that the current governor, Gavin Newsom, says would be bad news for California. And yet it could be a big thing.
BROWNSTEIN: In the debates, Steyer was the only one who said it --
MICHAELSON: Who is a billionaire.
BROWNSTEIN: I would say, you know, Hilton does a -- Hilton is very effective making a case against the status quo in California.
KRAUSS: And that's why Becerra won't have the guts to debate him.
BROWNSTEIN: But --
MICHAELSON: Let's hope so and we hope they do it on CNN.
BROWNSTEIN: I think -- I think it is kind of wishful thinking to assume that as a Republican, he can ignore the intense disapproval of Trump in the state and the feeling that Trump is targeting the state.
And I think that his, you know, his assertion --
MICHAELSON: But he doesn't --
(CROSSTALKING)
KRAUSS: But I don't think --
MICHAELSON: He doesn't lean in -- but he doesn't lean in.
(CROSSTALKING)
BROWNSTEIN: He doesn't.
KRAUSS: But I don't think that he can ignore. But I don't think that you can, like, ignore the actual needs of voters from the border all the way up past the Bay Area.
HAMBY: I think as much as the candidates are trying to talk some of them about policy ideas, affordability, yes. Here in L.A., homelessness and crime.
Prop 50 was a great example of just bundling together a bunch of anti- Trump paid media, as Gavin Newsom did on that campaign, around an issue that was semi-related, redistricting and gerrymandering, et cetera. It was just stop Trump, stop Trump, stop Trump, stop Trump and that -- and that ballot measure won last year.
MICHAELSON: Real quick, Ron, last word.
BROWNSTEIN: Unless you signal that you're willing to stand up for the state against him, I think it's in a blue purplish state, it's really hard for a Republican when its disapproval is as high as it is now.
[01:49:52]
KRAUSS: I mean, maybe it's because I was homeschooled guys, but there is a very big difference between the executive branch of the federal government and the executive branch of the state. And maybe the California voters need to recognize that the president doesn't greatly affect what we do here, the governor does.
MICHAELSON: It'll be interesting to see if Hilton's message towards Trump changes, if he's able to advance and doesn't have to now get the base behind him.
All right. We'll talk more in the next hour. We're going to sneak a quick break in right now.
More election night coverage after this.
[01:50:24]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MICHAELSON: Karen Bass is headed to a runoff in November, hoping to keep her job as the mayor of Los Angeles. Her opponent -- we don't know yet. As we see Spencer Pratt and Nithya Raman battling out for that.
Melanie Mason is California bureau chief for politico, one of our favorites. She joins us live from Politico in Sacramento.
Melanie, your reading on the mayor's race so far.
MELANIE MASON, CALIFORNIA BUREAU CHIEF, POLITICO: Look, I think that this is a testament to like expectation setting is everything, right? Because let's level set. She's an incumbent who is going to be going to a runoff in Los Angeles for mayor's, that's extremely rare. So that's not a good thing, right?
And yet, because you had Spencer Pratt saying that he was going to win outright in May or in June, I actually think that this looks quite good for her. So I think that she actually overperformed the expectations of the last couple of weeks in the run up to this. And so I think her teams feeling pretty good tonight.
MICHAELSON: And what about Pratt. Where does he go from here?
MASON: You know, I think that it will be very interesting to see if he does get into the runoff. And I still think we really do want to see how these later votes come in.
We know that they do tend to track pretty blue, but this is a big gap for Nithya Raman to make up. But if he makes it into the top two, does he continue on sort of the messaging that he has taken up until this point?
I mean, he is now going to be in sort of a one on one. He clearly has struck a nerve in terms of his, you know, touching at the at the frustrations that Los Angelenos are feeling about her mayorship.
But it's also going to be a highly, highly partisan election in November. And you're going to get Democrats that are turning out to sort of stick it to Trump in many other ways.
And if you have video everywhere of Trump calling him very MAGA, I think it's going to be hard for him to distance himself from that quasi endorsement he got from the president.
MICHAELSON: Melanie Mason, one of our favorites. You can read more of her work tomorrow in the "Politico California Playbook". Thanks for stopping in.
Good luck with the rest of your work tonight. And thanks for watching this special hour of THE STORY IS.
We're not done. We got a whole another hour with our incredible two panels. Lots to get through.
Stay with us.
You're watching ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA on CNN.
And welcome to ELECTION NIGHT IN AMERICA. I'm Elex Michaelson. Thanks for joining us here on THE STORY IS.
We continue into another hour of coverage as we are watching six states holding primaries, including New Jersey, South Dakota and Iowa. But some of the biggest races are taking place right here in California. And the results are coming in.
Let's start with the race for California governor. Right now, it is a two-person race at the top. Steve Hilton, Republican at 26.9; Xavier Becerra Democrat, former HHS secretary at 25.8. Tom Steyer hoping that late results will bring him into the top two.
There's still a lot of counting left in California, but he's got a big margin to make up.
We've also been talking about the mayor's race. And there we can now project that Karen Bass, the incumbent mayor, will advance to a runoff. She was not able to get 50 percent plus one. So there will be a runoff. The question is, who is she going to be in a runoff with? We heard
from Spencer Pratt earlier who was feeling very confident that he is going to be the person in that runoff.
We have not yet heard from Nithya Raman, L.A. city councilwoman speaking tonight.
Let's bring in our chief data analyst, Harry Enten, staying up late for a special California edition of the Magic Wall.
Harry, what are you seeing in the numbers right now?
ENTEN: Well, staying up late. No, no, no, no, no. In college time, this would be very early for me when the college basketball team went out for its morning practice. That was when it was time to go to sleep.
When the sun rises in the East, that's when it's like it's still early here. And I'm glad to be with you.
Look, what am I seeing here, Elex? What am I seeing here? Well, I mean, look, you've been talking about it, right? Which is right now were looking in California. You're looking at gubernatorial race.
Look, the name of the game is to finish in the top two to advance to November. We got Steve Hilton in the number one spot 26.9 percent. We have Xavier Becerra 25.8 percent. Then in the third spot, the only guy who's anybody -- anywhere close is Tom Steyer at 19.8 percent. The next Republican Chad Bianco way back 11.2 percent.
The question is, as we get the final 50 percent of the vote. And right now, you can see right here we get 50 percent of the estimated vote.
And can Tom Steyer close the gap between himself and either Xavier Becerra or Steve Hilton?
[01:59:46]
ENTEN: Will we end up with one Republican and one Democrat or two Democrats finishing up in those top two results and heading out to November?
Now, right now, what we see in the polling results, which I think is really important, is if you know anything about these candidates' home bases, where they're from, it turns out that Tom Steyer is from the San Francisco area.
But what's going on in the San Francisco area? I've circled it for you here on the map. It is all in Columbia blue, Columbia blue. Xavier Becerra is actually winning in Tom Steyer's home area at this point.
