Is California About to Be Led by Republicans? | Michael Shellenberger, Caitlin Flanagan & More

Yesterday, Californians went to the polls in primaries that could change the face of the state.

They are still counting the votes, but as we tape early Wednesday morning, Steve Hilton, the Republican and former British political strategist, is leading the governor’s race with nearly 28 percent of the vote, more than 2 percent ahead of expected front-runner Xavier Becerra.

And in the LA mayor’s race, Spencer Pratt, the former reality television star, came in a close second behind embattled Mayor Karen Bass, and outpaced the uber-progressive City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who was described as LA’s answer to Zohran Mamdani. Pratt has done all this by waging an unorthodox, even Trumpy, war of common sense. As of now, Bass has 35 percent of the vote, Pratt has 30 percent, and Raman has 22 percent.

As no one secured a clear 51 percent majority, both the mayor’s and the governor’s race will go to the general election in November.

Today, Free Press writer and editor Peter Savodnik is joined by Free Press columnist Caitlin Flanagan and writer Michael Shellenberger as they work to make sense of what is happening in LA and across the state.