2026 California Governor Election: Candidates, Polls & Voting
A ballot brings together several decisions that share an election date but may follow different rules. The office, jurisdiction and stage of the election tell you what each choice means.
Start with the office and the place
An election record describes a particular office or question in a particular jurisdiction. A statewide contest is different from a congressional district, a city council seat or a school district. An address can help connect those boundaries, but a ZIP code alone is not a guarantee of one exact ballot. Use the election authority’s own ballot lookup to confirm the final choices for a voter.
Separate a filing from a ballot appearance
A campaign-finance filing tells you that a financial record exists. It does not, by itself, establish that the person qualified for the November ballot. A primary participant, withdrawn candidate and certified general-election candidate can all leave public records. Read the election stage and the source label before treating a directory as a current candidate list. Registered write-in candidates are a separate category whose rules depend on the jurisdiction.
California’s voter-nominated offices use the top-two general-election field; primary write-in lists do not establish November write-in eligibility. Official write-in information ↗
Partial coverage: only the dated entries below have been checked. Confirm other deadlines and exceptions with your election office.
California · Sourced election dates
Action
Date
Details and source
Register online
Passed
Regular registration deadline; conditional registration remains available afterward Official source ↗
Register by mail
Passed
Regular registration deadline; conditional registration remains available afterward Official source ↗
Register in person
Passed
Regular registration deadline; conditional registration remains available afterward Official source ↗
Early voting begins
Passed
Early voting begins; check local hours and locations Official source ↗
Early voting ends
13 days left
Election Day: confirm your local in-person voting hours Official source ↗
Return ballot
13 days left
Hand-delivered ballots by close of polls. Mailed ballots postmarked by November 3 and received by November 10. Official source ↗
Conditional registration and provisional voting available October 20–November 3; use the official election office. Source ↗
Checked 2026-10-11. Confirm local details and exceptions with your election office.
POLLING · SURVEYS, NOT PREDICTIONS
What do the polls say?
5 survey records
Individual surveys of 2026 contests, including earlier cycle history from 2025. Matchups and populations stay separate; older or hypothetical matchups do not establish who is on the current ballot.
No recent polls available. The history below ends Sep 20, 2026; “recent” means fieldwork ended within 30 days.
Hover or tap a date to see the survey and source.
Steve HiltonXavier Becerra
Party colors: Republican red, Democratic blue, Independent purple. Other or unmatched affiliations are gray. Dash patterns distinguish candidates sharing a color.
Dots show reported support. Lines connect surveys over time—not an average or forecast. Pollsters can differ. Missing values and multiple surveys ending on the same date break the lines.
How to read this chart
No average, trend estimate, or win probability. Different matchups and populations are not combined. Dates mark the last day people were surveyed. The vertical scale always starts at zero; use “Full 0–100% scale” to compare charts on the same scale. The number of people surveyed is the survey sample size, not the number supporting a candidate. Select “Survey source” to inspect every report, including overlapping dots.
Individual survey reports (5)
Latest surveys · selected matchup
Individual reports. Original sources and methodology below.
Labels and figures are supplied by VoteHub. A listed matchup does not establish ballot qualification or primary/general-election status unless the source explicitly says so. Unlisted responses may include undecided voters or other choices; the displayed figures are not rescaled to total 100%.
Polling compilation: VoteHub · CC BY 4.0. Electionpedia normalizes dates, matches races, and visualizes reported results; it does not estimate outcomes. Original survey links are attached to each report.
Saved polling snapshot in use (captured 10/16/2026, 9:21:35 PM UTC). Automatic refresh has not completed for every feed; check each survey’s field dates.
Last successful feed updates
Senate: 10/16/2026, 9:21:35 PM UTC · 474 survey records
House: 10/16/2026, 9:21:35 PM UTC · 133 survey records
Governor: 10/16/2026, 9:21:35 PM UTC · 349 survey records
National preference: 10/16/2026, 9:21:35 PM UTC · 546 survey records
An update time is when we checked the feed, not when a survey was conducted. Coverage is not exhaustive.
Follow campaign money
Governor campaigns file with their state’s campaign-finance authorities. Federal candidate totals do not describe this race.
