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The latest on local and statewide election results and CA's vote count
Supporters of California Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra watch election returns during his election-night gathering at La Plaza de Cultura y Artes in Los Angeles.
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Justin Sullivan
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Today's show: AirTalk host Larry Mantle discusses the results of the primary and California's vote counting system.
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The latest on local and statewide election results
The topic:
Election night has come and gone here in California, but many races on the local and state level have yet to be called. Today on AirTalk, we look at the latest results, and how different races are trending.
The waiting game: Unlike other states, vote tabulation in California can take days, if not weeks for a number of reasons, including: Californians in recent years overwhelmingly vote by mail, which can take up to seven days to be tabulated if mailed on election day.
Statewide: The governor’s primary is still too close to call as of this morning, with Republican candidate Steve Hilton leading the pack, followed by Democrats Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer. The top two vote-getters will head to the November election.
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Locally: While the Los Angeles mayoral primary is still too close to call, it has become clear that Mayor Karen Bass will advance to the November election and will face either former reality television star Spencer Pratt or City Councilmember Nithya Raman.
Guests:
- Frank Stoltze, LAist civics and democracy correspondent
- Pete Peterson, dean of the School of Public Policy at Pepperdine University
- Sara Sadhwani, assistant politics professor at Pomona College
- Ben Allen, California state senator for the 24th senate district running for California Insurance Commissioner
- Jack Pitney, professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College
- Rob Stutzman, Republican political consultant and president of Stutzman Public Affairs
- Nick Gerda, LAist watchdog correspondent
- Fernando Guerra, professor of political science and Chicana/o Latina/o studies at Loyola Marymount University, where he is the founding director of the Thomas and Dorothy Leavey Center for the Study of Los Angeles
- John McKinney, a deputy district attorney with the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office running for LA City Attorney. He is currently in second place with almost 33% of the vote so far.
- Jane Kim, Attorney and former San Francisco supervisor; she’s running for CA insurance commissioner and currently leading in the count.
Votes are still being counted
Election workers receive vote by mail ballots to be tallied at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk Ballot Processing Center on May 28, 2026, in City of Industry.
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Gary Coronado
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The topic:
Election Day has passed, but now comes the waiting. The state is often knocked by the rest of the country as being "slow" to count votes. But here's the deal: that's a feature, not a bug, of the election system.
Why the wait? Things take a while here largely because California works so hard to expand the ways people can vote. For example, Californians in recent years overwhelmingly vote by mail — nearly 90% of votes cast in the 2024 presidential election were mail-in ballots. California also offers same-day voter registration at any voting center.
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Past examples: It took about a week to call the results for L.A. City Council races in District 4, where incumbent Nithya Raman was fighting to avoid a runoff election, and District 14, where challenger Ysabel Jurado wound up overtaking incumbent Kevin de León by just a few hundred votes. It took an even longer 15 days to call the results of Prop. 1, during which opponents conceded, walked back that concession, and conceded again.
Read more: Understanding why declaring winners in California may take a minute
Guest:
- Bob Page, registrar of voters for Orange County
-
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Your tax-deductible donation keeps LAist independent and accessible to everyone.
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