Rob Pyers delivered a late-night election update that focuses on new vote counts in California’s governor race. The update highlights that additional ballots have been tallied from several Northern and Central California counties, producing a noticeable jump in total votes for the ongoing count.
According to the update, the newly reported ballots amount to 45,374 votes added for the night. The counties named as contributing to this increase are Lassen, San Benito, San Joaquin, and Shasta. The inclusion of these specific counties is important because it suggests the campaign landscape is being reshaped by late-arriving tallies from different regions of the state rather than a single localized area.
As these votes were added, the distribution among the candidates shifted in a way that further clarified the relative standing of the top contenders. The update reports that the leader, Hilton, is now holding 29.7% of the vote. This figure reflects the share of total counted votes after the newly added county results were incorporated into the running numbers.
The second-place candidate, Becerra, is reported at 26.4%. This means Hilton’s lead over Becerra remains meaningful but not insurmountable. With Becerra sitting just behind Hilton by 3.3 percentage points, the race continues to look competitive at the top, especially in a state where vote counts can continue to evolve as more ballots are processed.
The third-place position remains held by Steyer, who is listed at 17.2%. While Steyer continues to occupy the #2/contender lane in terms of overall rank within the remaining field, the update stresses a decline in his vote position and momentum. The narrative element of the update is not only the percentage figure but also what it represents in terms of his movement relative to other candidates.
The update also provides information on Bianco, who is listed at 15.3%. This places Bianco within striking distance but clearly behind Steyer and behind the top two. The reported percentages indicate that while Bianco has a significant base of support, it has not surged enough—at least in the counties counted in this update—to close the gap to Steyer or to challenge the top two standings.
A key detail in the update concerns Steyer’s change in vote totals. Rob Pyers states that Steyer “slips 5,658 votes for the #2 spot,” implying that the newly tabulated results did not favor Steyer’s standing relative to the candidate currently in second place. The language of slipping suggests that Steyer may have been closer to overtaking or maintaining the second spot but fell back once these additional votes were finalized.
The update further quantifies Steyer’s disadvantage: Steyer is now down 343,716. This number functions as a vote deficit relative to the candidate above him or relative to the threshold implied by the second-place position. In election reporting, a large deficit like this typically indicates that while vote counting is ongoing, recovering that gap will require substantial improvements in subsequent county results. The update therefore frames Steyer’s situation as increasingly difficult.
Overall, the core message of the update is that the California governor race remains led by Hilton, with Becerra continuing to hold the second position by percentage, while Steyer remains in the 17% range but has lost ground in absolute votes as the count expands. By specifying both the percentage breakdown and the change in Steyer’s standing, the update provides both a snapshot of the current competitiveness and an indication of how the race dynamics are shifting as additional counties report totals.
The reported numbers—Hilton at 29.7%, Becerra at 26.4%, Steyer at 17.2%, and Bianco at 15.3%—offer a clear, concise picture of where the candidates stand after this late-night addition of votes totaling 45,374 from Lassen, San Benito, San Joaquin, and Shasta Counties. The update also underscores that election outcomes can change as more ballots are counted, and that candidate rankings are sensitive to the flow of votes from different parts of the state.
Source: Rob Pyers
Rob Pyers: And one last update for the night that adds 45,374 votes in the CA Governor’s race from Lassen, San Benito, San Joaquin, and Shasta Counties, breaking 29.7% Hilton, 26.4% Becerra, 17.2% Steyer, and 15.3% Bianco. Steyer slips 5,658 votes for the #2 spot and is now down 343,716.. #breaking
— @rpyers May 1, 2026
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