California is holding an election for governor on November 3, 2026. The primary is June 2. The filing deadline is March 6. “With so many Democratic candidates in the race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, there’s a slight chance California voters will end up choosing between two Republicans in the general election for governor.” That’s the first sentence in a KCRA 3 story about the California Governor’s race for 2026. California has a “jungle primary,” meaning that the two top vote-getters in the primary will run against each other in November regardless of political party. There are a lot more Democrats than Republicans in California, but there are also more Democrats than Republicans running for California governor this year. That can tend to spread the votes around in the primary so that no candidate gets a majority of the votes. Two Republicans in a November runoff is not the most likely outcome of the primary, but it’s important to know that it could happen.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the California Democratic Party didn’t get a large enough majority to endorse a candidate for governor in the primary. If Gavin Newsom were running for governor, he very likely would have received the state party’s endorsement, but he can’t run this year because of term limits.
The governor of California will be one of the most important politicians elected to public office this year. With Donald Trump as President, state governors are the first line of defense against a dictator in the White House. If California were an independent nation it’s economy would rank ahead of countries like Japan, India, and the United Kingdom. In many ways California is the most important state in the United States. We have to put somebody good in the office of California Governor.
If you want to do your own research on the candidates for governor or any other candidate running for any other office, you can start at Ballotpedia.org. To learn which candidates are on the primary ballot for California governor so far, click on https://ballotpedia.org/California_gubernatorial_election,_2026. it will tell you how many are on the ballot and what party they are a member of (if any). Another useful link is the Public Policy Institute of California. It links to an article titled “5-Way Tie in Governor’s Race.” Two of those five are Republicans, and three are Democrats.