Real-Time Results: California Primary Election 2022

CALIFORNIA — The polls are closed across California and votes are piling in for attorney general, controller, secretary of state, and 52 Congressional districts.

Scroll to the bottom of this story for real-time California election results.

California is a Democratic fortress where the party holds every statewide office and its voters outnumber registered Republicans by nearly 2-to-1. Gov. Gavin Newsom and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla faced little-known competitors.

Newsom will advance to the November general election for governor in the state, with the Associated Press calling the race. Early returns Tuesday showed Newsom with 61 percent of the vote. The state Republican Party’s endorsed candidate, little-known state Sen. Brian Dahle, was far behind at 18 percent of the votes. If he maintains second place, Dahle could face Newsom in November.

Preliminary results showed, Democrat Malia M. Cohen for controller was pulling ahead with 22.7 percent of the votes, Lieutenant Governor Incumbent Eleni Kounalakis had earned 56.1 percent of the votes, Attorney General Incumbent Rob Bonta was ahead with 58.3 percent of the votes and Insurance Commissioner Incumbent Ricardo Lara was ahead with 39.9 percent of the votes.

There hasn't been a lot of excitement in these midterm primaries, and it shows in the early voting turnout.Turnout in the nation's most populous state was light despite significant frustration by voters over record-high gas prices, rising crime and a homelessness crisis in cities large and small. But despite those problems Democrats are expected to maintain their stranglehold on state offices and in the Legislature.

The most exciting races on the statewide ballot were controller and attorney general. That's largely because those are the two races where a Republican or an independent had a real chance to win a statewide election for the first time in more than a decade and where a Democratic incumbent has a serious challenge on his hands.

Democratic incumbent Rob Bonta faced independent Sacramento Dist. Attny. Anne Marie Schubert, Republican former Assistant U.S. Atty. Gen. Nathan Hochman and Republican Los Angeles attorney Eric Early.

Early results showed Bonta pulling ahead with 58.2 percent of the votes.

During a year where mass shootings and smash-and-grab robberies dominated headlines, the bid to win the attorney general's seat may be the most contested race on the Tuesday primary ballot.

"Anxiety about rising crime is a significant factor for voters in the upcoming election," said Claremont McKenna College political scientist Jack Pitney. "Voters tend to think the attorney general has more of an impact on crime rates than they really do, and challengers are effectively hammering the issue of rising crime on the campaign trail."

Meanwhile, state controller is typically a post that generates a slim margin of interest among California voters. But this year, it became one of the most interesting contests.

Incumbent Controller Betty Yee will leave the post in January due to term limits. Four Democrats, one Republican and a Green Party candidate were competing for her seat. Lanhee Chen was garnering the most interest among voters leading up to the election.

Early results showed Chen pulling ahead with 33 percent of the votes and Democrat Malia Cohen with 22.7 percent.

"The one thing that Republicans have going in their favor nationally is that midterm election, the party who is out of power tends to vote more. So you know, we might see more Republican turnout in California," said Christian Grose, Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Southern California.

Democrat Yvonne Yiu has pulled ahead of the other candidates, raising nearly $6.1 million.

Yiu, a former financial advisor for 25 years, has described herself as the only candidate "with the experience and expertise to save taxpayers money."

Click here to track your ballot and make sure it is counted.

As of April, the California Secretary of State reported that 26,948,297 Californians were registered to vote, which accounts for almost 82 percent of the state's eligible voting population.

Not surprisingly, there are far more registered Democrats than Republicans in the state, with 46.75 percent for the former and 23.92 percent for the latter. GOP registration in the state has been dropping steadily, a trend that shows no sign of slowing down even as Republican registration climbed at the national level over the last year.

Here are the candidates vying for the main state races.

Gubernatorial Candidates Include:

• Gavin Newsom - Democrat (Incumbent)
• Brian Dahle - Republican
• Jenny Rae La Roux - Republican
• Michael Shellenberger - No Party
• Ronald A. Anderson - Republican
• Heather Collins - Green Party
• Shawn Collins - Republican
• Anthony “Tony” Fanara - No Party

Attorney General:

• Rob Bonta - Democrat (Incumbent)
• Nathan Hochman - Republican
• Anne Marie Schubert - Independent
• Eric Early - Republican
• Dan Kapelovitz - Democrat

Controller:

• Lanhee Chen - Republican
• Ron Galperin - Democrat
• Yvonne Yiu - Democrat
• Steve Glazer - Democrat
• Malia Cohen - Democrat

Secretary of State:

• Shirley N. Weber - Democrat (Incumbent)
• Rob Bernosky - Republican
• Rachel Hamm - Republican

Insurance Commissioner:

• Ricardo Lara - Republican (Incumbent)
• Greg Conlon - Republican
• Marc Levine - Democrat

Lieutenant Governor:

• Eleni Kounalakis - Democrat (Incumbent)
• Mohammed Arif - Peace and Freedom
• David Fennell - Republican
• David Hillberg - No Party
• Jeffrey Highbear Morgan - Democrat

REAL-TIME RESULTS

Real-time results are below — use the scroll on the right to view all candidates if they are not visible. Results may take time to start populating, based on when the Secretary of State's Office releases their first and subsequent batches of vote tallies.

Be sure to refresh this page throughout the night for updates. Can't see the widgets below? Click here for all California election results.

Governor

Attorney General

Controller

Secretary of State

Insurance Commissioner

Lieutenant Governor

The Associated Press contributed to this report.