CASTRO VALLEY, CA — The polls are closed in Alameda County, and voters will soon know who will serve in city council, if billionaires will get their own California tax, and whether a blue wave will flood Congress, possibly sinking the final two years of President Donald Trump's lame-duck presidency.
Millions of voters and election officials wait not only for the results but also for the president's reaction. Trump's Justice Department spent the final two weeks of the campaign season issuing subpoenas to California election officials and suing to block 20,000 Golden State ballots from being counted amid allegations of illegal voting. The Justice Department issued subpoenas for multiple California election officials to appear in court the day after the election.
California voters have elected Xavier Becerra to serve as the Golden State's next governor, according to the Associated Press, which has called the 2026 gubernatorial race in favor of the Democrat.
Becerra, a former California attorney general and former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary under President Joe Biden, will lead a state that has been governed by Democrats for the past 16 years.
"We did it, California. Thank you," Becerra said online after being elected. "I'm honored to be your next Governor, and I'll fight for every family in this state, every single day. Let's get to work."
The governor's race was somewhat anticlimactic following a chaotic primary with a crowded field of candidates roiled when the frontrunner was forced to step down amid sexual assault allegations. Since then, Becerra maintained a steady lead over Hilton in the polls.
Hilton, a former Fox News commentator and political adviser to former British Prime Minister David Cameron, tried to give Republicans an opening in a state where Democrats hold a substantial voter registration advantage.
Click here for real-time results in the California Governor's races.
The outcome of dozens of down-ballot primary races still hangs in the balance in Alameda County. Voters in Castro Valley, meanwhile, are waiting to find out who will represent the region in Congress.
All precincts have reported. Jeff Frese again appears to be no match for Mark DeSaulnier, who has taken 10,223 votes so far. Frese, meanwhile, has 3,906.
AP projects DeSaulnier will win.
This trend follows the June primaries, when DeSaulnier beat out Frese by a similar margin.
District 10
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The battle for the 14th District seat is closer than in June.
Wahab was elected to serve as the 14th District representative following the June primary. She beat fellow Democrat Melissa Hernandez, earning 38.3% of the vote. That term ends in January 2027, unless she can keep voters on her side during the November elections.
Early results show more voters showed up for Hernandez this time around, but it may not be enough to beat out Wahab.
District 14
All 52 of California's Congressional seats were on the ballot.
Congressional races across California were under intense scrutiny following voter approval of Proposition 50, a partisan redistricting measure expected to reshape the state's political map. Thanks to the redistricting, only a handful of districts were truly competitive. Democrats hoped to flip as many as five Republican House seats in a bid to overturn the GOP's slim House majority.
Democrats think they can flip as many as five seats, with four seeming very much in reach, according to the polls. Both parties are spending like control of the House is on the line.
Click here for real-time results in California's Congressional races.
There were 14 statewide propositions on the ballot this week. Arguably, the most hot-button ballot initiatives involve taxation. Proposition 40 is the highly discussed billionaire tax, while Propositions 41 and 42 aim to counter the measure. Proposition 3 also addresses taxes on the state's highest earners.
Click here for real-time results for all of California's ballot measures.
Can't see the elections widgets above? Click here for all County election results. Be sure to refresh this page for the latest.
Based on early voting, California is poised to see 60 percent of registered voters head to the polls, a record for a gubernatorial race, Paul Mitchell, of political data analysis firm Political Data told The San Francisco Chronicle.
While the governor's race was expected to be called early Tuesday, it's California's congressional races and ballot measures poised to offer the biggest upsets and surprises. Hanging in the balance is control of the U.S. House of Representatives.
Mitchell predicted that five key redrawn congressional districts appear poised to deliver Democratic victories driven, in part, by high turnout among Latino voters.
"I think the blue wave is on track," Mitchell told The Chronicle. "It seems to be on track that we're going to have a really strong turnout."
So far, voter turnout has been higher in competitive races such as the Central Valley's District 22 and the 48th Congressional District in San Diego — two districts Democrats hope to flip after their mid-decade gerrymander.
As of September, the California Secretary of State reported that 23,164,977 Californians were registered to vote, which accounts for more than 85 percent of the state's eligible voting population.
As of Oct. 29, Democratic voters represented 51 percent of ballots returned statewide compared to just 28 percent among Republican voters, according to the Political Data tracker.
In Alameda County, the rate of voter registration is high. As of September, 979,046 people were registered to vote in Alameda County — with 57.61% of voters registered as Democrats and 11.93% as Republicans.
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