Solicitations and political attacks filled the home stretch of the California governor's race

California's top gubernatorial candidates criss-crossed the state Friday, all coming to a politically friendly neighborhood to woo voters and undermine their rivals as the June 2 primary draws closer.

The top Republican in the race, former Fox News host Steve Hilton, spent the day insulting transgender athletes ahead of a Central Valley high school event, an event sure to appeal to his supporters of President Trump.

Leading Democrats, former Biden administration Cabinet member Xavier Becerra and environmental billionaire Tom Steyer, have met with one of their party's most influential constituencies: union members.

While both stuck to an interesting message and repeated promises to uplift struggling Californians, Steyer then accused Becerra of being a “corporate Democrat who takes money from all these big corporations” who “doesn't want to change things.”

Steyer had good reason to go after Becerra.

A new poll from the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by the Los Angeles Times showed Becerra leading the race with about 25% support among likely voters, followed by Hilton at 21% and Steyer within striking distance at 19%. The two first- and second-place finishers in the primaries will advance to the November general election, leaving the third-place finisher on the sidelines.

Although he told reporters Friday morning that “I don't care about the votes,” Steyer was enthusiastic at a campaign event in Northern California, where he held a private meeting with leaders of the long-term care union. In a briefing at the offices of SEIU Local 2015, Steyer described the race as a choice between a champion of working-class billionaires and the corporate-backed Becerra.

“Does California work for the people of California or does California work for the companies? The companies think it works for them. They want it to continue to work for them and they put tens of millions of dollars to make sure they continue to make record profits,” he told a crowd of rural workers, teachers, construction workers and nurses at a rally in West Sacramento.

Groups including PG&E, California Assn. of Realtors and the California Chamber of Commerce have spent more than $34 million against Steyer election. The former hedge fund manager has pledged to reduce energy bills by breaking up large energy companies.

As a billionaire who has poured $216 million of his own money into his gubernatorial campaign, Steyer has faced skepticism from some left-wing and labor voters. But he was endorsed by progressives, including Rep. Ro Khanna (D-San Jose), and unions including the California Nurses Assn. and both major teacher unions.

“I voted for Tom. I wanted a change,” said Alvenia Scott, a union board member who works as a home caregiver for her disabled sister.

“He has really good ideas,” he said, adding that he was more skeptical of Steyer's lack of experience in government than his economics. “He's making his way through life, more power to him.”

Several miles south of the Inland State, Becerra has pledged to be pro-union if elected governor and urged voters to turn out in what has so far been a remarkably low turnout.

“I'm with you. If I become governor and I sit behind that desk, you're going to have a union man sitting at that desk,” Becerra told about 500 people at the United Food and Commercial Workers auditorium in Bloomington.

He asked the crowd if they had cast their votes and noted that not all of them raised their hands.

“Less than one in five Californians have voted so far. We have to get that number up,” he said, arguing that the election is about “sending a message across the country that California will be counted, that California cannot be ignored, and that California will not bow to anyone in Washington, DC.”

Only 12% of the state's voters were registered to vote as of Thursday evening, according to election tracking firm Political Data Inc.

Community college counselor Diego Rodriguez, 32, said he decided to vote for Becerra in recent weeks after seeing the former US Health and Human Services secretary's momentum in the race and researching his record.

“And it's just his story. As someone who works in higher education, and seeing how Xavier, who is first generation, has benefited from higher education, and how he represents higher education,” said the Rialto resident. “Furthermore, today, his being here in the trade union and representing the working class and workers, I think is very important.”

Rodriguez said he started looking at Becerra after he was one of the candidates outside of the USC debate that ended up being canceled.

“I think people know him a lot because of that,” Rodriguez said. “There was a lot of chatter online about that, but I think it allowed some exposure to him and made people aware of his record.”

At a campaign stop in mid-state Clovis, Hilton marveled that his campaign spent only about $2 million on campaign advertising but still polled more than Steyer, according to a recent Berkeley IGS poll.

“We feel confident,” Hilton said, standing in the suburbs. Still, he warned that voters must come out to support him and avoid a “total California disaster” of two Democrats heading to the November election.

Hilton, who was endorsed by Trump in April, joined other politicians and leaders in Clovis in opposing trans athletes to compete in the 2026 CIF State Track & Field Championship.

The group met near where the championship events were planned this weekend.

Asked why he was focusing on sports and sex in the final days of the race, Hilton said they were “some of the most important things” coming from city halls. If elected, he said he would try to overturn a 13-year-old government law that allows students to participate in school activities and use facilities such as restrooms based on their gender.

Hilton says the law violates the state Constitution and will “suspend” it while starting legal action to overturn it.

He also praised Spencer Pratt, the Republican and TV star running for mayor in Los Angeles, saying his independence brought “excitement and energy” to the state's primary election.

“For a long time in California, there's been this sense that everything is inevitable – there's nothing you can do, the Democrats are running this place, the way it is,” Hilton said. “I think that is changing. I think there is this sense that something is happening.”