Hilton or Steyer? Pratt or Raman? Here's when to expect more results in races for California governor, LA mayor

Outcomes in California's two tightest and most closely watched primaries for governor and Los Angeles mayor remained unresolved Friday evening, leaving voters hoping that weekend ballot drops would finally determine November election matchups in those key races.

The waiting game continued after California's chaotic primary to succeed term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom took a big step forward Friday, with CBS News projecting that former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, had advanced to the general election. 

County election offices across the state released their latest results late Friday afternoon, launching Becerra to victory and shifting the focus to who would challenge the former California attorney general to become the state's next chief executive. 

Under California's top-two primary system, the two candidates with the most votes will advance to November's general election, regardless of party affiliation.

If elected, Becerra would become the first Latino governor of California in 150 years since Republican Romualdo Pacheco in 1875.

Hilton in lead for second spot in gubernatorial election

Before Becerra advanced on Friday to the general election, Republican challenger Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, had been the leading candidate in the race since polls closed on Tuesday. Becerra remained in second place before gaining enough votes to overtake Hilton in the latest results released by election officials.

Hilton is now battling for the second spot on the November ballot, with billionaire environmentalist Tom Steyer, a Democrat, in third place. While Steyer gained some ground in the latest returns, election experts including Paul Mitchell of Political Data Inc. said a second-place finish could prove elusive for the 2020 presidential candidate.

"The challenge there is that with these late voters, Hilton actually seems to be doing pretty well," Mitchell said Thursday. 

Throughout the week, Hilton has continued to position himself as the change candidate in the race and criticized the pace of California's ballot counting, suggesting he would enact a major overhaul of the state's election process if elected governor.

"We're not there yet, but it's looking good," Hilton said Tuesday night. "It looks very much like Californians really will have the chance to vote for change in November and take our state in a new direction." 

Pratt's lead over Raman erodes in LA mayoral race 

Incumbent Mayor Karen Bass is still waiting to learn who she will face in the November election as reality TV star Spencer Pratt's considerable lead over LA City Council member Nithya Raman continued to shrink late Friday.

After holding a nearly six-percentage-point lead over Raman on Thursday, Pratt's advantage over the councilwoman narrowed to just more than three percentage points following the release of LA County's latest ballot count.

"Spencer Pratt has been losing share of the vote with every one of these new ballot dumps, and we expect that to continue," Mitchell said on Thursday. "The question is, will he drop? Will Nithya Raman rise? And at some point, will there be an inflection point where Nithya Raman would take over that second spot?"  

After polls closed on Tuesday, Pratt appeared confident that he was going to face Bass in November, saying that the incumbent was "not a candidate that I'm too concerned about."

"I'm ready for whatever god puts in front of me," Pratt said. "Obviously, I was going to accept whatever god's plan was tonight. I was going to be happy if I wasn't moving forward because I would've known god didn't want me to be the mayor. Now, I feel very confident."

Leading up to Election Day, analysts predicted that the race would be tight with the trio virtually tied. According to a May 28 UC Berkeley-LA Times poll, which cited a margin of error of around 3%, Bass had the most support from likely voters at 26%, Raman was close behind at 25% and Pratt came in third at 22%.

As the last candidate to announce her bid, Raman spoke to supporters after polls closed on Election Day about what she called her "long shot" bid for mayor.

"No one knew who I was; I was the last to enter this race," Raman said. "We had no institutional backing. But what we did have was a vision for Los Angeles."

When will more California primary election results be released?

According to the California Secretary of State, counties have 30 days to count ballots on a provisional basis. Mail-in votes must be postmarked no later than Election Day, and they must be counted as long as they are received within seven days. 

Here are when some major population centers expect their next ballot drops:

• Alameda County: Monday by 4 p.m. PT
• Contra Costa County: Wednesday by 4 p.m. PT
• Los Angeles County: Saturday by 5 p.m.
• Marin County: Monday by 5 p.m. PT
• Orange County: Saturday by 5 p.m. PT
• Riverside County: Saturday by 6 p.m. PT
• Sacramento County: Tuesday by 4:15 p.m. PT
• San Bernardino County: Monday by 4 p.m.
• San Francisco City and County: Monday by 4 p.m. PT
• San Mateo County: Monday by 5 p.m. PT
• Santa Clara County: Saturday by 5 p.m. PT
• Ventura County: Tuesday at 3 p.m.