The governor’s race is not expected until two weeks before Californians go to the polls

California’s most unexpected governor’s race in recent history took another set of confusing changes Monday, with former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra stepping up after former Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out amid allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct, and former county Supervisor Betty Yee ending her bid.

The race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom is the first in a quarter of a century without a clear front-runner and a scattered field of candidates who have been vying for the attention of Californians, who only started paying attention to the campaign two weeks before the ballots hit their mailboxes.

“I didn’t think about the twists and turns that upset this race,” Yee said when he announced his retirement. “But through it all, my values ​​and my vision for California have never wavered.”

A poll released Monday by the Democratic Party — the first since Swalwell (D-Dublin) left — showed Becerra’s support jump by nine points to 13%, putting him in a tie with Tom Steyer, the billionaire hedge fund founder turned environmental activist. Former Rep. Katie Porter of Orange County saw a slight swing to 10% from 7%, while Democrats remaining in the race were tied in the low single digits.

The group launched the polls out of concern that Democrats could be locked out of the gubernatorial race because of California’s unique primary system, where the top two vote-getters in the June 2 primary advance to the November general election regardless of party affiliation.

“I continue to believe there are too many Democrats in this field,” California Democratic Party Chairman Rusty Hicks told reporters Monday. “My plea for candidates to honestly assess the effectiveness of their election and campaigns remains, especially if you are stalling in the single digits, seeing financial resources dry up and/or failing to garner additional support.”

Hicks and other party leaders and allies urged younger voters to reconsider their nominations before the filing deadline in an effort to close the field and avoid scattering the Democratic vote. Although most did not name the people they thought should be considered for their performance, Yee strongly believed that he was among them.

Yee touched the mood when he said on Monday that he decided to withdraw from the race because he could not collect the necessary resources to compete in the provincial competition. He also said that his message of expertise and knowledge was not getting through to voters who wanted to root for President Trump, not “Boring Betty,” as he called himself. Yee said he will survey the field before making an announcement about whether he will endorse one of his fellow Democrats.

Becerra was another person believed to be a victim of party leaders’ attempts to narrow the field. But he held his own and clearly benefited from Swalwell’s downfall.

“I’m not the richest man, I’m not the smartest man, but I’m a man with you,” Becerra said, rallying fans in Los Angeles on Saturday.

The audience was filled with members of labor groups that support the political leader, and Becerra told them that he would serve as a “union man” in the governor’s office.

Pro- and anti-Becerra forces clashed outside city hall after two people, who declined to identify who they work for, released documents exposing a critical media investigation of the US Department of Health and Human Services during the migrant crisis that Becerra led.

Those attending the Pro-Becerra event held up leaflets and told the men to leave, until a security guard intervened.

The question is whether Becerra, who has served as a state attorney general, member of Congress and a member of the state Legislature, can raise the funds needed to compete nationally with some of the country’s most expensive media markets. And he was tied in the state party election with a billionaire who dumped another $12.1 million of his own money into his campaign last week.

Steyer’s investment in his bid totaled $133 million, according to the California secretary of state’s office. He also received an endorsement from Our Revolution, a progressive political organization founded by US Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.).

“We have never endorsed a billionaire – but Tom Steyer is using his position to disrupt the system,” the group wrote in X on Monday. “As Our Revolution executive director Joseph Geevarghese told @theintercept, ‘He has been a partner in this movement. Most billionaires have used their wealth and privilege to lock themselves into this situation. Tom is doing the opposite.’

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who is also running for governor, has accused Steyer of the hypocrisy of a hedge fund he founded that makes a profit by investing in private prisons used to house ICE detainees, and of Steyer’s call for an end to ICE.

Steyer is “rich from investing in ICE infrastructure that he now wants to dismantle,” Mahan said on Instagram.

Steyer, who sold his stake to a hedge fund in 2012, said he ordered the company to divest from the private prison company and has repeatedly expressed regret about his former company’s relationship with the prison company.

Mahan also appeared Monday at a Hollywood production site to announce his proposal for a special fund to attract sporting events, concerts and other productions to California as part of his plan to help the struggling film and television industry.

An independent effort to support Mahan has also raised about $11 million since Swalwell left the race.

Mehta reported from Los Angeles and Nixon from Sacramento. Times staff writer Dakota Smith contributed to this report.