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GOP senator's 30-year reign ends as 5th-generation logger pulls off stunning upset
Fifth-generation logger Troy Jackson has pulled off a major upset in Maine, defeating incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins and giving the Democratic Party a major boost in the battle for the U.S. Senate, the Fox News Decision Desk projects.
Jackson's victory will end Collins’ nearly three-decade career in the Senate.
"Maine, I owe you everything," Jackson wrote on X. "I’m ready to get to work for Mainers in the U.S. Senate, and I promise you this: I’ll never forget where I came from or who I’m fighting for."
The win gives Democrats a major pickup in one of the most closely watched races of the 2026 midterm elections. The Maine contest was viewed as a critical test of whether Democrats could defeat a Republican incumbent in a state that has shifted increasingly toward the party in recent presidential elections.
The result also could have major implications for control of the Senate.
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"It has been the honor of my life to serve the people of Maine in the United States Senate. I'm proud of all I have been able to accomplish for our state and for our country in the past 30 years," Collins wrote in conceding the race to her Democrat challenger.
"I called Troy Jackson tonight to congratulate him and to assure him that my staff and I will work to ensure a smooth transition."
Jackson previously served as president of the Maine Senate and represented parts of Aroostook County in the state Legislature. He campaigned as a working-class Democrat and labor advocate who would challenge both Washington’s political establishment and wealthy interests after he replaced disgraced Senate nominee Graham Platner on the ballot.
Platner dropped out of the race in July amid allegations of sexual assault, which prompted a vote within the Maine Democratic Party to install Jackson.
Jackson's campaign was nearly knocked off its tracks early on when it was revealed his longtime partner and mother of his two children is also his second cousin — the two share great-grandparents, according to reports. But that scandal wasn't enough to stop him from toppling the political institution that is Senator Collins.
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Collins, who was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1996, was seeking a sixth term. She is Maine’s longest-serving member of Congress and chaired the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee, a position that gave her significant influence over federal spending and funding for Maine projects.
Collins, one of the more moderate Republicans in the Senate, built her latest reelection campaign around her reputation for independence and bipartisan dealmaking. She highlighted her work on infrastructure, veterans’ issues, rural communities and federal assistance for Maine residents while arguing that her seniority and committee position gave the state an advantage in Washington.
The race was shaped by Collins’ complicated relationship with President Donald Trump and the Republican Party. Democrats criticized Collins over her votes for Trump-backed policies and her vote to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, arguing that her reputation as a moderate no longer matched her voting record.
Collins countered by pointing to the times she opposed Trump and Senate Republicans. She emphasized her willingness to break with her party and argued that Maine voters valued her independence more than party loyalty.
"Troy and Chuck Schumer and their allies run ads saying that I'm somehow a puppet of the president. Believe me, that would come as a huge surprise to President Trump," the senator said in an interview last month with Fox News Digital.
Former Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin campaigned with Collins in the closing weeks of the race, helping her make the case that she was a bipartisan senator who could work with lawmakers from both parties.
Jackson’s victory marks a significant political shift in Maine and ends Collins’ run as one of the Republican Party’s most durable statewide candidates. Collins won reelection by nearly nine percentage points in 2020, but Democrats entered the 2026 contest with advantages driven by the state’s increasingly Democratic electorate and opposition to the Trump administration.
Jackson will enter the Senate as a former state legislative leader with strong ties to organized labor and rural Maine. His election is likely to make him a prominent voice on economic issues as Democrats seek to appeal to working-class voters across the country.
Trump-backed ex-NFL reporter loses Senate race to progressive who vowed to 'rip ICE apart'
Progressives scored a major victory in Minnesota, a state heavily targeted by the Trump administration in its immigration and anti-fraud crackdowns.
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, the Democratic nominee, toppled former NFL sideline reporter and Republican nominee Michele Tafoya, stifling the GOP’s hopes of flipping the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
While her win over Tafoya, who was backed by President Donald Trump, is a positive for Democrats in their pursuit of power in the upper chamber, it's not necessarily a negative for Republicans, given that the seat was already blue.
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Flanagan’s victory comes after the state of Minnesota and her former running mate, Gov. Tim Walz, were directly in the Trump administration’s crosshairs for the sprawling, multibillion-dollar daycare fraud scandal that erupted earlier this year.
Given that several Somali immigrants were linked to the scandal, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) descended upon the state to enact Operation Metro Surge. That resulted in the deaths of two Minnesota residents, Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, at the hands of federal immigration agents.
ICE’s actions in the state led to yet another government shutdown in Washington, D.C., and became a pointed rallying cry for her campaign and ammunition she used on the trail.
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"We need to rip ICE apart and stop them from terrorizing our communities," Flanagan said shortly after winning her primary earlier this year. "And I know this. I know that we can fix our broken immigration system, secure the border, and create a real pathway to citizenship that aligns with our values."
Much of Tafoya’s campaign hinged on what role Flanagan played in the Minnesota fraud scheme and just how much she knew as a top official in the state.
"My opponent has been second in command in this state for eight years, drawing a taxpayer-funded paycheck," Tafoya said at a debate last month. "And what do we have to show for that? We have massive fraud, historic fraud. We have test scores down. We have crime spiking. We have a massive surplus turned into a deficit."
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Flanagan, however, has shifted much of the blame for the scandal onto Walz and countered that "he was the one who had oversight here."
"The governor has been very clear that the buck stops with him," Flanagan said.
Her win could also be a double-edged sword for Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and his ambition to stay on as leader of Senate Democrats.
Flanagan, like other progressive Democratic candidates, has actively run away from and criticized Schumer, arguing that Democrats need change at the leadership level.
"People want big, bold change," Flanagan told The New York Times. "They are sick of nibbling around the edges."
DOUG SCHOEN: The biggest winner and the biggest loser in the 2026 midterms
The big winner in the midterms on Tuesday night was the Democratic Party. And the big loser of the 2026 midterms was President Donald J. Trump. It’s impossible not to draw that conclusion given the blowout victory the Democrats won in both the House and Senate on Tuesday.
While some races remain to be called, it is clear that the Democrats will have solid majorities in both houses of Congress, including winning Senate seats in formerly deep-red states like South Carolina, Kansas and Texas, which were considered, earlier in the year, virtually unachievable for Democrats.
But make no mistake, this is more of a collapse of the Republican Party than it is an affirmative vote for the Democrats. This is a vote against the war in Iran as it’s being conducted, against high gas prices — which are seen as a direct result of that war — and against the overall perception among voters that there are two sets of rules for how government works: one for the rich and elites and another for ordinary working people.
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What remains unknown is whether the Democrats, having elected a number of progressives like James Talarico in Texas, and Troy Jackson in Maine, will be able to govern coherently and consistently in the Senate, and to a lesser extent in the House, with an agenda that is sympathetic to or actually aligned with the democratic socialists. Will these Democrats be able to coherently address the challenges that the Republicans and Trump have been unable to address in the last two years?
The fear is great that the way Democrats will paper over these profound differences between their establishment wing and their far-left progressive wing will be not with policy but with investigations. And if that is the case, the degree of paralysis we’ve already seen in the last two years in Congress will only become a more stark reality.
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The opportunity for the Republicans and the president to try to govern constructively with the Democrats is clear and obvious. Voters are making it abundantly clear that President Trump’s approach of simply demonizing the opposition is not an acceptable or appropriate way to govern. That is why he is the biggest loser of Tuesday night, and it’s also why the Democrats are the biggest winners.
The message to both parties is clear: Govern constructively, and if you don’t, it’s at your peril. The same swing against the Republicans we’ve just witnessed can happen in two short years to Democrats if they do not heed this judgment.
Republicans, too, need to govern with Democrats and respond responsibly to public concerns about the Iran war, corruption and inflation. And if they don’t, again, it’s at their peril.
Many people in our country currently see politics as a bloodsport. What the American people said on Tuesday is that they are less concerned with partisan labels than with getting things done.
Hopefully, going forward, the big winner will be the American people. But that’s by no means certain.
Democrat David Crowley makes history as Wisconsin’s first Black governor
The Fox News Decision Desk projects Democratic Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley has defeated Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany in battleground Wisconsin.
With his victory, Crowley will succeed retiring two-term Democratic Gov. Tony Evers and makes history as Wisconsin's first Black politician elected governor.
Throughout his campaign for governor and during their single debate two weeks ago, Crowley frequently linked Tiffany to President Donald Trump and his policies, including the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, tariffs, and the war in Iran.
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Tiffany, a three-term congressman from a large agriculture-dominant district in northern Wisconsin, is a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus and a Trump ally on Capitol Hill.
"When Congressman Tom Tiffany says he’s focusing on affordability, let’s be very clear: He voted for the big, ugly bill that [helped] some of the highest earners here in the state of Wisconsin," Crowley said during the debate, as he pointed to to the GOP's signature 2025 tax cut and spending bill that reduced funding for healthcare and food assistance programs in many states.
"We don’t need what is happening in Washington, D.C., coming into the state of Wisconsin. It is very clear that he is working for Donald Trump and the billionaires who are funding his campaign," Crowley charged.
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Tiffany responded by that while Crowley was "consistently focused on being against Donald Trump, I’m for Wisconsin — and rather than creating a bunch more programs that are going to end up taxing the people of Wisconsin more, I want to put more money in the taxpayers’ pockets."
Crowley pulled off a major upset in the August Democratic gubernatorial primary, coming from behind to narrowly edge out state Rep. Francesca Hong, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Tiffany, during his general election campaign, repeatedly claimed Crowley was sounding "like a socialist."
"I think it’s really important to know that he said there’s very little difference between me and Francesca Hong," Tiffany argued during the debate. "That sounds like a socialist to me."
Tiffany made national headlines in September when he survived an emergency water landing after the single-engine plane he was riding in lost power and crashed into a lake.
Wisconsin is a key midwestern battleground state. Trump narrowly carried the state in his 2016 and 2024 presidential victories, while former President Joe Biden took the state by a razor-thin margin as he won the White House in 2020.
Democrat seize House control in stunning blue tsunami, vow retribution against Trump admin
Democrats have seized the House majority and will control the lower chamber of Congress for the final two years of President Donald Trump's term, the Fox News Decision Desk projects.
An unprecedented blue wave saw Democrats pull off stunning upsets in both battleground House districts and areas considered safe red seats.
The Fox News Decision Desk projects the GOP suffered major losses in four key groups: Hispanic voters, young voters, independents and rural Americans.
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Top Democrats did not hesitate in signaling they would be raring to go after various investigations targeting Trump and his administration.
"Lawyer up," Rep. Robert Garcia, D-Calif., the likely next House Oversight Committee chairman, said in a statement obtained by Fox News Digital.
The X account belonging to Democrats on the House Homeland Security Committee posted at Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Markwayne Mullin, "Clear your calendar."
Among Democrats' most stunning upset victories in the House came against Rep. Jeff Van Drew, R-N.J., who switched parties from Democrat to Republican during the first Trump administration. Democrat Jamie Ager defeated his Republican challenger in North Carolina's 11th congressional district, a previous GOP stronghold that became vulnerable after retiring Rep. Chuck Edwards, R-N.C., announced he would not seek re-election amid sexual harassment allegations.
And vulnerable Republicans who have weathered tough re-election bids in the past appeared poised to fall to Democratic challengers as of shortly before midnight on Tuesday.
Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., conceded his race to Democrat former Biden administration official Cait Conley, according to a video posted by journalist Timmy Facciola.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., is now easily poised to become the country's first Black Speaker of the House, likely with a double-digit majority that will leave room for any far-left defectors.
"This is a change election, and we understand as House Democrats that we need to deliver dramatic change. Things are broken. We need a Congress that puts the American people first. The wealthy, the well-off, and the well-connected tried to buy this election. The American people have responded in a resounding way and made clear that America is not for sale. We will deliver. A Congress that puts everyday Americans first, working class Americans first, middle class Americans first, and all those who aspire to be part of the middle class," Jeffries told people at an election night party in Washington, D.C.
Meanwhile, multiple House Republicans told Fox News Digital that they expect new senior leaders after their existing top echelons failed to deliver. Among the names that some are floating is House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who has been campaigning for GOP candidates in the months before Election Day.
House Republicans are holding their internal leadership elections next week.
Longtime Dem Sen who lost his seat 2 years ago projected to secure comeback victory in midterm battleground
Former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown is projected to win his bid to return to the U.S. Senate, defeating Republican Sen. Jon Husted in Ohio just two years after losing his seat to Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno, the Fox News Decision Desk projects.
Brown’s victory marks a remarkable political comeback for the longtime Ohio Democrat, who served in the Senate from 2007 until 2025 before Moreno ousted him in one of the most closely watched races of the 2024 election.
The Democrat will return to Washington after defeating Husted in a special election to serve the remainder of the term originally won by Vice President JD Vance. Husted was appointed to the seat by Republican Gov. Mike DeWine in January 2025 after Vance resigned from the Senate to serve as President Donald Trump's No. 2.
Brown previously represented Ohio in the U.S. House and served as the state’s secretary of state and a member of the Ohio House.
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The timing of Brown’s return to Washington will depend on when Ohio certifies the election and when he is formally sworn in. Brown could be sworn in during the lame-duck session, potentially changing the Senate’s voting math before the new Congress convenes.
The Ohio race was viewed as a key battleground because Democrats saw the state as one of their best opportunities to erode the GOP’s narrow Senate majority, while Republicans viewed Husted’s seat as critical to maintaining control of the chamber.
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Brown’s win came two years after he lost his Senate seat to Republican Sen. Bernie Moreno, as Ohio continued its shift toward the GOP in presidential elections. Former President Donald Trump carried the state by 11 percentage points in 2024, and Republicans argued that Brown’s return would amount to a restoration of the Democratic establishment that Ohio voters had rejected.
Brown sought to overcome those headwinds by emphasizing his record on manufacturing, organized labor, trade, consumer protections and economic issues. His campaign focused heavily on the cost of living, gas and diesel prices, health care and the impact of Republican policies on working-class Ohioans.
The candidates also clashed over data centers and energy costs. Brown criticized Husted’s role in supporting major economic development projects involving data centers, arguing that Ohio taxpayers and consumers could be left responsible for the infrastructure and energy demands associated with the facilities.
Husted defended the projects as a way to bring jobs and investment to Ohio. He also pointed to legislation aimed at preventing taxpayers from bearing the operating costs of large data centers which Democrats blocked in the Senate.
Husted, a longtime figure in Ohio Republican politics, campaigned on his record as the state’s lieutenant governor, secretary of state and House speaker. He argued that Brown would return to Washington as a reliable vote for Senate Democrats and national party leaders.
Brown's victory gives Democrats a huge boost in their bid to take back control of the United States Senate when the votes are all counted after Election Day.
GOP governor defies Dem enthusiasm, tough political climate to win re-election in key swing state
The Fox News Decision Desk projects that Republican Gov. Kelly Ayotte has defeated Democratic challenger Cinde Warmington in New Hampshire's gubernatorial election.
Defying a rough political climate facing the GOP as well as Democratic Party enthusiasm, Ayotte won re-election to a second two-year term as the Northern New England swing state's governor.
Ayotte, who also served two decades ago as state attorney general, was first elected governor in 2024, succeeding fellow Republican Gov. Chris Sununu. New Hampshire and neighboring Vermont are the only states in the nation that elect their governors every two years.
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Ayotte started the cycle as the favorite due in part to political history. Only twice in the past century — and not since 2004 — have first-term New Hampshire governors been ousted.
The governor highlighted affordable housing as her state's most pressing economic challenge, and she pointed to new laws on accessory dwelling units and permitting to help ease the crisis.
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Warmington, a healthcare attorney and former member of New Hampshire's five-member elected executive council, which approves state contracts and the governor's judicial and executive branch nominations, highlighted the cost of living as she ran for governor. She called for a suspension of the state's gas tax.
The Democratic nominee's past work as a lobbyist for drugmaker Purdue Pharma was a major line of attack by Ayotte, and the governor and her campaign labeled Warmington an "opioid lobbyist."
"Kelly Ayotte is spending millions of dollars attacking me for work I did decades ago and regret. That’s so you won’t look at what Kelly’s doing right now as governor," Warmington said in response.
And she blamed the governor for "doubling prescription drug costs, electric rates up 15%, record high housing costs."
Democrat Gina Hinojosa stuns Abbott, makes history as first Latina Texas governor
The Fox News Decision Desk projects that Texas state Rep. Gina Hinojosa has defeated three-term Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in the showdown for governor.
With her shocking upset victory, Hinojosa has brought the Democrats' 36-year losing streak in Texas gubernatorial elections to an end.
"Everything is bigger in Texas including the shock of this win," Hinojosa said to a crowd of supporters. "We shocked the world tonight. With a Texas chip on our shoulder we show that anything is possible."
Hinojosa also made history as the first Latina governor of the nation's second most populous state.
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Abbott, a conservative governor and major ally of President Donald Trump, meanwhile, fell short in his history-making bid to become the first person to win four elections as Texas governor.
Abbott shared with his audience of supporters that he conceded to Hinojosa, congratulating her for winning the election.
"It has been the joy of my life to be the governor of the state of Texas," Abbott said.
Meanwhile, Trump took to Truth Social blaming Abbott for failing to win his reelection.
"If Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, hadn’t become a RINO in the last six months of his Political Life, he wouldn’t have lost," Trump wrote. "He went back to his original formula, and it wasn’t pretty!"
Hinojosa, a former president of the Austin public school system and a civil rights lawyer, focused her campaign on public education funding, teacher pay, opposing school vouchers, data center moratoriums, and pocketbook relief. She framed her bid as a fight "against the billionaires and the corporations," who she accused of driving up prices, closing neighborhood schools and "cheating Texans out of basic healthcare."
Abbott, during his tenure as Texas governor, has pushed a strict conservative platform, including tighter border security, strict abortion restrictions, school choice vouchers, expanded gun rights, and lower business regulations.
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But the governor primarily ran for re-election on economic issues with his "Keep Texas Affordable" agenda. He launched his re-election campaign with a promise to slash rising property taxes in Texas in the next legislative session. Later in the campaign he unveiled a plan which he said would also lower the cost of healthcare, housing, home and auto insurance, electricity, and even higher education.
Abbott also framed his candidacy as a fight against the rising influence of socialism in American politics
And while the governor is close to Trump, he walked a fine line by defying the president when it came to his stance on artificial intelligence data center expansion.
But Hinojosa made linking Abbott to Trump by characterizing both men as participants in institutional corruption and anti-democratic "power grabs" a centerpiece of her gubernatorial campaign.
Trump's gamble on Ken Paxton backfires as Democrat pulls off historic Texas Senate upset
Democrats just made history in Texas.
President Donald Trump’s gamble on Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a strong ally of the president’s, backfired on him after Texas state Rep. James Talarico pulled off an upset to score Democrats their first Senate seat from the Lone Star State in nearly four decades.
The Fox News Decision Desk called the Texas Senate race in Talarico's favor shortly after 11 p.m. ET Tuesday night.
The live music rarely stopped Tuesday at Talarico’s election night party, except for when it was confirmed that the insurgent Democrat had toppled Paxton.
News of his victory replaced the thundering music with an eruption of cheers, chants of USA and a wave of joy that reverberated through the event space. Even Talarico’s most staunch, four-legged supporter, Kodak, was roused from a nap. His owner told Fox News Digital that the canine fan had voted for Talarico earlier that day.
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It comes after Trump opted to back Paxton over longtime incumbent Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, earlier this year, who Republicans in Washington, D.C., believed would be a better candidate during a midterm cycle in which political headwinds, spurred by economic stress and war, pushed back against the party in power.
Cornyn posted on X when Talarico won, "The voters have spoken, and I want to extend my congratulations to James Talarico on his election to the U.S. Senate. I look forward to meeting him and offering my assistance with his transition as he prepares to serve Texans in the U.S. Senate."
Trump made near-weekly visits to the Lone Star State, and his deep-pocketed war chest, MAGA Inc., along with national Republicans, dumped hundreds of millions of dollars to support Paxton’s struggling campaign.
But it was not enough to overcome the insurgent Talarico, who styled himself a moderate dedicated to representing Texans and not Democratic interests, like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s, D-N.Y., in Washington.
It was a bitter campaign from start to finish, with Talarico painting Paxton as unfit to serve following several allegations of corruption, including his impeachment for alleged corruption by the Texas House. He was later acquitted by the Texas Senate.
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"This Senate seat has been held by some of the finest Texans," Talarico said. "Ken Paxton should be nowhere near Lyndon Johnson's Senate seat. Ken Paxton should be nowhere near Sam Houston's Senate seat."
Paxton, Trump and national Republicans painted Talarico as a "communist" and a vegan in BBQ-loving Texas and zeroed in on his support for the transgender community while in the Texas Legislature, most notably his floor speech on God being "nonbinary."
"I'm not asking you to imagine what I do as your U.S. senator," Paxton told voters at a rally ahead of Election Day. "I'm asking you to look at my record and then compare it to another guy, James Talarico, the most radical Democrat ever to run statewide, bar none.
"And no matter how many commercials he runs lying about his record, James Talarico is a, simply put, a Democratic Socialist just like AOC. And just like the New York mayor, Mamdani."
Talarico even scored a nickname from Trump.
"The name happens to be ‘Talafreako’ because he is one of the worst candidates I have ever seen," Trump said ahead of the GOP’s midterm convention largely meant to bolster Paxton’s struggling campaign.
Nonetheless, there was a schism within the GOP caused by Trump picking Paxton over Cornyn, and the longtime lawmaker made it clear that he would not be in Paxton’s corner campaigning for him after losing a bloody and bitter primary fight earlier this year.
"I refuse to allow a flawed, self-centered and shameless candidate like Ken Paxton to risk everything we’ve worked so hard to build over these many years," Cornyn said after losing his primary earlier this year.
"Judgment Day is coming for Ken Paxton."
The news comes on a brutal midterm election night for Republicans at both the state and federal levels. At the time of the race call, Democrats were already projected to win control of the House majority.
And the Fox News Decision Desk projected Texas Gov. Greg Abbott losing to his Democrat challenger, Gina Hinojosa, at the same time.
California voters decide who will succeed Newsom in consequential governor's race
The Fox News Decision Desk projects former Biden Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra will defeat Republican Steve Hilton in the race to succeed term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom, keeping California's governorship in Democratic hands.
Becerra has spent more than three decades in public office, beginning with his election to the California State Assembly in 1990 before serving over two decades in Congress.
He left the House in 2017 after then-Gov. Jerry Brown appointed him California attorney general, won a full term in the post the following year and later served as President Joe Biden's HHS secretary from 2021 to 2025.
Becerra and Hilton emerged from California's crowded nonpartisan top-two primary in June, when Becerra finished first with roughly 28% of the vote and Hilton advanced in second with about 25%. More than 9.4 million Californians cast ballots in the primary, according to certified results from the California secretary of state's office.
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Becerra's victory extends Democrats' long-running dominance of statewide politics in California, where registered Democrats substantially outnumber Republicans. A Republican has not won a California gubernatorial election since Arnold Schwarzenegger's re-election in 2006 and has not occupied the governor's mansion since he left office in January 2011.
Hilton, a former Fox News host and onetime policy advisor to British Prime Minister David Cameron, campaigned as a change candidate, arguing that years of Democratic control in Sacramento had contributed to California's high cost of living, homelessness and other problems.
He proposed cutting taxes and state spending, rolling back regulations and climate mandates and expanding energy production to lower housing, electricity and gasoline costs. Hilton also received President Donald Trump's endorsement but said during the general election that he would work with the administration while disagreeing with the president when necessary.
Becerra will inherit a state confronting persistent challenges over housing and energy costs, homelessness and looming budget deficits.
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Affordability was also a central theme of Becerra's campaign, with the Democrat arguing that rising costs threatened what he called the "California Dream." But he offered voters a markedly different prescription from Hilton, proposing a larger role for state programs and enforcement rather than broad cuts to taxes, spending and regulation.
Becerra proposed accelerating housing construction, expanding childcare assistance and early education, strengthening Medi-Cal and cracking down on landlords he accused of price gouging. He also pointed to his record as HHS secretary, including efforts to lower prescription drug costs and expand access to health coverage.
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The candidates offered sharply different approaches to the Trump administration as well. Becerra campaigned on protecting California policies and programs from federal challenges, drawing on his record of repeatedly taking the first Trump administration to court during his tenure as state attorney general.
Becerra also reaffirmed during the campaign his support for protecting access to transgender medical procedures, including for transgender youth. He previously championed the issue as HHS secretary, when he defended leaving treatment decisions involving transgender minors to families and medical providers rather than politicians.
Hilton previously told Fox News Digital that Californians are growing fed up with years of Democratic leadership, pointing to homelessness, high taxes and the soaring cost of living as reasons voters may be ready for a change.
"I know everyone says, 'Well, it's California, Republicans can't win.' I don't know. I think people are sick of all this," Hilton said. "And they're sick of Becerra just taking them for granted, and I think we can win this election."
Newsom was barred from seeking a third consecutive term after winning the governorship in 2018 and re-election in 2022. His departure comes amid continued speculation about a potential 2028 presidential bid.
Becerra will be sworn in as California's 41st governor in January 2027.