California governor’s race remains unresolved as vote count continues – US politics live

Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.

The race to become California’s next governor in the Senate remains up in the air, with voters potentially waiting weeks until the results are known.

State election officials continue to work through the uncounted primary ballots, a process that could take days or weeks, as the polls give British-born conservative pundit Steve Hilton a narrow lead.

He is followed by former US human services and health secretary Xavier Becerra, while billionaire Tom Steyer continues to trail behind the pair. Under California’s primary system, the top two vote-getters will advance to the general election as they bid to replace incumbent Gavin Newsom.

The question of which two will face off in November may be unanswered for weeks, according to election officials. Per state law, California counties must finish counting ballots by 15 June, but certain ballots are exempt from that deadline. For example, mail-in ballots postmarked by election day and received by 9 June are valid and can be processed beyond the deadline.

An estimate of the number of remaining unprocessed ballots is expected on Thursday. Faced with a crowded slate of gubernatorial contenders, many Democratic voters held on to their mail-in ballots up until election day as they weighed which candidate had the best chance of reaching one of the top two slots.

The ongoing tabulation also did not stop Donald Trump from declaring victory for his favored candidate.

“Congratulations to Steve Hilton on coming in first, last night, in the California Vote for Governor,” he wrote in a Wednesday Truth Social post. “If Californians are smart, which I know they are, they will put Steve into the Governor’s Mansion, and watch their State get better at a rate that has probably never been seen before.”

Read the full story here:

In other developments:

• A leftwing US political commentator has described the UK government’s decision to ban him from entering the country as “haunting and hilarious” and “Kafkaesque”. Cenk Uygur, the founder and a host on Young Turks, a well-established progressive media outlet, was banned earlier this week from entering the UK to attend a speaking engagement alongside Hasan Piker, a Twitch streamer who has become a popular figure on the US political left.
• The US House of Representatives delivered a stunning rebuke to over his war on Iran on Wednesday, as representatives backed a move to force him to seek approval from Congress or withdraw US forces.