June 9 (Reuters) - Republican television commentator Steve Hilton was projected to advance to the November 3 general election following June 2's open primary, U.S. media projected on Tuesday.
Hilton will face Democratic former cabinet secretary Xavier Becerra.Hilton and Becerra led the field in the state's top-two primary since the first vote counts started coming in on election night, but the Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer had been close enough in third place that media held off projecting the two finalists.
California elections can take days to determine a winner as mail-in ballots are accepted if postmarked on or before Election Day and received within seven days after Election Day.
Officially, California has up to 30 days after the June 2 election to count and verify ballots, and the secretary of state has 38 days to certify the election, or until July 10.
Becerra led the field with 27.9%, followed by Hilton with 24.9%, according to the Associated Press.
Steyer was third with 22.6%, though he maintained a mathematically plausible path until now.
Under California's "jungle primary," in which candidates of all parties appear on the same ballot, the two leading vote-getters advance, regardless of party.
California’s next governor will succeed term-limited Democrat Gavin Newsom and take charge of a $4 trillion economy - among the world’s largest - while confronting deep challenges on water, affordability and homelessness.
Becerra is a former state attorney general and U.S. congressman from Los Angeles who was secretary of Health and Human Services under President Joe Biden. If he were to prevail in November, he would become the first Latino elected governor in a state where 40% of the population is Hispanic or Latino.
Hilton is a British-born former Fox News host who was endorsed by President Donald Trump. Once an adviser to former British Prime Minister David Cameron, he became a U.S. citizen in 2021.
Steyer, a hedge fund billionaire who spent $350 million of his own money running for president in 2020, spent another $200 million running for governor. He positioned himself as a progressive who promised to raise taxes on billionaires, including himself.
Republicans have not held a statewide office in California since former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's term ended in January 2011.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta in Carlsbad)
