California Democrats are grappling with a daunting challenge as the 2026 governor’s race looms on the horizon. Recent internal polling has revealed a startling development: two Republican candidates, former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, are currently leading the pack in the June 2 primary election.

In a bid to address these concerning figures, Democratic Party officials convened a news conference on Tuesday to release the survey results and issue a call to action. According to the state’s “jungle primary” system, only the top two candidates will advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.

State Democratic Party chair Rusty Hicks expressed alarm over the findings, stating, “This initial survey indicates two Republicans are leading, while several Democratic candidates lag behind.”

Hicks continued, “These results underscore the real, albeit slight, possibility that Democrats could be excluded from the general election.” He emphasized the need for all candidates to critically evaluate their chances of securing a win and urged them to strategize accordingly.

He added, “It’s yet another reminder of the undeniable fact that all candidates must honestly assess their viable path to win, and I continue to call for them to do so.”

Democratic insiders have expressed panic over the crowded field potentially leading to Hilton and Bianco facing off in the runoff, which would make way for the first Republican governor of California since Arnold Schwarzenegger left office in 2011.

The survey — conducted in mid-March among 2,000 likely voters — comes after the cancellation of Tuesday night’s gubernatorial debate at USC following Democratic legislators and candidates of color expressing outrage about the lack of diversity.

Download The California Post App, follow us on social, and subscribe to our newsletters

Along with Hilton and Bianco, the three leading Democratic candidates in the race who were set to take part — Rep. Eric Swalwell, progressive billionaire Tom Steyer and former congresswoman Katie Porter — are all white.

Other candidates in the race were furious when San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who is also white, was the sixth and final candidate included in the USC debate despite polling lower than former U.S. Secretary of Health Xavier Becerra. Mahan’s campaign has substantial financial backing from big tech players.

Other Democrats who are still running despite polling in single-digits include former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and former state controller Betty Yee.

Hicks, who changed course in a matter of weeks from saying the party would let the process play out to then calling on low-polling Democratic candidates to drop out of the race, stopped short of naming specific candidates Tuesday.

“There’s 70 days to go until election day, 40 days until ballots are in the hands of voters,” Hicks said. “We are prepared to do what is required to ensure that we elect a governor in November of 2026.”

He later added, “Would I prefer not to put forward a survey that showed two Republicans leading? Of course.”

Tommy Vietor, a co-host for the left-leaning podcast Pod Save America, called the situation a “mess” on social media Tuesday morning.

“The CA Democratic Party needs to get together ASAP and put a tent on this circus,” Vietor wrote. “The primary is in June. Ballots start getting mailed May 4th. Candidates who aren’t above 5% in the polls by April 15th need to drop out and endorse someone else to narrow the field.”

Gov. Gavin Newsom has yet to endorse anyone in the race, and Hicks seemed non-committal when asked if the governor should put his thumb on the scale in pressuring out low-polling candidates.

“I think that’s a decision for the governor,” Hicks said. “And as far as the timing, only time will tell.”

Erika Kirk’s representatives have strongly denied accusations suggesting she exhibited no signs of mourning following the assassination of her husband, Charlie Kirk. These allegations arose after reports circulated that she indulged in a shopping spree at Alo Yoga shortly after the tragic event.

Now a single mother of two, Erika is said to have spent $1,000 on athletic wear the morning after the fatal shooting of her husband. This incident has sparked a flurry of online discussions.

The allegations were initially brought to light by TikTok user markosbits, who informed his 900,000 followers that he received an email from “someone who works at Alo.” This email allegedly contained a receipt from Erika’s account, timestamped at 11:10 AM on September 11—less than a day following Charlie’s assassination.

“That’s not how shock works,” the social media influencer stated. “That’s not how grief manifests in a typical person.”

As the post quickly garnered attention, a staff member from Turning Point USA (TPUSA) promptly refuted the claims, providing clarification on the events that transpired after Charlie’s untimely death.

Taking to X, TPUSA staffer Elizabeth McCoy dispelled the allegation, explaining that Erika and her team immediately hopped on a plane to Utah after getting the unimaginable call – and brought no items with them on the flight.

‘We rushed from the office and into the airplane. We arrived in Utah with nothing but the clothes we were wearing. We were in those clothes all day at the hospital and slept in them that night,’ McCoy wrote on X. 

Erika Kirk, the widow of slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, was recently accused of not grieving her husband because she spent $1,000 at Alo Yoga the morning after he was assassinated. Erika is pictured getting emotional at the State of the Union address

The accusation against Erica was levied by TikToker markosbits, who has nearly 900,000 followers and said an Alo Yoga employee sent him a photo of the receipt

Markosbits showed the photo of the receipt, which was timestamped to September 11 at 11.10am. Charlie was fatally shot the day before around 12.23pm

The couple with their two young children before Kirk’s assassination in September 2025

‘The next morning, our friend Stacy handed me her card, and I went out and picked up some items and toiletries for various team members and Erika. Alo was down the street,’ she continued. 

McCoy added that in the TikToker’s video, the photo of the receipt had a timestamp of its own dated to March 10, which was about a week before the TikTok allegation was published. 

‘That’s not a coincidence,’ the staffer wrote. ‘It’s a clear sign this was a planned, manufactured attack.’

‘To accuse Erika or anyone else of entertaining a “shopping spree” hours after her husband was brutally murdered is cruel and vicious,’ she concluded. 

McCoy’s quick response to the video was reflective of a recent shift that Erika and her team have made when it comes to conspiracies and accusations surrounding Charlie’s assassination and his widow’s subsequent reaction.

For most of the six and a half months since Charlie’s death, Erika has remained silent about the rumors that have swirled online and been propagated by high-profile conservative conspiracists, including Candace Owens.

Owens has been releasing a podcast-style docuseries bashing Erika, whom she labeled ‘Bride of Charlie.’ The series so far boasts eight episodes, with each one receiving millions of views. 

Owens’s anti-Erika clips began in late February, but represent the culmination of months of accusations levied against the widow, including implications that the widow conspired with other TPUSA leaders and even foreign governments to have Charlie killed.

Conservative conspiracist Candace Owens has spent months propagating online rumors about Erika, who sent Owens a cease-and-desist letter in January 

Before Erika and TPUSA began sending cease-and-desists and combating online rumors, they practiced a strategy of silence to avoid fueling conspiracies. Erika is pictured with Charlie

Kirk and Owens maintained a close friendship for years during the early stages of Turning Point USA

In December, Fox News asked Erika about Candace Owens’s claims, to which she simply replied, ‘Just stop.’

The strategy of refusing to fuel conspiracies by acknowledging them backfired in some ways, as the widow’s silence was morphed into evidence against her by people questioning why she had not explicitly denied any accusations. 

It appears that Erika and TPUSA have been shifting away from their previous strategy of silence, as in January, they began sending cease-and-desist letters to conspiracy theorists. 

That month, Zach De Gregorio, a video podcaster who goes by Wolves and Finance online, as well as Owens, received the cease-and-desists.  

Owens discussed the letter in a video and said: ‘It’s gay to send a legal letter. It’s very gay. You shouldn’t do it, especially when you can just pick up the phone and call someone.’

And on March 18, Collin Scott Campbell of Project Constitution was also sent a cease-and-desist, accusing him of defamation for making similar claims to Owens. 

The Daily Mail has reached out to Alo Yoga and TPUSA for comment. 

Minnesota authorities filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Tuesday, seeking access to critical evidence necessary for conducting independent investigations into three shootings involving federal officers. The incidents under scrutiny include the fatalities of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

The lawsuit alleges that the federal government has not upheld its commitment to cooperate with state-level investigations following the deployment of federal law enforcement to Minneapolis. Minnesota officials are requesting a court order to compel the Trump administration to provide the needed information.

“We are ready to pursue the transparency and accountability that the federal government seems eager to evade,” stated Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty during a press briefing.

This legal action represents a significant escalation in the ongoing conflict between Minnesota officials and the Trump administration over the investigations into these notable shootings by federal officers, which have led to widespread public protests. While the Trump administration argues that Minnesota lacks jurisdiction for such investigations, state officials assert the necessity of their own inquiries due to concerns about the federal government’s ability to objectively investigate its own actions.

“It’s imperative to conduct an investigation whenever a federal or state agent is involved in the fatal shooting of a community member,” Moriarty emphasized.

The administration sent thousands of officers to the Minneapolis and St. Paul area for the immigration crackdown as part of President Donald Trump’s national deportation campaign. The Department of Homeland Security considered its largest immigration enforcement operation ever a success but was staunchly criticized by Minnesota’s leaders who raised questions over officers’ conduct.

There continues to be fallout from Operation Metro Surge in the form of a Homeland Security shutdown, as Democrats in Congress hold up funding in an effort to secure restraints on Trump’s immigration agenda.

Minnesota’s lawsuit said the federal government is not permitted to “withhold investigative evidence for the purpose of shielding law enforcement officers from scrutiny where a State is investigating serious potential violations of its criminal laws, targeting its citizens, within its borders.”

Moriarty said Tuesday that the federal government “has adopted a policy of categorically withholding evidence,” calling the practice unprecedented and alarming. She said the lawsuit followed formal demands for evidence after the federal government blocked Minnesota investigators from accessing evidence related to the shootings.

In addition to the Pretti and Good cases, the lawsuit demands access to evidence in the case of Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, who was shot and wounded in his right thigh by a federal agent in January.

Federal officials initially accused Sosa-Celis and another man of beating an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer with a broom handle and a snow shovel. But federal prosecutors later dropped all charges against the men and authorities opened a criminal investigation into whether two immigration officers lied under oath about the shooting.

Emails seeking comment were sent to DHS and the Justice Department.

The Justice Department in January said it was opening a federal civil rights investigation into Pretti’s killing but has said a similar federal probe was not warranted in the killing of Good. The decision in Good’s case marked a sharp departure from past administrations, which moved quickly to investigate shootings of civilians by law enforcement officials for potential civil rights offenses.

Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche has said that the department’s Civil Rights Division does not investigate every law enforcement shooting and that there have to be circumstances and facts that “warrant an investigation.”

Moriarty has said a lack of confidence in the federal government’s review of these incidents makes the state’s independent investigations into the shootings, as well as officers’ actions during the immigration enforcement operation altogether, especially important. The county office received over 1,000 tips from the public on the shootings of Good and Pretti via an online portal they opened to collect evidence. Earlier this month, Moriarty initiated a second portal and said her office was investigating a number of incidents of potentially unlawful action by officers over the course of the immigration enforcement operation.

Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa.