--- title: "LA and Orange counties certify June primary, setting November matchups" description: "Election officials in Los Angeles County have certified the results of the June 2 primary, locking in the contests that will define the November ballot — including a Karen Bass–Nithya Raman runoff for LA mayor and a Becerra–Hilton race for governor. Orange County's count, with two tight supervisor races, follows next week." category: "Los Angeles" category_url: https://herald.la/category/los-angeles author: "Hana Nakamura" published: 2026-06-26T23:31:17.000Z updated: 2026-06-26T23:31:17.000Z canonical: https://herald.la/article/la-and-orange-counties-certify-june-primary-setting-november-matchups tags: ["elections", "primary-2026", "los-angeles-county", "orange-county", "karen-bass"] --- # LA and Orange counties certify June primary, setting November matchups Election officials in Los Angeles County have certified the results of the June 2 primary, locking in the contests that will define the November ballot — including a Karen Bass–Nithya Raman runoff for LA mayor and a Becerra–Hilton race for governor. Orange County's count, with two tight supervisor races, follows next week. Three weeks after polls closed, Los Angeles County election officials have certified the results of the June 2 statewide primary, formally setting the field for the November 3 general election, [LAist reported](https://laist.com/news/politics/voter-guides/la-and-orange-counties-certify-primary-election-results). Orange County is expected to finish its certification in early July, and the California Secretary of State will issue the official statewide canvass by July 10. Certification is the legal end of the counting process — the point at which candidates and local governments can plan in earnest for the fall. ## Turnout Los Angeles County tallied [2,227,290 ballots](https://lacounty.gov/2026/06/24/twelfth-post-election-night-ballot-count-update-for-the-2026-statewide-direct-primary-election/), about 37.8% of registered voters, after issuing twelve separate post-election count updates as mail ballots were processed. Orange County recorded well over 800,000 ballots, a turnout of roughly 42%, according to LAist — solid for a primary but short of presidential-year levels. ## The mayor's race: Bass vs. Raman The marquee Los Angeles contest is the mayoral race, where Mayor Karen Bass finished first and City Councilmember Nithya Raman advanced to November under California's top-two system, [Wikipedia's tally of the race shows](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Los_Angeles_mayoral_election). The third-place finisher, reality-television personality Spencer Pratt, led Raman on election night but was overtaken as mail ballots were counted, ultimately falling short of the runoff. Bass, who has governed through the January 2025 wildfires and a long-running debate over homelessness, now faces a one-on-one challenge from Raman, a progressive who broke with the mayor over policy. The runoff sets up a clear contest within the Democratic coalition that dominates city politics. ## Governor: Becerra vs. Hilton In the race to succeed a termed-out governor, Democrat Xavier Becerra — the former state attorney general and U.S. health secretary — and Republican commentator Steve Hilton advanced as the top two finishers statewide, according to results reported by LAist and other outlets. The two will meet in November. ## Orange County's close calls Some of the region's tightest races are in Orange County, where two seats on the Board of Supervisors could shift the partisan balance of a historically Republican-leaning body. Both contests finished close enough to advance competitive candidates to November, [Voice of OC reported](https://voiceofoc.org/2026/06/democrats-pull-ahead-in-orange-county-supervisor-races/), including a District 5 race in which Democratic incumbent Katrina Foley held a narrow lead. The outcomes could determine whether Democrats gain a county-board majority with real consequences for housing, public health and land-use policy. ## What comes next With Los Angeles County's canvass complete, election offices shift to preparing for November — updating voter rolls, confirming vote-center locations and opening candidate filings. The Secretary of State's July 10 certification will start the official general-election campaign-finance calendar. For voters, the months ahead are a window to check registrations and weigh races that, in some cases, were decided by razor-thin margins. ## Sources - [LA and Orange counties certify primary election results](https://laist.com/news/politics/voter-guides/la-and-orange-counties-certify-primary-election-results) - [Twelfth post-election ballot count update, 2026 Statewide Direct Primary](https://lacounty.gov/2026/06/24/twelfth-post-election-night-ballot-count-update-for-the-2026-statewide-direct-primary-election/) - [2026 Los Angeles mayoral election](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Los_Angeles_mayoral_election)