Former Senate Pro Tem Toni Atkins says she’s ending her bid, shifting attention to a highly volatile and open race with Republicans seeing new opportunities.
Former California Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins announced on September 29, 2025, that she is ending her campaign for California governor, writing to supporters that “there is simply no viable path forward to victory.”
Her decision comes after polling consistently showed her in the low single digits, 1% support in a recent Berkeley IGS survey.
Atkins launched her campaign in January 2024, positioning herself as a candidate with deep legislative experience and emphasizing her message as the first openly lesbian Senate leader.
She raised millions of dollars in the opening months of the race and at one point, outraised her rivals, according to the Sacramento Bee.
However, her campaign never gained traction statewide, with surveys by Emerson College Polling showing her trailing well behind Rep. Katie Porter, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, and others.
Name recognition proved weak outside of Sacramento and San Diego, and she never gained traction in statewide polling.
Her withdrawal follows that of Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, who left the race in August to run for state treasurer. The shake-up leaves a wide-open Democratic field with several contenders, including Porter, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond, and former state Controller Betty Yee.
Polls show Porter with roughly 18 percent support, leading Democrats, though nearly 40 percent of voters remain undecided.
On the Republican side, conservative commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco are running in what strategists say is the GOP’s best chance at the governor’s office in over a decade.
California’s voter registration trends have shifted in recent years, with the Orange County Registrar of Voters confirming that Republican registration has climbed in several suburban regions once dominated by Democrats.
Hilton is polling around 12 percent, with Bianco at 7 percent, making them competitive in early surveys in a fractured race.
Nevertheless, no Republican has won the governor’s office since Arnold Schwarzenegger’s re-election in 2006.
Republican strategist Tim Rosales told KCRA that with Democrats dispersed, GOP contenders like Chad Bianco or Steve Hilton have a better shot at breaking through: “The problem for Republicans … now they believe it’s ‘an open field’” to target Democratic rivals one by one.
With multiple exits and no clear frontrunner, the 2026 gubernatorial contest is shaping up to be one of California’s most unpredictable campaigns in years.
