The polls are closed in California. Some winners are already celebrating, some losers are licking their wounds, and in dozens of races we’re going to be ready days — probably weeks — to discover out who really won.

Although Democrats outnumber Republicans here in the Golden State by hundreds of thousands of voters, some of the early called races are no shock at all.

We do know that Democrat Xavier Becerra beat Republican Steve Hilton for governor by a vast margin, as did all the Democrats working for statewide workplace, except in the Insurance Commissioner’s race. That one options two Democrats in a shut race.

We do know that Democrat Xavier Becerra beat Republican Steve Hilton for governor by a vast margin Nathan Weyland for CA Post

Of course, I hoped Hilton could finish Republicans’ lengthy dropping streak in statewide elections. Becerra made certain that streak continues. 

There are some decisive verdicts on poll measures, too. Some excellent news: Election evening returns present Proposition 40, the “billionaire tax,” dropping by double digits.

But Proposition 3, the extension of the increased revenue tax charges for hundreds of thousands, passing by even more.

Proposition 39, the Voter ID measure, was getting trounced by practically twenty factors. Also Proposition 43, to make it tougher to elevate native taxes, was going down.

With the “Blue Tsunami” sweeping the nation, Republicans are dropping at the Congressional, State Senate, and Assembly ranges up and down California. It’s ugly.

Meanwhile, the candidates in the nearer races are going to be staring at their telephones for days, ready for the next batch of votes. Some are forward proper now. Others are trailing. And if historical past is any information, a truthful quantity of these early leads won’t survive the counting.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton opens his jacket at an election evening rally in Garden Grove, Calif., Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2026. REUTERS

I’ve watched this occur to Republicans for many years. I call it California’s pink undertow.

Remember 2018? Republicans Jeff Denham, David Valadao, Young Kim, and Mimi Walters all led on election evening. Every one of them lost.

Kim really flew to Washington for new member orientation. She came residence with out a seat in Congress.

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I’ve sat in these marketing campaign places of work after Election Day, watching every county replace shave a few hundred more votes off the lead. It’s a depressing expertise, particularly when everybody knows where the development is heading.

We saw another instance in June’s Los Angeles mayoral major. Republican Spencer Pratt led Democrat Nithya Raman early, only to watch Raman overtake him as more ballots were counted.

Republicans have a tendency to return their mail ballots earlier, and these ballots dominate the first reports. Ballots dropped off on Election Day, late-arriving mail, and provisionals can look very totally different politically.

Spencer Pratt attends his election occasion in Los Angeles on Tuesday, June 2, 2026. Andy Johnstone for CA Post

None of that means the later ballots are fraudulent. They’re lawful votes and they have to be counted. But California has constructed a system in which Election Day is more and more just the day we begin discovering out what occurred. I think it’s a shame.

Every lively registered voter gets a poll mailed to his or her residence, postage paid. Ballots postmarked by Election Day can arrive up to seven days later. Then there are signature checks, provisional ballots, and alternatives for voters to appropriate certain issues.

Florida and Texas handle to give voters a fairly good concept of who won within hours. California has more voters, definitely, but that’s hardly an excuse for a system that leaves aggressive races hanging for weeks. And don’t blame the county registrars. They didn’t write these legal guidelines.

Then there’s poll safety, which bothers me even more. At a polling place, election staff and observers can watch the course of. Nobody watches what occurs when a poll gets crammed out at somebody’s kitchen desk. We rely on signature verification and other safeguards after the reality.

I’d go back to voting primarily in particular person. Show up at your polling place, signal in, vote, and drop your poll in the field. Keep absentee voting for individuals who actually need it — navy personnel abroad and homebound voters. It’s how we used to conduct elections, and I think we were higher off.

Besides the Insurance Commissioner race, the highest-profile unsure race would be the race for LA Mayor – which is going to be too shut to call for some time. 

Los Angeles mayoral candidate Nithya Raman speaks to reporters at a Get Out the Vote occasion at UCLA.
Councilwoman Nithya Raman sought to unseat Mayor Karen Bass after a contentious marketing campaign that uncovered deep divisions over the metropolis’s future. Pedro Colo for CA Post

Many shut races will take longer to settle. Nobody expects otherwise. But why should Californians have to wait weeks for outcomes that voters in most other states get on election evening?

Sacramento has spent years making it simpler to forged a poll. Apparently making it simpler to know who won isn’t practically as essential. If quicker outcomes mattered to the individuals who write the guidelines, we’d have quicker outcomes.

Instead we get to spend the next few weeks watching the pink undertow do its work.

One last be aware, for upset Republicans: A terrific Republican president lost both homes in his sixth 12 months in workplace. Today he is remembered as one of America’s finest.

His identify was Ronald Reagan. And his legacy endures, in California and the nation.

Jon Fleischman, a longtime strategist in California politics, writes at SoDoesItMatter.com.