California primary election results: Becerra, Hilton neck and neck in early results

With almost 50% of the expected vote counted, incumbent L.A. Mayor Karen Bass is leading the pack at 37%, followed by Spencer Pratt and Nithya Raman.

Mayor Karen Bass thanked supporters for having faith in her after a tough first term and predicted she will win in November.

Early returns in the race are coming in.

Bass told supporters she appreciated the support when others doubted her.

"I love you. I appreciate you. I appreciate you for believing in me," she said.

Bass, a Democrat, is facing challengers from both ends of the political spectrum.

Bass told supporters she'd devoted her life to serving the city and "I'm going to continue to do that all the way to victory in November."

Democratic State Senator Scott Wiener advances to the general election for California 11th Congressional District in a bid for Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi's seat. As of 9:45 p.m., he has 40,017 votes.

San Francisco Supervisor Connie Chan, who was endorsed by Emerita Pelosi, is in second place with 26,443 votes.

Political newcomer Saikat Chakrabarti is in third with 13,154 votes.

And David Ganezer has 5,201 votes.

Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer told supporters he and his backers "know we finished really strong."

Billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer told supporters he and his backers "know we finished really strong."

Steyer pledged to advance progressive policies like universal healthcare and aggressive climate policy, ideas he reiterated as votes were still being tallied.

"We should have a system based on fairness, not on asking for fairness," he said.

Steyer's campaign spent or booked more than $203 million in ads for broadcast TV, cable and radio, yielding accusations from some that he had tried to buy the election.

But Steyer noted that major corporate interests, including a major California utility, dumped money into defeating him because he's the candidate willing to take them on.

"I welcome their hatred," Steyer said.

With 52% of the expected votes counted in the race for California governor, Republican Steve Hilton is leading the pack with 27% of the vote, with Democrat Xavier Becerra trailing barely behind him with 26% of the vote.

Hilton and Becerra have been on the top since the polls closed at 8 p.m. The top two candidates will advance to the November general election.

Democrat Tom Steyer is in third place with 20% of the vote, followed by Republican Chad Bianco at 11%. The rest of the candidates each have less than 5% of the votes.