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After just a week of ballot counting in California's governor race and Los Angeles' mayoral election, the top two candidates in each contest are moving forward to showdowns in November.The gubernatorial candidates are vying to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump.In LA, incumbent Democratic Mayor Karen Bass is running for a second term, facing a challenger from the left in the general election campaign.There weren't traditional Democratic and Republican primaries to select nominees. Known as "jungle primaries," the state's non-partisan races pit all candidates against each other, regardless of their party. Then, the top two vote-getters advance to the fall election.California officials have acknowledged that the vote-counting process regularly takes longer in the Golden State due to the prevalence of mail-in ballots.Officials are scheduled to certify the election results on June 26.Here's what to know about the top two races in the blue state and which candidates advanced out of the primaries.Who's moving forward from California governor primary?Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, and Republican Steve Hilton finished atop a crowded field to advance to the November general election for California governor.As of the morning of June 10, the California Secretary of State's office reported Becerra had received more than 2.39 million votes and Hilton had garnered more than 2.13 million votes. Billionaire Tom Steyer in third place had more than 1.92 million votes.Who's moving forward from the Los Angeles mayoral primary?In the Los Angeles mayoral race, Bass received enough votes to move forward to the November general election.Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman also secured enough votes to advance to the fall election, according to projections by NBC News and the Associated Press. Bass and Raman are both Democrats, but Raman has positioned herself as a progressive challenger to the incumbent mayor.Raman edged out former reality TV star and Republican Spencer Pratt, who had been in second after early returns but fell behind as more ballots were counted.On June 10, Los Angeles County election results showed Bass garnered more than 290,000 votes while Raman had received over 245,000.Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.







