The elections featured universal mail-in ballots; in-person voting was also available.

He received 55.9% of the top-two primary vote and faced Republican Party state senator Brian Dahle, who received 17.7% of the primary vote, in the general election.

[3] Newsom received 59.2% of the vote to Dahle's 40.8%, a smaller margin of victory than in 2018 and the smallest since 2010.

[4] Additionally, Dahle managed to carry two congressional districts represented by Democrats: CA-09 and CA-47.

[45] Governor Gavin Newsom and State Senator Brian Dahle met on October 23 for their only debate.