After a turbulent primary campaign, Xavier Becerra, a former Biden administration official, was on the verge of pulling off a Lazarus-like comeback in the California governor’s race, based on election night returns.

And Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host endorsed by President Trump, also appeared likely to advance to the general election for the state’s highest office.

The race was still too close to call on Tuesday night. But Los Angeles residents went to bed knowing that Mayor Karen Bass would proceed to the November election, according to The Associated Press. And her opponent could be Spencer Pratt, a former reality TV star who had a strong showing but had to wait for more ballots to be counted.

Mr. Pratt and Mr. Hilton, both Republicans who got their start in television, tried to harness voter frustration and anger at the Democrats who control nearly all levels of government in much of California. If they advance, however, each would face long odds in general election races where Democrats have dominated for decades.

Here are key takeaways from the early results.

Many voters cast their ballots strategically.

For months, the California governor’s race featured a long roster of Democratic candidates whom voters found unfamiliar or uninspiring. Several polls indicated that two Republicans could sweep the primary because too many Democrats were splitting the vote and their supporters were not coalescing behind any one candidate.

Democratic leaders began to panic.

Dynamics shifted in the race as Republican voters consolidated behind Steve Hilton after he received President Trump’s endorsement, and Democratic voters started paying more attention to their options after Representative Eric Swalwell dropped out amid accusations of sexual assault.

By May, there was little chance of two Republicans winning the primary. But Democratic voters hung on to the fear that their party could get shut out of the general election if they didn’t get behind a front-runner.

Many felt the responsibility to cast a vote strategically so that their party would not be locked out. They considered who was ahead and who would win, and seemed to focus less on the policies that each candidate proposed for the future of California.

“I liked Katie Porter, but I’m a realistic person,” said Dennis McLin, 43, a social worker from Riverside, Calif. “I didn’t think she had a good chance of winning, so I voted for Xavier Becerra.”

Ms. Porter was in a distant fifth place in initial returns and conceded the race on Tuesday night.

California’s top-two primary may be on its last legs.

California has been using the top-two primary system for 15 years, but it has never caused as much consternation as it did this election.

Democratic fears that two Republicans could sweep the governor’s race — in one of the nation’s bluest states — triggered a new effort to repeal the system this spring.

Under the current approach, all candidates of all parties run on the same primary ballot, and the top two finishers advance to the general election. The approach was intended to empower independent voters and force candidates to moderate their views.

But sensing voter frustration this year, a Democratic strategist put together a bipartisan coalition to back an initiative called “Undo the Top Two” that could come before voters in 2028. It would return California to a traditional primary in which one candidate from each party advances to the general election.

If the initiative qualifies for a future election, a key question will be whether voters want to return to a system that empowers the parties.

Republicans have a durable base in California.

Democrats are the dominant force in California politics, having controlled the state legislature and governor’s mansion for more than a decade. Nearly half of all registered voters in the state are Democrats, outnumbering Republicans nearly two to one.

But Republican voters have remained a durable minority in California. With roughly half of the estimated ballots counted, Mr. Hilton received about 27 percent of the vote. Chad Bianco, the other Republican in the race and the Riverside County sheriff, had 11 percent.

Their combined support was consistent with historical norms for Republicans in the state. In 2024, for example, Donald J. Trump received 38 percent of the vote. In the 2022 governor’s race, Brian Dahle, a Republican state lawmaker, received 40 percent of the vote.

A big blowout for Big Tech.

Matt Mahan, the Democratic mayor of San Jose, entered the race in January with enormous excitement from Silicon Valley.

Billionaires and tech titans poured about $30 million into campaigns supporting Mr. Mahan, who had a centrist message and offered to bring a new approach to governing — neither MAGA Republican, nor liberal Democrat.

But despite the money behind his message, it never caught on. He was one of the first candidates for governor to concede defeat on Tuesday night and was in sixth place in returns.

Tech leaders also failed in their attempt to challenge Representative Ro Khanna, a Silicon Valley Democrat who expressed support for a proposed billionaire tax. The candidate they backed, Democrat Ethan Agarwal, was trailing in a distant fourth place Tuesday night.

Money may not be enough to win.

Tom Steyer spent more than $200 million on the California governor’s race, breaking every previous record. The money — most of which went to advertising on television and social media — helped propel him toward the top of the heap of candidates for months.

But even though he spent more than six times as much as Mr. Becerra, it was not enough to ensure he would advance. Mr. Steyer is not out of the race, but he was in third place on Tuesday night and needed a large share of the uncounted votes to mount a comeback.

California voters have a long history of rejecting self-funded candidates. In 2010, Meg Whitman, a former eBay executive, spent more than $144 million in her run as Republican, the equivalent of roughly $218 million today. Jerry Brown, a Democrat who had served as governor decades earlier, won the race that year with 53 percent of the vote.

In San Francisco, a wealthy tech engineer was trailing in his race to succeed Representative Nancy Pelosi. Saikat Chakrabarti, a progressive Democrat, pumped about $10 million of his own money on his campaign, but finished in a distant third place Tuesday night.

Rebecca Fairley Raney contributed reporting.