In California, a Former Biden Official and Fox News Personality Will Face Off for Governor ⁠55%

By Jessica Washington⁠65%

6/10/2026, 12:29:55 AM

BS Summary: This article contains 21 faulty reasoning types, including Biased Writer Voice, Overconfidence Bias, and Appeal to Authority, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 41.9% saturation with 196 hits. Analysis detected 1,409 faulty-reasoning hits from 468 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 53% and a BS Rank of ⁠55% (9,361 of 20,517 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 54.40% of the article peer group.

A longtime fixture of the Democratic establishment in California and a Republican former Fox News host will head to a runoff in the race to be the state’s next governor in November. 
Steve Hilton, a conservative former political aide and commentator, finished second Tuesday, a week after the state’s nonpartisan primary day. 
He will compete with Xavier Becerra, the former Health and Human Services secretary under President Joe Biden. 
The pair edged out Tom Steyer, a billionaire philanthropist who ran on a progressive platform. 
The ascension of Hilton, a conservative power player endorsed by President Donald Trump, suggests dissatisfaction with the slate of Democratic candidates on offer in the open primary and an inability for Steyer, who has never held elected office, to break through with a campaign vowing to help redistribute the wealth. 
It also offers Becerra an easier path to election, with California voters expected to skew heavily Democratic in November. 
Becerra, who ran a relatively quiet campaign focused on his credentials, previously served as California attorney general under Govs. 
Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom. 
He came under fire for his work in that office, as The Intercept reported last month. 
In 2018, Becerra’s office pushed for the state Supreme Court to artificially inflate the IQ of an intellectually disabled Black man in order to execute him, and he fought to uphold death penalty sentences during the Covid pandemic, despite a moratorium Newsom imposed. 
Becerra has also been criticized for his alleged mishandling of migrant children who were in his office’s care while serving as HHS secretary. 
His primary campaign managed to overcome those criticisms, racking up high-profile endorsements from figures including Reps. 
Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., and Ted Lieu, D-Calif., as well as several notable labor unions. 
Becerra’s campaign was also boosted by the rapid and scandalous departure of former front-runner Rep. 
Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct, including rape. 
Swalwell denied the allegations but swiftly resigned from Congress and ended his gubernatorial campaign, clearing a path in the centrist lane that Becerra quickly filled. 
Hilton, meanwhile, spent months neck and neck in the polls with Steyer, a former hedge fund manager who used his immense wealth to fund his campaign yet ran on what was widely considered the most progressive platform in the race, earning the head-turning endorsement of Our Revolution, the group founded by Sen. 
Bernie Sanders, I-Vt. 
While he’s a relative unknown in the United States, Hilton has a reputation in the United Kingdom for helping to orchestrate the rise of former British Prime Minister David Cameron. 
If he manages to defeat Becerra in November, Hilton will be California’s first Republican governor since Arnold Schwarzenegger, the architect of the state’s open primary system. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 10.7%Jessica Washington: 5.5%The Intercept: 5.2%Confirmation Bias10.7%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.6%The Intercept: 0.5%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 20.5%Jessica Washington: 3.0%The Intercept: 3.0%Availability Heuristic20.5%This article: 7.3%Jessica Washington: 1.3%The Intercept: 1.0%Representativeness Heuristic7.3%This article: 5.6%Jessica Washington: 0.7%The Intercept: 0.7%Hindsight Bias5.6%This article: 27.1%Jessica Washington: 1.1%The Intercept: 1.5%Overconfidence Bias27.1%This article: 18.8%Jessica Washington: 7.7%The Intercept: 9.3%Framing Effect18.8%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.3%The Intercept: 0.3%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.4%The Intercept: 0.4%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.2%The Intercept: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 1.5%The Intercept: 1.0%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 4.1%Jessica Washington: 1.6%The Intercept: 2.2%Pessimism Bias4.1%This article: 41.9%Jessica Washington: 11.4%The Intercept: 12.5%Negativity Bias41.9%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 1.7%The Intercept: 1.0%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 5.3%Jessica Washington: 1.8%The Intercept: 1.4%Fundamental Attribution Error5.3%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.3%The Intercept: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 2.1%The Intercept: 1.8%In-Group Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.8%The Intercept: 1.1%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 13.9%Jessica Washington: 2.0%The Intercept: 1.0%Halo Effect13.9%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.3%The Intercept: 0.2%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.0%The Intercept: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 3.4%Jessica Washington: 1.9%The Intercept: 1.3%Recency Bias3.4%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.3%The Intercept: 0.3%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.0%The Intercept: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 9.2%Jessica Washington: 3.9%The Intercept: 2.5%Ad Hominem9.2%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.5%The Intercept: 0.7%Straw Man0.0%This article: 20.9%Jessica Washington: 3.6%The Intercept: 3.5%Appeal to Authority20.9%This article: 9.6%Jessica Washington: 2.1%The Intercept: 2.0%False Dilemma9.6%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 1.1%The Intercept: 1.7%Slippery Slope0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.2%The Intercept: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 3.4%Jessica Washington: 7.1%The Intercept: 7.2%Hasty Generalization3.4%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.2%The Intercept: 0.3%Red Herring0.0%This article: 11.1%Jessica Washington: 0.4%The Intercept: 0.4%Bandwagon11.1%This article: 16.9%Jessica Washington: 7.2%The Intercept: 6.4%Appeal to Emotion16.9%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 1.3%The Intercept: 1.4%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 19.2%Jessica Washington: 3.6%The Intercept: 3.2%Post Hoc (False Cause)19.2%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.3%The Intercept: 0.2%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 1.0%The Intercept: 0.8%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.1%The Intercept: 0.1%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.2%The Intercept: 0.4%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 2.2%The Intercept: 2.3%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.1%The Intercept: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 1.6%The Intercept: 1.5%Ambiguity (Equivocation)0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.0%The Intercept: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.1%The Intercept: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.1%The Intercept: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.3%The Intercept: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.4%The Intercept: 0.4%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 6.2%Jessica Washington: 1.0%The Intercept: 2.1%Unattributed Quote6.2%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 1.1%The Intercept: 1.3%Quote-first Misdirection0.0%This article: 41.0%Jessica Washington: 7.3%The Intercept: 10.7%Biased Writer Voice41.0%This article: 4.9%Jessica Washington: 1.0%The Intercept: 2.1%Indoctrination4.9%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 3.9%The Intercept: 6.2%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.3%The Intercept: 0.3%Politically Right Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Jessica Washington: 0.1%The Intercept: 0.5%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

468 words analyzed.

Speakers

4speakers16%attributed speech393writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 15 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 32 words • 100.0% coverageSteve Hilton • 20 words • 0.0% coverageXavier Becerra • 17 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 50 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 0.0% coverageXavier Becerra • 19 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 5 words • 0.0% coverageThe Intercept • 16 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 43 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 23 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 16 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 15 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 13 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 25 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 52 words • 100.0% coverageBernie Sanders • 3 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 30 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 26 words • 0.0% coverage
Selected voice

The Intercept

100%flagged-word coverage
16 attributed words21% of attributed speech95% writer coverage
0%50.0%100.0%Unattributed Quote+96.7 ptsWriter: 3.3%The Intercept: 100.0%100.0%Biased Writer Voice-48.9 ptsWriter: 48.9%The Intercept: 0.0%0.0%Indoctrination-5.9 ptsWriter: 5.9%The Intercept: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.