{"id":848838,"date":"2025-05-16T22:11:58","date_gmt":"2025-05-17T03:11:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/conservative-commentator-steve-hilton-announces-a-run-for-california-governor\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T22:11:58","modified_gmt":"2025-05-17T03:11:58","slug":"conservative-commentator-steve-hilton-announces-a-run-for-california-governor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/05\/16\/conservative-commentator-steve-hilton-announces-a-run-for-california-governor\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservative commentator Steve Hilton announces a run for California governor"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Speaking to a boisterous crowd adjacent to the Huntington Beach pier on Tuesday, conservative commentator and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Hilton took aim at California Democrats, alleging that their leadership has resulted in the destruction of the \u201cCalifornia dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hundreds of supporters \u2014 many wearing \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d hats and American flag apparel \u2014 gathered at the beachfront amphitheater for Hilton\u2019s first major campaign event, which comes a day after he announced his 2026 run for governor. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve seen here in the last 15 years of Democrat one-party rule is an ideological experiment,\u201d he told the crowd. \u201cThey\u2019ve turned our beautiful state into the Wuhan lab of far-left extremism. They\u2019ve been cooking up this virus. It\u2019s infected us. It\u2019s gone out to the rest of the country as well. All the bad ideas that have done so much damage, they all started here.\u201d <\/p>\n

Hilton, who announced his campaign in a video posted online Monday, faces steep odds. Californians last elected statewide Republican candidates in 2006, and the state\u2019s residents have become more liberal since then. However, there is mounting frustration about issues such as crime, inflation and the cost of living.<\/p>\n

Hilton told The Times in an interview he was compelled to run by his ability to climb the economic ladder after his family immigrated to the United Kingdom and his fears that this is no longer possible in California because Democrats control the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t go on like this,\u201d Hilton said in an interview. \u201cIf you look at California, imagine another 15 years of this one-party rule and the consequences of that are unthinkable.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThat dream has been snatched away,\u201d he said. \u201cI feel really, really motivated to turn that around because I can see how people are suffering. People are desperate for change, crying out for change.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Tuesday, Hilton criticized the Green New Deal, the eventual ban of new gas-powered cars starting in 2035, alleged ballot harvesting and \u201cthe extremism on race and gender,\u201d saying the issues started in California. He pointed to the state\u2019s long-delayed bullet train project \u2014 the cost of which has grown steadily over the years \u2014 as an example of the challenges facing the state under democratic leadership. <\/p>\n

He proposed removing the state income tax for every Californian earning $100,000, building more houses to make property ownership attainable for the working class and boosting student test scores in math and English. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are going to make 100% of our students meet state standards and math and English and everything they need by making our public schools focus on education, not indoctrination,\u201d he told the cheering crowd. \u201cWe\u2019re going to hold teachers accountable. We\u2019re going to reward the best teachers and remove the worst.\u201d<\/p>\n

His campaign rollout included some questionable claims, such as California having the highest unemployment in the nation. In March, while the state\u2019s seasonally adjusted 5.3% unemployment rate was among the nation\u2019s highest, Washington, D.C., Michigan and Nevada had higher rates of unemployment<\/a>, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.<\/p>\n

Despite positioning himself as a populist who has supported policy from both parties, Hilton\u2019s vocal support of President Trump, including calling for an investigation into potential voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election will certainly be raised in the campaign.<\/p>\n

On Monday, Hilton declined to answer whether he believed President Biden was legitimately elected in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was two federal elections ago. The focus has to be on our own election. I don\u2019t even want to talk about any of that ancient history,\u201d he said, arguing that \u201cit\u2019s a gotcha question. That\u2019s the favorite of the media to make everything about President Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump has not weighed into the gubernatorial election, but Trump ally Vivek Ramaswamy, who is running for governor of Ohio next year, endorsed Hilton on Monday and appeared via video chat at Tuesday\u2019s rally. Trump allies Rep. Kevin Kiley and former Rep. Matt Gaetz were also present at the event. Conservative activist Charlie Kirk endorsed Hilton via a video message played at the rally. <\/p>\n

California Republicans who recognize their party\u2019s challenges in statewide elections say Hilton represents their best hope forward.<\/p>\n

\u201cFortune favors the bold. It is an uphill battle for a Republican to win statewide office, but if bold people like Steve don\u2019t emerge, Republicans aren\u2019t going to win,\u201d said Conyers Davis, an advisor to former Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. <\/p>\n

Davis first met Hilton when conservative leader David Cameron of England visited then-Gov. Schwarzenegger\u2019s cigar-smoking tent at the statehouse in Sacramento in 2008 and worked with him on Cameron\u2019s successful 2010 campaign to become prime minister.<\/p>\n

Additionally, the state\u2019s jungle primary system, in which the two candidates who receive the most votes in the June 2026 primary move on to the general election regardless of party, mean Republicans have a decent shot of securing one of the spots on the November ballot.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s partly because the Democratic vote may be fractured by the large number of Democrats running \u2014 Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis<\/u><\/a>, state schools chief Tony Thurmond<\/u><\/a>, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra<\/u><\/a>, former state Controller Betty Yee<\/u><\/a>, former Rep. Katie Porter<\/u><\/a>, former state Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins<\/u><\/a>, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa<\/u><\/a> and businessman Stephen Cloobeck<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Additionally, former Vice President Kamala Harris<\/u><\/a> is weighing a bid and expected to make a decision by the end of the summer.<\/p>\n

On the Republican side, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco<\/u><\/a> is the sole prominent GOP candidate who previously announced he would run. So if Democratic voters splinter, Bianco or Hilton could win one of the top two spots, despite the state\u2019s deep blue tilt.<\/p>\n

Hilton, 55, is the son of Hungarian immigrants who fled their homeland during a revolution in 1956. He was born in England and after graduating from Oxford, Hilton worked in politics and advertising. He then founded \u201cGood Business,\u201d a consulting firm that advised companies such as Nike and McDonald\u2019s about ethical capitalism.<\/p>\n

Described as \u201cpart Svengali, part spin doctor, part strategist\u201d by the London Standard in 2006, Hilton was a senior adviser and close confidant of Cameron, who served as Britain\u2019s prime minister from 2010 to 2016. <\/p>\n

Hilton was credited with modernizing the British conservative movement, remaining true to free-market ideals while also supporting liberal social policy, such as backing gay rights and fighting climate change.<\/p>\n

News reports about Hilton\u2019s time at 10 Downing St. paint him as a charismatic but eccentric figure, routinely wearing wrinkled T-shirts, jeans or tracksuit pants, cycling gear and no shoes as he wandered around the prime minister\u2019s stodgy formal residence.<\/p>\n

Hilton immigrated to California in 2012 with his wife, Rachel Whetstone, who has worked as a public relations executive at Google, Uber, Facebook and Netflix. He became a U.S. citizen in 2021, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, and was a vocal critic of shutdowns. The couple live in the affluent Silicon Valley community of Atherton and have two children.<\/p>\n

Since he moved to the United States, Hilton has taught at Stanford University, hosted a Fox News show called \u201cThe Next Revolution,\u201d and co-founded Crowdpac, a nonpartisan political fundraising website. He and the company parted ways in 2018 after his full-throated support of Trump caused controversy. <\/p>\n

Hilton\u2019s Silicon Valley relationships with billionaires such as venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya and former Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt could also be a boon to his gubernatorial campaign.<\/p>\n

In 2023, Hilton founded Golden Together, a research group focused on restoring the California dream. Among the group\u2019s policy focuses are the state\u2019s business climate, homelessness, crime, affordable housing and wildfire management.<\/p>\n

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More to Read <\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Speaking to a boisterous crowd adjacent to the Huntington Beach pier on Tuesday, conservative commentator and Silicon Valley entrepreneur Steve Hilton took aim at California Democrats, alleging that their leadership has resulted in the destruction of the \u201cCalifornia dream.\u201d Hundreds of supporters \u2014 many wearing \u201cMake America Great Again\u201d hats and American flag apparel \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":848839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22941,768],"tags":[51547,7341],"class_list":["post-848838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-commentator","category-conservative","tag-commentator","tag-conservative"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848838","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=848838"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/848838\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/848839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=848838"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=848838"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=848838"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}