Steve Hilton will advance to November general election for CA governor, AP says
Former Fox News commentator Steve Hilton will advance to the November general election for governor, according to the Associated Press.
The British-born Republican will face Democrat Xavier Becerra in the general election to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is term limited.
Hilton narrowly edged out Democrat Tom Steyer in a crowded and turbulent primary. He was able to consolidate much of the Republican vote over his main GOP rival, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, after winning President Donald Trump’s endorsement in April.
In a statement Tuesday, Hilton pointed to polling showing a majority of Californians believe the state is on the wrong track.
“That is the majority we will now have the honor of leading to victory in November, and I can’t wait to get started on the most high-energy campaign this state has ever seen,” Hilton said.
Hilton has campaigned on the notion that Democrats are responsible for an affordability crisis that is driving people away from California, a message he reiterated in a post-election, June 3 appearance at the California Republican Party headquarters.
“The Democratic Party in California has had 16 years to show that their ideas work well,” Hilton told reporters. “We’re still waiting.”
Hilton cut his teeth in his native UK working in Conservative Party politics, where he was credited with softening the party’s image on issues like the environment. He eventually rose to become an advisor to former Prime Minister David Cameron. Hilton and his wife, a communications executive in the tech world, moved to California in 2012.
Hilton embraced Brexit and backed Donald Trump’s candidacy for U.S. president. His frequent appearances on Fox News led the network to offer him his own show in 2017 called “The Next Revolution” focused on right-wing populist movements. He left the show in 2023 to focus on California politics.
On the campaign trail, Hilton has vowed to cut gas prices to $3 a gallon, eliminate taxes on the first $100,000 of income and cut red tape. He’s embraced some of the language of the second Trump administration, including a “CAL DOGE” team that he says will root out waste, fraud and corruption.
That rhetoric, and the endorsement from Trump, that were valuable in consolidating the Republican vote could be a liability in California. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans almost two to one. Trump’s approval rating stands at 25% among all adults surveyed by the California Public Policy Institute last month.
Becerra has already previewed lines of attack against Hilton in debates, referring to Trump as Hilton’s “daddy” and dismissing Hilton as a “talking head on a Fox News program” who has not conceded Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
In a statement Tuesday, the Democratic Governor’s Association executive director Meghan Meehan-Draper said Hilton was the “last person Californians need or want as their governor,” arguing that he “backed ICE raids targeting schools and communities, wants to kick millions of Californians off their health insurance, and even supports allowing anti-abortion states to prosecute California doctors for providing legal abortion care.”
Hilton has also attacked Becerra’s connection to a corruption scandal involving his former advisor and chief of staff, who pleaded guilty to siphoning around $225,000 from Becerra’s dormant campaign account. Prosecutors described Becerra as a victim in the scheme. But at a debate last month, Hilton urged Becerra to drop out of the race, saying he should instead be preparing his criminal defense.
This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 4:57 PM with the headline "Steve Hilton will advance to November general election for CA governor, AP says."
