Former Fox News host Steve Hilton is running for the top spot in the governor’s race, and will challenge Xavier Becerra.
Republican Steve Hilton, a former Fox News commentator, won one of California’s top gubernatorial seats on Tuesday, giving him the right to challenge veteran Democrat Xavier Becerra in the state’s November gubernatorial election.
The contest presents voters with two very different politicians. Hilton has been endorsed by President Trump and has wooed his MAGA supporters, blaming Democratic policies for California’s homelessness crisis, high cost of living and other entrenched ills. Becerra campaigned as a battle-tested warrior against the Republican president and a champion of affordable health care. He could make history as the state’s first elected Latino governor.
Hilton’s victory was announced by the Associated Press on Tuesday, days after Becerra secured one of the top spots and a week after the June 2 election. Under California’s primary system, the two candidates who receive the most votes before the November general election, regardless of party affiliation. According to the latest polling tally, which is ongoing, Becerra has a slight edge over Hilton.
California Republican candidate Steve Hilton, center, flanked by lieutenant governor Gloria Romero, left, and California Republican Party Chair Corrin Rankin, right, hold a press conference to discuss election and voting reform at the Los Angeles County Registrar/County Clerk headquarters Tuesday in Norwalk.
(Gary Coronado / For The Times)
Democrat Tom Steyer finished in third place. The hedge fund founder and environmental activist spent $216 million of his own money on his campaign, and now he’s joining the ranks of other prominent, self-funded individuals rejected by California voters.
Becerra enters the Nov. 3 election with a distinct advantage — Democratic voters in California outnumber Republicans by nearly 2 to 1, a clear reason why no GOP candidate has won a statewide race since 2006.
The difference between Becerra and Hilton, both in policy and political personalities, could not be more clear.
A British immigrant and former political adviser to UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Hilton, 56, embraces traditional conservative principles that have echoed across the country since the days of President Reagan – cutting taxes, ending government fraud and waste and pledging unruly businessmen and real estate developers to curb government regulation.
But he also waded into MAGA territory, refusing to concede that Trump had lost the 2020 presidential election and vowing to prosecute California doctors who provide abortion pills in other states.
Becerra, 68, came up in Los Angeles politics in the 1980s and has long supported policies to expand protections and services for immigrants with and without legal status. Married to Harvard-educated OB-GYN Carolina Reyes, Becerra has also strongly opposed abortion restrictions throughout his career.
In Congress and elsewhere, Becerra gained a reputation as an intellectual, analytical politician who would fully commit to his positions after taking time to gather himself.
A straight-laced family man raised Catholic, Becerra held his own during the debates — a quiet confidence that drew some voters to his support. He also faced criticism from his rivals for failing to provide detailed information on housing and health policies.
Hilton, who cuts an unmistakable image with his balding crown and clipped English accent, proved to be a careful speaker during the debates, skills honed by his years as a Fox News commentator.
Television hosts must translate complex stories into digestible soundbites, said Republican strategist Matt Klink. “Most voters want the CliffsNotes version of the issues,” Klink said.
Republican strategist Kevin Spillane praises Hilton’s six-year television show, “The Next Revolution,” which boosted his profile, calling Fox News the most important news vehicle among the conservative and Republican establishment.
Hilton “understands how politics and how communications work,” Spillane said.
He was often seen relaxing during executive debates, sometimes complimenting or joking with his opponents as they bumped their noses on stage.
At a CBS conference call earlier this year, Becerra referred to President Trump, who nominated Hilton, as the Republican candidate’s “father.” Hilton responded with a quip that quickly dampened the onslaught.
“It would be great,” Hilton said, on the possibility of being Trump’s son. “My father was the goalkeeper of the Hungarian national ice hockey team.”
In an interview last week, before the election, Hilton said he enjoyed the talks. “In a strange way, I was sad when we got the last one,” he said. “I look forward to discussing who it is.”
As a former political adviser to the British Conservative Party, Hilton helped usher in a green, socially liberal brand of conservatism.
He also angered his colleagues in the coalition government, British media reported, by proposing a series of unconventional ideas: scrapping maternity leave, scrapping job centers, and buying cloud-bursting technology to give Britain more sunshine. In 2012, he moved full time to the Bay Area.
Hilton, who founded a non-profit organization on California policies, was known for his frequent visits in the past few years to the state Capitol to consult with legislators.
Republican candidate for Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who was trailing Steyer in fourth place in the latest polls, ended up not wanting to appeal to those outside his hometown, a MAGA base, Klink said.
In contrast, Hilton presented herself as a “very public” candidate who “couldn’t talk to a hedge fund manager or a small business owner or a Sacramento lobbyist,” Klink said.
“Hilton had a lot of power at the end, when it mattered,” Spillane said, comparing the two Republicans.
Past Republicans, including businessman John Cox in 2018 and former eBay CEO Meg Whitman in 2010, have financed their campaigns with their own vast fortunes.
In contrast, Hilton has spent several million dollars on media advertising, he said in an interview last week.
He said he ignored the advice of advisers who told him to make a launch announcement and release a number of advertisements in the last month of the campaign.
“I just said, ‘I want to do it the old fashioned way,’ and that’s what we’ve been doing,” Hilton said in an interview before the election. “We’ve gone to almost every county … we’ve developed our town halls.”
Nina Royal, 83, who lives in Los Angeles and is a public defender in her hometown of Tujunga, voted for Hilton, saying she understands the problems in California.
“He’s a real person,” Royal said. “He has a clear vision of what needs to be done.”
Times staff writer Jenny Jarvie contributed to this report.
