{"id":14268,"date":"2026-07-23T05:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T00:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=14268"},"modified":"2026-07-23T05:00:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T00:00:22","slug":"gop-gubernatorial-candidate-steve-hilton-pleads-case-to-anti-trump-voters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=14268","title":{"rendered":"GOP gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton pleads case to anti-Trump voters"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/fa9db00\/2147483647\/strip\/false\/crop\/4032x3024+0+0\/resize\/1500x1125!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff3%2F34%2Fb34b314c4cf58ff3dadf56c111c8%2Fme-gubernatorial-candidate-steve-hilton.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div data-element=\"story-body\" data-subscriber-content=\"\">\n<p>Trump-endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton formally launched his general election campaign Wednesday by pitching himself to California\u2019s abundance of anti-Trump voters.<\/p>\n<p>In a speech, Hilton said Democrats had \u201cabandoned\u201d working-class and Latino communities and crushed small businesses. He criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom for leading the state into decline, pointing to low literacy rates and slow responses to crises such as the Boyle Heights warehouse fire.<\/p>\n<p>Hilton, a British-born conservative political commentator and former Fox News host, faces an uphill battle in California, a Democratic stronghold. In June, Hilton clinched second place in California\u2019s gubernatorial primary behind veteran Democratic politician Xavier Becerra.<\/p>\n<p>In an effort to persuade voters who are dissatisfied with the status quo, Hilton bought a full-page ad in the Wednesday editions of the Los Angeles Times and San Francisco Chronicle. <\/p>\n<p>The ad read, \u201cCan you be anti-Trump and still vote for me?,\u201d followed by a checklist readers could use to \u201ctest\u201d if they shared common ground with Hilton.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI can\u2019t stand Trump, but I\u2019m not happy with the way things have been run in California lately,\u201d reads one line in the ad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to fight climate change, but $6.00 gas is crazy!\u201d reads another.<\/p>\n<p>At a news conference Wednesday, Hilton said the ad is aimed at voters who \u201cknow that we need change in California.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>Trump\u2019s unpopularity in the state \u201cdoesn\u2019t matter because we\u2019re not talking about national policies here,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is about what we can do in our state to make life better for Californians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Hilton then framed himself as a \u201cpragmatic, problem-solving change-maker\u201d focused on affordability, promising to lower gas prices, electricity costs and taxes and the cost of homes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe may not agree about national politics, but I think we can agree that we need change in California, and I\u2019m going to bring that change,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The news conference, which marked the formal launch of Hilton\u2019s general election campaign, took place at a Boyle Heights auto body shop across the street from the Lineage cold storage facility that was destroyed by a fire last month.<\/p>\n<p>The location was chosen because it is a \u201csymbol of Democrat failure,\u201d Hilton said. The nauseating <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/environment\/story\/2026-07-14\/anger-grows-in-boyle-heights-as-warehouse-fire-leaves-stench-flies-vermin-in-its-wake\"><u>stench<\/u><\/a> of rotting food filled the surrounding neighborhood. Swarms of flies buzzed about, occasionally landing on top of Hilton\u2019s head.<\/p>\n<p>Hilton said he\u2019s not expecting Trump to campaign on his behalf in California. But, he added, \u201cI\u2019m proud to be endorsed by the president and I think it\u2019s a very good thing to have a governor who has a good relationship with the federal administration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No Republican has been elected to a statewide office since 2006. A <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/politics\/story\/2026-07-15\/poll-shows-most-californians-support-becerra-for-governor-ceqa-reform\"><u>poll<\/u><\/a> by the Public Policy Institute of California published earlier this month showed Becerra with support from 61% of likely voters, compared with 36% for Hilton.<\/p>\n<p>Hilton insists his campaign is different from previous Republican bids.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve got to the point in California where people are looking for a positive alternative,\u201d Hilton told The Times. \u201cWe\u2019re going to be fighting very hard &#8230; already in the last year and a half I\u2019ve fought a campaign like no one\u2019s seen in California for 20 years. I\u2019ve been to nearly every single county in our state.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Trump-endorsed Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton formally launched his general election campaign Wednesday by pitching himself to California\u2019s abundance of anti-Trump voters. In a speech, Hilton said Democrats had \u201cabandoned\u201d working-class and Latino communities and crushed small businesses. He criticized Gov. Gavin Newsom for leading the state into decline, pointing to low literacy rates and&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14269,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/4b614f6\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/4032x2117+0+454\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2Ff3%2F34%2Fb34b314c4cf58ff3dadf56c111c8%2Fme-gubernatorial-candidate-steve-hilton.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14268","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14268","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14268"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14268\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14269"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14268"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14268"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14268"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}