SACRAMENTO, California — Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton thinks his “good personal relationships” with President Donald Trump’s administration would benefit California if he’s elected to lead the state in 2026, he told POLITICO on Wednesday.
“Yeah, we do have a relationship,” Hilton said when asked about his connections to Trump, adding: “I think I would be a good champion for California with the current administration.”
Hilton, speaking during an interview at POLITICO’s “The California Agenda: Sacramento Summit, also said he has “good personal relationships” with cabinet members, name-dropping Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins. He said he met with both officials last week.
The Fox News contributor and former adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron felt his campaign’s focus on “lifting up” working class people “crushed by the impossible” cost of living in California would mesh with Trump’s agenda.
“That’s very much the President’s focus. And so I think you’re going to have an alignment on those kinds of policy programs as well,” he said.
Hilton’s gubernatorial campaign already boasts endorsements from MAGA-aligned national Republicans, including Vivek Ramaswamy, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk and California Rep. Kevin Kiley, who lined up behind Hilton shortly after he launched his campaign in April.
Hilton is also more well-known nationally than his chief Republican opponent, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. Hilton has been on a media blitz criticizing the state’s Democratic leaders and recently released a book dissecting what he perceives as state Democrats’ biggest policy failures, specifically on crime, homelessness and affordability.
But the race hasn’t quite gone Hilton’s way lately. Former Vice President Kamala Harris decided this summer not to run for governor, depriving conservatives of a nationally known foil they hoped to leverage for fundraising and visibility. And a POLITICO-Citrin Center-Possibility Lab poll released earlier this month found Hilton trailing Bianco among registered voters, 15 percent to 10 percent. Bianco also led Hilton among registered Republicans, 37 percent to 26 percent.
Bianco was originally slated to appear at Wednesday’s summit, but he backed out to focus on a missing child case in Riverside County.
Both Hilton and Bianco have harshly criticized Democrats’ attempt to redraw congressional lines to favor Democrats, an effort led by current California Gov. Gavin Newsom in response to Texas’ attempt at shoring up Republican seats with a gerrymander.
But Hilton suggested Wednesday that efforts from Texas and other red states to redraw maps were constitutional, while Newsom’s attempt at a ballot measure isn’t.
“Republicans in other states are following their Constitution. Gavin isn’t,” he said. “I will be filing a lawsuit next week on another aspect of the constitutionality that hasn’t been addressed. I totally agree that politicians shouldn’t draw their own maps anyway, not just in California, but in Texas.”
California voters in June will decide which two gubernatorial hopefuls, regardless of party, advance to the general election. Democratic former Rep. Katie Porter currently leads the field, earning support from 21 percent of voters surveyed in the recent poll from POLITICO and its partners.