Podcaster and former Fox News host Steve Hilton is running for governor in California.
Hilton announced his candidacy Monday and will launch his campaign with a rally Tuesday in Huntington Beach and a campaign message that parallels his recent book tour: California is failing, and the Democratic supermajority in the state is to blame, he said.
“I just want to ask people to imagine what California would be like after another 15 years of one-party rule by the Democrats, yet more stagnation and decline. If you look at the state of California today, it is just a disaster on every front,” Hilton told the Southern California News Group in an exclusive interview ahead of his campaign launch.
Hilton, 55, is the latest to jump into an already crowded field of candidates vying to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is prevented from running again because of term limits.
A Republican, Hilton got his start in politics in the United Kingdom. Born in England to immigrant parents from Hungary — his father had found success as a professional hockey goalie before the couple fled during the 1956 revolution — Hilton started working with the Conservative Central Office in 1990.
He would eventually become a close advisor to David Cameron and was credited with softening the prime minister’s appearance. The two have since fallen out, disagreeing over Brexit (the term referring to the U.K. leaving the European Union) and other policy positions.
Hilton compares California today to the U.K. in the 1960s and ’70s, when it was called “the sick man of Europe,” a phrase that refers to economic struggles.
“Honestly, I can’t see how anyone could dispute that same kind of characterization of California today, the sick man of America,” Hilton said. “In many ways, California represents the ‘American dream,’ and it’s just been destroyed. We’ve got to get that back.”
Hilton — author of the recent “Califailure: Reversing the Ruin of America’s Worst-Run State” book and a self-described “positive populist” — has a laundry list of issues he wants to see changed in California, from affordability issues to public education.
On the former, Hilton said eliminating state income tax would be “the simplest and quickest way we can help people struggling financially in California.”
Fewer than a dozen states — including Florida, Alaska, Tennessee and Texas — do not have income taxes. And tax experts have found that states without an income tax often have higher other taxes (like sales or property) and may not provide as many public services.
Hilton also advocated for eliminating regulations that make it more difficult to build housing in the state, including reforming CEQA, the 1970 law signed by then-Gov. Ronald Reagan that requires developers to study a project’s impact to the environment and attempt to mitigate any damage. The law has drawn harsh critics who say it’s being weaponized by people opposed to certain developments, regardless of the environmental impact.
When it comes to education, Hilton wants to see more transparency and accountability in schools’ and teachers’ performances.
“We need a very simple focus on helping reward the best teachers but removing the worst teachers that are letting our kids down,” he said. “We can’t do that unless we have information about how they’re performing.”
A red campaign in a blue state
As of Feb. 10 — the latest report from the California secretary of state — registered Democrats account for 45.27% of registered voters in the state. Republicans make up 25.22%, and no party preference 22.34%.
In November, Democrat Adam Schiff handily defeated Republican Steve Garvey with 58.9% of the vote to win an open U.S. Senate seat.
But Hilton insists California voters are ready for a change in leadership in the state’s chief executive.
“I think that people are absolutely crying out for positive, practical solutions to their problems,” he said. “They see the Democrat politicians who’ve been in charge now for so long, obsessed with ideological agendas that have just made everything worse. And we need to be out there with positive, alternative, practical ideas that people can understand will help them in their daily life.”
That’s why Hilton said he chose Orange County’s Huntington Beach, which recently elected an all-conservative City Council, as his launch pad.
“The best-run city in California is run by Republicans,” said Hilton. “That is a change that happened very quickly, and no one expected it. That, to me, captures the kind of attitude and spirit that we need across California because we’ve had 15 years of one-party rule.”
When asked about Huntington Beach’s one-party rule, Hilton pointed to a WalletHub poll, which ranked it No. 65 overall on its list of best-run cities in the U.S. (Of note, San Diego is ranked No. 79, Santa Ana No. 84, Anaheim No. 104, Bakersfield No. 110, Riverside No. 133 and Los Angeles No. 139.)
“Something must be going on,” he said. “And of course, every other aspect of government in California is run by Democrats.”
Aside from Hilton, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is also running as a Republican for governor in 2026.
The Democratic field includes San Diego state Sen. Toni Atkins, former U.S Health Secretary Xavier Becerra, hospitality entrepreneur Stephen Cloobeck, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, former Rep. Katie Porter, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former State Controller Betty Yee.
Chickens and records
Hilton moved to Silicon Valley with his wife, Rachel Whetstone, a former Netflix communications chief, and their two children in 2012, becoming a U.S. citizen in 2021.
He founded Crowdpac, a political fundraising tool that focuses on smaller donations. He would later host a show on Fox News, “The Next Revolution,” and leave Crowdpac.
Two years ago, Hilton founded Golden Together, a bipartisan effort to tackle a slate of issues that includes homelessness, housing affordability, California’s business climate and wildfire management, according to its website.
And if there’s one thing Hilton is just as excited to talk about as he is the state of California, it’s his chickens. During an interview on Easter Sunday, Hilton said he had been out collecting eggs from his chickens, “who are very much a part of our family, along with our two dogs.”
His favorite chicken was Hermione, who lived for more than 10 years and recently died.
Hilton is also a music aficionado, fondly recalling frequenting a record shop in Brighton, where he grew up on the south coast of England.
His first album? “New Gold Dreams” by the Scottish band Simple Minds.