Trump-backed Steve Hilton cleared California's jungle primary on June 2, setting up a November showdown with Democrat Xavier Becerra and giving Republicans their first serious shot at the governorship in two decades.
Hilton, a former Fox News host and Silicon Valley entrepreneur, advanced from a crowded field to claim one of two spots in the general election, as NBC News and ABC News projected. With roughly 88 percent of the expected vote counted as of June 9, Hilton held approximately 25 percent support, running just behind Becerra's 28 percent. Democrat Tom Steyer finished third at about 23 percent, followed by Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco at 10 percent. Final tallies are still being certified, with about 2.4 million California ballots remaining to be counted statewide.
The result is a direct product of President Trump's endorsement, posted April 6 on Truth Social. "Steve Hilton has my COMPLETE & TOTAL ENDORSEMENT," Trump wrote, calling Hilton "a fine man" and promising that "with Federal help, and a Great Governor, like Steve Hilton, California can be better than ever before." The backing landed in a race where Republican votes were otherwise at risk of splitting between Hilton and Bianco, potentially leaving the GOP without a finalist. Instead, Bianco stalled at 10 percent as Republican voters coalesced around Hilton.
Hilton is a distinctive figure in California politics. Born in Britain to Hungarian parents who fled Communist rule, he studied at Oxford, served as Prime Minister David Cameron's Head of Strategy, then moved to Silicon Valley in 2012 to co-found the tech startup Crowdpac. He later spent time as a visiting fellow at Stanford's Hoover Institution before launching "The Next Revolution" on Fox News in 2017 and building a following among populist conservatives. He filed for governor in April 2025, running on government accountability, housing costs, and public safety.
The Hilton-Becerra matchup carries weight far beyond Sacramento. Becerra, a 12-term congressman and former California attorney general, served as Secretary of Health and Human Services under President Biden from 2021 to 2025. His tenure included overseeing pandemic-era health policy and a series of health care regulations that conservatives opposed. Running for governor, he has portrayed himself as a mainstream Democrat willing to take on Trump, according to CalMatters. His campaign has also noted that, if elected, Becerra would be the state's first Latino governor since Romualdo Pacheco held the post for 10 months in 1875.
For Republicans, the framing is ready-made: populist reform versus Biden-era governance, applied to the country's most populous state. California has not elected a Republican governor since Arnold Schwarzenegger won re-election in 2006, a stretch of 20 years. Democrats outnumber registered Republicans in the state nearly two to one, and Trump lost California by roughly 20 points in the 2024 presidential election, according to state election records. Any honest accounting puts Hilton as a significant underdog in November.
But the race matters for reasons that go beyond the odds. California's dysfunction on housing, homelessness, and public safety has given Republicans a policy argument that once seemed impossible to make in the state. Hilton has pressed that argument consistently since launching his campaign, and Trump's endorsement gives him the donor network and national visibility to carry it through a full general-election cycle.
What Comes Next
Hilton held a news conference this week to address the pace of California's ongoing count, saying he was "very encouraged" by the trajectory but acknowledged "nothing is final yet," according to C-SPAN coverage. California's full tally will continue through late June under state law, though his spot in the general election is confirmed by projections from multiple major networks.
The general election is November 3. Democrats enjoy a structural advantage, but California voters have shown real frustration with one-party governance on bread-and-butter issues, and the 2026 midterm cycle has sharpened the national stakes. The Hilton campaign will aim to nationalize the race on Trump's record of economic and border results; Becerra will try to localize it and hold the coalition built by outgoing Governor Gavin Newsom. Whether a disciplined, Trump-backed candidate can convert that frustration into enough votes to break a two-decade losing streak is the central question hanging over the state heading into November.
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