CALIFORNIA — Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, launched a Republican campaign for governor of California on a platform branded "Making California Golden Again," arguing the state requires radical reform. President Donald Trump endorsed Hilton in April 2026.

"California is America's worst-run state," Hilton said. He accused Democratic leaders of turning California into "the Wuhan lab of modern leftism" and described state government as "a massive, bloated, bureaucratic nanny state."

Hilton pointed to economic rankings in framing his campaign. "We have the highest poverty rate in the country in California, tied with Louisiana, which is shameful, really, for a state that prides itself on being the home of innovation and opportunity," he said. "We're ranked by U.S. News and World Report 50 out of 50 for opportunity. The performance of California, when measured against the rest of the country, is really dire."

Democrats hold statewide offices and control the California Legislature, where they gained a two-thirds supermajority in 2012. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans in the state by nearly two to one. Hilton is ahead in multiple polls in a crowded field with no clear front-runner, and Democrats have not consolidated behind a single candidate. Former Representative Eric Swalwell withdrew from the race on April 12, 2026.

Most California voters rank affordability and cost of living among their top concerns when choosing a governor.

Hilton, a British immigrant, was born in London to Hungarian refugees who fled during the 1956 revolution and grew up in a household with limited financial means. He studied at Oxford University, worked at Conservative Party headquarters, and served as an ad executive on the Conservatives' 1997 election campaign. After Labour's 1997 landslide, he co-founded the consulting firm Good Business, which advised corporations on how to profit from investing in social and environmental causes. He voted for the Green Party in 2001 and returned to the Conservatives in 2005.

Hilton served as a top strategist during David Cameron's rise to power, co-authored the Conservative Party's 2010 manifesto, and formulated the "Big Society" agenda to scale back state power and hand more authority to local communities. He split time between London and the San Francisco Bay Area while his wife worked for Google, and helped persuade Google to open its first wholly owned building outside the U.S. in London. He moved full-time to the Bay Area in 2012, taught at Stanford University, and joined Fox News as a contributor after the 2016 U.S. presidential election. In 2017, the network gave him a Sunday night program, "The Next Revolution," produced out of Los Angeles.