GOP governor – In Clovis, California, rival Republican candidates Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton largely set aside personal attacks to rally a friendly Central Valley crowd as they sharpen contrasts with Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic lawmakers, while dueling over water, pub
CL0VIS, Calif. — In the waning days before California’s primary election, Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton stepped up to the same stage and, for once, treated each other like allies.
The two top Republicans running for governor have spent much of the campaign attacking one another. Yet on Friday evening in Clovis. they delivered closing arguments to a friendly Central Valley audience—focusing their sharper aims outward. toward Gov. Gavin Newsom and Democratic lawmakers who control the Legislature.
Hilton took a swipe at Newsom’s new $20-million program to provide free diapers for families of newborn babies. calling the outgoing governor “the great loaded diaper of California himself.” Bianco and Hilton talked about public safety and the state’s stalled housing and water systems. but the message landing hardest in the room was that Valley voters feel overlooked—and that the race’s stakes are statewide.
Their agreement to cool the feud came after a longer stretch of Republican optimism that now looks harder to sustain. Earlier this year, Hilton and Bianco topped governor’s race polls as Democrats split their liberal vote. Under California’s “jungle primary” system—where the top two candidates advance to the general election regardless of political affiliation—that created brief hope among Republicans that both could shut Democratic candidates out in November.
Hilton later dismissed that possibility. In an op-ed published in the New York Post earlier this week. he urged Bianco to drop out “for the sake of the state we both love. ” writing that the idea “was always a fantasy.” In response. Bianco posted a video on social media saying: “Steve. it is time for you to drop out.” Then he added. “In no world. no world does Steve Hilton beat a Democrat in November.”.
At the Clovis forum moderated by State Sen. Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield), the tension between them seemed to fade into something else: performance, policy, and the test of persuading Republicans who are exhausted by statewide politics but still determining who can win.
Grove praised their “extraordinary civility” before pressing each to commit to backing whichever Republican makes it through the June 2 primary—or, if both advance, to focus on policy debates rather than attacks.
The event was hosted by the Fresno County & City Republican Women Federated as part of a fundraiser and dinner honoring the upcoming 250th anniversary of the nation’s founding. About 450 attendees were served dishes inspired by presidential favorites. including sirloin steak for Theodore Roosevelt. a chopped salad from Chasen’s. a favorite Los Angeles eatery for Ronald Reagan. and a chocolate pie with cherry vanilla ice cream for Trump.
It was the kind of local ritual that can turn a political argument into something more personal. Throughout the Central Valley—an area that stretches from Bakersfield to Redding. covering some of the nation’s most lucrative farmland—many residents say statewide leaders pay attention mainly when it’s time to count votes or chase donors.
“We are the breadbasket of the world but we’ve been overlooked for too long. ” Andrea Shabaglian. a vice president of the Fresno Republican women’s group. said. “When gubernatorial candidates come here to sit down and listen to our communities. they realize that a stronger Valley means a stronger California.”.
Even as the candidates traded compliments, the room carried its own sense of urgency. LuAnne Pinedo-Madden. a retiree living in the Sierra foothill community of Coarsegold. said she lost confidence in the state’s direction. She cited transgender girls being allowed to compete in girls’ sports and “government corruption” as her top concerns.
Pinedo-Madden said she was “pretty sure” she had decided which of the Republican candidates to vote for, but she declined to say whom. “I feel that if we don’t get a Republican in office, we’re looking at moving,” she said, adding, “We can’t take this anymore.”
For Bianco and Hilton. the shared priority was public safety and a practical-minded critique of how California manages water—an issue that hits the Valley’s agriculture directly. Signs along major highways in the region proclaim that “Food grows where water flows. ” and they criticize Newsom for allowing water to flow into the ocean instead of capturing and storing more for farming.
Both candidates promised to improve water systems, including building new dams and raising existing ones to store more. Bianco framed it as a matter of management rather than supply, saying: “We don’t have the water problem. We have a water management problem.” He also falsely argued that “we get more water every single year than any other state in the country” and that California has “never. ever. ever been in a drought.”.
Hilton described water as part of a broader economic payoff: “The water will be flowing to our farmers. the oil will be flowing to our refineries. the forests will be managed. the timber will be harvested” and used to build new single-family homes. he said. “We’ve got the best weather. we’ve got the best people. we’ve got the best farmers. we’ve got everything we need to make this place amazing. except a good governor. Very soon we’ll have that as well.”.
Their common ground also ran into an area where California’s politics often collide with voters’ frustration: parole and criminal justice. Both pledged sweeping cuts and cutbacks across state agencies if they win the June 2 primary and then the general election.
Both said they would replace every member of the state’s parole review board. The promise drew immediate resonance because the board drew criticism in February after it granted elderly parole to a man convicted of 16 counts of kidnapping and child molestation in 1999.
Bianco, a two-term sheriff of California’s fourth most populous county, made his case with sharp language. “California criminal justice is absolutely broken and it was forced upon us in the name of reform,” he said. “What I’m going to do is make it a crime to hear the word reform again. because we lost track of what that word even means.”.
He also pledged to eliminate laws and environmental regulators often blamed for slowing housing development, naming the California Environmental Quality Act, the California Coastal Commission, and the state Air Resources Board.
The campaign’s sharper edges returned when the conversation turned toward Trump. Hilton has the coveted Trump endorsement, which he won after winning it in early April. He has also steadily outpaced Bianco in polls.
A poll commissioned by the California Democratic Party released last week showed Hilton leading with support from 22% of likely voters, followed by Democrat and former Biden Cabinet member Xavier Becerra with 21%. Bianco had 10%, down from 15% in a previous poll conducted two weeks prior.
Even so, Bianco retains advantages among some Republicans. He is a favorite of many across the state. At the party’s recent endorsing convention, Bianco won more support from delegates than Hilton, though neither reached the 60% threshold necessary to win the party backing.
Bianco used that backdrop to argue that Trump’s endorsement may not travel well in California’s general election. He said the endorsement could hurt Hilton’s chances. arguing that the Republican president has never been popular in deep-blue California. “Steve should rightfully be proud of being endorsed by President Trump [but] we have to actually realize. is that a good thing in California?. It’s a good thing in this room. ” Bianco said. as the crowd cheered at the mention of the president’s name.
Bianco added, “We have to realize strategically that President Trump ran three elections in this state, and he lost 60-40 in all three of them.” He also pointed to a February survey by the Public Policy Institute of California saying just 25% of adults in the state approved of Trump’s performance.
Hilton and Bianco’s closing arguments came amid other political arithmetic that frames why their race still feels unpredictable. Earlier this year. Hilton and Bianco topped the governor’s race polls as Democrats split many of the state’s liberal voters. That dynamic created the hope of two Republicans advancing under the “jungle primary” system. though Hilton now insists that was never realistic.
While Bianco’s political pitch relied on persuading across party lines—he said he is “the only person that can actually sway Democrats to vote for a Republican across party lines on a public safety platform”—Hilton leaned into a vision of turning California’s assets into momentum. from water to housing to jobs.
In the Clovis forum. their feud was muted. but the conflict at the center of California’s next governor’s race remained unmistakable: one side argues the state is controlled by Democrats who have failed to address public safety. housing. and water management; the other side seeks to keep Republicans unified enough to win in a state where. even with a friendly audience. the general election is still a steep climb.
California governor race Chad Bianco Steve Hilton Central Valley Fresno County & City Republican Women Federated Shannon Grove jungle primary Gavin Newsom diaper program water management dams parole review board California Environmental Quality Act California Coastal Commission Air Resources Board Donald Trump endorsement Xavier Becerra June 2 primary