Hilton and – Steve Hilton, a conservative former Fox News host and Trump-endorsed power player, and Xavier Becerra, a Biden-era former Health and Human Services secretary, will face off in California’s gubernatorial runoff after finishing atop a crowded primary field.
Steve Hilton kept pace all the way into the nonpartisan primary. but it wasn’t the campaign’s money or celebrity that carried him Tuesday night—it was momentum. Hilton. a longtime conservative political commentator and former political aide. finished second and will now compete with Xavier Becerra for governor of California this November.
The matchup sets up a sharp collision: Hilton. endorsed by President Donald Trump and shaped by California’s conservative media ecosystem. against Becerra. a former top Democratic figure in the Biden administration who previously served as California attorney general under Govs. Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom.
Hilton and Becerra will advance to a runoff after edging out Tom Steyer, a billionaire philanthropist who ran on a progressive platform and failed to break through in the first round. The runoff arrives a week after the state’s nonpartisan primary day.
Hilton’s rise carries the unmistakable feel of a power shift inside California’s GOP lane. His ascension suggests dissatisfaction with the slate of Democratic candidates in the open primary and an inability for Steyer—who has never held elected office—to land with voters despite a campaign built around helping redistribute wealth.
For Becerra, the path to election in November looks comparatively smoother. California’s electorate is expected to skew heavily Democratic, giving his credentials a built-in advantage even as he enters the general election with a past that has drawn fire.
Becerra’s campaign was relatively quiet, centered on his credentials. Yet it also survived years of scrutiny tied to his record in public office. During his time as California attorney general. his office pushed for the state Supreme Court to artificially inflate the IQ of an intellectually disabled Black man in order to execute him. an effort reported by The Intercept last month. Becerra also faced backlash for pushing to uphold death penalty sentences during the Covid pandemic. despite a moratorium imposed by then-Gov. Gavin Newsom.
His tenure has also drawn criticism over his alleged mishandling of migrant children who were in his office’s care while he served as Health and Human Services secretary under President Joe Biden.
Even so, Becerra’s primary campaign managed to overcome those controversies. It pulled in high-profile endorsements, including those from Rep. Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., and Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., along with several notable labor unions. The campaign also benefited from a dramatic change in the race: former front-runner Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., abruptly departed after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct, including rape. Swalwell denied the allegations. but he resigned from Congress and ended his gubernatorial campaign. clearing a path that Becerra quickly filled.
Hilton, meanwhile, spent months neck and neck in the polls with Steyer. He didn’t match Steyer’s financial scale—Steyer is a former hedge fund manager who used his immense wealth to fund his campaign—but he did benefit from a political identity voters already recognize in the conservative ecosystem. Steyer’s platform was widely seen as the most progressive in the field. and he earned the endorsement of Our Revolution. the group founded by Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-VT.
Hilton is less known nationally than his opponent, but he has an established reputation in the United Kingdom for helping orchestrate the rise of former British Prime Minister David Cameron.
If Hilton defeats Becerra in November, he would become California’s first Republican governor since Arnold Schwarzenegger—who also helped shape modern California politics by serving as the architect of the state’s open primary system.
California governor race Steve Hilton Xavier Becerra Tom Steyer nonpartisan primary runoff President Donald Trump Joe Biden Arnold Schwarzenegger
So Hilton is basically a Fox guy now, huh? California is wild.
I didn’t even realize it was a runoff already. Why do they keep doing these primaries like it’s a game? Also Steyer not winning makes sense, money doesn’t mean people agree with you I guess.
Wait Becerra was in the Biden administration like, for health stuff? So is he the one who messed up healthcare or whatever? The article says his path is smoother but “past drawn fire” is doing a lot of work here.
Nonpartisan primary but it’s totally partisan anyway lol. Hilton momentum and “power shift” sounds like media talk, not real voters. And I’m just confused why a conservative TV personality is the guy? Meanwhile Becerra is quiet but people are mad at his record as attorney general… so which is it, are Californians mad or just voting party lines?