{"id":47550,"date":"2026-04-07T11:57:01","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T18:57:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=47550"},"modified":"2026-04-07T11:57:02","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T18:57:02","slug":"trump-endorses-republican-steven-hilton-for-california-governor-reordering-wide-open-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2026\/04\/07\/trump-endorses-republican-steven-hilton-for-california-governor-reordering-wide-open-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump endorses Republican Steven Hilton for California governor, reordering wide-open race"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By\u00a0MICHAEL R. BLOOD<\/strong>, <\/em>AP Political Writer<\/em> Updated\u00a0April 6, 2026 (SFGate.com)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

FILE – Steve Hilton speaks during the California gubernatorial candidate debate, Feb. 3, 2026, in San Francisco.Laure Andrillon\/AP<\/em><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump has endorsed Republican Steve Hilton for California governor, reordering a crowded, wide-open race to lead the nation’s most populous state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump posted late Sunday on his social media platform Truth Social that he has known Hilton for years and called the conservative commentator \u201ca truly fine man\u201d who could turn around a state beset with notoriously high taxes. California, Trump wrote, \u201chas gone to hell.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith Federal help, and a Great Governor, like Steve Hilton, California can be better than ever before!\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The endorsement \u2014 coming about a month before mail ballots go to voters in advance of the June 2 primary \u2014 will help Hilton coalesce conservative support in a race with no clear leader. However, Trump is widely unpopular in heavily Democratic California outside his conservative base and Trump’s backing would become a liability if Hilton faces a Democrat in the November election.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a large field, Democrats have been fearful that a quirk in the state’s unusual \u201ctop two\u201d primary system could allow only two Republicans to reach the November general election ballot \u2014 Hilton and GOP rival Chad Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff. Trump’s decision \u2014 a strong signal to undecided conservative voters \u2014 will make that outcome less likely by helping Hilton lure additional support.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Democratic consultant Paul Mitchell called Trump’s decision \u201cthe safe bet\u201d for Republicans. Rather than cling to a long shot hope that both Republicans reach the November ballot \u2014 or risk that both Hilton and Bianco fall short \u2014 Trump’s blessing should consolidate support behind Hilton and allow him to emerge from a large primary field and reach November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHaving a Republican on the top of the ticket is essential\u201d to drive turnout in critical down-ballot races, with control of the U.S. House in play,\u201d Mitchell added. In an unpredictable, wide-open race, the smart play for the GOP is to \u201cget one Republican on the ballot.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are more than 50 candidates on the ballot<\/a> \u2014 including eight established Democrats and along with Hilton and Bianco, the two leading Republicans. An all-GOP general election is possible in California, which puts all candidates on one primary ballot and only the top two vote-getters advance to November, regardless of party.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Polling in early February by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California found the field had broken into two distinct groups, with Bianco, Hilton and three Democrats \u2014 U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell, former Rep. Katie Porter and billionaire climate activist Tom Steyer \u2014 in close competition, with other candidates trailing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a statement, Hilton, who hosted a Fox News show for six years and worked as an adviser to former British prime minister David Cameron, thanked Trump for his support and promised to grow jobs and bring down the state’s punishing cost of living. \u201cTogether we can turn things around,\u201d Hilton said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Republicans have not won a statewide election in California in two decades. Registered Democratic voters outnumber Republicans in the state by nearly 2-to-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bianco \u2014 Hilton’s chief GOP rival \u2014 said in a video posted on X that \u201cThis race is about the future of California, not any one endorsement.\u201d He also posted a photo of Hilton hugging outgoing Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom at a 2016 charity event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have repeatedly said that a Fox News host courting a president’s endorsement will never win in California,\u201d Bianco said in the video.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By\u00a0MICHAEL R. BLOOD, AP Political Writer Updated\u00a0April 6, 2026 (SFGate.com) FILE – Steve Hilton speaks during the California gubernatorial candidate debate, Feb. 3, 2026, in San Francisco.Laure Andrillon\/AP LOS ANGELES (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump has endorsed Republican Steve Hilton for California governor, reordering a crowded, wide-open race to lead… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47550"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47550"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":47552,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47550\/revisions\/47552"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}