Donald Trump endorsed former Fox News host Steve Hilton in the California governor’s race early Monday morning, dealing a potentially fatal blow to GOP rival Chad Bianco’s campaign — and to Republicans’ hopes of locking Democrats out of the runoff.
“I have known and respected Steve Hilton, who is running for Governor of California, for many years. He is a truly fine man, one who has watched as this once great State has gone to Hell,” Trump wrote on Truth Social, before bemoaning the state’s leadership under Gov. Gavin Newsom. “Steve can turn it around, before it is too late, and, as President, I will help him to do so!”
Trump’s intervention comes despite some California Republicans arguing that the party’s best, if narrow, shot at the governor’s mansion depended on him staying out of the contest in this heavily Democratic state. Republicans had been hoping that a large field of Democrats would split the vote in California’s jungle primary, allowing two Republicans to advance. But with Trump boosting Hilton, it becomes more unlikely that he and Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff, will be able to evenly split the GOP vote and keep Democrats out of the run-off.
The endorsement may also spare Democrats from having to spend heavily to boost one of the Republican candidates themselves — a strategy they have employed in several races in the past.
“Trump's endorsement of Steve Hilton likely frees up tens of millions of dollars for Democratic groups who would have otherwise had to spend heavily to elevate one of the two leading GOP gubernatorial candidates to avoid a Democratic lockout,” political data expert Rob Pyers of California Target Book, the nonpartisan campaign almanac, wrote on X.
While Hilton and Bianco had both openly invited the president's endorsement, Hilton, who has talked with Trump over the years, told POLITICO on Thursday that he had not spoken with Trump about the race.
“I'd be honored to have the president's endorsement, but I think that the California governor's race is close to the last thing on his mind right now,” said Hilton, a former policy adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron. “He's got a lot on his plate, and so I've never discussed that with him.”
The endorsement comes before California GOP delegates vote at their convention in San Diego this upcoming weekend on whether to endorse in the race. A party nod had looked unlikely given the large margin needed for an endorsement and the several low-polling candidates poised to peel off votes from party activists. But Trump’s involvement could change that calculation.
Still, in a state where Democrats vastly outnumber Republicans and Trump is widely loathed, Hilton had sought to avoid nationalizing the election.
“The media obsession and the California Democrats’ obsession with Trump doesn't do our state any favors. We have to focus on California issues, and that's what I'm doing,” Hilton said late last week.
He said he did “not at all” see an electoral risk in Trump wading in before the primary. He and Bianco have both been lacing into each other in an effort to consolidate the Republican vote — including during a Saturday night debate moderated by Trump’s former Kennedy Center head and special envoy Richard Grenell.
“There's strong support for the President in California,” Hilton said. “Look at how many millions of votes that he got, more votes in 2024 than than any previous Republican presidential candidate for a long time.”
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