Los Angeles — Californians have sent some larger-than-life Republicans to the governor’s mansion. Ronald Reagan’s two victories paved the former actor’s path to the White House. Long before artificial intelligence became a household name, Californians elevated the world’s most famous sentient robot — or rather the actor who played it — to the state’s highest office. Most of the time, however, they don’t turn right.
Steve Hilton is determined to change that.
“For the last 16 years, we’ve had one-party rule,” he tells me outside a coffee shop in Burbank, a few miles northwest of L.A. Arnold Schwarzenegger was the last Republican to win the governorship in 2006, and Democrats have maintained a supermajority in the state legislature since 2018. “They’ve had it all their own way,” Hilton says. “This is what you get when Democrats get everything they want.”
The 56-year-old is, in at least one significant respect, an unusual man for the job. He was born in London and spent most of his career in and around British politics. He immigrated to the United States in 2012 and settled in Silicon Valley, after serving two years as director of strategy for Prime Minister David Cameron. He was naturalized in May 2021 and has made his name here as an entrepreneur and Fox News pundit.
That biography wouldn’t typically sell in the state Donald Trump lost by 20 points two years ago, and yet it isn’t slowing Hilton down. He is in a crowded primary field, running neck-and-neck with Democratic candidates Xavier Becerra, the state’s former attorney general and former health secretary under President Joe Biden, and Tom Steyer, the billionaire climate campaigner. Each is around 20 percent in the RealClearPolitics polling average.
The top two finishers will advance to the November election, and both could come from the same party, a quirk of the state’s jungle system. Hilton doesn’t see that happening. He points to the “energy” behind his campaign for governor and Republican Spencer Pratt’s bid for L.A. mayor. “I have a very strong sense that people on the East Coast don’t really understand how much of a breaking point we’ve reached in California,” he adds.
When we meet, Hilton is wearing two jelly bracelets, with “Charlie Kirk” emblazoned on one and “Save Girls’ Sports” on the other. He received Trump’s endorsement in early April, and welcomes it, but he’s not on board with the MAGA movement on every issue.
“There’s a growing alignment between the Republican Party and the unions,” Hilton says. “Of course, I’m all for trying to bring people into your tent,” but he believes organized labor’s power is responsible for many of the state’s problems.
He points specifically to the “damaging effect of union power in the private sector” and its role in the housing crisis, particularly project labor agreements that increase costs and extend construction timelines. “It’s just impossible to live here,” Hilton tells me. “When you talk to young people and you just ask them, ‘What’s your plan?’ and ‘How do you see your future?,’ they do not see their future in California. And they say, ‘Well, if I ever want to own my own home, obviously, I have to go to Tennessee or Florida or Texas or wherever.’”
California is still home to nearly 40 million people, more than any other state, and boasts some of the world’s most valuable companies. Silicon Valley’s gross domestic product alone exceeds that of most countries. Yet people are leaving. More than 200,000 residents were estimated to have fled in the year ending July 2025, and several major corporations have relocated their headquarters to friendlier business climates.
Hilton, author of the 2025 book “Califailure,” is quick to recite the rap sheet. “We have the highest taxes and the worst outcomes,” he tells me. “On so many measures, we’re not just doing badly. We are the worst-performing state.”
He’s got a point. The Golden State is flush with talent yet it ties Louisiana for the nation’s highest poverty rate. Excepting D.C., it shares the highest unemployment rate with Nevada and Delaware at 5.3 percent, and often alternates with Hawaii for the highest rents and median home values. Only the Aloha State has worse residential electricity prices.
There is little evidence California’s problems stem from a lack of investment or resources. The state has the nation’s largest budget, approaching $350 billion this fiscal year. Outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom is widely thought to be eyeing a future White House bid, but he leaves behind an estimated $18 billion deficit for the next governor to address. Despite changes Newsom made to eliminate this year’s budget shortfall, the Legislative Analyst’s Office concluded that “the underlying budget condition is not sound” or sustainable.
“It’s a now-or-never moment,” Hilton says. “I actually think we’re really heading towards economic crisis if we don’t change direction.”
If California has a saving grace, it is its booming technology and AI sector, which continues to grow despite the state’s challenges. With nearly every state pursuing its own version of AI regulation, does Hilton believe the White House should step in and preempt state action?
“It’s an open question,” he says. “Generally” he’s a “very strong believer in and an advocate for the 10th Amendment” — that powers neither delegated to the federal government by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, ought to be reserved to them. “Right now, I would want to be a voice for sanity on AI regulation,” he says. “California should lead on AI regulation because we lead on AI.”
But the technology, he concedes, “is an area which is massively vulnerable to stupid regulation that has harmful, unintended consequences.” His familiarity and frustration with red tape could summarize his broader critique of what’s gone wrong in California.
Winning office will be a tough Golden Hill to climb, but Hilton isn’t stopping himself from California dreaming. “I feel that this place should be the absolute best place in the world,” he says. Whether you want to “start a company that sends rockets to Mars” or if you want to “make amazing movies or art — this is what California should be about.”
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