If conservative commentator Steve Hilton is elected California’s next governor, as President Trump wants, it would mark a “political revolution” for the liberal state, the candidate said.
The state’s Democrat-controlled Legislature, “after all their years of lecturing us about democracy,” will be forced to work with him “to implement the changes that Californians voted for,” and he will be willing to work with them, too, the Silicon Valley entrepreneur and former Fox News host said.
If firebrand Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco is elected governor, he would certainly take a different approach, he said.
“You want to know how I would work with the Democrat legislature? I’m not. I would unelect every single one of them,” Bianco said. “Every day, I will stand on the steps of the Capitol, and I will tell the voting public of California about the idiots in Sacramento who are ruining their lives.”
For the first time in years, the state GOP is heading into its convention this weekend with a wave of optimism about the upcoming gubernatorial race.
Both Hilton and Bianco have a chance to win more votes than many Democratic candidates in the June 2 primary election, according to recent polling, which has narrowed their party’s advantage on the voter rolls to nearly 2-1. If the GOP candidate does so, he will advance to a head-to-head battle in the November general election, and become the state’s first Republican governor since Arnold Schwarzenegger.
A lot can be changed to prevent that scenario. More Democrats may drop out. Voters may rally around one or two of the survivors. Hilton, with Trump’s support, could consolidate Republican support and knock Bianco out of contention.
Still, the prospect of Republican rule over California, a bastion of the anti-MAGA movement, has fascinated political experts and onlookers alike.
Governor Gavin Newsom imposed a moratorium on the death penalty shortly after taking office, a policy that could be reversed by the next governor. In San Quentin, a prisoner on death row is let out of his cell.
(Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times)
In his latest endorsement, Trump said he has “known and respected” Hilton for many years and will help her make “change” in California after an “absolutely terrible job” by Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state Democrats.
“With federal aid and a great Governor like Steve Hilton, California can be better than ever!” Trump wrote.
Many Democrats predict the opposite: Grandstanding and standoffishness in the form of Hilton or Bianco’s MAGA-aligned agenda face stiff resistance from powerful state Democrats disenchanted with the president’s movement.
“If the new governor decided to go hard MAGA, he would face a huge backlash,” said State Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), who believes it is impossible for both Republicans to move forward.
“I don’t think the state will descend into chaos, there’s no question about it,” said former state Treasurer Phil Angelides, a Democrat who lost to Schwarzenegger in the 2006 gubernatorial race.
power limit
California’s governors have substantial powers.
They direct and appoint leaders to the state’s many executive agencies, boards and commissions, overseeing vast portfolios in critical areas such as the environment, California’s university systems, and the state parole board. They prepare the state budget and have a line-item veto to overrule legislative appropriations. They can make major unilateral decisions – such as welcoming federal troops into California cities – and command a bully pulpit to steer public opinion and policy, including statewide ballot measures.
Protesters confront California National Guard troops and police outside a federal building during a protest in Los Angeles in 2025 after the Trump administration dispatched the National Guard. Republican candidates for California governor said they would welcome similar orders from the Trump administration.
(David McNew/Getty Images)
California’s next governor will have the power to end Newsom’s moratorium on the death penalty, appoint state judges and grant state pardons. The governor will be able to reshape state rules, suspend laws and redirect funding during a state of emergency, as Newsom did during the COVID-19 pandemic by banning price increases, halting evictions and postponing the 2020 tax deadline.
But his power also has limits.
Many individuals appointed by the Governor are subject to confirmation by the State Senate. The Legislature can make changes and amendments to the Governor’s proposed budget and can pass a budget bill separate from his proposal. Democrats, with their supermajority, can also override the governor’s veto.
Independently elected state attorneys general can sue to protect state laws, regulations and residents, a practice current officeholder Rob Bonta, a Democrat, has done more than 60 times to challenge the Trump administration. The California Supreme Court, which is liberal, can rein in the executive branch if it determines it has violated the state Constitution or other laws.
Trump has repeatedly pushed the limits of executive authority and has benefited from having a Republican-controlled Congress and a conservative U.S. Supreme Court majority that takes a broad view of executive power. Political experts said Hilton or Bianco would face contrast in California, where many legislators would refuse to accept a Republican governor, especially one who is almost certain to face immediate recall.
Kim Nalder, a political science professor and director of the Project for the Informed Constituency at Sacramento State, said Hilton or Bianco could “potentially build a coalition” with Democrats on issues like housing and affordability and thus bring about change. But “if the Democratic majority in the legislature decides to dig in their heels, they could oppose practically everything (the new governor) does.”
Nalder said Hilton or Bianco could also “try to govern in a Trumpian way” by testing the limits of their authority. They expect Bianco will do so given his recent decision to “violate the norms of democracy” by seizing more than half a million 2025 ballots as part of an unusual local sheriff’s investigation into allegations of voter fraud, which state and county officials say has no merit.
But he “will not have the public support or the hold over other branches of government that Trump has,” he said, “so it will be much more difficult.”
Angelides said choosing either Hilton or Bianco would put someone “deeply connected to the MAGA movement” at the helm of a deep-blue state government in which many career employees hold opposing views, which would lead to disruption.
“There is no reason to believe that this will be any different from the chaos that we have seen in the Trump administration: the gutting of multiple state agencies, as well as the departure of a lot of very talented people who will not stay and will not risk their careers, their reputations, to work under a governor from the MAGA movement,” Angelides said.
State employees are protected by powerful unions with deep ties to Democratic leaders, which Hilton said he would break up.
A spokesman for Bonta said in a written statement that the attorney general “serves the people of California – not the governor,” and will not hesitate to exercise his independent authority under the state constitution.
“We look forward to maintaining a close working relationship with whoever is the next governor of California, but our mission and our priorities will not change,” the spokesperson said. “Regardless of who is in that office, we will continue to enforce civil rights laws, investigate and prosecute complex crimes, protect public safety, stand up for consumers and the environment, and fulfill our duty to Californians.”
Senate President Pro Tempore Monique Limon (D-Goleta) also offered a diplomatic response, saying in a statement that “It is important that whoever our next governor is helps advance the lives and goals of California and its communities.”
in their own words
Both Hilton and Bianco said they would fundamentally reshape state government, in part by eliminating regulations that are hindering growth and making basic needs — housing, food, gas, electricity — too expensive.
Hilton, a top adviser in British Prime Minister David Cameron’s coalition government more than a decade ago, will install agency leaders who will focus heavily on reducing costly regulations to “reduce the burden of cost and hassles on California families and businesses.” “Elections have consequences, and so it would be irresponsible not to use maximum aggression to make changes as quickly as possible.”
The top two Republican candidates running for California governor said they would have a far better relationship with President Trump than Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom, who has challenged the president’s policies in court and mocked him on social media.
(Mark Schiefelbein/Associated Press)
Bianco said that if he wins, “every single regulation in this state will go away”, making California much more business friendly. “Environmental activism, the environmental activism terrorists who are controlling the state government are being put in their place, which is out there where no one listens to them.”
Both Hilton and Bianco also sharply criticized California Democrats for challenging Trump at every turn, a practice they would end.
“I look forward to working with the administration to help Californians,” Hilton said.
“Why would you put pressure on a president unless they were seriously trying to destroy your state?” Bianco said. “California is failing because of its own policies.”
Hilton said he expected Bonta to lose to Michael Gates, his Republican nominee for Attorney General. Bianco said that if Bonta remained in office, he would completely “defund” the state Justice Department.
Hilton and Bianco also shared similar views on Trump’s immigration crackdown and the deployment of the National Guard to Minneapolis and Los Angeles, the latter of which occurred without Newsom’s approval.
Hilton said that he “certainly would never want to see in California the scenes that we saw in Minneapolis, nor do I want to see a repeat of the scenes that we saw in our state last summer,” but that those clashes were “instigated and incited by the Democrat sanctuary policy,” which he would end.
California’s sanctuary policies largely prevent local police and corrections officers from conducting or assisting federal authorities in immigration enforcement, which state leaders say is not their responsibility and could undermine community confidence in local police.
Bianco said Trump sent the troops because Newsom was “negligent in his duties to protect the people of California” and it is more important to address “the failed Democrat policies of the last 20 years.”
“President Trump hasn’t done a single thing that has hurt California in the last year,” he said.
Matt Leseni, assistant professor of political science at Cal State Long Beach, said that if Hilton or Bianco becomes governor, Sacramento will see “a lot of gridlock and bullying, and that’s from both sides.”
But he also said he doesn’t expect that to happen, because undecided voters will “figure it out” and rally behind a Democrat — even if at the last moment.
“That last segment of the voters doesn’t wake up until the last two weeks,” he said.
Times staff writer Katie King contributed to this report.
