Steve Hilton
Office sought: Governor
Party: Republican
Ballot designation: Former adviser to UK prime minister, former Fox News host
Prior offices and election history
2026
See also: California gubernatorial election, 2026 California gubernatorial election, 2026 (June 2 top-two primary) General election The primary will occur on June 2, 2026. The general election will occur on November 3, 2026. General election candidates will be added here following the primary. Nonpartisan primary election Nonpartisan primary for Governor of California The following candidates are running in the primary for Governor of California on June 2, 2026. Candidate Akinyemi Agbede (D) Mohammad Arif (D) Submit photo James Athans Jr. (R) Submit photo Larry D. Azevedo (D) Submit photo Naomi Bar-Lev (No party preference) Xavier Becerra (D) Chad Bianco (R) Carolina Buhler (D) Submit photo Joseph Cabrera (No party preference) Submit photo Elaine Culotti (No party preference) Submit photo Louis De Barraicua (D) Patricia De Luca Basualdo (R) Submit photo LivingForGod DeMott (No party preference) Submit photo Randeep Dhillon (R) Submit photo Sophia Edum-a-Sam (D) Serge Fiankan (No party preference) Submit photo Lukasz Filinski (No party preference) Max Fomin (No party preference) Derek Grasty (D) Don Grundmann (No party preference) Submit photo Jon Henderson (No party preference) Lewis Herms (No party preference) Submit photo Rafael Hernandez (R) Steve Hilton (R) Joel Jacob (D) Submit photo Dawit Kellel (No party preference) Submit photo Gary Kidgell (D) Anne Komarovsk (No party preference) Submit photo Alicia Lapp (R) Submit photo Matthew Levy (D) Submit photo Duane Loynes Jr. (No party preference) Matt Mahan (D) Amanda Martin (No party preference) Submit photo Brent Maupin (No party preference) Daniel Mercuri (No party preference) Submit photo Leo Naranjo IV (R) Tim Nelson (R) Mauro Alberto Orozco (No party preference) Thunder Parley (D) Katie Porter (D) Raji Rab (D) Submit photo Satish Rao (D) Ramsey Robinson (Peace and Freedom Party) Reza Safarnejad (No party preference) Submit photo Sam Sandak (No party preference) Christine Sarmiento (No party preference) Frederic Schultz (No party preference) Barack D. Obama Shaw (D) Submit photo Scott Shields (D) Submit photo Gretha Solórzano (R) Thomas Steyer (D) Eric Swalwell (D) (Unofficially withdrew) Tony Thurmond (D) Submit photo Margaret Trowe (No party preference) Antonio Villaraigosa (D) Tom Woodard (L) Betty Yee (D) (Unofficially withdrew) Nancy Young (No party preference) Leo Zacky (R) Submit photo Erin Zezulak (D) Submit photo David Zickefoose (R) Butch Ware (G) (Write-in) There are no incumbents in this race. = candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey. If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey. Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team. Withdrawn or disqualified candidates Ché Ahn (R) Leonard Jackson (No party preference) Kyle Langford (R) Ebony Taylor (R) Toni Atkins (D) Sharifah Hardie (R) Eleni Kounalakis (D) Ethan Agarwal (D) Brandon Jones (R) Jesse Alberti (No party preference) Javen Allen (No party preference) Nicholas Thompson (L) George Slivka (D) Jon Slavet (R) Tony Fitzpatrick (No party preference) Ian Charles Calderon (D) Michael Younger (D)
2026 — Endorsements
Hilton received the following endorsements. To send us additional endorsements, click here . President Donald Trump (R) U.S. Rep. Kevin Kiley (Independent) U.S. Rep. Tom McClintock (R) April’s Common Sense Cali Voters (Sway voting group by April Silverman (Cali MAGA Barbie)) Based in Malibu (Sway voting group by Based in Malibu) Bonita (Sway voting group by Charles Curtis) CalMatters Voter Guide (Sway voting group by CalMatters) Craig Alexander’s Picks (Sway voting group by Craig Alexander’s Picks) Donald Trump’s Endorsements (Sway voting group by Donald Trump) Elizabeth Barcohana’s Lady with a Brain Voter Guide (Sway voting group by Elizabeth Barcohana) Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association’s Voting Group (Sway voting group by Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association) KQED Voter Guide (Sway voting group by KQED) Kathy’s Picks (Sway voting group by Kathy’s Picks) Let’s Vote Differently LA! (Sway voting group by Nicole Eff) Liberty For All (Sway voting group by Mark Ragains) Liberty Lipstick ‘n’ Lead VOTE (Sway voting group by Ursula Anne) NRA Political Victory Fund’s Voting Group (Sway voting group by NRA Political Victory Fund) Nancy’s Picks (Sway voting group by Nancy’s Picks) Penny’s Picks (Sway voting group by Penny’s Picks) Reform California’s Voting Group (Sway voting group by Reform California) Robyn Nordell — LA County’s Voting Group (Sway voting group by Robyn Nordell — LA County) Robyn Nordell — Riverside’s Voting Group (Sway voting group by Robyn Nordell — Riverside) Robyn Nordell — San Bernardino’s Voting Group (Sway voting group by Robyn Nordell — San Bernardino) iVoterGuide California (Sway voting group by iVoterGuide)
Issue positions (campaign themes)
2026
Ballotpedia survey responses See also: Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection Steve Hilton has not yet completed Ballotpedia’s 2026 Candidate Connection survey. Send a message to Steve Hilton asking him to fill out the survey . If you are Steve Hilton, click here to fill out Ballotpedia’s 2026 Candidate Connection survey . Who fills out Ballotpedia’s Candidate Connection survey? Any candidate running for elected office, at any level, can complete Ballotpedia’s Candidate Survey. Completing the survey will update the candidate’s Ballotpedia profile, letting voters know who they are and what they stand for. More than 28,000 candidates have taken Ballotpedia’s candidate survey since we launched it in 2015. Learn more about the survey here . You can ask Steve Hilton to fill out this survey by using the buttons below or emailing info@californiarebelbase.com. Campaign website Hilton’s campaign website stated the following: VISION FOR CALIFORNIA A good job, where you make enough to raise your family in a home of your own in a safe neighborhood with a good school so your kids have a better life than you. Great jobs, great homes, great kids. Reduce taxes for workers and end the bureaucratic war on business Restore the California Dream of a single family home for every family Ensure that 100% of students meet state math and English standards GREAT JOBS REDUCE TAXES FOR WORKERS AND END THE BUREAUCRATIC WAR ON BUSINESS Democrat one-party rule gave California the highest unemployment in America, and the highest rate of poverty. What a devastating record – especially when we also pay the highest taxes in the country. Democrats brag about California being the “world’s fifth largest economy”, and that’s true. But that ignores the fact that over a third of Californians can’t meet their basic needs. It’s a shameful record. And imagine how much bigger and better our economy could be if we weren’t weighed down by high taxes and ridiculous regulation. It’s time for a completely new approach. To guarantee Great Jobs for our people we need to create a positive business climate so entrepreneurs can easily start and grow businesses here. Right now we have the worst business climate in America, according to an annual survey of Chief Executives – and we’ve been the worst for ten years in a row! We’ve got to get rid of the bloat and bureaucracy in our state government, the endless nanny state agencies churning out rules and regulations, the pointless permits and processes and absolute nonsense that drives everyone crazy. On top of that we need abundant, affordable energy and water — utilities and infrastructure that actually work, prioritizing practical results not ideological crusades. And of course we need to massively reduce the tax burden on people and businesses. That means cutting back the state budget, which has gone up by 50%, after inflation, in the last ten years – while our problems only got worse. PRO-WORKER, PRO-GROWTH TAX REDUCTION California has a completely unaffordable cost of living, driven by the highest taxes in America and the highest prices for housing, rent, electricity, and water. As governor my priority will be to help working people by reducing their taxes: No tax on income under $100K 7.5% flat tax on earnings over $100k No increase in property taxes. Protect Prop.13! This will be paid for by returning state spending to pre-pandemic levels, where it would have been if the government had grown in line with the economy, rather than the Democrat approach of growing it so much faster, and so unsustainably. This would take just over half of California households (7.1 million households) out of paying state income tax. RETURN TO SENSIBLE SPENDING Reducing taxes, which is urgent, will require a more sensible approach to spending. Over the last decade, government spending has more than doubled in California – from $161 billion in 2015/16 to $322 billion in 2025/26. Even after taking account of inflation, the budget has gone up by 50%. And it’s still going up! My aim is to return spending to pre-pandemic levels, where it would have been if the government had grown in line with the economy. We can do this because everyone can see that higher spending hasn’t led to better outcomes. A recent audit found that over $24 billion was spent on homelessness without any idea where it went or what it did, while the problem just gets worse and worse. Over $30 billion was “lost” by California’s Employment Development Department in the pandemic. Over $30 billion was spent on “high speed” rail without a single mile of track being laid. More and more of the taxes we pay are eaten up by government unions, in luxury pensions and healthcare handed to them by the Democrat politicians they bribe – with our money! It’s obvious that more spending doesn’t lead to better outcomes when you compare New York and Florida. Both states have similar populations (around 20 million) but Florida spends about $115 billion, compared to New York’s $250 billion. Florida has much better outcomes on almost every measure. That’s what we need here in California: better results for less spending. If other states can do it, there’s no reason we can’t too. END THE BUREAUCRATIC WAR ON BUSINESS Talk to any business in California, especially smaller businesses, and they’ll tell you regulation is their biggest nightmare. Last year, California’s Democrat Industrial Complex passed 1,200 bills containing yet more ridiculous micro-managing regulation – on top of the 420,000 regulations that already exist. Businesses are under assault from the government. Endless different agencies attacking them non-stop with rules, inspections, fees, charges, insane processes that cost a fortune and can take years to complete. Over the years we have allowed a completely ridiculous, sprawling bureaucracy to metastasize, making it impossible to get anything done in a timely, cost-effective manner. No wonder so many businesses are just giving up and moving to other, more wel
Enrichment source: Ballotpedia — https://ballotpedia.org/Steve_Hilton
Sources
- CalMatters 2026 Voter Guide
- Ballotpedia (enrichment, when available)