Who will be the next Governor of California? | FOX 10 Talks

Ajouté : 2026-05-30

[00:00:00]So, we have a great interview here. Um, KSTU political reporter Greg Lee joins us now to talk about what is happening in the governor's race in the state of California. And this is um a very big race and a lot of people around the nation are watching this. Greg, good morning. Thank you for uh joining us.

[00:00:18]>> Hey, Greg.

[00:00:24]>> Oh, can you hear us? Okay. Yeah. Hey, Greg, take it away. So, uh this is it seems like a crowded field. Um, everybody jocking for position. Where are we at right now?

[00:00:33]>> Yeah, listen, we're just four days from the June 2nd primary here in California.

[00:00:37]Voters, 22 million of them, have had their ballots in the mail for about a month now. And we have seen a very slow turnout because this is in in my history and perhaps in California's history, one of the most wideopen gubanatorial races that we have ever seen. There's not really a favorite in this race. At least there has not been to this point now that Governor Gavin Newsome is terming out. And so there's this big race to replace him and there's been at the top of that ballot about eight, seven really viable Democrats that have been splitting this Democratic vote. But just to tell you, last night we got our most recent and likely our last poll in this gubanatorial race. And what it is showing is that this wide openen race is starting to sort of coalesce Democrats and Republicans in the state getting behind the candidates that they want to see move on. So for Republicans, it's former Fox commentator Steve Hilton. He has sort of led throughout the polling in the last month or so. And then at the top is Javier Bera for Democrats, the former health and human services secretary under the Biden administration. But just to tell you how much this race has changed in the last month, we saw former uh Congressman Eric Swallwell from the Bay Area that dropped out of this race about a month and a half ago because of those sexual assault allegations. He also dropped out of the house. And so he was leading this race and then in a matter of weeks we saw Javier Bera go from about 4% in the polls to now leading this whole thing at about 23%. So there's been a lot of es and flows to this race. A lot of changes here at the last minute. But I will tell you this, things could still change here at the end because a lot of voters, particularly Democrats, have been holding on to their ballots to the last minute as they try and figure out who they want to move forward into the November prim in the November general election. And I should tell you that unlike Arizona, the state has this California does the top two primary system. That means the top two vote getters in this June 2nd primary regardless of party will move on to the general in November. And Democrats here in California for a while were very worried because they were splitting that vote so much that they could be locked out of the general election that this could see two Republicans move on to November in what has been a very sapphire blue state. That fear has certainly subsided now that we've sort of seen this race change. Uh but that was a concern at some point.

[00:02:51]>> You know, interesting. I'm glad you brought that up because I think that is very different especially from what we see here in Arizona. Uh how do you think this is going to play out now? I know Gavin Newsome is kind of thinking about uh other things potentially. Uh you sat down with him, I understand, and had an opportunity to have a conversation about maybe where he's headed next or maybe what he hopes for the future of California.

[00:03:14]Yeah, Celeste, this has very much been the worstkept secret in politics.

[00:03:18]Everyone knows that Governor Gavin Newsome has aspirations to run for president. He has written his autobiography. He has made steps to kind of get towards that place. He'll be campaigning during the midterms in swing states for Democrats. He's continuing to build that national profile. And I will tell you in terms of who will replace him, he has long been pushed by party leaders and Democrats to say, "Hey, you got to endorse in this race." He has continued not to do that and he has said that whoever the Democrat is that moves on to the general pri general election that he will endorse that person. But he has been clear that he doesn't want to endorse before June 2nd. But Gavin Newsome is really focusing his time now on trying to both govern the state of California but also focusing on his future aspirations of running in 2028 for the Democratic ticket. Is there a sense, Greg, that um I mean that is it more likely that two Democrats would move on than two Republicans to the general or how that might play out?

[00:04:19]>> Yeah, that is what you would anticipate typically in a state like California, right? Because the voter registration, Democrats outnumber Republicans in California two to two to one. But recently in the last few years, we've seen more and more independents that have registered. So no party preference voters instead of choosing one party or the other. Again, everyone's voting in this primary. So, Democrats had hoped that they would see a Javier Bera and a Tommy Styer, which is still a possibility, but Steve Hilton, the Republican here, has continued to sort of carry his weight. And as I'm sure voters in Arizona are starting to pressure their lawmakers with, the major focus of this race, like it is nationwide, is the cost of living. And Steve Hilton has had a very clear message about how to tackle the cost of living, of how to tackle high gas prices. Now, what that actually looks like practically in working with a supermajority Democratic legislature is another question. Um, he's also gotten the endorsement of President Trump, which will certainly help him in a primary for Republicans, but could certainly be a liability in a state like California where the president is deeply unpopular if he moves on to the general election. So the long answer to your short question is that yeah, there is a chance that we could see two Democrats move on, but many of these candidates have sort of uh resigned themselves to thinking that Steve Hilton will move on because he's carried so much momentum.

[00:05:38]And I should also give you one nugget is that even though that registration uh benefits the Democrats, Republicans are already outpacing Democrats in terms of returning their ballots four days out from this primary.

[00:05:50]>> Interesting, right? Any relation to the Hilton family like Paris Hilton?

[00:05:55]No, not not that that would be hot.

[00:05:57]>> Not that not that I'm aware of. That that should have been the follow-up question I should have asked, but yeah, no follow no relation there.

[00:06:03]>> Well, I could use a a hotel discount, so make sure you ask him for sure. Um, you know, here's another question for you.

[00:06:09]Uh, and let's go back to the Eric Swallwell situation because he bowed out. I know he was kind of leading right in the in the governor's race there. Had a strong following. Does he still have a strong following? By the way, one of his very good friends is Ruben Ggo, one of our uh you know, lawmakers here in Arizona. Um and so we were covering when Eric Swallwell um bowed out, we were covering that headline pretty closely.

[00:06:33]>> Yeah. An absolute fall from grace and and really a rapid reversal in sort of political fortunes and life fortunes for Eric Swallow amid these allegations, amid these criminal investigations. Some very serious allegations that have been leveled against the former congressman.

[00:06:47]And again, we have not heard from him.

[00:06:49]Nobody has seemed to have eyes on him on what he's doing currently except building his defense against some of these allegations that he has denied. Uh but that following has diminished I mean nearly completely. And that is one of the questions that we have posed throughout the last sort of 5 weeks since he dropped out is where would his supporters go because there were so many Democrats on the ticket and sort of the conventional knowledge that we have seen from the polls is that many of those voters went to Javier Basera and the belief is because those supporters were looking for someone with experience with time in government that sort of knows where the levers of power are and and that is why a lot of them have gone on to Javier Bera. Some of the cross tabs that we're also seeing. We've also seen Latino voters go to Javier Bera here at the end of this race and look to support him. There was some belief that perhaps Antonio Vier Regosa, the former Los Angeles mayor, another Democrat in this race would take some of those voters, but again, we're seeing a lot of those Democrats move towards Javier Bera at this late stage of the race. But again, I we should temper this to say these are just polls, right? And and polls have certainly been wrong before. We we well know that. And so depending on what this turnout does and I think polit political experts have sort of been mystified by the fact that so many Democrats especially have been holding on to their ballots and waiting until the very last minute to make a decision. So I think we're going to see a strong push here in the next couple of days and on June 2nd for people to vote and it'll be interesting to see which direction they go particularly uh for Democrats here and and if there is a big surprise than what we have seen.

[00:08:26]>> Good stuff Greg. I feel like I know about California politics.

[00:08:30]>> It It is wild. And any chance you think ever there would be two Republicans facing off in California?

[00:08:38]>> Yeah. And I think to your point that that was a distinct possibility if we go back maybe 6 8 weeks to the beginning of this race when people were just starting to pay attention. There were two Republicans that were leading in the polls. Riverside County Sheriff Chad Biano uh and Steve Hilton. And so Democrats spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to release their own internal polls in an effort to pressure some of the lower polling candidates to get out of this race so that Democrats could stop splitting this vote as much as they have. That didn't really have the impact that they wanted. It was the Eric Swallwell political earthquake that sort of changed this race altogether and took that sort of fear away. And I should tell you that no Republican has won statewide office in California since 2006. And that was Arnold Schwarzenegger when he won re-election after the recall. And so there is some consideration here that Steve Hilton may have a fighting chance if he does move on to the general. But I will say that that President Trump endorsement could prove to be a real liability for him.

[00:09:40]>> The money here is mindboggling, too, isn't it, Greg? I mean, it just goes up and up every year everywhere.

[00:09:45]>> Yeah. No kidding.

[00:09:46]>> Yeah. I mean, there's been a ton of money put into this race and Tom Styer, a guy that we've talking that we've talked about that has been sort of in that top three o of of candidates in this race. One of the Democrats here, he's a billionaire, former hedge fund manager. Uh he's an activist for for climate uh things and and one of he just broke the record for most expensive political advertising campaign for $195 million in ads. That is money he has spent on his own ads. and much of that money is his own money that he has spent in this campaign. And as if you recall, he also ran for president a few years back. And so he he is self-funding uh this thing. And so that is I mean you're talking about an astro astronomical amount of money and and that's just the money he spent on his campaign. That's not money against him or money that is being spent by the other candidates. So it is very clear that money is playing a big role in this thing. And if that pays off for Styr, we will see on Tuesday.

[00:10:40]>> Betty drives a nice car.

[00:10:42]>> Does he? Maybe, you know, a Bentley, potentially a Maserati, maybe >> potentially. I don't know.

[00:10:47]>> I should have been my followup for him, too.

[00:10:50]>> Greg, I'm glad to help. I'll give you my digits. Call me next time. Uh, Greg Lee from KTVU. Greg, we appreciate your time, my friend. Thank you so much.

[00:10:58]>> Thank you.

[00:10:58]>> Have a great weekend.

[00:10:59]>> Appreciate the time. Yeah, absolutely.