California Governor Race: Steve Hilton Leads Polls, Warns of Newsom’s "Break Glass" Plan

Added: 2026-05-21

[00:00:00]Let's talk to our friend Steve Hilton, though. We're going to shift gears to California from down here in the South Florida Cuba area.

[00:00:07]Um Steve, you actually can Let me just say it.

[00:00:11]You actually can win this thing. I like this is pretty amazing. Governor California, you actually can win Tell everybody what's going on. It's amazing.

[00:00:18]Uh it's it's very simply, we are done in California. We are done with the Democrats. Um and uh you see and I saw you talking about this, Clay. I saw you on uh just last night talking about it. We've got um on Fox, we've got my campaign, which is we're leading in the polls in California in the governor's race. You got Spencer Pratt and all the energy there in Los Angeles. And I know it's a difficult environment this year for Republicans. We all know that. Although you're seeing um some great signs that that may be um overstated, but certainly in California, it is time for change.

[00:00:53]That age-old political message is just so strongly felt. And we're leading in the polls, looking good for the primary.

[00:01:01]I don't take anything for granted. It's June the 2nd, but election day is today and yesterday and tomorrow because it's early voting for a month now. And um I'm just feeling very optimistic that we really can get this done and save California and thereby help the whole country to stop our biggest state drifting further into total insanity and decline. Yeah, I did say on Jesse Watters show last night, Steve, thanks for joining us, that I'm very optimistic about your campaign and also Spencer Pratt's campaign. I have a ton of really good friends in LA and they are talking about your campaigns uh in many ways connected because what it represents is just extreme frustration with the way things are being done right now. And I'm sure you're picking up on that energy.

[00:01:47]Uh but I I I'm curious how much overlap you see between the momentum that Spencer Pratt is developing in LA and the momentum that you're developing as governor and whether there are uh kinships there in terms of why you're connecting with people.

[00:02:02]Yeah, it's really interesting. I look, we're very very different people, different races. Spencer's campaign is for mayor of LA. That is one city among 80 or so within Los Angeles County, a huge county, largest in the country, 10 million people, 23% of the total vote in California.

[00:02:19]But his race is a non-partisan race.

[00:02:22]I'm running as a Republican statewide, very different. But the thing that we have in common, and I really see all the time, you know, the memes being generated, and and people saying I vote vote Spencer Pratt for save LA, vote Steve Hilton save California, is that we're both outsiders. We've never run for office before, and we're just not afraid to point out the total failure and corruption of this Democrat machine that's been running LA, that's been running California without any check or balance or challenge for 16 years now statewide. They've run absolutely everything, and the results are a total disaster, a complete failure on every front. Highest poverty rate in the nation, highest unemployment rate in the nation, highest cost of living by far.

[00:03:05]US News & World World Report ranks California 50th out of 50 states for opportunity, of all things. We're supposed to be number one in that.

[00:03:12]That's the whole image of California is the land of opportunity. We're 50th.

[00:03:17]We're for business climate. Again, we think of ourselves as a great state of innovation. Of course, we are. I've just been touring an incredible pistachio plant in the Central Valley. You should see the incredible innovation and automation that goes into that. But yet, Chief Executive Magazine ranks California 50th out of 50 states for business climate. Everywhere you look, it's a failure. On top of that, they've doubled the budget. We have the highest taxes in the country for the worst results. Newsom has doubled the budget in the last 10 years, and every single thing is worse. What you're seeing in California is the far left progressive governance experiment tested to destruction. They've had everything they've they wanted. They could get every policy, every insane idea, everything they wanted they've got in California, and we now see the results.

[00:04:07]Total failure.

[00:04:09]You mentioned pistachios, Steve. Have you ever tried pistachio creme brulee?

[00:04:13]Just wondering, side note here.

[00:04:15]Well, that isn't I don't think I have. I just I just eaten a ton. Basically, this is >> But do you Will you at least agree, Steve? I'm I'm on a big Steve Hilton kick here. I think you're going to win the governor's race.

[00:04:26]Will you agree, no matter what my friend Clay here says, that pistachio ice cream is in fact a top-tier flavor?

[00:04:33]Oh my goodness, it's amazing. I totally agree with that. Yeah. Clay thinks you have to do the top hat and a monocle on.

[00:04:40]He's very >> Bob should do the show with a top hat and a monocle on because he has the highest end, most most expensive taste on the planet. I don't Pistachio ice cream is not even in the top 25 best ice cream flavors. That's the craziest thing you've That's the craziest thing he's ever said.

[00:04:56]Massive fight here going to going to be developing, so I don't know when we're going to hash it all out. Have some kind of taste test. It's incredible. Well, you know what? We'll come to the governor's mansion when you win, and we'll have an ice cream taste test, okay? But how do we get you there at this point?

[00:05:09]Where are we with the Democrats that you're opposing?

[00:05:12]Uh obviously, the Swalwell thing I mean, it's the fastest destruction of a political career I've ever seen in my life, honestly. I I don't think anyone's ever gone up in flames faster than that guy, and he was the heir apparent to Gavin Newsom. So, where do things stand now with the people that want to keep ruining what I think should be the most beautiful state in America. And it And it really would be if they weren't ruining it.

[00:05:33]Yeah, and by the way, just let's not forget that the entire Democrat political elite and establishment and machine were getting behind Swalwell.

[00:05:41]The teacher unions, the SEIU, all these big unions, Adam Schiff, the Pelosi cronies, all of them getting behind him knowing everything about his reputation and all of this stuff. So, let's just not let them get away with that. Where we are right now, uh new poll out yesterday, which is pretty much in line with all the other polls, is actually um the Democratic Party did this one. Um I'm leading the I think the numbers yesterday, I'm on 22%. Xavier Becerra, 21%, the billionaire climate fanatic Tom Steyer, who let's remember has spent it Wait for the number. 193 million dollars so far.

[00:06:19]Right? A Nearly 200 million dollars he's spent of his own money. He's at 15%. The other Republican, Chad Bianco, at 10%.

[00:06:27]Everyone else below that, including, I'm very sorry to say, Katie Porter, who seems to have been fading lately. I was so looking forward to all the mashed potato jokes that um would have ensued if she was my opponent in the general election. Looks like she's not going to make it. It feels very much like it's going to be me and Xavier Becerra. Biden's utterly useless HHS secretary.

[00:06:49]>> Wow.

[00:06:49]>> How bad do you have to be? You've got Biden administration officials openly mocking him, uh joking about how this they cannot believe that he's in this position. And you got to ask yourself, how useless do you have to be if Joe Biden and his team think that you're incompetent.

[00:07:09]Steve, you're a business guy. You've got a business background. If you spent 200 million dollars as a Democrat to get in the top two of the California governor's race, like Steyer did, and you didn't get into the top two of the California governor's race, despite spending 200 million dollars, what would you do? I mean, it's kind of a it's kind of its own endorsement of his incompetence that despite trying to run for an office that Democrats have owned for for for decades now, and having more money probably than almost everybody else does combined, he can't even get in the top two?

[00:07:47]It's insane. Also, remember that Tom Steyer pathetically, um because he's so desperate this has been running around sucking up to every union and far-left activist group. And that's why he's got these insane positions, you know, abolishing ICE, bring He's actually talked about bringing back to America illegal immigrant criminals who've been deported. He wants single-payer health care. Um you know, all these things he's been saying to get the endorsement and backing of all these leftist groups, and he's still only at 15% in the latest poll. Um it's just unbelievable.

[00:08:22]I know we we really just want everyone to be focused in cuz we have a very large California audience cuz Steve, as you can imagine, uh we have great stations including like uh KEIB in Los Angeles, and we we've stations, you know, throughout the state in the major cities, uh Sacramento. Uh but we've got people who feel like they're a little bit behind communist lines, right? So, we we can bring some sanity to them, and you talking to them does the same thing uh right now. With all that with all that in mind, I'm just curious if you could help us read the tea leaves a little bit. Who do you think is the more powerful brand out of California right now? Again, from the opposition, Gavin or Kamala?

[00:08:59]Cuz you know that that's coming.

[00:09:01]Oh, for sure. Um I think that Gavin's going to going to have the energy. I really do. I wanted to play this for you, Steve. This is Gavin Newsom saying, "Hey, I've got a plan if by chance things aren't going my way in California." Cut 31.

[00:09:16]>> We all have agencies, we can shape the future. There's still a lot of Look, I I've said this before, so I'll repeat it. I don't anticipate this need to be the case, but there is a like break the glass scenario. And I there's many people that have a deep understanding of what it would look like if Democrats were locked out, and we're going to do everything to make sure that doesn't happen.

[00:09:36]What do you think he's talking about doing, Steve, and how involved do you think Gavin's going to be in a race that really is for his successor?

[00:09:46]Well, it's it's a And by the way, this is one of the reasons I hate this whole ridiculous top-two system because instead of discussing how we're going to cut taxes and and the insane regulations and the gender ideology, all this insanity in California, we're discussing the minutiae of who's in the top two and how the math works out. But that is the system, so let's get into it. What Gavin Newsom desperately wants is two Democrats in the top two because he knows that if you have two Democrats in the top two, then there'll be no discussion of his record in the general election campaign in California because it'll all be about how far left they can go, outbidding each other. If it's Becerra versus Styer, which is what Gavin Newsom wants, they won't be talking about how useless Gavin Newsom has been. If it's me, that obviously is what I'll be talking about because we're going to be making the point that we need change. Another point, if there's a prospect of a Republican governor taking office in the at the beginning of next year, that is a disaster for Newsom's presidential campaign because A, he'll be entering the Democrat primary having just lost his home state of California, the crown jewel of the Democrat machine.

[00:11:03]Secondly, when I take office and I'm cleaning up the mess that he left behind, I'll be not just helping everyone in California, I'll be helping everyone across the country understand exactly what a disaster Gavin Newsom would be as president. So he's trying to avoid that. And what he's actually trying to do here is raise the prospect of two Republicans in the final as a boogeyman and trying to keep alive and here's how it works. There's There's other Republican in the race, Chad Bianco. He's far behind me as I mentioned in the polls just now. Uh I'm on 22% he's on 10%. He can't actually make it in the top two. But what Newsom and the Democrats want is for his vote to go up so that you end up with two Democrats taking those top slots. So there's a very simple point that everyone needs to understand right now in California who hasn't voted yet. A vote for the other A lot of people may be saying, "Look, Steve Hilton looks like he's got this. He's leading in the polls. I can try and get the other Republican in the top two by voting for him." No.

[00:12:05]That is a disaster because that is how we would end up with two Democrats.

[00:12:09]We've got to get behind the leading Republican, that's me, to make sure that we get a Republican in the final. Every vote right now for Chad Bianco, the other Republican, is actually a vote for two Democrats in the top two. Very important we understand that.

[00:12:25]Uh AB Hernandez, this is really crazy.

[00:12:28]It's been going on for multiple years now. This is a boy pretending to be a girl winning multiple girls championships. Are you hearing about it on the uh campaign trail? Very much so.

[00:12:38]And in fact, I This is This is a track and field championships, California track and field championships, and it was last year a year ago. Um I actually went there to announce my position on this and and how I've um got a very strong commitment to overturn the law that set up this insanity of biological males in girls sports and in locker rooms and and all the rest of This is a bill that was passed 13 years ago, AB 1266. It's a good example of how this far-left insanity starts in California and then infects the rest of the country. 13 years we've been living with this. Well, I'm going to overturn that bill and we're going to end this insanity in California. And yet again, it's happening this year in this year's championships. And it's just an outrage.

[00:13:21]I mean, in fact, there's a fantastic campaign of Sophia who who um gave me a wristband uh back back a year ago when I announced this position at the press conference with a campaigning against this insanity. The wrist band says save girls sports, and I promised her then I would wear it until I actually do it, and that's what I will do as governor.

[00:13:40]Steve Hilton everybody, he's running for governor. I think he can pull it off.

[00:13:45]He's got a beard now, Clay. Bearded Steve Hilton, he's coming through with the W everybody. It's happening.