President Donald Trump delivers an announcement on his Homeland Security Task Force in the State Dining Room of the White House on Thursday, Oct. 23, 2025, in Washington, D.C.
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President Donald Trump’s backing of Steve Hilton for governor has blunted some suspense ahead of this weekend’s California Republican convention, where delegates will try to unify the party amid dimming midterm election prospects.
The focal point of the convention, which begins Friday morning in San Diego, will be the party’s potential endorsement for governor. The two candidates, Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, must receive 60% of the delegates’ support to secure it.
Several Republican political experts and consultants say they believed Bianco was slightly favored to receive the endorsement until Trump weighed in on Sunday night. In a Truth Social post, the president said he had known Hilton, a former Fox News host, for years and believed “Steve can turn” California around “before it is too late.” Prior to Trump’s endorsement, some Democrats had worried about the minimal chances of a Republican versus Republican general election.
“It makes the CRP endorsement much less important, because, among Republican voters, the president is still very popular, and his endorsement is probably better than anything you could get from a California Republican Party convention,” said Matt Rexroad, a GOP consultant.
Rexroad said Trump’s announcement this week makes it more likely that Hilton receives the endorsement or neither candidate reached the 60% threshold.
Mike Madrid, a longtime Republican voting expert and founder of the anti-Trump Lincoln Project, said the California GOP has essentially been directed by the president to vote for Hilton.
“If the don’t, it’s going to be a rebuke of the president and that’s not tolerated,” Madrid said
More broadly, the convention will offer California Republicans an opportunity to rally ahead of what is expected to be another tough election year. The party already faced the challenges of California’s Democratic supermajority, but are now dealing with the implementation of Proposition 50 — a voter approved redistricting initiative to oust some Republican members of Congress.
“For one glorious 72-hour weekend, all of the Republicans in that hotel can feel like they’re a major political party in California,” said Jon Fleischman, a former executive director of the state Republican Party.
This year’s convention is titled “Turning The Tide, Together,” which is both a reference to California’s supermajority for Democrats in the Legislature and the host city.
“We never go without a fight,” said Matt Shupe, the communications director for the California Republican Party. “And I actually think the wind is to our back. We see a lot of momentum. There’s a lot of people that are very frustrated with the status quo.”
Fleischman described the party as “in the middle of a Rocky movie.” At this point in the iconic films, the main character — Sylvester Stallone — often faces his most adversity.
“You can’t really have the big win at the end unless it goes bad in the middle,” Fleischman said. “Right now, there are millions of more Democrats than Republicans in California, and it’s getting worse.”
Fleischman said the main hurdle is that a party is defined by its president, and Trump has lost support among the public. Earlier this month, amid climbing gas prices and the war in Iran, Trump’s approval rating dipped below 40% for the first time in his second term, according to a daily average of polls.
“There’s a potential wave here coming for Democrats,” he said. “The only good news if there’s a wave here for Democrats is that Republicans are in such bad shape in California, there’s not much to knock us out of.”
The convention, which will be held at the Sheraton San Diego Resort, ends Sunday.
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Mathew Miranda is a political reporter for The Sacramento Bee’s Capitol Bureau, covering how decisions in Washington, D.C., affect the lives of Californians. He is a proud son of Salvadoran immigrants and earned degrees from Chico State and UC Berkeley.