In central Los Angeles, the posters and graffiti are not about the messy, crowded Californian governor race, but about fuel prices, ICE and homelessness.
For everyday residents of America’s second-biggest city, disillusionment with state-level politics is rife.
More than a dozen people interviewed by The Telegraph said they were uninspired by the Democratic candidate selection and didn’t feel that any of those aspiring for office understood the economic pain they are suffering.
“It’s not about red or blue, it’s about the situation that Californians are facing,” said Alfonso Rodriguez, a parking lot attendant.
“People want change, someone to disrupt things, and that is Steve Hilton.”
The 56-year-old English-born Republican has carved an unlikely path to victory in Tuesday’s primary in one of America’s bluest states.
In the final sprint, the latest polls suggest Mr Hilton, a Donald Trump-endorsed former adviser to David Cameron, has a chance of winning the largest governorship in America.
The most expensive primary in California’s history is unfolding as the state struggles with a stalling economy, persistent homelessness, wildfire recovery and a housing shortage.
Mr Hilton embraces a supporter during a campaign event in Santa Monica – AP
Voters are, like the rest of America, struggling with the rising cost of fuel, food and other bills. All the candidates have been hell-bent on focusing on affordability.
Mr Hilton has been spouting the term “Cali-ffordability” a lot. He has run a campaign on promises to fix the cost-of-living crisis with significant tax cuts — including tax free income for the first $100,000), low energy costs, and housing construction to “Make California Golden Again”.
He wants to create a “CalDOGE,” (a nod to Elon Musk’s department of government efficiency), pledged to end the “bloated, nanny-state bureaucracy”, and dismissed a proposed billionaire tax as “insane”. As a result, billionaires opened their check books.
Mr Hilton is fighting to be one of two candidates who will compete in the run-off in November. California holds a “jungle primary”, which means the top two advance regardless of party, punishing fragmentation.
Mr Hilton, Xavier Becerra and Tom Steyer at a debate hosted by the San Francisco Examiner and CBS – Reuters
But the wildcard is polling close to two Democratic candidates: Xavier Becerra – considered boring and bumbling, but proficient – and the other, Tom Steyer, a tax-the-rich environmentalist billionaire who has spent more than $200 million on his campaign.
For months, the Democrats failed to rally around a candidate after Eric Swalwell’s campaign imploded over sexual misconduct allegations. The incumbent, Gavin Newsom, cannot seek a third term and is widely expected to make a presidential run in 2028.
There had been significant fears that, with the vote split and Democratic candidates spending most of their time fighting each other, there would be a Republican “lockout” with two Republicans advancing to the run-off.
The polls now show this is far from likely. Mr Becerra, the former state attorney general and Joe Biden’s health secretary during the pandemic, has 25 per cent support, followed by Mr Hilton at 21 per cent. Mr Steyer trails closely at 19 per cent.
If Mr Hilton were to win the primary, the real challenge would come next. There has not been a Republican governor in California since Arnold Schwarzenegger, first elected in 2003.
Mr Trump’s endorsement helped him to pull away from his Republican contender — Chad Bianco, an ICE-loving, cowboy sheriff now sitting at 16 per cent — could become the kiss of death.
Gary South, a political strategist who has run four Democratic governor campaigns, said the best and worst thing to happen to Mr Hilton was the endorsement of Mr Trump.
He called it a “great irony, given that this is the very thing that will damage him in the run-off in November”.
Raised in Brighton by Hungarian refugees who fled communism, Mr Hilton attended boarding school and then Oxford University, before as a fresh-faced 20-something going to work for the Conservative party while Margaret Thatcher was prime minister.
There was a stint in the business world, where he started a consulting firm and opened a restaurant, before he rejoined politics. Mr Hilton played an influential role in modernising the Tory party, steering it towards a more socially liberal, 21st-century British Conservatism. In 2010, he became David Cameron’s director of strategy.
Inside Westminster, he was seen as a disruptor – both ridiculed and revered. He became known for walking corridors in shorts with no shoes, frustrating colleagues with his constant barrage of wild ideas.
Mr Hilton at a protest gaainst the participation of a transgender athlete in the 106th California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) State Track & Field Championships – San Francisco Chronicle
Some of them became genuine campaigns, such as “hug a hoodie”, while others saw him laughed out of the room. He infamously once suggested the UK should invest in cloud-busting technology to improve the weather. He was unsparingly satirised in the BBC’s political comedy The Thick Of It.
Andy Coulson, former Downing Street communications chief, described him as someone often lacking a grasp on reality. Writing in The Telegraph, he said: “We clashed only when Hilton Airways set a course for La-La-Land with policies that promised, in an instant, to make us happier, more powerful and altogether cooler citizens… all to be announced against the backdrop of historic budget cuts.”
Mr Hilton lasted two years before moving to California in 2012, where he joined his wife, who works for Google, and started a political crowdfunding platform in Silicon Valley.
A few years later, he joined Fox News, hosting a show called The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton. It last aired in 2023. A podcast followed, which he defined as a “non-partisan home for everyone who wants to see change from the worsening consequences of one-party rule” in California.
Mr Hilton’s move into Maga-land raised some eyebrows in the UK, where he was known for his hippyish liberalism.
In 2021, he officially became an American citizen. He has never lost his British public school accent, which strategists say will turn off some voters. Nor has he lost his disregard for formal attire.
Steve Hilton (right) with David Cameron during a visit to the Arctic in 2006 – PA
One political insider scoffed at seeing Mr Hilton campaigning last week in a T-shirt and yellow socks. “Running around like that with his English accent, it’s not traditionally what real Republicans would support,” they told The Telegraph.
However, Mr Hilton appears a more radical outlier to the unsurprising pack of 62 candidates.
Matt Rexroad, a political strategist who has worked on multiple Republican governor campaigns, said Mr Hilton has “done surprisingly well among hardcore Republicans”.
He cautioned, though, his campaign lacks policy depth. “It’s more about the ideas, catching people’s attention.”
That might suffice, for now.
The “barefoot revolutionary”, as he was once dubbed during his Westminster days, and his unorthodox ways might be enough to engage the disillusioned, undecided voters who feel left behind.