BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) \u2014 There are less than four months until California voters decide the top two candidates for California\u2019s highest office. That\u2019s why some governor hopefuls are making stops in the Golden Empire.<\/p>\n
A row of Kern County residents lined up to shake hands with governor hopeful Steve Hilton after a two-hour town hall meeting. After answering questions about California\u2019s energy crisis, new oil permits and agriculture, Hilton spoke to 17 News about his recent stop in Kern County.<\/p>\n
Watch \u2018After Sunrise\u2019 on KGET+; Click to learn how to get KGET+ on your smart TV devices <\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s fantastic to be here in Bakersfield to do this town hall. We call it the Cal Affordable Tour, because the plan that I\u2019m laying out \u2026 a lot of the specific things that I\u2019m actually announcing as policies during the campaign have come from these town halls,\u201d said Steve Hilton.<\/p>\n Hilton\u2019s arrival comes as tensions grow between the former Fox News host and Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco.<\/p>\n Hilton labeled the Riverside Sheriff \u201cBLM Bianco\u201d over a video of him taking a knee at a Black Lives Matter protest in 2020.<\/p>\n Hilton also called Bianco a \u201cshifty\u201d sheriff.<\/p>\n The top two candidates with the most votes, regardless of party, will be on the ballot in the November midterm election.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s my responsibility to make the case that the Republican Party needs to get behind one candidate, so we don\u2019t split the vote and it needs to be the strongest candidate,\u201d said Hilton. \u201cMy Republican opponent has just got too much baggage to be the champion for change that we need.\u201d<\/p>\n Bianco fought back by calling Hilton the \u201cGavin Newsom of the Republican Party\u201d and a \u201cnarcissist.\u201d<\/p>\n Hilton laughed when I asked him about that.<\/p>\n \u201cWell, I just think that we shouldn\u2019t be making these sort of petty insults. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s what it should be about,\u201d said Hilton. \u201cI think it should be about serious points and about your character and leadership and the policy agenda that you\u2019re setting forward.\u201d<\/p>\n But Hilton was not the only candidate taking a pit stop in Bakersfield.<\/p>\n Former California Controller Betty Yee spoke on some of the key takeaways from her campaign which began in March of 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot is happening with respect to policies that are hitting California,\u201d said Yee. \u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of anxiety about, you know, just what\u2019s to come for California\u2019s future in the near term.\u201d<\/p>\n Yee shared what separates her from other candidates.<\/p>\n