Republican Steve Hilton surges ahead in California governor\u2019s race<\/a><\/p>\nRepublican political strategist Rob Stutzman said Steyer\u2019s inability to reach double figures shows a ceiling for how effective the self-funding candidate\u2019s ad buying can be.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis money may not really be working to elevate him,\u201d Stutzman said.<\/p>\n
Steyer is \u201cnakedly\u201d trying to win the endorsements of California\u2019s powerful unions, he said, promising to pursue progressive policies if he\u2019s elected governor.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome might suggest he\u2019s pandering \u2014 but that\u2019s how you win a close election,\u201d Stutzman said.<\/p>\n
However, some rank-and-file union members may have a hard time with backing a billionaire, according to Democratic consultant Andrew Acosta.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really complicated for him to walk that [line],\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
All-GOP election?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s still a small possibility that Hilton and Bianco both emerge from the crowded primary, Stutzman said \u2014 \u201cunlikely, but you can\u2019t write that off yet.\u201d<\/p>\n
He gave the scenario a 10% chance of happening, though Stutzman said Democrats would likely immediately work to recall the new governor in that scenario.<\/p>\n
\u201cMathematically, it could happen,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Hilton\u2019s current lead over Bianco comes particularly from independents, according to the poll. But 30% of independents and 22% of Democrats say they are still undecided.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a very large swath that\u2019s up for grabs,\u201d Acosta said.<\/p>\n
No more \u2018smoke-filled rooms\u2019<\/p>\n
With the California Democratic Convention coming this weekend and the March 6 filing deadline looming, time is running out for candidates to drop out of the race.<\/p>\n
Acosta thinks party insiders are unlikely to convince many contenders to withdraw from the wide-open contest.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the days of the smoke-filled room are sort of over,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Stutzman said former Los Angeles Mayor and Assembly Speaker Antonio Villaraigosa is a candidate to watch in the next week, though. The strategist said the Democratic candidate is currently spending big on TV ads to see if he can break through in the polls.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf not, I would think he\u2019s a top candidate to maybe not stay in this race past the filing deadline,\u201d Stutzman said.<\/p>\n
Full interview with Lim\u00f3n<\/p>\n
Inside California Politics host Nikki Laurenzo sat down with Monique Lim\u00f3n for an interview about the new Senate president pro tem\u2019s first session as the chamber\u2019s top Democrat.<\/p>\n
Lim\u00f3n, the first Latina to hold the position, said leadership in the Legislature wasn\u2019t something she planned for when she was first elected to the Assembly in 2016.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis wasn\u2019t something that I necessarily saw for myself, in part because there haven\u2019t been a lot of people like myself in these roles,\u201d she said. \u201cI think you don\u2019t always envision those things that you can\u2019t imagine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Senate leader discussed other topics, including her caucus\u2019 approach to the deficit.<\/p>\n
One-time fixes won\u2019t achieve the long-term savings the state needs, Lim\u00f3n said.<\/p>\n
Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n
For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to FOX40 News. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Inside California Politics) \u2014 This week on Inside California Politics, two political insiders break down an exclusive poll…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":188785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8,400,28687,15222,24115,63897,31000,88683,17382,25299],"class_list":{"0":"post-188784","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news","11":"tag-california-politics","12":"tag-chad-bianco","13":"tag-democratic-candidate","14":"tag-eric-swalwell","15":"tag-monique-limon","16":"tag-nikki-laurenzo","17":"tag-political-strategist","18":"tag-steve-hilton","19":"tag-tom-steyer"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/188785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}