\u201cHere\u2019s what\u2019s going to happen starting a few months from now,\u201d Hilton said to the crowd. \u201cThe water will be flowing to our farmers. The oil will be flowing to our refineries. The forests will be managed.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hilton, in response to a question from The Center Square on Friday, said he doesn\u2019t see how a Democrat can win the governor\u2019s race in November.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t understand how a Democratic candidate has a chance of winning,\u201d Hilton told The Center Square. \u201cAfter 16 years of one-party rule that\u2019s ending in the highest poverty rate in the country, the highest unemployment rate in all 50 states, the highest cost of living. After all of this, the Democrats are asking for another four years of one-party rule? No way. They don\u2019t deserve another four minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n
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People attending the California Republican Convention in San Diego carry signs supporting candidates such as Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who’s running for governor, April 11, 2026.<\/p>\n
A recent Universit<\/a>y\u00a0of California, Berkeley poll<\/a> showed Hilton and fellow Republican gubernatorial candidate Chad Bianco, who’s the Riverside County sheriff, ahead of all other candidates, Republican or Democrat, with 17% and 16% of the vote respectively. Campaign signs and merchandise for both candidates were seen at the convention.<\/p>\n Gretha Solorzano<\/p>\n Former businesswoman Gretha Solorzano, a Republican candidate for governor, told The Center Square in an exclusive interview on Friday that she\u2019s focused on issues of affordability and solving California\u2019s budget woes.<\/p>\n The state faces a $35 billion a year budget deficit starting in fiscal year 2027-28, and the state\u2019s total bond debt stands at $99 billion.<\/p>\n Republican lawmakers in Sacramento have said that California doesn\u2019t have a revenue problem, but a spending problem. But Solorzano believes that the state has problems on both fronts. She said she wants to see the billions of dollars the state spends importing oil into the state pay for development of the oil industry instead.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are in a deficit because companies are leaving, 40% of our taxes are paid by the 1% of the population, so we are creating this environment in which wealth is leaving California,\u201d Solorzano told The Center Square. \u201cHow about we invest instead of shutting down our refineries and shutting down our wealth, how about actually using some of that money and invest it right here in California?\u201d<\/p>\n Solorzano said she would invest money the state collects in oil revenue to help spur job creation in the oil industry and manufacturing, which she wants to see come back to the state.<\/p>\n Solorzano also wants to use state money to pay for development of the state\u2019s water infrastructure, similar to Democratic Sen. Anna Caballero\u2019s 2025 bill, Senate Bill 72, which aims to develop 9 billion new acre-feet of water by 2040.<\/p>\n \u201cLook what that would do to our economy,\u201d Solorzano said. \u201cHousing prices would come down and food prices would come down. It would continue to sustain jobs in California.\u201d<\/p>\n Caballero told The Center Square in recent weeks that she envisions that bonds would pay for the development of additional water infrastructure. But Solorzano emphatically doesn\u2019t believe the state needs to go into additional bond debt to pay for water infrastructure development.<\/p>\n \u201cNo, no, absolutely not,\u201d Solorzano said when told Caballero wants to pay for SB 72 with bonds. \u201cWe have plenty of money. We need to bring revenues back to California and use our money.\u201d<\/p>\n Unlike her rivals in the governor\u2019s race, Solorzano did not know what Proposition 36 was. Prop. 36 was passed by California voters in 2024 and elevated certain drug-related and theft crimes from misdemeanors to felonies. The ballot measure passed by 68.4% of the vote statewide in November 2024. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom opposed the measure and allocated no new funding to enforcing Prop. 36 in his 2026-27 budget.<\/p>\n When asked if she would allocate money to enforcing Prop. 36, Solorzano asked for more information about what Prop. 36 was.<\/p>\n \u201cI think I would need to read more about it before I answered that,\u201d Solorzano said.<\/p>\n Rep. Jay Obernolte<\/p>\n U.S. Rep. Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia, spoke to a room full of Republicans from California\u2019s Central Valley on Saturday morning, saying that a challenge Republicans in Congress face now is narrow margins by which to pass legislation. Obernolte noted the\u00a0Republican-Democratic margin in Washington is still 218-214.<\/p>\n Three of the 435 seats are vacant. That means Republicans can pass legislation even if one Republican votes with Democrats – assuming the Democrats vote together.<\/p>\n All 435 seats will be voted on during the Nov. 3 midterm election.<\/p>\n David Serpa<\/p>\n Serpa, a candidate for state treasurer, told The Center Square on Saturday morning in an exclusive interview that he is concerned about fraudulent or wasteful spending in the state\u2019s budget. Serpa adopted the California Republican party\u2019s oft-quoted phrase, \u201cCalifornia doesn\u2019t have a revenue problem. It has a spending problem.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThey\u2019re not doing anything well, yet they keep increasing their budget without any sort of accountability,\u201d Serpa said.<\/p>\n The California Air Resources Board and programs and regulations instituted under the California Environmental Quality Act would be two of the first things Serpa would cut if he were elected to State Treasurer, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe already have federal oversight and federal regulations,\u201d Serpa said. \u201cWhy do we need more state oversight and regulations, and why do we need county oversight and regulations on top of that?\u201d<\/p>\n He also wants to develop the state\u2019s oil industry, and looks on the continual shutting down of the state\u2019s remaining oil refineries as an economic harm to the state. Regulations that limit drilling don\u2019t just drive oil refineries out of the state, but also increase gas prices for the Golden State\u2019s drivers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have deep oil reserves, some of the deepest oil reserves in the world, yet we\u2019re paying the most for gasoline,\u201d Serpa said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been shutting down oil refineries, we\u2019ve been shutting down nuclear power plants, and we can\u2019t be surprised when we\u2019ve got $6 gas and no one can afford their energy bill.\u201d<\/p>\n If he wins the election, Serpa said he wants to lower gas prices by allowing private businesses the chance to solve the problem he says government created by instituting too many regulations.<\/p>\n Tony Strickland<\/p>\n State Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, also told The Center Square on Saturday afternoon that while he sees California has a spending problem, not a revenue problem, there are certain programs he would like to cut to reduce government spending besides cutting waste and fraud.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s going to be some programs I can definitely cut,\u201d Strickland told The Center Square. \u201cHigh-speed rail is at the top of the list. Health care to undocumented immigrants. BART, because that should be a local thing that is done.\u201d BART – the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit District – received a $590 million loan in legislation signed by Newsom, a former San Francisco mayor.<\/p>\n Strickland also said he would like to see more concrete measures of success or failure in homelessness spending, which he would also cut.<\/p>\n According to the U.S. Department of Justice and news reports, millions of dollars were fraudulently spent on homelessness programs in California. One case involved a man who was accused of obtaining $23 million of taxpayer money that was meant to pay for homelessness services in Los Angeles and taking millions of dollars for himself.<\/p>\n Strickland also told The Center Square this weekend that a number of bills he introduced are aimed to reduce the cost of living in California and address issues of affordability. One bill, Senate Bill 1035, would suspend the state\u2019s gas tax for one year. The bill failed in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee in a bill hearing on March 19.<\/p>\n California has consistently had the highest gas prices in the nation for several years, and it has risen over a $1 a gallon since the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran started. On Saturday, the average was $5.90 a gallon, above the national average of $4.14.<\/p>\n A motorist pays $44.09 for putting 7.35 gallons of gas into his car at a Union 76 station in Anaheim, Calif., April 5, 2026.\u00a0Photo: Dave Mason \/ The Center Square<\/p>\n Another bill Strickland introduced, SB 926, aims to allocate $400 million of general fund money to funding enforcement of Proposition 36.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t recall the last initiative that passed all 58 counties,\u201d Strickland said of the popular measure. \u201cWe\u2019re gaining ground, actually. Not only did I introduce my bill, but I sent a letter to the budget lead, [Senator John] Laird, to fully fund that $400 million.\u201d<\/p>\n Another letter by Umberg, Blakespear and Richardson asked for the same amount of money to fund Prop. 36, Strickland said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re gaining momentum to get law enforcement the tools they need to keep us safe,\u201d Strickland said. \u201cDemocrats, independents and Republicans voted overwhelmingly to get this done. It shouldn\u2019t be this hard to get this funded \u2013 it should be the first thing funded, not the last.\u201d<\/p>\n Laurie Davies<\/p>\n Assemblymember Laurie Davies, R-Oceanside, told The Center Square on Friday that she doesn\u2019t want to cut any state agencies or programs to reduce state spending.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do not have a revenue problem,\u201d Davies said. \u201cIt\u2019s where the revenue is going and how it\u2019s being used. I think it\u2019s really important we stop the fraud, and we need to know what our budget is, get the accountability and then we know who the good actors are and who are actually performing and actually getting good results and what we need and those that aren\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n When asked who the bad actors are who waste taxpayer dollars, Davies couldn\u2019t answer the question.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we put money into programs, the programs are supposed to be doing something, whether it\u2019s health, education, whatever it may be, to better someone\u2019s life,\u201d Davies told The Center Square. \u201cYou have to look at them individually. I never want to put them under one label.\u201d<\/p>\n Davies also said that Prop. 36 funding could come from the general fund revenue or other funds allocated to public safety.<\/p>\n Just days after Trump endorsed Hilton for governor of California, Davies added that a Republican governor could still face the challenge of seeing any veto overridden by what will still likely be a Democratic supermajority in the legislature.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m not afraid of it,\u201d Davies said when asked if she is concerned that a Republican governor would have any veto overridden. \u201cIt would depend on whatever the legislation was.\u201d<\/p>\n President Donald Trump’s popularity among Republicans inspires a MAGA Teddy bear, seen at the California Republican Convention, in San Diego, April 11, 2026. Photo:\u00a0Madeline Shannon \/ The Center Square<\/p>\n Assemblymember Leticia Castillo, R-Corona, who is also running for re-election in November, declined to be interviewed on Saturday morning. Many of California\u2019s Republican state senators and Assembly members did not attend the conference in San Diego this weekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(The Center Square) \u2013 Candidates for various elected offices spoke Friday and Saturday about priorities regarding affordability, public…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263472,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[29736,7,9,8,383,1963,5121,1492,1748,9649],"class_list":{"0":"post-263471","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-affordability","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-california-headlines","11":"tag-california-news","12":"tag-economy","13":"tag-oil-and-gas","14":"tag-proposition-36","15":"tag-public-safety","16":"tag-republicans","17":"tag-taxpayers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263471","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=263471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263471\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263472"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
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