{"id":309665,"date":"2026-05-11T01:24:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T01:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/309665\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T01:24:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T01:24:10","slug":"california-governor-candidate-destroyed-for-post-about-street-taco-from-fast-food-chain-is-this-guy-british","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/309665\/","title":{"rendered":"California Governor candidate destroyed for post about \u2018street taco\u2019 from fast food chain: \u2018Is this guy British?\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

A British-born candidate for California governor<\/a> drew ridicule online after touting a \u201cstreet taco\u201d from a ubiquitous fast-food chain.<\/p>\n

Steve Hilton<\/a>, who is running as a Republican, posted a video Saturday after a campaign stop in Barstow, where he highlighted his purchase from Del Taco<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy am I holding a Barstow street taco right now?\u201d Hilton asked in the clip, standing beside a freeway in a button-down shirt. \u201cBecause I just bought it at this historic location.\u201d<\/p>\n

The camera then panned to a sign marking the local Del Taco, which opened in 1964 as the chain\u2019s first-ever restaurant before more than 500 locations popped up across the country. Hilton, a former Fox News commentator<\/a>, concluded: \u201cThere it is. My Barstow street taco. I\u2019m gonna enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The video quickly surpassed 700,000 views on X, drawing hundreds of critical comments, with some users deriding Hilton as a \u201cfake Californian\u201d for conflating fast-food fare with authentic local cuisine.<\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

Steve Hilton, who is running in California’s gubernatorial race as a Republican, was roasted online for his post about a ‘street taco’ from a fast food chain (@SteveHiltonx)<\/p>\n

\u201cHe calls it a \u2018Barstow street taco,\u2019\u201d wrote one user. \u201cInstantly disqualifying!\u201d<\/p>\n

Hilton, 56, protested: \u201cIt’s what they call it!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2018They\u2019 must not be Californians (much like yourself) if \u2018they\u2019 think a hard shell Del Taco abomination is an authentic street taco,\u201d the same commenter wrote back. \u201cStand down, sir, you are not fit for this fight.\u201d<\/p>\n

Numerous other users piled on.<\/p>\n

\u201cLol that\u2019s not a \u2018street taco\u2019 at all,\u201d wrote one, while another chimed in: \u201cI love Del Taco and the Barstow location but that is in no way, shape, or form a street taco.\u201d Another, apparently picking up on Hilton\u2019s accent, asked: \u201cIs this guy British?\u201d<\/p>\n

But what exactly constitutes is a street taco? Rooted in Mexico\u2019s culinary tradition, it\u2019s typically served on small, soft tortillas and filled with high-quality meats from roadside stands or carts \u2014 not brick-and-mortar restaurants \u2014 according to Mexican eatery La Vaka.<\/p>\n

Some commenters, however, appeared enthusiastic about Hilton\u2019s taco-touting promotional video.<\/p>\n

\u201cHands down the Best Del Taco! Hope you visit our Victorville area,\u201d one X user wrote.<\/p>\n

\"On<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Hilton joined six other gubernatorial hopefuls on the debate stage in Los Angeles (Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Hilton, a British\u2013American political commentator, was born in London and studied at Oxford University. He later served as head of strategy for David Cameron and remained a key figure in Cameron\u2019s circle when he became prime minister of the U.K.in 2010.<\/p>\n

After leaving the heart of British politics, Hilton and his family moved to California, where he became a U.S. citizen in 2021. He taught at Stanford University and joined Fox News first as a contributor and later as the host of The Next Revolution with Steve Hilton, which ended in 2017.<\/p>\n

In April of this year, Hilton officially launched his campaign for governor of California as a Republican, joining a crowded field of candidates<\/a> vying to succeed term\u2011limited Democratic incumbent Gavin Newsom<\/a>. He was endorsed by President Donald Trump last month.<\/p>\n

He has surged in recent polling, especially after former Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who resigned from Congress amid sexual\u2011misconduct allegations, bowed out of the race. Swalwell has denied any wrongdoing.<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Hilton was one of seven candidates \u2014 five of them Democrats \u2014 to participate in a televised debate in Los Angeles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Under California\u2019s open primary system, all candidates appear on the same ballot on June 2, regardless of party. The top two vote getters will then advance to the general election in November.<\/p>\n

If he wins, Hilton would become California\u2019s third foreign\u2011born governor, following Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was born in Austria, and John Downey, who was born in Ireland.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A British-born candidate for California governor drew ridicule online after touting a \u201cstreet taco\u201d from a ubiquitous fast-food…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":309666,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[10292,130006,130008,7,2926,9,8,8133,17382,130007],"class_list":["post-309665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-barstow","tag-barstow-street","tag-barstow-street-taco","tag-california","tag-california-governor","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-del-taco","tag-steve-hilton","tag-street-taco"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309665","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=309665"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309665\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/309666"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=309665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=309665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=309665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}