{"id":340881,"date":"2026-06-01T02:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T02:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/340881\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T02:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T02:43:10","slug":"california-governor-candidate-steve-hilton-reveals-his-first-major-move-if-he-wins-election","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/340881\/","title":{"rendered":"California governor candidate Steve Hilton reveals his first major move if he wins election"},"content":{"rendered":"

Steve Hilton has vowed to investigate Gavin Newsom for fraud<\/a> as his first act as California governor if he wins the election.<\/p>\n

The California Post can reveal the Republican gubernatorial candidate\u2019s first executive order will target Newsom and Attorney General Rob Bonta over what he claims is $425 billion in fraud.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe potential loss of hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars through fraud, waste, abuse, corruption and mismanagement represents one of the greatest public integrity failures in California history,\u201d Hilton wrote in his planned executive order, obtained by The Post.<\/p>\n

California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton speaks during a campaign event on Sunday, May 31, 2026, in Santa Monica. AP Photo\/Benjamin Hanson<\/p>\n

Hilton plans on appropriating $100 million to establish the California Taxpayer Fraud Strike Force, a statewide initiative that will prioritize investigations in homelessness spending, Medi-Cal, public assistance programs and contracts, as well as findings identified by the state auditor among other things.<\/p>\n

But, the Strike Force\u2019s first order of business will review \u201cwhether actions or omissions by current or former state officials, included but not limited to former governor Gavin Newsom and former Attorney General Rob Bonta contributed to the continuation of fraud, waste, abuse, or unlawful expenditures despite repeated warnings from auditors and oversight agencies.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The investigation will determine whether Newsom and Bonta\u2019s actions<\/a> during the past five years constitutes \u201ccriminal negligence,\u201d according to the executive order.\u00a0<\/p>\n

California Gov. Gavin Newsom speaks about his state budget proposal Thursday, May 14, 2026, in Sacramento. AP Photo\/Jeff Chiu<\/p>\n

Hilton\u2019s announcement comes just days before the state\u2019s primary election, as candidates make their final pitch to voters. <\/p>\n

In addition to tackling fraud, the Republican candidate<\/a> outlined how he intends to bring down the state\u2019s cost of living, while putting more money in people\u2019s pockets.<\/p>\n

Hilton sat down with Billy Bush on over the weekend to discuss his plan dubbed Cal-Affordable, which the Republican candidate says will revolutionize the state\u2019s cost of living<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cYour first $100,00 tax free, $3 gas, electric bills cut in half, a home you can afford to buy. All of those things have policy reforms attached,\u201d Hilton said Sunday on Hot Mics with Billy Bush.\u00a0<\/p>\n

California Attorney General Rob Bonta speaks at a press conference addressing the dismantling of a Los Angleles hospice insurance fraud ring in Los Angeles. Jonathan Alcorn For CA Post<\/p>\n

Californians pay roughly 33 cents per kilowatt-hour, nearly double the national average, according to federal energy data.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Trump endorsed candidate blamed the state\u2019s clean energy policies, including the Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) and the Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) for driving up prices.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hilton promised to end the wind and solar mandates<\/a> and subsidies, while prioritizing natural gas and nuclear energy \u2014 claiming those reforms alone will drastically reduce electric bills, according to his campaign website.<\/p>\n

When it comes to $3 gas, Hilton detailed a four-point plan that includes eliminating the environmental programs like the cap-and-trade system, suspend the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, reduce the 60 cents per gallon gas tax in half, and expand domestic oil production.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The sentiment surrounding unaffordable housing is also a key issue for voters.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hilton blamed Democratic policies for making homebuilding too costly, and vowed reduce the red tape and entry fees to encourage construction. He also plans to fast-track the approval process for starter home projects, according to his campaign website.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Here is the latest on the 2026 California governors race<\/p>\n

\u201cSo there\u2019s all these specific changes, very practical things, we\u2019re going to put it in the budget, send it to the legislature say let\u2019s get it done,\u201d Hilton said on the podcast. \u201cLet\u2019s help people directly cut their costs. That\u2019s the quickest, simplest thing that we can do to help people is take less from them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The latest poll from the California Post<\/a> shows Hilton tied for the lead with Democrat Tom Steyer at 25%, while Xavier Becerra, the former Health and Human Services secretary under the Biden administration is in third, with 19% support.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, other polls list Becerra as the frontrunner, with Hilton and Steyer trailing.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Voters will decide on Tuesday whether California remains a Democratic stronghold, or if a Republican will take the state\u2019s top position for the first time in more than two decades.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Steve Hilton has vowed to investigate Gavin Newsom for fraud as his first act as California governor if…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":340882,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,46666,9,8,989,13,17382,25299,3586,3707],"class_list":["post-340881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-governor-election-2026","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-elections","tag-politics","tag-steve-hilton","tag-tom-steyer","tag-us-news","tag-xavier-becerra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340881","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=340881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/340881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=340881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=340881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=340881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}