\n\tA November California election will see a television personality make a run after all.<\/p>\n
A day after Spencer Pratt\u00a0was eliminated<\/a>\u00a0from the L.A. mayoral race, former Fox News<\/a> host Steve Hilton<\/a> clinched second place in the California gubernatorial primary and will face Biden-era\u00a0HHS secretary Xavier Becerra<\/a> in the general election. The British-born newbie candidate held off progressive Tom Steyer<\/a>, who had been nipping at Hilton\u2019s heels as votes rolled in but could never quite close the gap.<\/p>\n The Republican Hilton held a lead of at least 300,000 votes and four percentage points over Steyer pretty much since the primary\u00a0a week ago, even as Becerra passed him for first place several days in. On Tuesday, with a fresh vote drop of more than 600,000 ballots, Steyer closed the gap slightly. But Hilton still maintained a lead of 200,000 votes and 2.5 percentage points after the vote drop. With just 9% of votes remaining to be counted, the AP late Tuesday called the race.<\/p>\n The move ends the progressive billionaire Steyer\u2019s bid to reform California with a series of activist, worker-centric, AI-regulatory and environmentally aggressive policy proposals, as well as a\u00a0staunchly opposing <\/a>position on the Paramount purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery. He spent a nationwide high $200 million+ on the effort, but still acquitted himself well with more than two million votes. Liberal scenarists will be left wondering what if, though, as Congresswoman Katie Porter will end up notching more than 400,000 votes \u2014 enough, potentially, to have given Steyer the win had the fellow liberal Democrat dropped out.<\/p>\n A former strategist for Tory prime minister David Cameron in England, Hilton arrived in Silicon Valley with his wife Rachel Whetsone in the early 2010\u2019s as she worked a series of high-profile comms jobs at Google, Uber and Netflix. During that time, Hilton was an entrepreneur and also hosted a Sunday Fox News show for six years; while arguing for conservative positions, he stood out on the network with a more inclusive, less tendentious vibe than some of his colleagues.<\/p>\n Hilton also had a different kind of television fame back in the U.K. with the buzzword-loving political spinmeister Stewart Pearson in Armando Iannucci\u2019s political satire\u00a0In the Thick of It,\u00a0based on him.<\/p>\n Hilton faces a tough challenge in his bid to stop Becerra \u2014 in addition to having the backing of Donald Trump in a frequently anti-Trump state, Hilton also must defy partisan gravity. A Republican has not won the governorship since Arnold Schwarzenegger last did it in 2006 \u2014 in fact, a Republican has failed to reach 41% of the vote count since that time.<\/p>\n Hilton will seek to build a campaign on exactly that fact, arguing that California\u2019s challenges stem from longtime Democratic dominance; during the primary, he hit that note hard, keying on the eight-year reign of Democrat Gavin Newsom (who is term-limited). Certainly Hilton\u2019s policies differ sharply even from a moderate Democrat like Becerra \u2014 he favors lowering taxes, lowering regulations and even building low-density housing to solve the state\u2019s housing crisis.<\/p>\n Hilton also has distinguished himself on the Hollywood front,\u00a0promising<\/a>\u00a0a major entertainment tax-credit program of as much as 60% per project with no annual cap and both below-the-line and postproduction eligibility. Becerra\u00a0has taken<\/a>\u00a0a far more measured approach, though whether that will sway many Democratic entertainment workers to jump parties remains to be seen. Becerra also has a lot more electoral experience, having won 14 elections in California (many cakewalks as a Congressman).<\/p>\n