![\"California](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/https:\/\/media.zenfs.com\/en\/la_times_articles_853\/a4de6ecaddbc730edaa9d03c41711dbb.jpeg\"\/)
<\/p>\nIn separate speeches delivered a few hours apart, California’s two gubernatorial hopefuls stuck to familiar themes \u2014 offering a preview of the issues that could define the November election to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom.<\/p>\n
Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, sought to tie Republican rival Steve Hilton to President Trump during his remarks Wednesday at the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference in downtown L.A.<\/p>\n
Hilton focused on his immigrant roots and how to help small businesses in California, and ignored Becerra’s attacks.<\/p>\n
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California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton speaks at the National Assn. of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference at the InterContinental Los Angeles Downtown on Wednesday. (Myung J. Chun \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n
Their appearances at the conference marked one of the first times both candidates have appeared at the same event since the June 2 primary.<\/p>\n
Becerra, the former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary and former California attorney general, placed first in the<\/a> primary, winning 28% of the vote. Hilton, a former Fox News commentator, followed with 24.6%.<\/p>\n Republicans make up only a quarter of registered voters in the state, so Hilton may face an uphill battle to victory in November.<\/p>\n Democrats, including Newsom, have sought attention by attacking Trump<\/a> and defending California policies, and Becerra appeared to lean into that approach on Wednesday.<\/p>\n Read more: In California governor’s race, voters face stark choice on immigrant healthcare<\/a><\/p>\n Without mentioning Hilton or Trump by name, Becerra labeled the president a “false” prophet during his 10-minute address.<\/p>\n “We don’t need people who make a promise to end a war in one day, and today, we still fight it and others,” said Becerra, referring to the ongoing U.S. attacks on Iran<\/a>. “We don’t need someone who said they will lower the price of gasoline<\/a> and then raise it by starting a reckless, illegal war.”<\/p>\n California doesn’t “need those prophets and worse. And I tell you this \u2014 in California we will not accept their disciples,” said Becerra, seemingly referring to Hilton.<\/p>\n Hilton, who spoke for about five minutes, acknowledged he was endorsed by<\/a> Trump. He then pivoted to the topic of immigration and alluded to the red tape and regulations in the state that he blames for hurting small businesses.<\/p>\n Read more: How a Trump-endorsed Republican could become California’s next governor<\/a><\/p>\n He recounted how his parents moved from Hungary to Britain, and then how he moved to California in 2012.<\/p>\n “That story of the immigrant aspiration, climbing the ladder of opportunity in a new country, that is my story,” Hilton said.<\/p>\n Hilton attended the University of Oxford and worked a senior advisor to former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron before moving to the state. He also talked about his time running restaurants.<\/p>\n “That is a really tough business, and it is especially tough today in California for small business owners, for working-class Californians, and that’s what I’m fighting for in this campaign,” he said.<\/p>\n Hilton said he is “not an ideologue,” and doesn’t “want to tell anyone how to live their life or run their business.”<\/p>\n “I just want everyone to have a shot at climbing that ladder of opportunity,” he said.<\/p>\n Becerra also chastised Hilton over an incident in May, when Hilton filmed himself eating a Del Taco taco<\/a>, which he called a “street taco.”<\/p>\n Becerra, looking amused, told the NALEO audience that you don’t get street tacos “in some establishment that’s been around for a long time.”<\/p>\n “You get it on the street from the guy who’s been making it for a long time in his little cart,” he said.<\/p>\n Newsom and U.S. Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) also previously spoke during the conference, which included discussion of the recent killings of immigrants<\/a> by federal officers.<\/p>\n “The price of freedom, of democracy, of inclusion, is high,” said Becerra, adding that the price of “simply driving while brown” is “so high.”<\/p>\n Later on Wednesday, Hilton responded to Becerra’s jabs.<\/p>\n “Xavier Becerra’s silly jokes and insults won’t lower anyone’s gas prices or housing costs,” he said in a statement. “To do that, we need a governor who will bring positive, practical change, not a 36-year career politician who thinks everything in California is going well and that we need more of the same.”<\/p>\n