President Trump endorses Steve Hilton in the California governor’s race

President Trump endorsed conservative commentator Steve Hilton for California governor late Sunday night.

The endorsement could have a major impact on a race that remains up for grabs, with recent opinion polls showing Hilton and his top Republican rival, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, as top contenders in the 2026 contest.

Hilton “is a truly fine man, one who has watched as this once great State has gone to Hell,” Trump posted on Truth Social, at 10:21 p.m. Pacific time, adding that he has known the candidate for many years.

Trump praised Hilton while attacking the record of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, using a derogatory name for the governor. Newsom is serving the last year of his final term as governor as he weighs running for president in 2028.

“Gavin Newscum and the Democrats have done an absolutely horrendous job. People are fleeing, crime is increasing, and Taxes are the highest of any State in the Country, maybe the World. Steve can turn it around, before it is too late, and, as President, I will help him to do so! With Federal help,” Trump said.

Hilton’s campaign called the president’s endorsement “powerful.”

“Thank you, Mr. President!” his campaign posted on the social media platform X. “This is the moment California has been waiting for!”

On Monday, Bianco said Hilton — a former Fox News commentator — has no chance of becoming California’s next governor.

“For me, this has never been about being the top Republican. I have promised to be a governor for all Californians. I’ve spent 33 years fighting for Californians, regardless of political party,” Bianco said in a video posted on Instagram. “Today, I have been singled out as the only candidate in this race fighting for every Californian. Now, more than ever, there is a sheriff counting on a posse to help save us. Saddle up.”

Hilton, 56, was the host of a Fox News show called “The Next Revolution” and served as senior advisor and confidant of British Prime Minister David Cameron. He also co-founded Crowdpac, a nonpartisan political fundraising website based in the Silicon Valley. He and his wife, Rachel Whetstone, a tech communications official, live in Atherton with their two children.

Hilton’s parents fled communism in Hungary and settled in England, where he was born. After immigrating to the United States, Hilton became a citizen in 2021.

Despite California’s solidly Democratic electorate, a recent poll by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by The Times found Hilton and Bianco leading the crowded field of candidates just months before the June 2 primary — leading to the possibility of Democrats being shut out of a November election that will determine California’s next governor. The crowded field of Democrats in the race has splintered their party’s voters, providing an opening for the Republicans, the poll showed.

Under the state’s top-two primary system, the top two candidates advance to the general election, regardless of their party affiliation.

The contest has been increasingly drawing national attention. CNN announced on Monday that it would host a gubernatorial debate on May 5, hours after the president posted his nod in the race.

If Trump’s endorsement leads to California Republicans coalescing behind Hilton, severely damaging Bianco’s campaign, that reduces the odds of two GOP candidates finishing in first and second place in the primary.

Political experts predicted that Trump’s endorsement will backfire on the GOP by causing the party’s voters to consolidate behind Hilton, resulting in him and a Democrat winning the top two spots in the primary and the Democrat inevitably winning in November.

“This is bizarro political judgment. Trump has been making a bunch of decisions that seem likely to hurt Republicans in the midterm election,” said Jack Pitney, a political science professor at Claremont McKenna College who worked for Republican elected officials and causes for years in Washington. “He is handing the election to the Democrats.”

Hilton on Monday lashed out at Rob Pyers, research director for the California Target Book, a nonpartisan political almanac, who said Trump’s endorsement likely saved the Democrats from spending tens of millions of dollars to ensure that at least one party candidate survived past the primary election.

“They think they own this place, the Democrat machine. They think they’re born to rule California forever,” Hilton said in a video posted on X. “Well, it’s not like that in America. We don’t have an aristocracy in America. We don’t have inherited power. In America, we the people decide who is in charge, not the Democrat machine, not the unions. We decide.”

Jon Fleischman, the former executive director of the California Republican Party, wrote on Substack late Sunday that he believes Trump’s endorsement will significantly boost Hilton’s support among GOP voters.

“This Timing Is Not Accidental,” he wrote, noting that it was previously unclear whether either candidate could receive the 60% of delegate votes to secure the party nod at its upcoming convention. “Well, obviously this endorsement from the President for Hilton will supercharge his momentum going into the weekend convention.”

In California’s 2018 governor’s race, Trump’s endorsement of Republican businessman John Cox helped cement him as the GOP front-runner and led to his second-place finish in the primary election. That propelled Cox to the general election, where he was trounced by Newsom.

Trump’s endorsement came the day after Hilton and Bianco squared off in a testy debate in Rancho Mirage that was moderated by Richard Grenell, Trump’s former ambassador to Germany, and days before the state GOP meets in San Diego to consider an endorsement in the race.

On Saturday, Bianco said he suspected that Trump would weigh in on the race and that his team had been in talks with the president’s advisors.

“Of course, I would want him to support me. He’s the president of the United States,” Bianco said in an interview.

Hilton on Saturday questioned whether the president would weigh in.

“I’ve said that I’d be honored to have the president’s endorsement. I think that the California governor’s race is pretty low on his [agenda] right now,” he said in an interview. “I haven’t asked for that, and I’m not expecting him to weigh in.”