Republican Steve Hilton advances in tight California governor’s race | California
Republican Steve Hilton, a former UK political operative turned Fox News personality, has advanced to the November general election in the race to become California’s next governor, facing Democrat Xavier Becerra, a former congressman, state attorney general and U.S. health secretary.
Hilton’s success, a remarkable achievement for a new immigrant, followed her endorsement by Donald Trump.
The Associated Press predicted Hilton would get one of the top two spots in the nonpartisan primary on June 2.
Hilton finished second to Becerra, who gained unexpected but steady support among Democratic voters.
Hilton initially led the field when the first votes were counted last week, leading Trump to prematurely declare himself the winner. The next day, when Becerra won the majority of late-counted votes, Trump accused the state of rigging the election without any evidence.
But Hilton moved ahead of Becerra on June 5 as California counted millions more mail-in ballots. Hilton still finished ahead of progressive billionaire hedge fund investor Tom Steyer.
Steyer issued a privileged statement Tuesday evening, thanking his supporters and promising to remain committed to the fight.
Hilton, on the other hand, pretended to have won the primary before declaring victory the morning after the election, saying: “Change is coming and the campaign for change starts today.”
The rise of the new American, who left his native Britain for the San Francisco Bay Area in 2012 and became a US citizen in 2021, as a serious candidate to become governor of California has surprised his former colleagues in the UK, where he was a leading adviser to Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron at the time.
Known as the “little Rasputin” of conservative politics, Hilton was known for coining catchy slogans that caused some to cringe. Hilton, who is known as the creator of the “hug the hoodie” campaign for Cameron’s government, now claims that her vote will change California “Californiaable”.
Hilton, who was Cameron’s strategy director, was known in London political circles for his unorthodox working style. He reportedly wandered around the prime minister’s offices in socks, ordering civil servants to come up with extraordinary plans that would lead to his death. parodied In Armando Iannucci’s political satire The Thick of It, which set the template for the US TV series Veep.
Hilton still faces an uphill battle to win in November in a predominantly Democratic state. Running with Trump’s support in a state where the president is widely unpopular makes the path forward even more fraught.
In each of the last three gubernatorial races in California, the Democratic candidate received nearly 60% of the vote. Democrats control nearly every level of government in the state and have a nearly two-to-one voter registration advantage.
Hilton’s effort to portray herself as living what she calls the “California dream” can be seen in her photographs. campaign website – Which show him on the beach; at the Trump rally in Coachella, where the current president praised him; and holding an In-N-Out burger. But another effort to embrace the state’s culture is Hilton’s commonly He was mocked in a social media video for referring to the hard-shell tortilla mix, which he held up as a “street taco,” a style of taco traditionally made with two soft corn tortillas.
In a video posted Tuesday evening, Hilton portrayed herself as an immigrant with working-class parents who moved to California because it was “the ultimate expression of America, the home of freedom.” Hilton vows to “save California” and says: “I’m not a politician. I’m an outsider running for governor to shake up a broken system.”
Hilton described himself as “a pragmatist, not an ideologue” and said his experience in a coalition government during Cameron’s premiership was proof that he could work well with people whose policies did not align with his own. He has said getting along with Trump and his cabinet is a potential asset, and that he could attract federal dollars and other forms of cooperation from Washington that would defuse tensions after more than a year of bickering and name-calling between Trump and California’s current governor, Gavin Newsom.
“My job will be to deliver very pragmatic things that are all focused on making your life easier and better,” Hilton told the Guardian last month.
Andrew Gumbel and Helena Horton contributed reporting
