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I lived in Los Angeles from 2017 until May 2020, two months into the LA shutdown, and by the end I barely recognized it. The city I had moved to for its energy and opportunity was starting to look like Gotham City. Tent cities spread across Los Angeles. Break-ins and violent crime climbed. When COVID-19 arrived, the people running California seemed far more interested in policing masks on the beach than policing the streets. So, I left for Miami because Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis governed his state with sanity.
I was blessed. I could leave. Millions of Californians can’t, and they shouldn’t have to.
Six years later, California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton is giving Californians a reason to stay.
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What was once a great state has turned into a hellhole for too many of its own citizens. Working families pay some of the highest gas prices in America, and have for over a decade, along with some of the highest housing costs anywhere. Small businesses are drowning in fees and regulation. Homeless encampments, open drug use and crime have become normal in a state that used to draw people from around the world. After 16 years of one-party rule in Sacramento, Californians deserve to ask a simple question: What are the results? Unfortunately, a state in decline.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton speaks to supporters at his primary night watch party, in Huntington Beach, Calif., on June 2, 2026. (Paul Steinhauser/)
Hilton has proven over and over again that he is the person voters should entrust to succeed Democrat Gavin Newsom as governor of California. I must admit, I am impressed by what he has done as a candidate. I’ve known Steve since our days together at . Even then, he wasn’t interested in cable-news shouting matches. He wanted to talk about solutions, and that’s exactly the candidate he has become.
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Just look at the campaign he’s run. It has been focused and substantive. In an era when too many candidates run on slogans and grievance, Hilton has put real plans on the table. He wants no state income tax on the first $150,000 a Californian earns. He has a plan to get gas to $3 a gallon by eliminating the state gas tax, repealing the Low Carbon Fuel Standard and producing more of our own oil here at home.
On housing, he would streamline building codes and rein in the lawsuits under the California Environmental Quality Act that are routinely used to stop housing from ever getting built.
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You can disagree with any one of those ideas. But you can’t say he hasn’t approached the issues with gravitas.
On top of that, he’s outworked his opponent. Since the June primary, Hilton has campaigned all over California, while Democrat Xavier Becerra, a former Health and Human Services secretary under President Joe Biden, has kept a low profile as if he doesn’t have to compete for every vote. When the Los Angeles Times hosted a candidate forum this month, Hilton showed up and answered tough questions on homelessness, housing and climate. Becerra didn’t attend.
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Public safety is the work I’ve given my life to. As founder of the Caldwell Institute for Public Safety, I fight for victims and for communities left behind when leaders refuse to enforce the law. That work is exactly why I personally support Steve Hilton’s candidacy, and why I believe he is the right choice for California.
Hilton has said plainly that crime in California is out of control and that a lack of consequences has demoralized police officers and residents alike. He is calling for a tougher approach to crime and stronger support for law enforcement. On homelessness, he would enforce the law against street encampments while expanding mental health and addiction treatment, so people actually get help instead of being left on the sidewalk.
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And he has earned the endorsement of Yolo County District Attorney Jeff Reisig, the architect of Proposition 36, the tough-on-crime measure that nearly 70% of California voters passed to restore consequences for repeat theft and drug crimes. Sacramento has looked the other way on this for years. Hilton won’t.
In an era when too many candidates run on slogans and grievance, Hilton has put real plans on the table. He wants no state income tax on the first $150,000 a Californian earns. He has a plan to get gas to $3 a gallon by eliminating the state gas tax, repealing the Low Carbon Fuel Standard and producing more of our own oil here at home.
California’s problems aren’t red or blue. When you’re paying six bucks a gallon, nobody’s asking whether you’re a Democrat or a Republican. Same goes for a young family priced out of a starter home, or a small business owner who gave up on Sacramento’s rules.
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Hilton understands this better than most because of where he comes from. His parents fled communism in Hungary. He knows what it looks like when government grows so large that it stops serving the people and starts ruling them. That perspective is exactly what California needs after a decade and a half of Sacramento telling people what to drive, what they’re allowed to build and how much more they’ll have to pay for it.
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California has elected Republican governors before, from Ronald Reagan to Arnold Schwarzenegger, when voters were ready for a change. The polls say Hilton is the underdog. But I’ve seen enough elections to know the polls don’t vote. People do.
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I left California in 2020 because I didn’t believe officials would ever change course. Steve Hilton has given me a reason to believe the Golden State can shine again. On Tuesday, Nov. 3, Californians have a real choice. I hope they make it count.
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