California GOP votes to endorse governor pick after Trump backs Hilton

California Republicans this weekend will vote to endorse their pick for California governor in the race to succeed term-limited Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.

The vote, this Sunday in San Diego at the California GOP’s annual convention, comes a week after President Donald Trump took sides between the two major Republican candidates in the race, backing conservative commentator and former Channel host Steve Hilton over Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco.

Trump, whose endorsements are extremely influential in GOP primaries, argued in his endorsement statement that California had “gone to hell” and that “Steve can turn it around, before it is too late, and, as President, I will help him to do so!”

The president’s support for Hilton is expected to pay immediate dividends at the state GOP convention.

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“I think it definitely can help rally the base behind a candidate and generate some noise and some enthusiasm,” California Republican Party chairwoman Corrin Rankin told Digital.

Bianco is a loyal Trump supporter who has plenty of friends and support among California Republican insiders. But Trump’s endorsement of Hilton, a top adviser to then-British Prime Minister David Cameron a decade and a half ago before moving to the U.S. and becoming an American citizen in 2021, may boost him at the GOP convention, where backing from 60% of delegates is needed to land the party’s endorsement.

But Bianco, the sheriff who recently grabbed plenty of national attention for seizing ballots in Riverside County, appeared defiant.

“For too long, politicians and insiders from Sacramento to Washington have tried to pick our leaders for us. That’s not leadership, that’s a coronation, and it’s exactly how we ended up with the failed leadership Californians are living with today,” he said in a social media video. “This election belongs to the people, not the political class.”

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Sheriff Chad Bianco of Riverside County speaks during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol on May 15, 2024, in Washington, DC. This week marks National Police Week, which sees thousands of police officers from departments across the country coming to Washington DC to honor law enforcement who died in the line of duty. (Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

Trump’s endorsement may have another unintended consequence.

Candidates from both major political parties appear on the same ballot in the left-leaning state’s June primary, with the top two finishers advancing to November’s general election.

Some Democrats were concerned that with nine candidates in the race, support among Democratic voters would be so badly divided in the primary that no contender would reach the general election. Hilton and Bianco had been the top two candidates in some public opinion polls, giving some in the GOP hope of a final face-off between two Republicans.

That scenario may be less likely now, as Hilton’s support is expected to rise and Bianco’s drop in light of the president’s endorsement. Polling in the past week gave a hint of a Hilton surge.

“Trump kills any GOP hopes of an R vs R runoff in the California governor’s race,” Rob Pyers of California Target Book, which describes itself as a non-partisan and unbiased political almanac, wrote last week in a social media post.

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Trump’s endorsement of Hilton has sent shock waves through California’s Republican Party.  (Alex Brandon/AP)

But Hilton dismissed as a pipe dream talk of shutting out the Democrats from the general election ballot.

“That scenario of two Republicans [making the general election ballot], I’ve been saying this for months, was always a fantasy,” Hilton said on Fox Business’ “The Bottom Line.” “The idea that the Democrat machine in California was just going to hand over the state to two Republicans was never serious. It was never, never going to happen.”

He further argued, “What was more likely was actually…you were going to have two Democrats in the top two and then we’ll have no chance of change. So this really makes sure that we have a Republican in the top two.”

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No Republican has won a statewide election in California since then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 2006 re-election victory.

And with the president’s approval rating in California hovering in the 30s, Trump’s endorsement will likely do Hilton no favors if he makes it onto the November ballot.