Steve Hilton storms Southern California as Xavier Becerra lays low in campaign final days

Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton rallied supporters in the Los Angeles area Wednesday with the election just days away — as his Dem frontrunner rival skipped public events.

Hilton had two scheduled appearances Wednesday in Southern California, holding a press conference in fire-ravaged Altadena alongside HPP Cares, a nonprofit community group that has helped families navigate life after the devastating Eaton Fire last year.

Hilton’s schedule also included plans to rally with Democratic and Independent supporters in Van Nuys, arguing that 16 years of one-party rule in California have only spiked costs for average residents Wednesday night.

The former Fox News host has courted Democratic voters in the past few weeks, launching a provocative, six-figure advertising blitz that, in one instance, teased a lesbian sexual encounter with the slogan: “Just try it, California.”

Becerra had no public events Wednesday. He made the rounds in the Bay Area Tuesday, attending a morning meeting with Asian American bigwigs and an anti-Prop. 39 rally in San Francisco. He then crossed the Bay for a reception with black community leaders and SEIU Local 2015 phonebanking event in Oakland.

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Newly released polls show the former Health and Human Services secretary leading Hilton by a wide margin.

A Public Policy Institute of California poll released Wednesday showed Becerra commanding 61% of likely voters compared to Hilton’s at 37% — a 24-point margin. The poll of 1,068 likely voters.was conducted Oct. 16–22.

That was a jump compared to a 22-point lead Becerra held in the institute’s poll back in September, when Becerra led 60% to Hilton’s 38%.

Becerra, a longtime Democratic poll who was a California congressman and attorney general before joining President Joe Biden’s administration, has attacked Hilton’s endorsement by President Donald Trump and characterized himself as a fighter against the federal administration.

Hilton, a former Fox News host, has knocked Becerra as the embodiment of a failed California status quo.

At a campaign event Tuesday in Newport Beach, Hilton called out waste in California’s “Broadband-for-All” program, which was launched in 2021 with $3.25 billion in federal COVID relief but has thus far produced only one completed project, according to his campaign.

That is only one of many such failures in California government, Hilton has argued.