The race to succeed Gavin Newsom has teetered wildly, and with Democrats in disarray, the Republican ex-Downing Street adviser is leading in the polls. Can he really pull it off?
Few political aspirations have proved more futile over the past two decades than running as a Republican for statewide office in California. Yet Steve Hilton – transplanted Brit, erstwhile business entrepreneur, a former Downing Street adviser to David Cameron and a former Fox News host who says he is friends with half of Donald Trump’s cabinet – is having a remarkably good time of it.
With less than six weeks to go before a primary election that has proved to be both dramatic and wildly unpredictable, most polls put Hilton narrowly ahead of a fractured field of Democrats in the race to succeed Gavin Newsom as governor. It is an astonishing turn of events in a state where Democrats enjoy supermajorities in the state legislature and a two-to-one advantage over the Republicans in voter registration.
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Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/may/02/steve-hilton-california-governor-race
Author : Andrew Gumbel in Huntington Beach
Publish date : 2026-05-02 10:00:00
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