The exodus of residents from blue states is all too familiar in California where the campaign to unseat Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom is beginning to take shape. One name being floated in the nascent Republican field even includes a longtime Fox News host who says he isn’t afraid to speak the “uncomfortable” truths about how bad life on the West Coast has become.
The National Pulse reported that Steve Hilton, a former director of strategy for the British Prime Minister David Cameron, is giving “serious consideration” to a run in 2026, according to those familiar with his thinking. He served Cameron from 2010 to 2012 and has hosted Fox News’s current affairs show “The Next Revolution” since 2017 but recently has become more focused on the Golden State’s local politics, especially topics like homelessness and California’s staggering $145 billion debt. “He is thinking very seriously about running for governor, and he is doing it in a very organized way,” said former California Republican Party chairman Jim Brulte in a recent interview. “I know he’s talking to a lot of the right people because I have heard from a lot of the right people that he’s talking to them.”
(VOTE: Are You Supporting TRUMP Or KAMALA In November?)
Hilton may benefit from significant interest from Silicon Valley where tech entrepreneurs believe Newsom, an outspoken progressive, has strayed too far even for the average California voter. “He is a no-BS person who cuts to the heart of issues no matter how uncomfortable the truth is,” technology industry billionaire Chamath Palihapitiya said, adding, “I think that that could be really refreshing at the right moment in California.” The Bay Area has seen its share of revolts against ultra-progressive policies in recent years, which may portend a new direction for California as a whole.
In 2022 San Francisco voters unseated former District Attorney Chesa Boudin who rode into office on a promise to implement a more compassionate justice system for offenders. However, the prosecutor’s halcyon vision quickly gave way to the realities of muggings and lawlessness that saw major retailers close up shop, leaving the city’s already destitute downtown in a “doom loop.” Similar campaigns against progressive school committee members occurred as well, and unrest is fomenting next door in Oakland where the progressive mayor recently saw her home raided by the FBI as part of a corruption investigation.
Gov. Newsom has noticed the undeniable shift in voter sentiment and most recently staged a photo op where he helped officials remove tents from homeless encampments after signing into law new restrictions against them. The two-term Democrat has played footsie with national politics, frequently commenting on President Joe Biden’s campaign and mocking other Republican presidential contenders who he said didn’t stack up against former President Donald Trump. During his first term, Newsom paid for a national advertising campaign encouraging voters to pressure Congress to enact a 28th Amendment banning assault weapons, another reminder that he is one of the Democratic Party’s leading contenders to run for the White House in 2028.
Hilton will certainly be forced to address his support of Trump, who remains deeply unpopular among California voters. Steve Harvey, the Republican Party’s nominee for U.S. Senate this year, will provide him with a model to judge how a 2026 campaign may go, especially if Newsom declines to seek a third term.
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