June 1, 2026

In California’s latest audition for the role of “state government, but make it streaming,” Steve Hilton has emerged as the unlikely Republican with a real shot at the governor’s mansion: a British-born, Thatcher-trained, Fox News-polished former adviser who somehow fits Donald Trump’s taste for political wrecking balls while also trying to sound like the grown-up in the room. That’s the beauty of the jungle primary, where the top two vote-getters advance no matter what, allowing a state that went for Kamala Harris by 20 points to briefly entertain the idea that a one-party system has been such a massive disappointment that it might just need a different brand of disappointment. Hilton says Californians are feeling “energy for change,” which is campaign language for “please don’t confuse me with the usual loud guy in the red hat,” and his big strategy is to promise smaller, calmer improvements while pledging to work with the Democratic majority—because nothing says reform like a Republican trying to survive in a state where even the opposition has a majority.

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