❓WHAT HAPPENED: President Donald J. Trump has endorsed Steve Hilton, once an advisor to former British Prime Minister David Cameron, in the California governor’s race.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: Donald Trump, Steve Hilton, rival Republican primary candidate Chad Bianco, and Governor Gavin Newsom (D).
📍WHEN & WHERE: Early Monday morning on Truth Social.
💬KEY QUOTE: “Steve can turn [California] around, before it is too late, and, as President, I will help him to do so!” – Donald Trump
🎯IMPACT: The endorsement will likely strengthen Hilton’s standing among Republican primary voters, to Bianco’s detriment.
President Donald J. Trump has endorsed Steve Hilton, once an advisor to former British Prime Minister David Cameron, in the California governor’s race. The endorsement was issued early Monday morning and will likely hurt rival Republican candidate Chad Bianco‘s campaign.
“I have known and respected Steve Hilton, who is running for Governor of California, for many years. He is a truly fine man, one who has watched as this once great State has gone to Hell. Gavin Newscum and the Democrats have done an absolutely horrendous job,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform.
“People are fleeing, crime is increasing, and Taxes are the highest of any State in the Country, maybe the World. Steve can turn it around, before it is too late, and, as President, I will help him to do so! With Federal help, and a Great Governor, like Steve Hilton, California can be better than ever before!” he continued, adding: “Steve Hilton has my COMPLETE & TOTAL ENDORSEMENT.”
GOP leaders had hoped a contentious and fragmented Democrat primary would allow two Republicans to advance to the runoff. Trump’s backing of Hilton may galvanize anti-Trump Democrats in the Golden State, but also make it much less likely that Bianco will advance.
Bianco, Sheriff-Coroner of Riverside County, is a Republican-in-name-only (RINO) who vowed in 2025 that his deputies “are not and will not engage in any type of immigration enforcement,” knelt to Black Lives Matter (BLM) in 2020, and was accused of faking that he had foiled an assassination plot against Trump in 2024.
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