PROFILE
Steve Hilton: The conservative who fled communism and now wants to rescue California from the left-wing-driven crisis
Lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, mandatory masks, school closings, rising crime and the collapse of what was once the "California Dream" convinced Steve Hilton that something was very wrong. For the gubernatorial candidate, the state that symbolizes the American spirit has become a laboratory for failed progressive policies.
Steve Hilton, Republican candidate for governor of California.
Steve Hilton is living proof that ideas and courage matter more than origins. The son of Hungarian parents who fled communism in 1956, he was born in England and grew up in a working-class family. His mother worked in a shoe store and his father in construction. From an early age, Hilton understood the value of freedom. His earliest political memory was Margaret Thatcher, whom he saw as the leader with the courage to stand up to the decline of Great Britain.
Hilton worked for Thatcher in the 1990s and later as strategy director for former British Prime Minister David Cameron. But he didn't stay in traditional politics. He was entrepreneurial, opening restaurants and showing that he believed in the spirit of enterprise that Thatcher had awakened. From being Cameron's strategic mastermind, he became one of the most influential conservative commentators in the United States and is currently a Republican candidate for governor of California with the explicit endorsement of President Trump.
On Tuesday, Steve Hilton delivered a strong performance in the California gubernatorial primaries, placing among the top positions with approximately 28% to 31% of the votes according to preliminary counts.
What distinguishes Hilton is not only his track record, but his ability to articulate a conservatism that combines free markets with real concern for the working class. After leaving Downing Street, he moved to California in 2012 with his wife and children. What he saw there: high taxes, stifling regulations, an increasingly radicalized left, transformed him.
With optimistic message, Hilton launches bid to rescue California
In announcing his candidacy for governor of California, launched a direct and optimistic message. "It's time to make California golden again," he said. After 15 years of one-party Democratic rule, the state needs "balance" and "positive, practical policies that actually help people, not ideological crusades." That is why, he explained, he is running for governor.
Following the announcement of his candidacy, Hilton was immediately endorsed by former presidential candidate and current Ohio gubernatorial candidate, Vivek Ramaswamy.
"Steve Hilton represents American excellence. He’s a great entrepreneur & communicator, and he’ll be a dominant Governor of California," Ramaswamy posted on X. "I’ve known him for years & enjoyed welcoming him to Ohio for our launch in Feb. He has my full endorsement."
As an author: In “Califailure,” Hilton exposes the failure of woke California and how to rescue it
Hilton proposes an alternative path based on common sense: drastic government reduction, fewer stifling regulations, pragmatic results-oriented policies and a return to the principles that made California great. For the author, the state is not lost, but it urgently needs to break from the model that has brought it to the brink.
With his unique perspective, as the son of refugees from Hungarian communism who lived and believed in the California dream, Hilton writes with authority and urgency. His book serves not only to understand the California crisis, but the future of progressivism throughout the United States.
California went from American dream to progressive disaster
Lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, mask mandates, school closures, rising crime and the collapse of what was once the "California Dream" convinced Steve Hilton that something was very wrong. For the gubernatorial candidate, the state that symbolizes the American spirit has become a laboratory for failed progressive policies.
During an interview with Fox News Digital, Hilton said: "We have a combination of idiots and ideologues who've been running this state into the ground, ruining what I consider to be the greatest state and the greatest nation on earth, and it's time for change."
In his diagnosis of the crisis that California is going through, Steve Hilton did not hesitate to point out the contradictions of the progressive model that has governed the state for more than a decade. "We have the highest taxes in the country, but also the highest rate of poverty," warned the Republican candidate for governor. According to Hilton, "one-third of Californians cannot meet their basic needs," while "housing costs are the highest" in the country, which has made California "the number one reason people are leaving the state."
LATEST
