California Dream: Ex-Fox News host is mulling run for governor of the Golden State

Steve Hilton, the former Fox News host and policy adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron, is seriously considering a run to succeed California Gov. Gavin Newsom in two years, three people in close touch with him tell POLITICO.

While Hilton and his team did not comment when approached for this story, several prominent political figures in the state conveyed that the Silicon Valley entrepreneur, who has been increasing his public appearances and focus on California public policy , is already deep in discussions about a possible run as a Republican.

“He is thinking very seriously about running for governor and he is doing it in a very organized way,” said Jim Brulte, the former California Republican Party chair and GOP leader of the state Senate. “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.”

Hilton’s candidacy would amount to a major test of voters’ appetites to challenge Democratic dogma and conventional wisdom in one of the nation’s biggest, bluest states. It also could help resolve whether deteriorating conditions on the ground — pockets of high crime, homelessness and soaring cost of living — will precipitate a fulsome conversation about alternative leadership that hasn’t happened in decades.

Word of Hilton’s interest has already piqued the curiosity of leaders in Silicon Valley, including figures pining for a political disruptor. In an interview, Chamath Palihapitiya, the billionaire tech venture capitalist who has increasingly waded into national and state politics, said Hilton’s emergence could jumpstart conversations around a range of issues plaguing California.

“He is a no-BS person who cuts to the heart of issues no matter how uncomfortable the truth is,” Palihapitiya told POLITICO, calling Hilton “an extremely precise ‘first principles’ thinker,” a phrase used to describe people who can reverse-engineer solutions to complex problems. “I think that that could be really refreshing at the right moment in California.”

The emergence of a credible Republican and a more competitive environment among a long list of Democrats stand to make 2026 the most wide-open contest in recent memory. But the contours of the governor’s race won’t take shape until there’s a winner in the presidential contest. If former President Donald Trump wins, leading Republicans believe there will be little oxygen for a candidate like Hilton to break through. But if Vice President Kamala Harris takes the White House, California voters may be more receptive to hearing from an insurgent.

The far-off contest has already drawn several figures known to Democratic insiders and any Republican who hopes to compete would begin the race as a longshot given Democrats’ significant voter registration advantage. Hilton may not be the only Republican competitor in 2026. POLITICO was the first to report that Southern California Sheriff Chad Bianco, an unsparing critic of Newsom and a conservative fixture on Fox News, is also considering a gubernatorial run.

The Democratic side includes Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, the earliest to declare her candidacy, as well as former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, state Sen. Toni Atkins, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and former Controller Betty Yee. Attorney General Rob Bonta is weighing a bid of his own, and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has approached political advisers about standing up a campaign .

People in close touch with Hilton say he’s hyper-focused on policy prescriptions to deal with the state’s biggest problems — including homelessness, the lack of affordable housing, the high cost of living, education and embracing the booming tech sector. Hilton has been a strong supporter of Trump and he recently appeared at a fundraiser for JD Vance, but in California, he’s leaned into his own brand of “positive populism,” often eschewing collared shirts in favor of canary-yellow henleys.

“He’s focused on policy and my sense is his campaign would be a policy-driven agenda,” Brulte said. “He’s a positive and optimistic guy.”

Hilton has been a California resident since 2012, when he moved to the uber-wealthy enclave of Atherton where he tends to chickens , and became a U.S. citizen in 2021. He hosted the Fox program “The Next Revolution” on Sunday nights until last year, and remains a contributor to the network after founding the tech startup Crowdpac and teaching at Stanford.

In informal meetings with reporters and on the speaker’s circuit at Republican events, Hilton has pitched himself as a charismatic figure who has done his homework on state matters. He went years without a smartphone , though he flip-flopped on flip-phones, and is close with several media figures and politicians. In recent months, he’s appeared at numerous party functions while focusing on his group Golden Together , which he contends is aiming to restore the California Dream that began during the Gold Rush. The group has released five whitepapers on everything from improving the business climate and creating water abundance to ending the housing shortage .

Lanhee Chen, a Hoover Institution fellow and Republican candidate for state controller who lost his race in 2022, serves on the Golden Together advisory board and said Hilton has been working to build his profile in the state. Chen credited Hilton’s policy chops in the U.K. and via his nonprofit group and argued that the massive field of Democrats could open a lane for an alternative voice.

“The Democrats are all basically clones of each other. … It’s not like they are running a universally recognized name,” said Chen, a former top adviser to Republican candidates, including Mitt Romney . “So, it will be interesting, and it could create some kind of political opportunity.”

“Everyone knows the challenges” for a Republican running in California, he added, “but no status quo lasts forever, so let’s see what happens.”

California has not had a Republican — or a status quo-disruptor — in Sacramento since Arnold Schwarzenegger won the recall in 2003. In 2018, Newsom began the primary with about a third of the vote and never looked back. After Newsom stood aside for Jerry Brown in 2010, Brown went on to defeat Republican executive Meg Whitman despite her sinking $144 million of her own wealth into the campaign.

Hilton’s outreach has had him trying to cultivate deep-pocketed tech players in Silicon Valley who have long been at odds with the state’s power players. In the interview, Palihapitiya said he wants to see a major debate about the quality of public education — including on the need for more children to be educated in math and sciences to make sure they have fruitful employment in a future world dominated by AI and robotics.

“When I think about all the companies that have left the state, that worries me in terms of thinking about the future and how we make sure the state has a robust balance sheet,” said Palihapitiya, who hosts the “All In” podcast with fellow investors Jason Calacanis, David Sacks, and David Friedberg.

But he said those concerns go deeper than corporate bottom lines. “If all of these companies are voting with their feet, what are they actually saying? It’s not necessarily just about taxation, because I don’t think 100 basis points in one direction or the other necessarily tips a giant organization like Chevron to move. So the real underlying question is, what’s happening as a broad, multi-decade trend that causes a company like Chevron, who I suspect, studies everything nine ways to Sunday, to make a decision to leave ?”

Palihapitiya said he recognizes the challenges for Republican candidates to lead such conversations about the business climate, let alone win a statewide race, but he argues the growth of social media and non-traditional channels that move information could help Republicans and independents get traction with voters who are frustrated with the status quo.

“As more people understand the details of why some things aren’t working for them, I think that they’re less prone to making a simplified partisan decision,” Palihapitiya said. “If industrial competition leaves the state, and then the innovation economy fundamentally makes a different decision in terms of where they organize, I think that will affect enough people in the traditional partisan places” like San Francisco and Los Angeles.