CA Governor Candidate Steve Hilton on Why California is Destroying Itself & How a Republican Can Win
Key takeaways
Key points
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Steve Hilton is running for California governor as a Republican. His politics come from his Hungarian refugee family, admiration for Margaret Thatcher, business experience, and his time advising UK Prime Minister David Cameron.
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His headline proposal is a major tax cut: no California state income tax below $100,000, then a 7.5% flat rate above that. He calls it both pro-worker and pro-growth.
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He says spending must fall with taxes. His argument is that California’s budget expanded enormously after COVID and that fraud, waste and poor accountability consume substantial money. His campaign created a “Cal DOGE” effort to investigate spending.
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Housing is mainly a supply and regulation problem, in his view. He wants to cut fees, regulatory mandates and litigation barriers such as CEQA that he argues make California dramatically more expensive to build in.
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Education needs measurable accountability. He favors phonics, school choice, stronger basic standards, and public grades for individual schools and teachers so strong performers can be rewarded and poor performers removed.
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On crime, he wants punishment plus rehabilitation. He opposes California’s push toward reducing incarceration and argues prisons should also focus much more seriously on literacy, treatment and reducing repeat offending.
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On homelessness, he wants treatment rather than expensive permanent housing as the default. He proposes redirecting money toward large-scale mental-health and addiction-recovery facilities for people who need treatment.
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His broader diagnosis is that California has become overregulated and controlled by entrenched interests. His campaign is basically about making government cheaper, simpler, more accountable and friendlier to workers, housing and business.
The central idea
Hilton’s pitch is: California is rich but badly managed — cut taxes and bureaucracy, expose waste, build much more housing, restore accountability in schools and government, and focus public services on measurable results.