Our most recent book is The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics. It includes a chapter on congressional and state elections.
President Trump endorsed conservative commentator Steve Hilton for California governor late Sunday night.
The endorsement could have a major impact on a race that remains up for grabs, with recent opinion polls showing Hilton and his top Republican rival, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, as top contenders in the 2026 contest.
“He is a truly fine man, one who has watched as this once great State has gone to Hell,” Trump posted on Truth Social, adding that he has known Hilton for many years.
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Despite California’s solidly Democratic electorate, a recent poll by UC Berkeley’s Institute of Governmental Studies and co-sponsored by the Times found Hilton and Bianco leading the crowded field of candidates just months before the June 2 primary — leading to the possibility of Democrats being shut out of a November election that will determine California’s next governor. The crowded field of Democrats in the race has splintered their party’s voters, providing an opening for the Republicans, the poll showed.
Under the state’s top-two primary system, the top two candidates advance to the general election, regardless of their party affiliation.
If Trump’s endorsement leads to California Republican voters coalescing behind Hilton, severely damaging Bianco’s campaign, that likely would reduce the odds of two GOP candidates finishing in first and second place in the primary.
In California’s 2018 governor’s race, Trump’s endorsement of Republican businessman John Cox helped cement him as the GOP frontrunner and led to his second place finish in the primary election. That propelled Cox to the general election, where he was trounced by Newsom.
