California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton delved into his housing platform and made several attacks on his Democratic opponent, Xavier Becerra, during a town hall meeting with Los Angeles news media on Tuesday.
At the event, hosted and live-streamed by the Los Angeles Times and LAist, Hilton also pointed to some disagreements with President Trump, bringing some sunshine between him and a president who remains deeply unpopular in California.
Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom’s final term ends in early January, providing California voters with the opportunity to choose a new governor as the state clashes with the Trump administration over environmental policy, immigration, health care and other pressing issues.
Ballots are starting to arrive in California voters’ mailboxes ahead of the Nov. 3 election.
Here are the key takeaways from discussions with Hilton:
Trump walks a tightrope
Republicans running for statewide office already face an uphill battle due to California’s overwhelming Democratic electorate. Campaign experts say this is a serious challenge this year as many Democratic voters are eager to help their party regain control of Congress and suppress Trump’s agenda.
Trump endorsed Hilton in April, helping the former Fox News host lead his Republican rival, Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco, and finish second in the primary behind Becerra.
Hilton has supported Trump during the campaign and said Democratic policies, not the war with Iran, were to blame for high prices.
Asked for an example of a time when he disagreed with the president, Hilton cited cuts to federal funding for the University of California, threats to remove Customs and Border Protection agents from airports in states with sanctuary policies, and federal purchases of stakes in California companies.
The Republican said the divisions are rooted in his strong support for states’ rights.
“The broader point I want to make, and you go back to the comments and stuff I’ve written over the years, is that I’m a firm believer in decentralization,” he said. “I believe the federal government is too involved in our affairs here in California, and I will be a strong advocate for restoring those powers in every way possible.”
Gas prices, taxes and housing permits
Hilton described the cost of living in California as “a nightmare” and a major factor in residents and businesses moving out of the state.
He has an affordability plan he calls “Califordable” that he would prioritize if elected governor. His plans include:
- Ending income taxes for Californians making $150,000 or less.
- Cut oil industry regulations and clean energy mandates for utilities to achieve $3 gas prices and lower electric bills.
- Ushered in a new single-family home construction boom, including the development of 10 new cities across the state, and capped government fees on new homes.
He blames the state’s affordability problems on Democrats, who have controlled state legislative seats and held all elected statewide offices since 2009.
“California needs not only some changes, but a balance. After 16 years of doing things the same way, it’s time to try something different,” he said.
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton said during a town hall meeting at the Los Angeles Times Building in El Segundo on Tuesday that he does have some policy differences with President Trump.
(Ronaldo Bolanos/Los Angeles Times)
Hilton said he would stop enforcing laws requiring communities to meet housing production goals and instead focus on building in undeveloped areas of the state in need of new housing.
“Our attitude is that the only place you can build is in areas that are currently developed, and that’s out of a desire to stop traffic and sprawl and all those things. But the consequence of that is you end up finding [it] With fighting and lawsuits allowed, it would be almost impossible to build anything, he said. “My plan is to open it up so that we build outward instead of upward, increasing the space we have for housing.”
How will he pay for all this?
Hilton said Newsom and Democratic lawmakers have become accustomed to big spending, and he hopes California’s state budget can return to its pre-pandemic size.
Earlier this year, Newsom signed a budget of just under $352 billion. In 2019, his first budget as governor was nearly $215 billion.
Hilton said this growth occurred during a period when “approximately 2 million people have moved out of the state.” “So we’re spending twice as much to drastically reduce the population and have worse outcomes.”
He said he could offset the tax cuts by ending funding for high-speed rail, cutting state agencies by 5% and cracking down on Medicaid fraud. He estimated that these cuts would add up to annual savings of about $25 billion. He also promised to end state health care for undocumented immigrants and eviscerate the agencies that regulate the state’s air quality and coastline.
Another round of attacks on Becerra
While Hilton has focused primarily on policy, he has criticized Becerra’s record as secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and faulted his absence from town halls.
He said in his opening remarks: “Maybe one day I’ll have the opportunity to sit down with my opponent, Xavier Becerra. We’ve had a debate. He promised there will be a plurality debate. But not today. But hopefully we can have that conversation because Californians deserve to have that conversation about the future of our state.”
On Monday, Hilton attacked Becerra for “withdrawing” from the debate, even though the Democratic candidate never agreed to participate in a debate proposed by The Times and LAist. A spokesman for Becerra said the campaign declined the offer because of its full campaign schedule.
In the weeks after the June primary, Becerra rarely campaigned and participated in few public events. In August, he told reporters there would be multiple debates. He and Hilton held an hour-long debate on CNN last week, but no other debates have been announced.
Hilton calls offshore wind project ‘bizarre’
As the Trump administration systematically rolls back climate and environmental policies, Hilton is careful to cast herself as an environmental activist concerned about climate change.
However, he criticized many of the policies Democrats support as a “very one-dimensional way of thinking” and proposed a more business-friendly approach to combating climate change:
- Plant 3 billion trees and restore wetlands.
- Expand the use of climate-friendly geothermal energy in areas such as the Salton Sea, Sonoma County and Modoc County.
- He said expanding California’s oil production could reduce the need for carbon-emitting tankers to import foreign oil.
“So this is a way to reduce carbon emissions that doesn’t burden working people and small businesses who have the highest energy costs in the country. We have to get the balance right,” Hilton said.
Hilton echoed Trump’s strong opposition to offshore wind projects, a potential source of abundant renewable energy. This year, the Trump administration announced a deal to pay wind power project developers billions of dollars to give up wind power leases off the coasts of California, North Carolina, New York and New Jersey.
“I think offshore wind is absolutely disgusting. I mean, you look at beautiful Morro Bay or Humboldt in the northern part of our state,” Hilton said. “I think it’s just grotesque that offshore wind will industrialize our coastlines and I’m firmly against it.”
Work across the aisle
Asked how he would work with the Democratic majority in the state House, Hilton said he had experience doing so – as an adviser to former British Prime Minister David Cameron, he shared an office with a member of the opposite party.
“We work well together. But not everything agrees,” he said. “That’s my attitude. I’m very open-minded. I’m not a tribalist. I’m not particularly partisan. I’m a pragmatic, problem-solver and I look forward to working with the Legislature.”
He said he would press the Legislature to cut spending and the “countless bills they pass every year … but I want to work together to lower costs for Californians.”
Hilton has also aligned herself with Democrats running in the gubernatorial primary, including former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
“Katie Porter … actually supported my tax plan during the primary. Matt Mahan and I agreed on a lot of things to help” cut costs and accelerate the housing crunch, he said. “Antonio Villaraigosa, we agree on a lot of things as it relates to energy policy. So I think we’re going to be able to work with the Democrats to come to consensus on some of the things that we need to get done.”