Hilton trails Becerra by 20 or more points in polls — The Guardian

In California, United States, Republican Party candidate Steve Hilton is continuing his campaign for governor, although he trails Democrat Xavier Becerra by 20 or more percentage points in polls. The Guardian reports.

The former adviser to the British government at Downing Street and Fox News host has focused his campaign on the cost of living, taxes and reducing regulations for small businesses. Hilton argues that California’s problems were caused by 16 years of Democratic Party control over all statewide elected offices.

Candidate’s proposals

Among Hilton’s initiatives are abolishing the California Department of Motor Vehicles, reducing gasoline prices to $3 per gallon, creating a business school in a working-class area of East Los Angeles, and holding a competition among the state’s 58 counties to build ten new cities.

The candidate also proposes introducing free tuition at the business school for lower-income students, creating a California equivalent of DOGE, repealing a number of environmental regulations, and ending expensive infrastructure projects. In particular, he supports cancelling the high-speed rail project between San Francisco and Los Angeles. In addition, Hilton wants to exempt the first $150,000 of income from state tax.

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Voter support

In the June primary, Hilton received nearly 25% of the vote and came second after Becerra among a large number of candidates. There are approximately twice as many registered Democrats in California as Republicans. According to a recent poll by the Public Policy Institute of California, Becerra holds a lead of nearly 20 points even among independent voters.

Hilton is trying to distance his campaign from President Donald Trump. He has said that he does not want Trump or other nationally prominent Republican politicians to campaign for him and sees no need to restrict voting by mail. At the same time, Trump endorsed Hilton during the primary, making it harder for the candidate to broaden support beyond the Republican electorate.

Debate with Becerra

Becerra agreed to one debate with Hilton, scheduled for Wednesday. Responding to Hilton’s criticism, Democratic campaign spokesperson Jonathan Underland said that the Republican wants a job as a television commentator on Fox News and therefore constantly mentions Becerra’s name.