Steve Hilton was endorsed by Trump. Can he win over Democrats?

He argues that despite California’s Democratic tilt, enough voters believe the state is “going in the wrong direction” on affordability, homelessness, schools, and the business climate to support a change candidate, even if they dislike Donald Trump.

He says his campaign explicitly appealed to voters who oppose Trump, including with ads framed around whether someone can be “anti-Trump” and still vote for him, and he points to launching the general campaign in Boyle Heights as a signal of focus on communities he says have been “abandoned.”

He cites recognizing Biden as the winner of the 2020 election and opposing actions like removing Customs and Border Patrol from California airports as retaliation for sanctuary policy, defunding the University of California, and the FCC siding with phone companies against California regulators on landline service.

Hilton proposes major income tax relief—initially described as no state income tax on the first $100,000, later revised to cover up to $150,000—paired with spending reductions and what he frames as “better value for money,” such as reducing process and bureaucracy in infrastructure delivery.

He argues California’s higher gas prices are driven “mainly” by state regulatory and climate-related programs (low carbon fuel standard, cap-and-trade/cap-and-invest, refinery rules), and he says an executive-branch change would be reversing CalGEM permitting practices that he says have shut down in-state oil production.