Weekend Listen: Can Republicans Win California Again? Steve Hilton Thinks So

**SPEAKER_1** (0:02)
Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, Radio, News.

**Steve Hilton** (0:10)
Sometimes people have asked me, well, how did you end up supporting President Trump? In many ways, I think the campaign I'm running is not particularly partisan. However, there are realities about running for office in the US. But look, he's not on the ballot, and this is a point of choice for California.

**Mishal Husain** (0:26)
Steve Hilton, once a British political strategist, now the Trump-backed Republican running for Governor of California. Do you agree with his decision to go to war in Iran?

**Steve Hilton** (0:37)
Well, look, I'm just focused on this race.

**Mishal Husain** (0:39)
You really don't think you need to, or the voters of California deserve to hear you express a view on that? You're trying to be a leader of the state.

**Steve Hilton** (0:49)
No, I understand. But there's plenty to fix and focus on in California.

**Mishal Husain** (0:54)
From Bloomberg Weekend, this is The Mishal Husain Show.
I'm Mishal Husain.
Over the next few months, the US political climate is going to get even more intense as we get closer to the midterms. This November's set of elections will mark the halfway point between one presidential vote and the next. And while most of the attention will be on Congress, whether the Democrats can seize control of one or both houses, there are some fascinating contests elsewhere. And one of them is the race to be the next governor of California. Now, California is a notable Democratic-leaning state, but it has had Republican governors. Ronald Reagan, more recently, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
And this time, a Republican is through to the final stage, one of two candidates on the ballot in November. His name is Steve Hilton. And he is unusual, not least because he only became a US citizen five years ago. He's someone whose name I've known for about 20 years, because he used to be embedded in UK politics. He worked for the conservative leader David Cameron before and after he became prime minister. So when I saw Steve Hilton's advance through the California governor primary, I knew I wanted to understand it. And I reached out to him. His rival in November is Democrat Xavier Becerra, someone who used to work for Joe Biden. And California is such an important place economically, in global as well as US terms, that this conversation does go beyond state matters. Above all, I hope that through it, you get a much better sense of a man who wants to be California's next leader.

**Steve Hilton** (2:58)
How are you doing? Great to see you.

**Mishal Husain** (3:00)
Thank you for saying yes to my email out of the blue. How are you most importantly?

**Steve Hilton** (3:06)
Good, thanks. Onto the next round.

**Mishal Husain** (3:08)
Well, yeah, I know. Absolutely.

**Steve Hilton** (3:10)
It doesn't stop.

**Mishal Husain** (3:11)
Next round of interviews or next round of the campaign?

**Steve Hilton** (3:14)
The campaign, the next fight, you know, like there's no break. We got to keep going. There's not much time now.

**Mishal Husain** (3:19)
Well, look, we'll talk about all of that. And it's clearly it's been a remarkable few weeks for you. You've obviously been involved in politics for a long time. You've been a strategist, you've been a political aid, you've been a commentator on Fox News. I'm still curious about the moment when you decided to run for office, because that's a very big decision to make.

**Steve Hilton** (3:41)
I don't think there was one specific moment, but there was a period of time that I can recall. As you mentioned, I'd been a host on television, a most unexpected turn in my career in media.
I greatly enjoyed that. But as the years went on, I felt that I wanted to get back into actually doing things rather than just talking about things. I love California. I've been living here since 2012, raised my family here, started a business here. I could see that things were going off the rails pretty badly from a policy point of view. So I started a policy organization, Golden Together, started working on some of our big problems in California. I then started engaging with Sacramento, trying to advance those policy ideas through the legislature. And that was the point where I realized just how dysfunctional and broken California system of government is. Because every single meeting I had with legislators, Democrats, Republicans, it was the same story. Yes, you're right. These policies you're advocating would make a huge difference. We'd get more housing built. We'd lower the cost.
All those things are true. However, it can never happen because the unions won't allow it. The climate activists won't allow it. The system just can't make it happen. And I just realized then that something has to change. Otherwise, this state that I love is just going to continue to decline.