Steve Hilton has a simple message for California voters, and he delivered it on Fox Business Sunday morning: you're paying the highest taxes in the country, getting the worst results, and Sacramento Democrats have no intention of changing either.
Today, exclusively on @SundayFutures with @MariaBartiromo, California Gubernatorial Candidate Steve Hilton @SteveHiltonx spoke about the most critical issues facing residents of the Golden State. @FoxNews pic.twitter.com/oQtNJj9K0c
— SundayMorningFutures (@SundayFutures) May 10, 2026
"The health care costs are going up. It takes longer and longer to wait for care wherever you go, because of the overwhelming number of people who are coming, who shouldn't be here, getting that care. And the taxes are going up. We pay the highest taxes in the country for the worst results."
Speaking with Maria Bartiromo, Hilton argued that sixteen years of one-party rule have delivered the worst of everything: a political class that answers to donors and connected nonprofits instead of voters, and a cost-of-living crisis nobody in Sacramento seems eager to fix.
“Highest gas prices in the country, electric bills that have doubled in the last 10 years, the highest housing costs and rents, everything off the charts, expensive.”
On top of that, California has refused to match President Donald Trump's federal "no tax on tips" policy, while most other states have already implemented it. Hilton's counter: first $100,000 tax-free, a flat 7.5% above that, and actually cut spending instead of finding new things to fund.
“We've got to relieve the pain and the pressure, especially on working people and small businesses in California.”
It's a case Hilton has been making since the recent gubernatorial debate, where he and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco drove home a point Democrats had no answer for: every major failure in this state happened on their watch.
On Fox Business, Hilton pushed the argument further. California's rot isn't just the result of bad policy. It's a taxpayer-funded political machine that cycles public money through connected nonprofits while ordinary residents foot the bill.
Bartiromo pressed him on the economy. Hilton's answer: California's tech reputation is masking a deeper problem. The headquarters are still here. The actual investment isn't.
"All the investment, the semiconductors, the data, all the manufacturing, the real job creation from that, that's going to Texas and Arizona."
Bartiromo also raised the billionaires tax moving through Sacramento, backed by a union aligned with Newsom, who's publicly distancing himself from it while doing nothing to stop it. Analysts put the cumulative wealth shift out of California at $500 billion to over $1 trillion over the last decade. Hilton's take: Newsom isn't confused about what these policies do. He just doesn't care.
He didn't show up empty-handed. Earlier this month, Hilton stood outside a Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles office in Orange County and made his case directly: California taxpayers are bankrolling an organization that put people here illegally to work knocking doors for Democrat gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra — drawn straight from CHIRLA's own organizing materials, which describe canvassers "ranging in status from undocumented to lawful permanent residents." CHIRLA has pulled in $72 million in public funding over three years. Hilton and CalDOGE referred the matter to state and federal authorities. Becerra has said nothing.
Hilton Accuses Taxpayer-Funded CHIRLA of Paying Illegal Immigrants to Canvass for Xavier Becerra
CHIRLA claims its taxpayer dollars are legally walled off from its political arm. That's a harder sell when the same person runs both.
Then there's Newsom's Golden State Start diaper program, $20 million routed through Baby2Baby, a nonprofit whose co-CEO sits on the board of First Partner Jennifer Siebel Newsom's California Partners Project. The state is paying $0.50 per diaper. Costco sells them for $0.12 to $0.15. The nonprofit gets its cut, Newsom gets his headline, and taxpayers get the bill.
Back on the interview, Hilton said he's predicting a breakthrough. Voter ID is on the November ballot. Trump pulled more California votes in 2024 than Hilton says he'll need to win the general. Democrats, tech money, Hollywood: he told Bartiromo they're all showing up to his events now.
"I think we're going to see a big political revolution happen this year."
Maybe. California has a way of humbling that kind of optimism. But Hilton has pulled off something most California Republicans haven't: a campaign argument that ties kitchen-table costs, illegal immigration, and taxpayer-funded corruption into one through line — and pins it all on sixteen years of Democratic control. Whether voters are finally fed up enough to do something about it is the only question left.
Editor’s Note: Hollywood, academia, and liberal elites are out of touch with the average American.
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