Steve Hilton wants to challenge Gavin Newsom for the chance to run California

This just in: Steve Hilton, former Fox News host and policy advisor to British PM David Cameron, wants to be the next media star to challenge California governor Newsom, Politico reports.  

Newsom’s mettle was previously tested by conservative radio host Larry Elder, who failed to get the governor out of office in 2021 during an unsuccessful recall effort. Elder received the most votes out of forty-six people running to replace Newsom, but since most voted against replacing the governor, that became irrelevant.  

Not to mention California has not had a Republican in Sacramento since Arnold Schwarzenegger won a recall election against Democratic governor Gray Davis in 2003…  

Hilton seemingly fled the UK to Atherton, California, in 2012 for his wife’s job. and became a US citizen in 2021 after being practically laughed out of Britain. He was the inspiration for Tory spin doctor Stewart Pearson in BBC’s political satire series The Thick of It — the UK’s version of Veep.

As an Oxford graduate, Hilton claims he applied “as a joke” to work for Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s government, which led him to being named senior advisor to then-newly elected Conservative prime minister David Cameron. Hilton was instrumental in pushing for Brexit and returned to the UK in 2016 to publicly campaign for its passage. 

Hilton accepted a teaching job at Stanford and founded the tech startup Crowdpac. In 2016, he became a Fox News contributor, hosting The Next Revolution on Sunday nights until last year.  

With his work as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Hilton has been very vocal on California public policy and word of his interest in running has piqued the interest of other tech figures. Billionaire tech venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya, who has also become increasingly involved in state and national politics, said that Hilton “is a no-BS person who cuts to the heart of issues no matter how uncomfortable the truth is.” 

“I think that that could be really refreshing at the right moment in California,” he added. As one of the US’s biggest and bluest states, a viable Republican alternative to the current governor would be an interesting test to voters’ desire to challenge the state’s Democratic rulership — and potentially help solve issues of homelessness, high cost of living and crime.  

Who would have thought Gov. Newsom’s next arch nemesis would be a controversial conservative British expat? Barring a successful recall, Newsom will be in office until 2026.