After a primary campaign filled with twists, turns and scandal, the election to determine California’s next governor has narrowed to two candidates: Xavier Becerra, a Democrat and veteran of California politics, and Steve Hilton, a Republican immigrant and ally of President Trump.
The two have similar origin stories as the sons of working-class immigrants — both even worked construction jobs to earn money as teenagers — but they have vastly different visions for California’s future. If elected, Becerra promises to solidify many of the state’s liberal policies and its opposition to Trump; Hilton pledges to reverse course by cutting taxes, ending regulations and shrinking state government.
The race is open because after two terms at the state’s helm, outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom is blocked from running again. He has endorsed Becerra and is considering a run for president in 2028.
In a state where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by nearly a two-to-one margin, Hilton has acknowledged his campaign is an uphill battle. Since the primary he has focused on reaching out to independent voters and making the case that after 16 years of Democratic control, poverty and wealth inequality in California have only worsened.
As the Nov. 3 general election nears, both have begun articulating their agendas, courting voters and lobbing attacks at one another.
Here’s more about the two candidates, along with their stances on a few top issues.
Xavier Becerra
Top job: U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services
Biggest splash: As California attorney general, sued the Trump administration roughly 120 times.
Particulars: Becerra, 68, lives in Sacramento with his wife, Dr. Carolina Reyes, and they have three adult daughters. Born in Sacramento, he is the son of Mexican immigrants: His mother was a clerical worker and his father picked vegetables, worked in construction and had other jobs. He is a Democrat.
Once considered an underdog among the many Democrats vying to replace Newsom, Becerra shot to the top of the polls after former Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race after he was accused of sexual assault and misconduct. In the scandal’s aftermath, several of Swalwell’s campaign advisors jumped to Becerra’s team. Voters in search of a new candidate said they were drawn to Becerra’s calm demeanor and decades of experience in government.
He finished first in the June 2 primary with 28.1% of the total vote. Under California’s top-two primary system, all candidates were listed on the same ballot, regardless of party, and first and second place finishers advanced to the Nov. 3 general election.
A steady, if inconspicuous, presence in California Democratic politics over the years, Becerra is largely perceived as a risk-averse candidate who would continue the status quo if he is elected.
The son of working-class Mexican immigrants — his mother was from Guadalajara and his father was born in Sacramento but raised in Tijuana — Becerra grew up in Sacramento with three sisters. In high school, Becerra convinced a classmate to hand over their unused application to Stanford University rather than throw it away. He filled it out and was accepted, becoming the first in his family to attend college, and graduated with degrees in law and economics.
Following a brief period doing legal aid work in Massachusetts while his wife finished medical school, Becerra returned to California to work as a legislative staffer for former state Sen. Art Torres and a deputy attorney general. Within a few years, he was recruited to run for a San Gabriel Valley Assembly seat.
Though he boasts a long resume in California electoral politics, Becerra went decades without a challenging election fight — until this year. Backing from a group of powerful Latinos helped him win his first Assembly race and, two years later, an open U.S. House seat, which he would hold for 24 years.
In 2017, Gov. Jerry Brown appointed Becerra as state attorney general to fill the vacancy left by Kamala Harris’ election to the U.S. Senate. He quickly became a top legal foe of the first Trump administration, suing more than 120 times over issues including immigration enforcement, protections for clean air and endangered species, and the Affordable Care Act.
Four years later, President Biden nominated Becerra to lead the sprawling Department of Health and Human Services and he was narrowly approved by the Senate. He faced criticism in the role for keeping a low profile during the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign and for his oversight of tens of thousands of migrant children in federal custody who crossed the border without a parent or guardian. A New York Times investigation found that as a result of scaled-back vetting processes, many of the children ended up working, often in dangerous jobs at factories, farms and construction sites.
Becerra has defended his record at HHS, arguing that the Trump administration had left the agency ill-equipped to care for so many children and disputing the number of unaccompanied minors who were “lost.”
The candidate is linked to — but not accused of any wrongdoing in — a corruption case involving two former advisors and a lobbyist who siphoned $225,000 money from one of Becerra’s campaign accounts. Sean McCluskie, Becerra’s former chief of staff; Dana Williamson, a Democratic advisor and former chief of staff to Newsom; and lobbyist Greg Campbell have all pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges and are awaiting sentencing.
Since the primary, Becerra has kept a low profile with few public events. After Hilton criticized his opponent’s absence from the campaign trail and challenged him to debate, Becerra’s spokesperson Jonathan Underland said he “is building a coalition of Californians ready to elect a governor who won’t bring Trump’s chaos to their front door” and that he will debate Hilton.
Steve Hilton
Top job: Senior advisor to British Prime Minister David Cameron
Biggest splash: Fox News commentator
Particulars: Hilton, 56, was born in England and lives in the Bay Area town of Atherton with his wife, Rachel Whetstone, who worked as a public relations executive for Google, Uber, Facebook and Netflix. They have two children. He is a Republican.
With Trump’s backing, Hilton consolidated enough Republican support to finish second in the primary with 24.6% of the vote. The president’s endorsement, though, is a double-edged sword in California, where Trump is deeply unpopular.
Hilton has said he is “deeply honored” to have his endorsement. Since the primary, however, he has made overtures to independent and Latino voters, arguing that even if they dislike Trump, voters should choose him if they are dissatisfied with California’s progress on affordability, homelessness and other issues.
“We may not agree about national politics, but I think we can agree that we need change in California, and I’m going to bring that change,” he said during a July press conference.
Hilton has sought to keep the spotlight on Becerra’s handling of the child migrant crisis, releasing video interviews with a whistleblower and teenagers who said HHS released them to traffickers who forced them to work and did not intervene to stop sexual abuse.
Born in London to parents who fled conflict in their native Hungary, Hilton began a career in politics with Britain’s Conservative Party after graduating from Oxford University. He was a close friend and advisor to David Cameron, who served as the U.K.’s prime minister from 2010 to 2016.
In British politics, Hilton earned a reputation as a zany but genius marketer who pushed the Conservative Party to embrace same-sex marriage and climate-friendlier policies. He was satirized on the BBC political sitcom “The Thick of It” as Stewart Pearson, the Tories’ “eco-friendly, media-savvy, blue-sky-thinking” communications director. He was an early supporter of Brexit, the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union.
Hilton and his family moved to California in 2012 after his wife, Rachel Whetstone, was promoted to lead global communications at Google. In the Bay Area, he became a visiting scholar at Stanford University and co-founded CrowdPac, a nonpartisan political fundraising platform. He left the company after his support for Trump stirred controversy.
For six years, he hosted “The Next Revolution,” a weekly Fox News show which Trump regularly tweeted clips from. On the show, Hilton lambasted lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic and called for an investigation into alleged voter fraud after Trump lost the 2020 election.
Hilton became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 2021 and last year renounced his British citizenship. Before running for governor, he founded Golden Together, a policy institute focused on researching issues like housing costs, homelessness and the state’s business climate. He has written several books that explore his ideas of “positive populism,” the role businesses play in social influence, and the “failures” of California government.
Housing
Fixing one of California’s most pressing issues — a severe housing shortage and sky-high prices — has been a rare point of unity in the governor’s race. During the primary, all major candidates agreed on the need to reduce roadblocks to homebuilding and permitting.
If elected, Becerra has said he would declare California’s housing shortage a state of emergency and direct his administration to identify ways to reduce the cost of building. He would expand the state’s down payment assistance program for first-time buyers and supports blocking institutional investors from purchasing single-family homes.
Becerra promised to continue Newsom’s legal crusade against cities that do not plan or build enough housing under state law. He has endorsed Proposition 1, an $11.25-billion affordable housing bond, and Proposition 37, a $25-billion down payment assistance program.
Hilton argues that layers of rules of permits have effectively halted construction of smaller and more affordable starter homes. He plans to prioritize construction of new 1,000-square-foot homes by fast-tracking their approval, reducing fees and placing a moratorium on new housing regulations.
He has proposed changing the California Environmental Quality Act to limit lawsuits that slow down or stall new home development. He’s also criticized the state’s “density bonus” law, which allows developers to increase the scale of housing projects if they include a certain percentage of affordable units.
“We’ve got to allow ourselves to build outwards, not just upwards, and we’ve got to end the bias against single family homes,” Hilton said at a March forum hosted by the California Assn. of Realtors.
California’s notorious cost of living
Hilton has promised to deliver $3 gas, slash utility bills by half and make Californians’ first $150,000 in earnings tax-free (an increase from his earlier proposal of $100,000). He said he can do all this by taking “a sledgehammer to our bloated, bureaucratic nanny state” and rolling back climate policies, which he blames for increased energy costs.
To lower gas prices, he has proposed increasing domestic oil production and cutting regulations on refineries.
Becerra would address the cost of living “by standing up to price gouging and unjustified rate hikes, expanding help with childcare and essential costs, and using the power of the state to lower prices where the market has failed.”
He does not specify how he would achieve those goals but touts his experience challenging anticompetitive practices among hospital systems as attorney general and negotiating more affordable prescription drugs for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries as HHS secretary.
Though he previously promised to freeze home insurance rates and utility costs, Becerra appears to have backtracked after Hilton and insurance industry representatives questioned whether it is legal.
Healthcare costs and coverage for undocumented immigrants
Early in his campaign, Becerra pitched himself as a “healthcare governor” who would lower costs and expand access to medical care by drawing on years of experience writing and implementing major healthcare laws. He was criticized by other Democrats during the primary for not committing to state-sponsored single-payer health care; Becerra said he supports nationwide Medicare for all.
Becerra’s 12-point healthcare plan includes expanding CalRx, the state’s generic drug manufacturing program, expanding access to telehealth appointments and investing in robust, community-based programs to screen for and prevent diseases.
After years of expanding Medi-Cal coverage for undocumented immigrants, Newsom and lawmakers last year froze enrollment to stem increasing costs. Becerra has said he would reverse the cuts, arguing that it is more cost-effective to provide regular care than push uninsured people into emergency rooms.
In a video posted to Facebook in early June, Hilton promised to eliminate “free healthcare to citizens of other countries who shouldn’t even be here.” He said he would lower costs by increasing competition among health insurance companies and stop consolidation in the healthcare industry.
