In America: California Governor Race Locks In Candidates for General Election

The California governor's race continues to heat up as the primaries come to a close. Despite an estimated 117,000 votes not being tallied at the time this article was published, Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra are confirmed to be moving on as the final candidates for the California General Election in November. The California primaries drew a large field of contenders, with the final votes going roughly neck-to-neck between Becerra and Hilton. Notably, both candidates have similar sets of political experience and policy priorities on their dockets. California voters will ultimately have the final say as to which direction they want the state to move in the future. 

Xavier Becerra is the son of Mexican-American immigrants and has a 35-year history of serving California and the United States. His past roles include State Assemblyman, Congressman, California Attorney General, and US Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

Becerra frames his campaign’s policy agenda around a specific vision of the California Dream. For Becerra, his California Dream ensures getting paid a living wage for a full day’s work, cutting out red tape for new businesses, ensuring a low cost of living, and investing in local law enforcement in the interest of public safety. Essentially, Becerra’s California Dream encapsulates his experience growing up in an immigrant family: every family, worker, and community deserves a fair chance to live a safe and healthy life. 

Another important part of Becerra’s campaign policies is fighting Donald Trump. 

Becerra notes his proven record of fighting Donald Trump as California’s Attorney General and promises to continue fighting for California’s autonomy and defending the rights of Dreamers, who are undocumented immigrants brought to the US as children and lack concrete pathways to citizenship. 

Rounding out Becerra’s policy agenda is his stance on AI and homelessness in California. Becerra’s stance on AI can be summed up in his campaign promise to make innovation that works for everyone. This promise translates into direct policy goals by expanding AI literacy, responsibly using AI in governance, preparing Californians for AI’s impact on the economy, and ensuring and strengthening AI safety laws that could serve as a model for other states or the federal government in developing AI governance. 

On homelessness, Becerra’s policy goals focus on prevention and a stronger accountability framework for how California spends money to tackle the issue. More specifically, Becerra promises to strengthen mental health infrastructure, expand shelter access, and invest in state-funded prevention programs like rental assistance. 

Steve Hilton is running as the Republican candidate for California Governor. Hilton grew up in England as the son of Hungarian immigrants. He worked in the Conservative Party when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister and served as a senior advisor under David Cameron. Beyond politics, Hilton has hosted TV shows, podcasts, written books, lectured at Stanford, founded the policy organization Golden Together, and opened several restaurants in London. 

Similar to Becerra’s campaign framing, Hilton frames his campaign on a concrete vision for California, making California “golden” again. Making California golden again can be summarized as: 

“A good job, where you make enough to raise your family in a home of your own in a safe neighborhood with a good school, so your kids have a better life than you. Great jobs, great homes, great kids.” – Steve Hilton, Republican candidate for California Governor.

Hilton’s campaign promises really hinge upon that last sentence: great jobs, great homes, and great kids. These three points are the main focus of Hilton’s campaign. 

Hilton’s vision for great jobs in California means reducing taxes for workers and ending the bureaucratic war on business. These points encapsulate a broader set of policy goals that Hilton plans to implement if elected governor. Some of these policy goals include a pro-worker, pro-growth tax reduction that would target California's high cost of living through tax reforms. Hand in hand with this tax reduction would be a return to sensible spending, with Hilton planning to restore California government spending to pre-pandemic levels. The final policy goals for Hilton’s vision of great jobs in California would cut back on regulation, reduce California’s administrative state, and, ironically, regulate regulation in California to revitalize California businesses. 

Hilton’s policy agenda for creating great homes in California centers on the vision of a single-family home for every family. This would be achieved by capping hidden housing taxes, reducing anti-housing regulations, and stopping anti-housing lawsuits. Hilton wants to reframe California voters' attitudes toward housing by ending the war on single-family homes. Specifically, Hilton frames this issue as a counter to Democratic governance in California that pushes for apartment buildings, public transit, and restrictive zoning laws. More broadly, Hilton attributes many of California's problems to Democratic governance. 

On great kids, Hilton highlights the failures of California's public schools to help students meet English and math standards. Rather than focusing on resource distribution for schools, Hilton frames this issue as a problem of teacher accountability, weak parental rights to influence change, and a challenging curriculum deemed counterproductive to meeting educational standards. 

Rounding out Hilton’s vision to make California golden again is a commitment to public safety and to ensuring that law enforcement is capable of actually enforcing the law. 

Ultimately, Hilton and Becerra are two sides of the same coin. Both candidates frame their campaigns around a specific vision for California that addresses issues facing everyday Californians: homelessness, affordability, and state regulation, among others. While the methods and end goals of Hilton and Becerra’s policy agenda can be quite different, these campaign promises are certainly striking a chord among Californians. 

While the primaries are about locking in the candidates for the general election, they also serve as a prelude to what California voters care about and which candidates resonate the most with them. Look no further than how close the vote distribution was between Hilton and Becerra. At the time this article was published, roughly 300,000 votes separated the two candidates. While this lead favors Becerra, the showdown between Hilton and Becerra in November will reflect which candidate California voters believe will fulfill their promise on the California Dream.