British-American commentator and Republican gubernatorial hopeful Steve Hilton has surged to the front of Californias fundraising race, amassing more than $4.1 million in the past six months and eclipsing every rival except a self-financing billionaire.
According to One America News, Hiltons campaign has now taken in $5.7 million since he entered the race, a remarkable haul for a first-time candidate challenging entrenched Democrat power in one of the nations bluest states. We are leading this race and building a grassroots political revolution, Hilton wrote on X. We will keep fighting to kick out the failed, corrupt Democratic machine and save California!
The former Fox News host has cast himself as a political outsider determined to dismantle what he calls 16 years of failed one-party rule, centering his bid on corruption, affordability, and restoring accountability in Sacramento. While billionaire Tom Steyer has poured $20 million of his own fortune into the contest, Hilton has limited his personal loan to $100,000, underscoring his claim to be the candidate of ordinary Californians rather than coastal elites.
This is truly a fantastic result and shows how much people are sick of Newsom and 16 years of one-party Democratic rule, Hilton told The New York Post. We built this from scratch, in record time. His campaign reports more than 30,000 individual donors, with most contributions at $100 or less and coming from 56 of Californias 58 counties, a breadth of support that suggests deep frustration with progressive governance.
Democrat Katie Porter (D-Calif.) trails Hilton in fundraising with roughly $3 million, positioning her as the leading non-billionaire Democrat in the field. Yet in a state dominated by left-wing policies on crime, taxes, and regulation, Hiltons ability to out-raise her through small-dollar donations signals a potential realignment among voters weary of the status quo.
Hiltons financial strength is especially significant under Californias jungle primary system, which places all candidates on a single ballot regardless of party, with only the top two advancing to November. By uniting Republicans and appealing to independents with his anti-corruption, pro-accountability message, he aims to secure a runoff spot against a well-funded Democrat such as Steyer or Porter when voters head to the polls on Tuesday, November 3, 2026.
Before entering American politics, Hilton served as a senior adviser to former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron and authored books sharply criticizing Californias governance, experience that now underpins his argument that the state needs a decisive break from progressive rule and a return to common-sense, limited-government leadership.
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