Republican candidate for governor Steve Hilton brought his campaign to the Cal Poly campus Sunday evening, telling roughly 300 supporters that California’s affordability crisis has made it increasingly difficult for young people and working families to remain in the state.
Invited by the Cal Poly College Republicans, the former Fox News host spent nearly two hours taking questions on housing, taxes, energy costs and public safety before remaining for another hour to greet attendees and pose for photographs.
Rather than delivering a lengthy prepared speech, Hilton spent much of the evening responding to questions from students and supporters about the state’s cost of living and what he described as barriers to economic opportunity.
Questions ranged from housing affordability and energy costs to public safety and state regulation.
The audience included Cal Poly students, local Republican activists and several candidates seeking state and local office, including insurance commissioner candidate Stacy Korsgaden, District 30 Assembly candidate Shannon Kessler, attorney general candidate Michael Gates, and San Luis Obispo County clerk-recorder candidate Gaea Powell.
Asked by a recent Cal Poly graduate how he would lower the cost of living and make homeownership more attainable for young Californians, Hilton said housing affordability would be among his highest priorities.
“I am sick of hearing that young people can’t see their future here in California,” Hilton said.
To reduce housing costs, Hilton said he would cap hidden taxes such as municipal impact fees, roll back anti-housing regulations and curb what he described as union-backed lawsuits that delay housing construction.
The evening’s strongest audience response came when Hilton outlined several of his signature proposals, including eliminating California’s income tax on the first $100,000 of earnings, imposing a flat 7.5% tax rate on income above that threshold, cutting electric bills in half and lowering gasoline prices to $3 per gallon.
Hilton also said he would expand oil production in California, and argued that governors possess significant authority to do so through appointments to regulatory agencies and boards.
Before the event, Hilton defended his qualifications to govern despite never holding elected office, pointing to his business background and previous experience working in government in the United Kingdom.
“Most of my career has been in business. You’ve got to put teams together. You’ve got to solve problems every day. You’ve got to have a very practical mindset,” Hilton said.
Hilton argued that California needs an outsider willing to challenge the status quo while still working across political lines.
Calling himself “an openly pragmatic person,” Hilton said that while working in 10 Downing Street under former British Prime Minister David Cameron, he frequently collaborated with political opponents and could do the same in California.
Hilton shared elements of his personal history, explaining that he was born in London to parents who fled Hungary following the 1956 revolution. He later attended Oxford University, worked in British government and moved to California with his family in 2012.
In a brief interview before the event, Hilton said the difference between his role as a commentator and his role as a candidate is that voters deserve solutions, not simply criticism.
“When you’re just a commentator, you can call out a problem, but you’re not required to have a solution,” Hilton said. “When you’re running for office, as I am now, it’s all about the solutions.”
A recurring theme throughout the evening was what Hilton described as “decentralizing power.” He said many of California’s challenges could be addressed through executive action and regulatory reform rather than waiting for legislative action.
Hilton said he has spent the past three years studying policy issues through his organization, Golden Together, and developing proposals he believes can be implemented quickly through appointments to state agencies and boards.
“I’ve actually got the plans in place, and the people that I’m going to appoint to these agencies and boards that are going to start making changes on day one,” Hilton said.
Hilton said voter turnout would be critical in the gubernatorial race and pointed to two ballot measures he believes could energize Republican voters: one focused on preserving Proposition 13 tax protections and another requiring voter identification.
Referring to California’s top-two primary system, Hilton urged supporters to help register voters and participate in the June election.
“We’ve got to be sure that we get a Republican into the top two,” Hilton said.