Steve Hilton

Steve Hilton is a former Fox News host who was a top adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron from 2010 to 2012.¹ In the United Kingdom, he helped design Cameron's "Big Society" policy to shift power from central government to local communities.² His campaign centers on an affordability agenda, blaming the state's high cost of living on Democratic policies.³

He has proposed eliminating state income taxes on the first $150,000 of earnings and pledges to reduce gas prices to $3 a gallon by reducing oil industry regulations and clean energy mandates.⁴ To offset the tax cuts, he says he would stop funding high-speed rail, trim state agencies by 5%, crack down on Medicaid fraud, and end state-funded health care for undocumented immigrants.⁴ On water, he supports increasing desalination and building more dams and reservoirs, including raising Shasta Dam.⁵ He wants to reduce environmental regulations, but opposes the Delta tunnel project.⁵

He has called for overturning the state law that decriminalized sidewalk vending.⁶ He wants to cap vehicle registration fees at $73 and move routine services to county offices, abolishing the Department of Motor Vehicles as a stand-alone state agency.⁷ On homelessness, he says he would enforce existing laws and remove encampments from streets.⁸ He criticizes publicly funded harm-reduction programs that distribute clean drug supplies and says he would end them.⁹ He supports cooperating with federal immigration authorities in cases involving dangerous criminals.¹⁰ He supports a ban on artificial intelligence in classrooms.¹⁰