Democrats are sounding the alarm over a near-unimaginable revelation: the top two contenders for California governor are Republicans.
Two of the latest political polls conducted across the Golden State revealed that Fox News commentator Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco are the frontrunners in the crowded race to replace California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is barred from running for a third term, Bloomberg first reported.
One survey found Hilton—who has touted his “personal relationship” with Donald Trump—leading the way at 17 percent, with Bianco close behind at 16 percent. Former congresswoman Katie Porter and Rep. Eric Swalwell trailed at 13 percent.
A separate poll commissioned by the Democratic Party again found the GOP contenders as clear frontrunners, with Swalwell, Porter, and billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer locked in a stalemate at 10 percent each.
Per California state law, only the two candidates who receive the most votes in the state’s primaries on June 2—regardless of political party—will advance to the November ballot. There are eight Democrats currently in the race for California’s highest office, splintering the vote with no clear frontrunner and clearing a potential path for a Republican victory in an election just 70 days away.
“[Republicans] are winning by Democrats being in disarray,” Paul Mitchell, a political data consultant, told ABC7.
Hilton has received endorsements from the late political activist Charlie Kirk, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and other MAGA movement leaders. In August, the former adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron told Politico that his “good personal relationships” with Trump’s inner circle would benefit Californians, name-dropping the likes of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy.
Bianco, for his part, is a loyal Trump supporter who made waves when he posted a 2024 Instagram video in uniform endorsing the president. California public officials are not allowed by law to engage in political activities in an official uniform. The sheriff also said at the time that it was “time to put a felon in the White House.”
Earlier this week, he made waves by seizing 650,000 ballots from last year’s election as part of an investigation into supposed voting irregularities—an effort critics slammed as a bid for Trump’s attention.
Newsom, who is gearing up for a potential 2028 presidential run, has previously implored his potential successors to unite against the right.
“At this moment in history, with all the peril and promise that marks this moment for California, the most un-Trump state in America, to have a Republican Trump-er running, there is no margin for error,” Newsom said during a book tour stop in Los Angeles last month, according to ABC7.
“This is a moment for real self-reflection,” he added. “Is it about you? Is it about me? Or is it about all of us? And the stakes couldn’t be higher, so all I will say is choose wisely.”
The Daily Beast has reached out to Newsom’s representatives for comment on why he has yet to endorse a successor.
California has reliably voted blue for two decades, with Arnold Schwarzenegger the last Republican elected governor in 2006. That remains true today: In February 2025, state data showed roughly 45 percent of registered voters (10,367,321) are Democrats, compared to 25 percent of registered Republicans (5,776,356).
But with no clear Democratic frontrunner, pollster Mitchell estimated a 1-in-5 chance of a Hilton-Bianco matchup, according to Bloomberg.
Rusty Hicks, the chair of the California Democratic Party, has also voiced concern over such a possibility.“All candidates must honestly assess their viable path to win, and I continue to call for them to do so,” Hicks said earlier this week, according to ABC7. “Simply put, it’s the best way to ensure that we elect a Democrat as our next governor.”
