Democrats governed California into the ground. Now they can’t field a candidate

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Even when President Donald Trump won the Electoral College and the popular vote in 2024, Kamala Harris still won California by nearly 3.2 million people, or nearly 1% of the nation’s whole population. The Golden State remained the fifth-bluest in the country, and thanks to its economy — if California were its own country, its GDP would rank as the fourth-largest in the world — its current governor is seen as the Democratic Party’s 2028 front-runner.

And yet, according to the polling, if the 2026 race to replace outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) were held today, the victor would be Steve Hilton, the charismatic Republican alumnus of Fox