Steve Hilton, GOP candidate for California Governor. (Photo: Hilton X page)
California GOP Fails to Endorse Republican Candidate for Governor
Betting markets show Hilton 83% outperforming Bianco 10%
By Katy Grimes, April 13, 2026 7:55 am
Despite President Donald Trump’s endorsement last week of Steve Hilton running for California Governor, the California Republican Party failed to issue an endorsement during the weekend convention.
However, whether the GOP on Sunday decided not to endorse either Republican candidate for governor, “Chad Bianco left with nothing, and we have Trump’s endorsement,” said Hector Barajas, Hilton communications director. “Bianco’s entire relevancy in this campaign was on getting this endorsement over the last several months; his entire operation was built around it, and he had a huge advantage that it was in Southern California and still couldn’t even get 50% of the vote, much less than 60 needed to get the endorsement.”
As Hilton noted, there were no endorsements at the CAGOP convention, however, the endorsement that matters is President Trump’s endorsement of Hilton.
🚨 No endorsement in the Californian Republican Party in the governor race.
Now it’s time to get behind the candidate with the endorsement that matters, President Trump’s!
We’re leading in the polls – by far, leading across the state… let’s unite to make sure we have a… pic.twitter.com/LjU1Xpjg1h
— Steve Hilton (@SteveHiltonx) April 12, 2026
Politico called it “a rare rebuke of the president in the nation’s largest state.”
“The outcome was not unexpected among political professionals in the run-up to the convention. Bianco was widely viewed as on the cusp of securing the 60 percent support needed for the endorsement before Trump weighed in — suggesting that the president at least helped Hilton prevent the party from picking sides. Bianco, the Riverside County sheriff, expressed confidence just Friday that he had the votes locked up.”
“We think that the numbers are there,” Bianco told POLITICO, days after Trump endorsed Hilton. “Steve knows he doesn’t have it, and he’s going to be doing everything he can to try and block it.”
The betting markets are telling, showing Hilton dramatically outperforming Bianco:
Even against Democrats, Hilton is the lead by far:
Even billionaire climate change activist Tom Steyer, who is attempting to buy his candidacy, isn’t performing as well as Hilton.
While Eric Swalwell suspended his campaign due to sexual assault allegations, he wasn’t even showing in the betting market predictions.
A California native and Navy mom, Katy lives in Sacramento, CA.
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I wish Hilton luck, he is running against a corrupt establishment in the most corrupt state in the union! Tom Styer should drop out and support him.
Bianco shot himself in the foot thus Hilton the only hope Cali has for a turnaround.
Now Hilton must distance himself from Trump.
Says the mentally deranged Newsom troll with terminal TDS who has an agenda. Run along Newsom troll.
Fair enough. We want the top two slots. No reason to put thumbs on the scale now, like Democrats are desperately trying to do.
Keep our eyes on the SEIU-member run county election offices, particular when they indulge in their “long counts”. That remains Job number one.
we want the top two to be republicans, quit with your BS
Hilton is the Establishment’s pick. He is getting most all the appearances in the news media like Fox and Newsmax. Everyone I know is voting for Bianco. The CA GOP is just like the national GOP, a bunch of rino’s.
Hilton may not be perfect, but he is by far better than what we have now (Newsome), and on the horizon(Steyer,Porter,Mahan).
I have a feeling that the next democrat gov will kill off Prop 13 via the ever more common use of ballot fraud – the crème de la crème of mugging what is left of productive citizens.
My mother, a retired state worker lost her house due to the inflation driven increase in prices caused by the oil embargo of the 70’s. (Similar to the Biden inflation, but worse) The house was auctioned off for taxes and she got some $12,000 ish. Today it is worth a million ish. (East Sacramento).
Biden did the same thing, but from DC instead of Saudi Arabia.
Sacramento San Francisco Los Angeles and San Diego voters are all embracing the Mamdani disciples. The question becomes which candidate could effectively counter the collectivist wave engulfing California?
Typical of the do nothing RINO party in cali-4-nia. Even repubs can suffer with TDS