Hilton says he has seen no evidence of voting fraud in California, expects to face Becerra

Republican Steve Hilton, whose endorsement from President Donald Trump pushed him to the front of the gubernatorial field, said he has not seen any evidence of the impropriety the president has alleged about in California's election results.

"We're very, very focused on making sure that everything's OK," Hilton told reporters outside the Los Angeles County elections headquarters on Tuesday. "We've got teams standing by, we've got lawyers standing by, very focused on that. We don't want to let anyone down, we don't want to let anything slip away, and we've seen nothing."

While Democrat Xavier Becerra nabbed the top spot in the June 2 primary and will advance to the November general election, Hilton has not officially been declared as his opponent. Hilton, however, appears on the cusp of clinching the pivotal second spot on the ballot.

Billionaire Democrat Tom Steyer remains in third place, and the odds of him overtaking Hilton appear increasingly unlikely.

"I'm very pleased to say that we remain confident that I will make it into the top two and that California will have a real choice for change in November, whether they want to keep going with the policies that have brought us the highest poverty rate, the highest unemployment rate, the highest cost of living in the country, if they want more of that with Xavier Becerra or if they want to go in a new direction," Hilton said. "We're not popping the champagne yet, but we're very confident."

The former Fox News commentator and British political strategist called for electoral reform, including supporting a voter identification requirement that will appear on the November ballot. Hilton also wants to discontinue sending mail-in ballots to every registered voter, no longer counting ballots received after election day and increasing resources at county vote-counting centers.

"Voter ID (is) not the only thing, but it's the biggest, quickest, simplest thing we can do to restore faith in the system and to have these elections completed quickly in a way that inspires confidence, and that's why I hope that Xavier Becerra will join me in campaigning for it, so we can have a united front," Hilton said.

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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 7:37 PM.