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Hilton pitches CA voters on electing a Republican governor at LA Times and LAist event
Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton speaks at a press conference outside the California attorney general’s office in Sacramento on Aug. 5, 2025.
(
Fred Greaves
/
CalMatters
)
Topline:
Steve Hilton, the Republican candidate for California governor, spoke Tuesday with a panel of Los Angeles journalists, making his case for why a deeply Democratic electorate should trust him to tackle the state’s biggest challenges.
The details: The Los Angeles Times and LAist co-hosted the candidate forum, which was livestreamed at 4 p.m. and re-broadcast on LAist 89.3 FM at 7 p.m.
The issues: LAist housing correspondent David Wagner and L.A. Times journalists Mark Z. Barabak and Seema Mehta moderated the approximately hour-long event. They asked Hilton about his plans for addressing topics such as housing affordability, homelessness, climate change and the state’s relationship with the federal government (President Donald Trump has endorsed Hilton). The event also included questions submitted by readers and listeners.
Where’s Becerra? Democratic front-runner Xavier Becerra was invited to participate in a debate or candidate forum. His team initially said they could not make the schedule work and then did not respond to a follow up email leaving the door open for another date.
Updated October 8, 2026 at 4:03 PM PDT
This story is updated to accurately the Becerra campaign's response.
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