Free Republic

"I don’t want this state that I love to become the country I left,” Steve Hilton tells the lunch meeting of South­ern California Republican Women. Knives and forks rattle on porcelain as the perfectly coiffured ladies down cutlery to clap. Remarkably, Hilton, director of strategy under former British prime minister David Cameron, has topped virtually every poll for governor of California since he launched his campaign in April last year. Hilton has leant into the West Coast aesthetic and spirit. Once the rebel of Downing Street in T-shirts and stockinged feet, today he sports a tech-bro beard, more bracelets and...

California is a house on fire, and its political class is arguing over the color of the curtains. The state is hemorrhaging residents, drowning in homelessness, and staring down an affordability crisis that’s crushing working families. With Gavin Newsom finally on his way out, you’d think the crowded field vying to replace him would be focused on convincing voters they’re the one to fix things. You’d think wrong. The governor’s race features eight Democrats and two Republicans — a field so bloated that the state Democrat Party chair recently begged lower-polling candidates to drop out before they accidentally split the...

***Public records show no California property ownership or lease in Eric Swalwell’s name across fourteen years of congressional financial disclosures*** When Eric Swalwell filed his November 2025 statement of intention for the California governorship, he listed a Sacramento attorney’s office address — not a home, not a lease, not a street where neighbors might wave at him in the driveway. His campaign explained the choice as a security measure. That may well be true. But it raises a question California voters cannot afford to ignore: Can a man genuinely govern thirty-nine million people when he cannot publicly commit to a...

Despite a long, entrenched Democratic reign over California politics, a new poll shows two Republicans leading by slim margins in the state’s 2026 race for governor as the June primary election fast approaches. The confounding results appear to be mostly due to the state’s left-leaning electorate feeling uninspired by any single candidate in the crowded field of eight top Democrats. Because of California’s top-two primary rule, that lethargy could lead to Democrats being shut out of a November election that will determine the next leader of the largest state in the union, though that is still considered unlikely. Conservative commentator...

Republican Steve Hilton, a British-born former Fox News commentator, continues to lead the governor’s race as Democrats remain divided over a favored candidate. Hilton received support from 19% of likely voters, according to a poll released Wednesday from the UC Berkeley Citrin Center for Public Opinion Research and Politico. Following him is Tom Steyer, a billionaire Democrat, with 13% support. Former Rep. Katie Porter, current Rep. Eric Swalwell, both Democrats, and Chad Bianco, the Republican sheriff of Riverside County, are tied with 11% support. Even with a June primary election approaching, the governor’s race remains crowded, and polling has been...

A crowded field of eight California Democrats is splitting the race for governor, as the coalition behind outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom begins to fracture. The result could be unthinkable: Republican victory in November. Party leaders tried, and failed, to convince some of their own gubernatorial candidates to drop out of the race before Friday’s filing deadline. The warning was blunt: Too many Democrats will split the vote and allow two Republican candidates to qualify for the general election under the rules of California’s “jungle” primary. California adopted its unique primary system, also known as the “top-two” system, through a statewide...

The crowded race to succeed California’s Governor Gavin Newsom, which has no clear front-runner in the Democratic ranks, has likely just been made tougher by the party’s failure this weekend to endorse a candidate. Hundreds of delegates and party members gathered for the California Democratic Party convention at the Moscone Center in San Francisco over the weekend, ahead of the crucial June 2 statewide primary election. Among them were nine eligible candidates hoping to run for the state’s governor this year with the backing of the party. These included former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, State Superintendent of Public Instruction...

California Democrats are panicking as a crowded and uninspiring field of gubernatorial candidates is raising the real possibility two Republicans to advance out of the June primary. The prospect of the “zombie campaigns” leading to a Republican governor for the first time since Arnold Schwarzenegger left office in 2011 has created a “sh—show,” one Democratic state legislator told The Post. “I’ve never seen a big race like this before,” the legislator said. “And I am worried that we’re going to have two really whacko Republicans.” As hundreds gathered this weekend for the California Democratic Party convention in San Francisco, another...

Republican Steve Hilton has opened up a surprise lead in the California governors race, according to a new poll. The Fox News contributor and staunch critic of Gov. Gavin Newsom is leading the crowded field, with 17% support, according to the Emerson College Polling/Inside California Politics survey. Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell and GOP candidate Sheriff Chad Bianco are tied for second at 14%, followed by former Rep. Katie Porter at 10%. Billionaire Tom Steyer trails one point behind her. About 21% of voters remain undecided, a 10-point decrease from the last poll in December, with Hilton gaining 5 points since...

PHOENIX - One of the Republican candidates in this year's gubernatorial election in Arizona has announced that she will suspend her campaign. What we know: In a post made on X, Karrin Taylor Robson said she is suspending her campaign, after "deep reflection, prayer, and many conversations with my family." "We cannot afford a divisive Republican primary that drains resources and turns into months of intraparty attacks," read a portion of her statement. "It only weakens our conservative cause and gives the left exactly what they want, a fractured Republican Party heading into November. With so much on the line...

coefficient poll of 1,123 likely Republican primary voters conducted 2/8-9/26: Rick Jackson 24; Burt Jones 16; Brad Raffensperger 9, several others 3 or less; undecided 42

California Democrats know how to manipulate the field of candidates to produce the governor’s race they want. That’s what I learned in the 2021 California gubernatorial recall election against Gov. Gavin Newsom. It is not a loss that gives me sleepless nights. It is, however, annoying that people, including veteran political analysts and pundits, get wrong exactly what happened. Why? Because the truth is instructive as to how Democrats maneuver, and what could be happening in the gubernatorial race in 2026.

The one thing Newsom is good at is destroying the Golden State If I was the leftist governor of the largest state in the U.S. and my unspoken goal and unholy plan was to destabilize and destroy my state, there are certain policies I would impose, and executive orders I’d make, while insulating myself from my own policies: Cut water off to rural areas in the state; remove dams and hydroelectric plants. Limit water deliveries to farmers and ranchers, forcing farmers and ranchers to shut down. Create a housing shortage. Raise the minimum wage so high, restaurant owners are forced...

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said Wednesday that his time as an elected official will permanently end when he finishes his term as governor. “I will never run for an elected office again. Never again,” Walz, the 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, said in an interview with MS NOW. Walz had said this month that he would not seek re-election as governor — sending shock waves through state and national politics — but he did not go so far as to say he would not consider another elected position down the line. In explaining his decision Wednesday, Walz talked about the...

U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar filed paperwork for her campaign for Minnesota governor Thursday, weeks after Gov. Tim Walz ended his campaign for a third-term amid a widening scandal of fraud in state-run social service programs. “This is a preliminary step necessary for any candidate considering a run,” according to a person close to the senator who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. “The senator will make an announcement of her plans in the coming days.” Klobuchar, 65, is a proven vote-getter, having been reelected three times since first winning her seat in 2006....

Lefty California Rep. Eric Swalwell is forcefully pushing back against a lawsuit claiming he can’t run for governor because he doesn’t actually live in the Golden State, calling the accusation “nonsense” and politically motivated. In an exclusive statement to The Post, his campaign’s general consultant said Swalwell has always maintained a California residence. Security concerns tied to repeated death threats against Swalwell explain why a campaign office address was listed on legal filings, according to campaign consultant Kate Maeder. She called the practice legal and common in California politics. Right-wing filmmaker Joel Gilbert, who filed the suit, claims Swalwell actually...

Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik announced Friday she was ending her short-lived bid for governor of New York and would not run for another term in Congress. “While spending precious time with my family this Christmas season, I have made the decision to suspend my campaign for Governor and will not seek re-election to Congress,” Stefanik wrote in a post on social media. “I did not come to this decision lightly for our family.” The announcement came less than two months after Stefanik launched a campaign seeking to challenge Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul in 2026, making what would have been a...

NEW YORK (WABC) -- New York Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, a top ally of President Donald Trump's on Capitol Hill, announced she is running for governor to challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul next year. Stefanik made the announcement in a video her campaign posted on YouTube early Friday morning. She released a statement saying: "Kathy Hochul is the Worst Governor in America. Under Kathy Hochul's failed leadership, New York is the most unaffordable state in the nation with the highest taxes, highest energy, utilities, rent, and grocery prices crushing hardworking families. Hochul has created a crime crisis with failed bail reform...

A former Navy pilot, first elected to Congress in 2018, will be New Jersey's next governor. Democratic Rep. Mikie Sherrill defeated former Republican Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, according to a race call by The Associated Press, capping a closely-watched gubernatorial election that some polls predicted would be a coin flip. Sherrill's victory marks the first time since the 1960s that New Jersey voters have elected a governor from the same party three terms in a row. Her victory is also the second major win for Democrats on Tuesday, following Abigail Spanberger's win for Virginia governor. The race was also one of...

BREAKING: New data from @Kalshi on the 2025 New Jersey Governor's Race Of traders who ACTUALLY LIVE in New Jersey, 86% believe Jack Ciattarelli will win the race