Top Republican hopeful for California governor Steve Hilton reacts to primary results

(3 Jun 2026) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: ASSOCIATED PRESS Sacramento, California - 3 June 2026 1. GOP candidate for California governor Steve Hilton arriving 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Steve Hilton, (R), candidate for California governor: "Obviously, we're very encouraged by these results. Nothing is final yet, but it does look as if change is coming to California, and that is good news for everyone, every small business, every working family, everyone who wants to see our state set back on track." 3. Wide of the briefing 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Steve Hilton, (R), candidate for California governor: "And so when people say, how are you going to win in California as a Republican? My question is how will a Democrat win based on the record that they are putting before the people and offering no change at all? We're offering change, which is what a majority of Californians want." 5. Cutaway of Hilton 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Steve Hilton, (R), candidate for California governor: "When I'm elected governor, we are going to be frugal and careful with public money so we can cut the bloat in our government and reduce everybody's taxes." 7. Cutaway of California State Capitol Museum 8. SOUNDBITE (English) Steve Hilton, (R), candidate for California governor: "But it's an economic emergency in many other respects as well. We have of course the highest poverty rate, the highest unemployment rate in America. Businesses are leaving. We have to take urgent action to stop that. We have have to have change so that we once again become a state where people are moving to, not fleeing, where businesses are starting and investing. And so we can't take a break. The situation is too urgent. The campaign for change starts right now." ++BLACK FRAMES++ 9. SOUNDBITE (English) Steve Hilton, (R), candidate for California governor: "But one of the things that many people have said to us is that actually given how high the costs are in California, the highest housing costs in the country, highest gas prices, highest grocery bills, electric bills, more than double the national average, that actually that $100,000 level for no state income tax is perhaps too low. And so I can announce today that we are beginning a policy process to cost the affordability of raising that level so we can lift more people, more working families out of state income taxes. So I'll have an announcement as soon as that process is completed." ++EDIT ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++ STORYLINE: Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host and top Republican contender for California governor, doubled down on a message he kept revisiting throughout his campaign as he waited for ballots to be tallied: He painted a picture of a state bursting with potential that had lost its way. “We have a responsibility to revive California so it is once again that symbol of everything that is great about our nation: energy and optimism and ambition,” he said in an election night speech Tuesday in Southern California. Hilton, who's never held elected office, has promised to be a disruptor to the state's political order he said has failed to deliver for Californians struggling to afford life in the notoriously expensive state. He thinks it's a message that will resonate with voters across party lines if he advances to the general election in November. But he faces an uphill battle in a state that hasn’t had a Republican governor since Arnold Schwarzenegger left office in 2011, and where Democrats have held supermajorities in the state Legislature for the past decade. He says he's confident he can beat those odds. AP Video shot by Terry Chea Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...