California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton slammed Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) on Tuesday for traveling across the country to meet with rural residents in South Carolina as parts of his state remain in ruins.
“This is Gavin Newsom’s California,” Hilton posted in a video on X, standing in front of debris from wildfires that devastated the state earlier this year. “Six months on from the fire disaster caused by his policies he calls THIS a ‘historic pace’ of debris removal. Now he runs away to South Carolina to run for president. What a disgrace. We need a governor focused on this job, not the next one.”
Hilton, a conservative commentator who hosted a show on Fox News and worked as an adviser to former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, is running to replace Newsom in 2026.
Newsom is prevented by law from seeking a third term and is considered an early frontrunner for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination. His trip to South Carolina is a strong indicator that he may be laying the groundwork for a presidential run.
Hilton called Newsom’s Monday press conference on debris cleanup “pathetic” and said he had “hot-footed it” to South Carolina to meet with voters.
Hilton, 55, launched his campaign for governor in April in Huntington Beach. He claimed he chose the location because he admired how city leaders there flipped the City Council from a majority of Democrats to all Republicans in less than a decade.
“Here’s why we’re here,” he said during a rally at Pier Plaza on the West Coast. “The spirit of Huntington Beach is going to be the spirit that saves our beautiful state of California and makes this state truly golden again.”
The last time California had a Republican governor was in 2003, when former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger was elected after former Gov. Gray Davis, a Democrat, was recalled.
While Hilton was busy taking verbal jabs at Newsom on social media, Newsom embarked on a two-day, eight-stop trip across rural South Carolina, including meet-and-greets in coffee shops, churches, and small businesses.
The first stop of the day was at a cafe in Florence where Newsom shook hands with nearly all 100 attendees, the Associated Press reported. Newsom said it was important for people from opposing viewpoints to talk to one another to bring the country together.
“I think it’s really important for Democrats that we spend time in parts of our states, parts of our country, that frankly, we haven’t spent enough time in, and so that’s why I’m here,” he said.
“This trip is exactly what you’d expect from someone who wants to keep the 2028 lane open,” Ryan Waite, vice president of public affairs at Think Big consulting firm, told the Washington Examiner. “It’s retail politics in a place Democrats rarely prioritize, and the message is clear: I’m not writing off anyone. It’s smart staging. South Carolina has symbolic weight after its role in 2020, and rural outreach is a box any national contender has to check these days, especially if they want to contrast themselves with a more coastal, urban image.”
South Carolina played a crucial role in 2020, resuscitating then-candidate Joe Biden’s lagging campaign after disappointing results in Iowa and New Hampshire. With the endorsement of Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), Biden won the state, the first with a large black electorate, a crucial voting bloc for Democrats. In 2024, the state became the Democratic Party’s first binding Democratic primary of the cycle.
MICHIGAN DEMOCRATS RAISE MILLIONS TO BATTLE ONE ANOTHER FOR OPEN SENATE SEAT
Waite added that the trip is a good idea from a “purely strategic point.”
On Wednesday, Newsom is slated to trek into deep-red territory with an event in the small town of Seneca, where four-term Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) calls home.
