Ex-Fox News host would take on CA’s ‘Democrat industrial complex’ as governor
Good morning, happy Monday. This is the Capitol A.M. Alert!
GOING FOR GOLDEN
Republican Steve Hilton isn’t just campaigning against a crowd of Democrats in his bid for the California governorship. He wants to take on what he dubs the “Democrat industrial complex.”
As Hilton describes it, Democratic elected officials are bankrolled by labor unions and fed “ideological instructions” from activist groups, “which is why we’ve had this far-left extremism far removed from common-sense, practical policies that actually help people.”
At a press conference in front of the state Capitol Friday, Hilton recounted a meeting with a Democratic lawmaker several years ago to discuss a proposal to speed housing production. The official – whom he declined to name – liked his idea, but said they couldn’t publicly support it.
He asked why. “They waved their arm like this” – Hilton raised a pointed finger and whipped it in circles – “and said, ‘Yeah, the unions run this place.’”
“That is not okay,” he said. “The people of California should run this place, and this place should run in their interests.”
The former Fox News host is hoping to harness angst over California’s stubborn problems – homelessness, the cost of living and housing – to convince voters to back a GOP candidate for the first time in 20 years.
With a Donald Trump-inspired slogan of “Make California Golden Again,” Hilton wants to end state taxes for income under $100,000, slash state spending and cut rules for businesses.
First, he’d have to battle a fellow Republican, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, for the roughly 40% of voters who typically support GOP candidates in statewide elections to make it past the June 2026 primary.
Bianco previously said “no (Republican) is going to have the ability to win this election other than me.” In an interview with The Bee on Friday, Hilton argued he’s “the candidate with the energy and the policy to end 15 years of one-party Democrat rule.”
Indeed, the one-time adviser to former British Prime Minister David Cameron breezed through the history and intricacies of laws like the California Environmental Quality Act to describe how it hinders housing production (“it’s the litigation”) and what he’d do about it (he liked Gov. Gavin Newsom’s order waiving regulations to rebuild in Los Angeles).
Deregulation has long been a Republican talking point but has increasingly appeared on Democrats’ radars, too.
Hilton wants to “blast through the regulatory morass” of California’s state government, drawing inspiration from a recent law in Idaho which cut 95% of state regs by imposing automatic sunsets.
“You cannot hope to beat the bureaucracy at its own game,” something Hilton said he learned at 10 Downing Street. “You’ve got to think about it in a much more aggressive way.”
BONTA SUES TO BLOCK TRUMP’S DEI EDUCATION FUNDING CUTS
via William Melhado
California is suing the Trump administration again in an effort to protect nearly $8 billion in federal education funding that the federal government has threatened to withhold if public schools continue hosting programs that support diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Earlier this month, the U.S. Department of Education told states that federal financial assistance would be halted unless state and local education agencies stopped providing DEI initiatives, which the Trump administration views as unlawful.
Alongside 18 other states, California Attorney General Rob Bonta’s office sued Secretary Linda McMahon Friday over the Education Department’s effort to withhold congressionally approved funding for K-12 schools.
Bonta argued the federal government’s actions are unlawful and based on a “vague, contradictory and unsupported interpretation of Title VI,” which prohibits race-based discrimination.
“Let me be clear: the federal Department of Education is not trying to ‘combat’ discrimination with this latest order,” Bonta said in a Friday statement. “Instead it is using our nation’s foundational civil rights law as a pretext to coerce states into abandoning efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion through lawful programs and policies.”
McMahon and President Donald Trump have maintained that DEI initiatives are forms of illegal discrimination. The Education Department did not immediately return a request for comment.
Last week, federal judges in several states blocked the Trump administration’s attempts to cut public school funding over DEI programs after civil rights groups and teacher unions sued the Education Department.
THE WARM CUPPA CAUCUS
via David Lightman
Coffee now officially has friends in Congress.
A group of Democratic and Republican House lawmakers, including Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-Chico, has formed the Congressional Coffee Caucus.
Their purpose, they said in a statement, is to “provide a forum to uplift coffee’s positive impact on the U.S. economy and help strengthen the resilience of the crop’s global supply chain.”
Coffee prices have hit record highs this year, driven in part by diminishing crops of arabica beans, which make up the majority of global coffee supply.
Co-chairs are Rep. Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii, and William Timmons, R-South Carolina. Coffee, Tokuda noted, is consumed in every congressional district.
The caucus plans to concentrate on “strengthening and increasing research and development funding to assist coffee farmers, both domestically and globally.”
It hopes to advocate for coffee in trade and economic policy, including “broad-based social and economic development in coffee-growing countries that advance U.S. national security interests.”
The caucus also wants to push for more scientific research into the health benefits of drinking coffee.
The caucus has 19 members, including Reps. Sydney Kamlager-Dove, D-Los Angeles, and Laura Friedman, D-Burbank.
QUOTE OF THE DAY
“I would love to do that if it were permissible by law. We’re looking into that.”
- President Donald Trump, in an interview with Time magazine on potentially sending U.S. citizens to foreign prisons
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This story was originally published April 28, 2025 at 4:55 AM.