In this episode of The Alex Marlowe Show, guest Steve Hilton shares his remarkable journey from the United Kingdom to California politics. Known from his Fox News presence and gubernatorial campaign, Hilton reveals the deeply personal experiences that have shaped his fierce dedication to freedom and small government. From his early political engagements in the UK to building a new life in California, Hilton discusses his love for the state and his commitment to restoring its prosperity.
SPEAKER 01 :
He’s editor-in-chief of Breitbart News and a New York Times best-selling author. And on this podcast, he brings deep research, prescient analysis, and world-class guests. He’s Alex Marlowe, and this is The Alex Marlowe Show.
SPEAKER 02 :
Steve Hilton is with me now. You guys know him from Fox News, but he’s also a candidate for governor in California. And he’s doing very well in the polls, though it’s going to be a long slog in a deep blue state like California. We’ll get into all that. But Steve, if there are people in the audience who are unfamiliar with your background, can you share? some of the trajectory and how you came from overseas to the united states you were a fox star and then now you’re running for governor of california it’s truly unique i’ve never seen this this career arc uh yeah well it’s great to see you alex uh it’s a great pleasure to be with you today
SPEAKER 03 :
As you can tell, and everyone watching and listening can tell, originally from the UK. But actually the journey, the arc, as it were, goes back one step further, which is very important in how I see the world and has shaped me very strongly, which is my parents are Hungarian. Both of my parents are Hungarian, and they fled communism. And I grew up in England in a free country, but the rest of my family all back behind the Iron Curtain. We used to go back and visit Hungary. when I was a kid, and it was a communist regime, and that made a very, very strong impression on me, and I guess that driving fierce love of freedom and a hatred of big, bossy, bureaucratic government really stems, I guess, from that in part. But also, I grew up in England, which was recovering from a decade of socialism. Margaret Thatcher had been elected prime minister, And my parents were working class. My stepfather, also Hungarian, worked construction. And I spent my time in vacations and trying to earn a bit of money on construction sites. So I just really identified, I suppose, with that upward trajectory of kind of working class immigrant aspiration. And Mrs. Thatcher in England really spoke to that very strongly. actually. And so I had that very strong identification back then. Worked hard, got to Oxford University, ended up actually working at the Conservative Party for a little bit when I was much younger, when Mrs. Thatcher was still Prime Minister. That was my first real foray into politics. But then most of my career actually has been in business. I’ve started companies both in England and here in California. I’ve run restaurants. I’ve had a whole range of business experience. I think it’s going to be incredibly useful and important in the in the job I’m now seeking as governor of California, that business mindset. But I did go back into politics for a while when David Cameron, who I’d worked with many years before, ran for the leadership of the British Conservative Party. I ran his campaign. He became leader. helped him get elected as prime minister. And I served for two years in 10 Downing Street as senior advisor to the prime minister. I had a little office right next to the cabinet room there in number 10 and behind that famous door. And that really gave me that experience of You know, how hard it is to make change happen in government and how entrenched the interests are in the bureaucracy and how difficult it is. And I really learned a lot from that. 2012 moved here to California with my wife and my two sons. My wife at the time had a job that brought her back and forth to California. When our second son was born, it was kind of a lot of crazy travel. So we thought for our family sanity, it would be good to move here. Not necessarily intending to stay forever, but I was in love with California even before we moved here. It represented to me so much, well, everything that’s great about America. And so made a new life here, taught at Stanford University, started a tech company, a new career in TV, which is totally unexpected. But then the more that the years went on, I was hosting a show on Fox News, the more I really wanted to get back into doing things, not just talking about things, in terms of that’s really what I’ve been doing all my career in business and in government. And slowly came to the realization that I love California so much I can’t stand to see what the Democrats are doing to it. And a few years ago started a policy organization, Golden Together, started traveling the state, meeting people, learning about the issues, developing policy solutions. And that led to where we are today, where in many of the polls, I’m the leading candidate for governor. How about that?
SPEAKER 02 :
It really is a remarkable arc. There’s so many places I want to take it. I guess I’ll ask one question about Fox. There’s not a lot of people from the UK with shows on the American network, particularly Fox, who’s so highly competitive, where that’s sort of the dream job for so many people in this field is to get a show. How did that come about?
SPEAKER 03 :
So it’s interesting. It was 2016. We’d been here for four years in California, and I went back to the U.K. It was for two reasons, really. It was I’d written a book in 2015 called More Human, Designing a World Where People Come First. And the theme of the book was putting power in people’s hands, decentralizing power. I applied that argument to all areas of life and policy. And then the paperback edition came out in the U.K., went back to promote that. That was the time of the Brexit era. Referendum 2016. And of course, the EU represented everything that I was arguing against in that book about decentralizing power. And if I encountered the unbelievable weight of the EU bureaucracy and fought against it when I was in 10 Downing Street, so I came out in favor of Brexit. which was a big deal because my until then close friend and former boss, the prime minister, David Cameron, was against Brexit. So we were on opposite sides of that. It was a big deal in the UK, got a lot of media attention, including the attention of someone called Rupert Murdoch, who saw me talking about Brexit. He asked me in for a meeting. We started chatting. We got along. Of course, it was also the time here for, where you saw the rise of Donald Trump. And in fact, just generally the rise of that populist movement. You could also see Bernie Sanders on the left tapping into some of those populist concerns, obviously in a very different way with different solutions. And we got talking and Rupert, after a few months, offered me this incredible opportunity. And it really was very much, I mean, the original intent of the show, it’s called The Next Revolution, was very much focused on that populist movement. development in both in the UK with Brexit and of course much more significantly here in America. And the show started right at the beginning of the Trump, the first Trump administration.
SPEAKER 02 :
But he’s got all sorts of networks in the UK as well, but he thought that it was important for your voice to be reaching an American audience.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, actually, I think it really was the I remember back in the days around that summer of 2016. Yeah. Being invited, for example, I sat on a number of panels and various events and Republican events and media events with J.D. Vance, because at the same time he had published Hillbilly Elegy. And both of us. were, I guess you could say, explaining what was going on. People were looking at Donald Trump and saying, what’s this about? This new populism. And we really got it, I think. And I guess it does go back to what I was talking about in terms of my working class upbringing in the UK. I completely understood what was going on and felt that it was a completely natural response to the failures of the establishment in both parties, especially the economic failures, the failure to lift up working people. There’s a staggering chart that I remember. that really took me aback when I was looking at the data to do the U.S. edition of that book. And I updated it with U.S. information. And there’s this incredibly powerful chart looking at the earnings of most workers. I think the technical term is non-managerial, non-supervisory workers. It’s roughly 80% most workers in America. And it plotted their earnings after inflation going back decades. On the same chart, the earnings of corporate America and the top 20%. Of the of the labor force. And it’s just incredibly striking. Basically, the earnings of most workers were completely flat since the mid since I think 1974, just flat. And the top 20 percent hockey stick growth, corporate earnings, hockey stick growth. And to me, that captured the whole. you know, force for the rise of Donald Trump and Brexit and all of this. And I really understood that. It seemed to me others didn’t perhaps understand that so immediately. And really, the role of the show was to really provide an opportunity to talk about those issues from that populist perspective.
SPEAKER 02 :
Really interesting. So you settle out in California. We’re in California. And why did you pick it there?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, as I said, it was really my wife’s job. She had a senior job at Google on the communications side, and she was traveling a lot.
SPEAKER 02 :
Is she still there? Because I’m getting really throttled here on YouTube, and I need to get in contact over there. They’re starting to erase all my views for some reason. They won’t explain to me. They’re taking away your views.
SPEAKER 03 :
No, she’s not. And in fact, I had the same thing happen to me on YouTube when I was speaking out against the vaccine mandates and the pandemic and the lockdowns, the same thing. No, she’s had a fantastic career, but she’s no longer at Google. She’s worked at a number of the big tech companies in that communications role and now is with an AI startup. So she’s doing, as I always say, she has the real career in our family.
SPEAKER 02 :
So where are you based now in California?
SPEAKER 03 :
We live in the Bay Area. So you’re in the Bay Area.
SPEAKER 02 :
I’m a Berkeley grad, so I know the area pretty well.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay, so we’re just across the bay from there. We’re in Atherton, close to Palo Alto, close to Stanford.
SPEAKER 02 :
Nice, nice, a nice place to live. So what’s it like there for you living there? Do you like living in California?
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, I love it. I still feel in love with California. Every day I just think I’m so incredibly fortunate, and especially now, traveling the state. Where am I based? I’m basically based in our truck, our campaign truck. And in and out of airports going around the very big state. And I get around it. Right now, for example, we’re holding town halls right across the state. Yesterday, we were up in the Sierra Nevada foothills. Over the weekend, we’re in the Bay Area, Pasadena before that. So we’re all over the state. It’s so incredible. It’s such a beautiful place. It’s got this energy that I love. It’s not just the beauty, the physical beauty and the range of incredible things. places you can see from the beautiful the mountain the magnificent mountains and the beaches and the coastline all those that’s all true and the range of that is you don’t get anywhere else in the world um the attitude of california in its and you know to me is something very special the the obviously the the fierce desire for freedom but that kind of rebel spirit i think that’s what california is all about at its best like we we just do you know That’s why you’ve had so much innovation here and a lot of the culture, the counterculture actually, like fighting, saying I’m going to do this thing and I’m going to start something that everyone thinks is crazy. That attitude, the rebel spirit, that’s what’s being crushed, of course, by this unbelievable bloated nanny state bossy bureaucratic government that is so anti-California. I mean, it’s obviously producing terrible results here. In California, if you look at the actual outcomes on every measure, we are now the worst performed on every measure that matters. Literally the worst performing state in America. It’s stunning how and what a failure it is. This Democrat one party, you know, highest poverty rate, highest unemployment rate, 50th out of 50 for affordability. According to Wallet Hub, 50th out of 50 for opportunity. U.S. News World and World Report rankings. Chief Executive Magazine, worst. business climate in America. Highest gas prices of any state, electric, insurance, water, housing, everything’s a disaster. But on top of that, they’re just crushing the spirit of California with all these endless government rules and regulations and making everything so impossible, impossible to do anything, build anything, run your business, raise your family the way you want. It’s absolutely antithetical to the soul and spirit of California, and that’s really what we’re fighting against.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, it is. So I live here, and I was a California native, Now I’m back. Every day you think about leaving if you’ve got my politics. I feel like I just turned 40 years old over the weekend. It’s one of these things where I feel like if I give up on California, I’ve almost given up on myself because I’ve always loved being in California. I am a Californian. You can’t take that away from me just because I don’t like the governor currently and I don’t like the state legislature. Some people in Hollywood are stupid. So I want you to speak to this because I feel like we’re kindred spirits in this regard. Why is California worth fighting for to the extent that you’re giving up a huge part of your life and time to be able to do this? It’s obviously a high profile. I’m sure it’s kind of fun, but it’s going to be very grueling and hard and it’s tough odds. Why are you putting yourself out there to this level on behalf of this state that frankly doesn’t deserve people like you?
SPEAKER 03 :
it is tough and it’s actually really tough. I know it’s a cliche. People say this, but I’ve seen, it’s the first time I’ve run for office. I’m, you know, an outsider that obviously I’ve worked in and around politics and government a little bit, but I’ve never done it before. And it is tough. It’s really tough on your family. Truly. Yeah. You’re away a lot, especially in a place as big as this. And so that is a real, that is a real, um, and, and, and I do enjoy it. Um, and, and it’s an honor to do it. I think the driving force is just this. I just feel like, It’s very it’s it’s it’s almost a spiritual and emotional drive, really, which is how dare they do this. And this place is so special. And it’s given me such an amazing opportunity. You know, just think about what I’ve been able to do here. And, you know, the California dream, which, you know, other states don’t speak of that. Right. But it’s a real thing. No offense to the other states, but it’s special. And, you know, teaching at Stanford, starting a business TV, it is incredible opportunity. And I do feel a certain sense of obligation to to, you know, if it’s that sense of, well, if you can do something about it. If you really and I do think I’ve got the combination of the business experience, the government reform experience, policy expertise across a broad range of issues and understanding of how you can actually make change happen. Thanks to my media platform, the opportunity that’s just being known is very important in a state like this. And so putting all that together, I just felt a sense of I don’t want to be too pompous about it and use words like duty. But there is an element of that, an obligation. I feel a sense of obligation. I really do. But also real emotional love for this state and and what it should should be and could be.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, and the potential is still limitless. So one thing about the state is nothing’s going right here, and I track this on a daily basis on one of my platforms. I’ll note how I’ve been following Gavin Newsom’s career since I was a college student, and he became known to me, and he’s been around for multiple decades in the state. And since he got power, we’ve seen crime get worse. We’ve seen illegal immigration destroy our school system. Health care has gotten less affordable. Traffic has not gotten better. There’s more homelessness. There’s more crime. We had a budget surplus. Now we have a deficit. He’s got nothing right. And yet he’s ascended the polls during that time for national office, which speaks to just a huge disconnect between what people are looking for in government and and a governor and what I’ve been witnessing on a personal level. All that’s very bleak to me, but I want to get a sense of what your top priorities are. Should you become the CEO of the state? All right. I’m adding a new new year’s resolution to the list. I have my new year’s resolution show. I’ve added a new one and that’s using balance of nature. This is good for you. And it is nummy. It’s a whole health system. Supplements, Perfect resolution for you. These have some of the best ingredients imaginable from psyllium husk, flaxseed, cinnamon, turmeric, turmeric, got to get that R in there, turmeric, mango, pineapple, wild blueberries, shiitake mushrooms, spinach, kale, cayenne pepper, All good stuff, and it is good for you. You can put it in smoothies. You can sprinkle it on your savory dishes. And I got to tell you, they get some of the best snacks. And I’m in a mode now where I’m not trying to overindulge between meals. They’ve got these freeze-dried mangoes. These are the most delicious things you could ever have. One-ingredient mangoes, I love that. It’s just good for you. Supplements include 47 ingredients of 100% whole fruits, vegetables, spices, and fibers. Add this to your daily routine and watch your health improve. This new year, you can lock in… 50% off for a year when you subscribe to the whole health system. Preferred customers, which you will be, say your preferred customer when you get there, at balanceofnature.com. 50% off for a year. I recommend it.
SPEAKER 03 :
It’s very clear. It’s the core foundational economic issues. I mean, I can sort of run through the, I mean, I’m going to run through the specific points. Underneath each of them, of course, is a lot of policy work and detail. But very simply, the goal here is to enable people just to live their life free of the kind of struggle, the financial struggle that is there right now. And so especially it’s aimed at working families and small business. I used to be a small business owner. I’ve been at work. So those are the people I’m really fighting for. And actually the next generation, Because the most heartbreaking thing of all, you see now this incredible state and people are leaving and in particular younger people. And you see and you just ask them, are you going to stay in California when you graduate? Whatever. No, I can’t. I’ll never be able to afford a house here. I’ll never be able to. You know, if I want to start a business or pursue something, it’s so difficult here. That’s what’s that’s what we got to stop. So the components of that are very simple. Number one, we have to end. This ruinous climate crusade. When you look at the reasons that everything is so expensive and impossible to do in California, a huge part of it is that what they call their climate agenda, the climate crusade, this extremist obsession with with climate. And the first two components of that will be to end their war on fossil fuels so that we can actually use the natural resources we have in California, oil and gas in particular. so that we can bring gas prices down. Because for working people in California, that is a total nightmare, right? It’s not the climate warriors in Marin County or over in Berkeley, you know, tapping away on their MacBooks, working from home. It’s working class Californians who are crushed by these gas prices. So instead of $5, $6 gas and maybe heading higher, As refineries close, we’re going to have $3 gas. That’s my first policy thing that I promised on the campaign trail, $3 gas. And we’re going to end the obsession with wind and solar and the subsidies that go to that to generate electricity. We can use natural gas to generate electricity and moving to nuclear. And so we can cut electric bills in half. Right now, they’re more than double the national average. Then you look at taxes. You’ve got this bloated government bureaucracy and the massive growth of this welfare state in California. We’re going to cut all that back. Just this week, I announced plans for Cal Doge to tackle the fraud and the corruption and the waste. And then we will be able to cut spending so we can cut taxes. The tax plan is very simple. It’s pro-worker. Your first $100,000, no state income tax. Above $100,000, the pro-growth element, a flat tax of 7.5%. Then you look at health care, massive burden for so many people.
SPEAKER 02 :
Hold on. Before we get to health care, because tax and stuff is so important to me, and health care is too, but I was just thinking about this, is that people don’t understand the burden that this plays on the whole state, the tax burden. Because I’ll tell you that I have very good income, and my wife does as well, so we’re doing okay. But I’ll tell you that in my family, we’re this little economic engine because we have domestic help. We have three car payments we’re making. We’ve got… Uh, you know, people come in and out for lessons and for children and for childcare. And there’s all these different things. And the more you confiscate from us, then it’s all going to good places. I’m not sending it to a Swiss bank account. And we’re the exact type of people who you could drive out of the state because the extra 10, 11% that I would get if I lived in Florida every year would really make a big difference in my family. And, and that is just not a consideration. There’s not a single person that feels like in Sacramento, whoever thinks of it that way.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. No, they don’t. And actually, we put a number on it just this was it last week, because what you’ve got now, I mean, you know, of course, the Democrats talk about affordability, right? And they want to own that term. You have President Trump, you know, expressing his view on that, whatever. But the simple point is that the reason that California is the most expensive place in America, it’s nothing to do with Trump or anyone else. It’s Democrat policies. And so we have to, first of all, make that argument clear. We actually quantified it. So we did a very simple calculation just the other day, published this. And I’m going to tell you something you might enjoy doing yourself, which is we took the average costs for every all the key items of spending, all the things you’ve listed, childcare, rent. Mortgage, whatever the situation is, gas, utilities, groceries, all that. And we just compared the national average with the California average to look at what I call the Democrat tax overall. The extra you pay for Democrat policies. The dollar amount on average is $35,000 a year. Average. Unbelievable. You’re going to be much higher. Actually, we created an online calculator so you can put in your cost. So anyone watching, you can go to CaliforniaDemTax.com, put in your numbers and see how much you’re paying.
SPEAKER 02 :
CaliforniaDemTax.com. Very cool. Yeah, see, this is the sort of thing. It’s because people like me who believe in the state, I’m still on thin ice. It’s like I have all four of the grandparents are in the picture. They’re all in California. We actually are lucky enough to live in an area with a usable school system, which with four kids, it saves a lot of money in that regard. And now I’ve got a job where I’m supposed to theoretically come into a California school. If any of those go away, Steve, I’m thinking about leaving, like the second one of them, like not all of them. And that’s just not how you should treat your tax base because we’re earners and we should be treated with a little more respect than we’re getting. Get to healthcare and then I want to talk about immigration with you.
SPEAKER 03 :
Healthcare, well, they’re connected, actually, because my simple point is this. We are now spending, if you add it up, the direct costs and then the associated costs, Gavin Newsom, $20 billion a year on free healthcare for illegal immigrants, people who shouldn’t even be here, while you’ve got hard work in California, so you can barely afford their healthcare costs. and are massively struggling. And there’s real resentment about that, so I’m very clear. That’s under the control of the governor. We will stop that spend. We will cut that spending completely and use it to lower health care costs and wait times, because that’s becoming a nightmare as well, because of the illegal immigration, for Californians. So that’s very simple and fair and widely supported. No more free health care, full-scope Medi-Cal for illegal immigrants, in order that we can lower health care costs and wait times for Californians.
SPEAKER 02 :
Immigration, illegal immigration and legal immigration are both posed different challenges. But illegal immigration is really what has been the cardinal sin of this state. I think that the normalization of illegal immigration and the insistence that we accept all of it has been going on since I was a child and it has not worked out at all. And yet there seems to be no reappraisal of this. But what can the governor do in this regard?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, we can stop creating the incentives for more illegal immigration. Obviously, the federal immigration is a federal matter in terms of policy and law and enforcement. Number one, however, we can stop creating the incentives for it here, like their free health care. All of that has to stop. Of course, the new the flow of new illegal immigration is massively clamped down. Thanks to President Trump closing the border. But then the other point is that when you get to the enforcement of immigration law, I mean, I’m just completely against the sanctuary policy. It is a lie to say that. California’s sanctuary state law SB 54 passed in 2017 prevents cooperation with federal immigration enforcement that’s not true and as governor and with my attorney general I’m one of the things that’s innovative about the campaign I’m running here is I’m actually putting together a team we call it the golden ticket to make sure that we’ve got a strong team as a team effort it was is in government in business in anything And I’m running with a very strong candidate for attorney general, Michael Gates. He was the city attorney in Huntington Beach, fought very strongly, Gavin Newsom, on housing mandates, on voter ID, on the sanctuary state law. And he and I, you know, we put out a statement just recently. We’re going to be very clear that we will insist. Obviously, state law enforcement that we run, but also local, cooperates on the enforcement of federal immigration. We put it very simply. All laws must be peacefully enforced, and that’s what we’ll do.
SPEAKER 02 :
Steve Hilton, I want to ask one question. This is a challenging one, but this is really, really essential here because if you look at the polls, it’s a total jungle right now. But you and a guy named Chad Bianco, who’s a sheriff out here, are in the lead, both running as Republicans. Are you guys willing to make an electoral pact to tell voters to choose one or the other and agree not to attack each other? Because the only way either of you win and help the state is if you guys finish one and two specifically in the primary, which is a distinct possibility right now. So could you guys form some sort of alliance to attack Democrats only for the time being?
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I’m already doing that. I haven’t attacked – I mean, that’s actually been my position. And it’s not his, but it is mine because I think that, honestly, and certainly in California, Republicans are attacked all the time by everyone else. So we don’t need to add to it.
SPEAKER 02 :
Yeah, and this is – let me just speak on your behalf then, Steve, is that if – This is the risk here is that in a general, it’s going to go to a general with Democrats if one of the Republicans, both the Republicans need to max out in the primary in order for us to have a chance in a general because in a general, a Republican, even a strong Republican, is going to go against the whole Democrat machine. This is the trick here. I hope he sees this.
SPEAKER 03 :
Well, I think that we, okay, I think this is a part two of the conversation, Alex, because there’s a lot to unpack then. I’d love to do that. It’s very, very important. But just to be really direct about it, I don’t believe that the Democrat machine, which, as you say, is incredibly powerful, the government unions, it’s totally corrupt. I don’t think that they will allow a situation where there are two Republicans in the top two in this ridiculous – they will make sure that they – and they’ll use every trick in the book, as we’ve seen before, to manipulate. They’ll want to elevate the weaker Republican. They don’t want two Republicans. They want to make sure there’s a Democrat. The unions will want their puppet candidate in there. That’s what they’ve always ended up with. And they’ll make it happen. They’ll get others to drop out or offer them other jobs. Nancy Pelosi is very involved in it. So I think the real argument here is actually that we can win in California against the Democrat machine because people are so sick of it. And it’s all about turnout. Because actually, if you look at the numbers… But the votes that President Trump got in 2024 in California, even without campaigning here, are enough to elect a Republican if we get maximum turnout. And that’s not an easy thing to do, but it’s absolutely doable if you have a strong, clear message. And for too long in California, I think Republicans have assumed that the only way you win is to be some kind of wishy-washy, watered-down Republican. No, you’ve got to inspire people. You’ve got to get people fired up. And that’s how we do it. And secondly, something very important will be on the ballot in November, which is voter ID. We’ve just got on that. I’ve been working with my friend Carl. It’s very big. Republicans love that. That will help get turnout up. And so my view is we have to make sure that the strongest, best qualified voters, And strongest campaigner gets into the top two on the Republican side. And I’m making the case that that’s me. I’ve got the business experience, the government reform experience, the media experience that, you know, I’m friends with the half the cabinet, the president. You know, I can bring a lot to the table for this race. And that’s why I’m making the argument that we’ve got to get behind one Republican and it should be me.
SPEAKER 02 :
Steve Hilton, I got a mountain of questions. I didn’t get any of them. I got just the one. So I’m hoping this will be a regular thing. The primary is until June. So let’s come back and do a bunch of these things and flesh out all the issues facing the state. But tell people where to go to follow you and keep up the campaign.
SPEAKER 03 :
Thanks so much, Alex. It’s stevehiltonforgovernor.com, F-O-R, stevehiltonforgovernor.com.
SPEAKER 02 :
Well, keep it up and we’ll be rooting you on and come back to the Marlowe Show sometime soon.
SPEAKER 03 :
Absolutely. Thanks Alex. See you soon. Thanks Steve.
What was accomplished with their “No King” protest?