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LOS ANGELES () — Polling in the California governor’s race has former Fox News host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco not only in the top tier but leading the pack in some surveys.
Although it’s unlikely, there’s a chance both Republicans could box out the crowded Democratic field and move on to the November runoff election.
But when 7 political reporter Josh Haskell asked Bianco whether this could happen, he said no.
“Steve ruined that chance,” he said. “There was a mathematical chance that two Republicans could have won, and Steve chose his political, typical strategy of destroying his opponent, instead of the Democrat policies that are destroying California that would have propelled two Republicans to November.”
Although both are conservative Republicans who support President Donald Trump, Hilton told Eyewitness News he disagrees with Bianco on many of the central issues of this campaign.
“One of the things that I think people are concerned about when they see that he took a knee for Black Lives Matter,” Hilton said. “You can’t have that. You’ve got to have someone who doesn’t buckle in the face of pressure. He said he was praying.”
Hilton is talking about a moment during the George Floyd protests in June 2020 in Riverside when Bianco called on the Black Lives Matter protesters to work with him to make a difference.
Hilton has gone as far as creating a website called BLM Bianco to highlight that moment.
“Steve is a liar,” Bianco said. “Steve absolutely 100% knows what the truth is, and Steve is trying to manipulate everyone to believe that I am something that I’m not. There are two and a half million people living in Riverside County that know exactly what happened during that situation, and I was the first leader in the entire country, law enforcement leader, to actually stand up to BLM, and we used an overwhelming show of force to eliminate them from our city, which set the stage for the rest of the country to do the same. Tell me how that goes along with me being on the side of BLM? Steve tells you that so you don’t look into his past to see that he raised more money than anyone for BLM. I wouldn’t have had to fight the riots in downtown Riverside if Steve hadn’t to raise the money for BLM.”
Hilton has also criticized Bianco on immigration issues and compared him to Gov. Gavin Newsom.
“He’s made clear that he is for amnesty on immigration,” Hilton said. “That he wants to give citizenship to … he actually says it doesn’t matter how you got here, and that in fact everyone who came across the border in the Biden years is already legal. That’s a ridiculous position. We have to enforce the law.”
“I am completely against amnesty for illegals,” Bianco responded. “We are a law-and-order country. I am fighting the state. I am suing the state to rid us of sanctuary state policies. Steve knows that, but he’s lying to you.”
Rob Stutzman, a GOP consultant who works on campaigns in California, said the two candidates are neck and neck.
“Hilton has raised more money, and then the big question remains, is President Trump going to weigh into this primary, and who might he endorse?” Stutzman said. “We’re getting close to ballots being out, so it’s time to start drawing those distinctions and differences, and a good campaign defines your opponent. Don’t let your opponent define himself or herself.”
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