California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton says the Pacific Palisades symbolizes Democratic failures to prevent wildfires, respond to disasters and rebuild communities.
Republican California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton rallied Sunday in Pacific Palisades, a Los Angeles neighborhood devastated by the January 2025 wildfires, squarely blaming Democratic leadership for the destruction and excruciatingly slow recovery. This powerful message comes just days before voters are set to choose the state's next governor, and it hits hard at the core of California's ongoing crises.
"I’m so sorry. And it’s so sad about what happened because it could and should have been avoided," Hilton told a crowd of supporters and residents, speaking truth to power. "This place is a symbol of 16 years of Democrat failure."
The devastating Palisades Fire ripped through over 23,000 acres, annihilating roughly 6,800 structures, many of them family homes. Fueled by powerful winds and dry conditions – a combination compounded by years of neglect – the inferno displaced tens of thousands, leaving behind a scarred community facing a monumental, yet stagnant, rebuilding effort.
California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton holds a press briefing on homelessness during a campaign event on Friday, Oct. 30, 2026, in Sacramento, Calif.
Hilton forcefully argued that this disaster and its agonizing aftermath are not isolated incidents but a direct reflection of systemic failures by California's entrenched Democratic leadership. He highlighted incompetence spanning wildfire prevention, emergency response, and the agonizingly slow pace of rebuilding efforts.
"These are not random, disconnected events," Hilton declared, cutting through the political spin. "These are what has gone wrong in the state of California over 16 years of one-party rule."
Indeed, Democrats have maintained an iron grip on California's governorship for the past 16 years, presiding over a period of ever-worsening crises. Hilton is now challenging Democrat Xavier Becerra, a career politician who served as state attorney general and Health and Human Services secretary under President Joe Biden, in Tuesday's critical election to succeed term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom.
A split image of California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Xavier Becerra.
Hilton, a former Fox News commentator and once an advisor to British Prime Minister David Cameron, has made his blistering critique of the state's Democratic leadership a central, unwavering theme of his America First campaign.
At the rally, he unequivocally accused state and local officials of failing to adequately prepare for the predictable fires and, subsequently, abandoning residents in their desperate struggle to rebuild. Hilton laid the blame squarely on a toxic combination of "incompetence, ideology and corruption" – a trifecta of governance that has crippled the Golden State.
He didn't stop there, also tearing into deeply flawed environmental and land-management policies. Hilton contended that the deliberate neglect of brush clearance, driven by radical ideologies, directly fueled the widespread destruction.
"The ideology that for years and years and years not just failed to clear the brush that could have prevented these fires here and in Altadena ... but deliberately chose not to do that," Hilton stated, exposing the willful blindness of the establishment.
Flames from the Palisades Fire burn a building on Sunset Boulevard amid a powerful windstorm on January 8, 2025, in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, California.
Offering a clear path forward, Hilton pledged to appoint a dedicated recovery CEO to spearhead and oversee rebuilding efforts if elected. He argued, with undeniable logic, that residents have been forced to wait far too long for their communities to simply recover from preventable tragedies.
"I spent the time, I’ve listened, and I can tell you right now, when I’m governor, I will appoint a recovery CEO to finally get things done, to finally get what you deserve," Hilton promised, delivering a message of hope and accountability.
He closed his powerful address by urging voters to reject the false narrative that California is destined to remain under the failing grip of Democratic control.
"This is not a blue state. It is not a red state. It’s the Golden State," Hilton proclaimed, rallying the American spirit. "And we are going to fight with everything we’ve got." It's a fight for common sense, for a return to American values, and for a California that prioritizes its citizens over radical ideology and political inertia.
