Is Becerra Dodging Steve Hilton? Republican Calls Out Rival as Governor’s Race Heats Up

As Republican Steve Hilton touts a narrowing gap in California’s governor’s race, he’s challenging Democrat opponent Xavier Becerra to another debate, accusing him of “backing out” of a Los Angeles Times candidate forum this week.

Hilton suggested Becerra’s absence could be tied to a post-debate online poll favoring the Republican candidate.

In a video posted to X, Hilton questioned whether Becerra’s absence “could have anything to do with this new poll that showed that the massive majority of people who watched the debate decided that I’m the best choice for governor.”

The poll, which showed 73.9% of respondents favoring Hilton, was not a representative survey of California voters.

The Daily Signal contacted the Los Angeles Times to confirm whether Becerra had withdrawn from the event. A representative disputed Hilton’s characterization, explaining that Becerra had never committed to participating.

“Becerra never agreed to appear for the forum. He was invited and his schedule did not permit him to participate. An attempt was made to find a time that was agreeable, but his team did not reply,” the representative said.

The forum proceeded without Becerra, with Hilton answering questions from the LA Times on homelessness, California’s housing affordability crisis, and climate change.

During the discussion, Hilton reiterated his desire to face Becerra in another debate.

“Looking forward to perhaps one day having another chance to sit down with my competitor in this race, Xavier Becerra. We’ve had one debate. He promised that there would be debates, plural,” the Republican wrote.

The disagreement follows the candidates’ first head-to-head debate on CNN just over a week earlier, where they clashed on issues such as immigration, affordability, and homelessness.

Meanwhile, a new Hilton campaign-commissioned poll puts the Republican within 5.6 percentage points of Becerra, with the Democrat leading 45.7% to 40.1%, with 14.1% undecided.

Reacting to the results, Hilton wrote on X, “They said the governor’s race was ‘over.’ We’re about to prove them wrong.”

The campaign’s findings, however, are in sharp contrast to a September UC Berkeley poll, which found Becerra leading by 25 percentage points among likely voters, with 58% supporting the Democrat compared to 33% for Hilton.

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