California’s Republican nominee for governor delivered a jaw-dropping pledge during a recent podcast appearance, promising that if a Senate seat unexpectedly opened up on his watch, he would fill it with a Democrat rather than a member of his own party.
Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host now running for governor of the deep-blue state, made the surprising commitment during an interview published Friday with “Pod Save America” host Jon Lovett, a prominent voice in liberal media circles.
Lovett pressed Hilton on comments he’d made suggesting voters shouldn’t base their decisions on political hatred toward Washington, noting that one of a governor’s key powers is appointing replacements for Senate vacancies.
“Oh, my goodness,” Hilton responded with a laugh when Lovett raised the hypothetical scenario.
Lovett then posed a specific example, asking whether Hilton would commit to nominating a Democrat to replace a sitting senator in an unexpected vacancy, given that California voters had elected Democrats to both Senate seats.
“Yes,” Hilton said without hesitation.
When Lovett expressed surprise and asked him to confirm, Hilton doubled down.
“Yeah, yeah. It’s crazy, I mean, I just think you have to honor the vote that people took,” he explained.
Hilton’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the remarks.
The pledge comes months after President Trump threw his support behind Hilton’s campaign to flip the historically Democratic state. Back in April, Trump posted on social media that he had known and respected Hilton for many years, calling him a truly fine man who had watched California decline under years of Democratic leadership.
Hilton went on to secure the Republican nomination in June, defeating Riverside County Sheriff-Coroner Chad Bianco with just under a quarter of the primary vote. He now faces Democratic nominee Xavier Becerra, the former California attorney general who also served as President Biden’s secretary of Health and Human Services, in the general election this November.
Despite the president’s backing, Hilton faces a steep uphill climb. Recent polling shows him trailing Becerra badly, with an average of just over 36 percent support compared to Becerra’s nearly 58 percent.
The vow to appoint a Democrat to the Senate, should the opportunity arise, is likely to generate further discussion as the race heads into its final stretch, particularly among conservative voters who may view the pledge as an unusual concession from a Republican candidate. Whether the comments help or hurt Hilton’s chances against a heavily favored opponent in a state Republicans haven’t carried statewide in decades remains to be seen as Election Day approaches.
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