CA Governor Candidate Steve Hilton on Why California is Destroying Itself & How a Republican Can Win
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Who is Steve Hilton and what makes his candidacy unique?
All right, everybody, welcome back to the All In interview show. We're very lucky today to have a candidate for the governor of California who is extremely unique in a number of ways. First of all, he's a Republican. And second, he's a Brit. Welcome to the program, Steve Helton. You've decided to increase the degree of difficulty in two ways. But you're polling fantastic. You've got five or six people in the poll.
Is zero tax under $100K and a 7.5% flat rate fiscally possible in California?
So he's leading the field. You're leading the field. Obviously, it's going to get narrowed a bit when the Democrats shiv a couple more people and get them out of the race and then pick their eventual winner in their cobble. Whenever that happens, when Nancy Pelosi picks who's running. But Steve, maybe you could start by... Sorry, guys, I got jokes. But Steve, maybe you could introduce yourself a bit and tell us why you're running. Well, hang on.
Can I just say, just after that great intro where you just tried to kill my chances in just a couple of words, thanks a lot, Jason. Really appreciate it.
Let me add you to this stuff. I've known Steve since 2012, 2013, when he and his wife, Rachel Whetstone, moved to Silicon Valley. Rachel worked at Facebook initially, and then she worked with you, Jason, at Uber, and then has had a great run, and then Steve, similarly. And you said it in a funny way, but ultimately, this is an incredible land of immigrants, and Steve has a really compelling story. So before we jump into the questions, I know your background, Steve, but I do think it's important Go back to your parents, your mom, how you grew up, and just set the stage for how you made it out from the way you started, because I think that's important, and then how you got to the United States and why.
Thank you. Thank you. I appreciate that. And you're right, we've known each other a long time now.
Why do California homes cost three times more to build than in other states?
And it's a great joy to be here. By the way, just want to say it's a great joy to be on a show where I don't have to wear the suit and shirt. And you know, that's one of the things about running for governor that I'm loving most of it. But dressing up is not the favorite part for me. So it's great to be with you. I thought for this show, you know, we got to get it right. I think that the more I think about my background, the more I think it is really important in terms of how I see things and what I want to get done. My parents are Hungarian. They were refugees from communism. And I grew up in England in a town called Brighton on the south coast. And we just had a regular working class immigrant aspirational family story, I guess.
My parents actually split up when I was young. My stepfather's also a Hungarian. He had an amazing story. He was a refugee as well, but literally ran across the border. He grew up in a small village on the west side of Hungary.
Why do California schools spend the most yet achieve the worst results?
And in 1956, when you had the Soviet invasion, And he tells this amazing story. They heard on the radio, the Russians are coming. And he and his brother and some friends from his school, he was 14 years old, like one year younger than my youngest son right now. And they just ran. They literally ran.
What are the main factors contributing to crime and homelessness in California?
They said, right, we want our freedom. They ran to the border, barbed wire fences, minefields, got shot at by the guards, all that. Half of them were killed. And he ended up in a refugee camp in Austria and from then to England. So All of that, I guess, just gives you that sense of real appreciation for freedom and opportunity. I grew up in England, worked very hard, ended up at Oxford University, but my first job was project manager for a construction company. I just wanted to earn money. I just wanted to get out. I think that's exactly the right phrase that you used. And that's been the story.
Can a Republican actually win the California gubernatorial election?
After Oxford, I went to work for a little bit of the Conservative Party in England. Then I worked for a big ad agency, worked all around the world, started my own business. a couple of offshoots of that, including a couple of restaurants, then went back into politics when my friend David Cameron, who I'd met many years before, had gone into politics, got elected to Parliament.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
Who is Steve Hilton and what makes his candidacy unique?
0:00–0:28
2
Is zero tax under $100K and a 7.5% flat rate fiscally possible in California?
0:28–1:48
3
Why do California homes cost three times more to build than in other states?
1:48–2:46
4
Why do California schools spend the most yet achieve the worst results?
2:46–3:02
5
What are the main factors contributing to crime and homelessness in California?
3:02–3:42
6
Can a Republican actually win the California gubernatorial election?
3:42–7:29
7
How do California's regulations impact housing and living costs?
7:29–25:06
8
What practical solutions does Steve Hilton propose for homelessness?
25:06–1:08:24
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