Republican California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton visited Pacific Palisades on Sunday, criticizing Democratic leaders over the deadly January 2025 wildfires and the pace of recovery. Voters are set to choose the state’s next governor on Tuesday.
“I’m so sorry. It’s so sad what happened, because it could and should have been avoided,” Hilton told residents and supporters. He called the neighborhood “a symbol of 16 years of Democrat failure.”
The Palisades Fire scorched more than 23,000 acres and destroyed about 6,800 structures, many of them homes. Strong winds and dry conditions helped drive the blaze, which displaced tens of thousands of people and left the community facing an extensive rebuilding effort.
Hilton said the fire and the recovery challenges reflected wider problems with California’s Democratic leadership, including wildfire prevention, emergency response and rebuilding.
“These are not random, disconnected events,” he said. “These are what has gone wrong in the state of California over 16 years of one-party rule.”
Democrats have held the governorship for 16 years. Hilton is running against Democrat Xavier Becerra, a former state attorney general who served as U.S. health and human services secretary under President Joe Biden. The winner will succeed term-limited Gov. Gavin Newsom.
A former commentator and adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron, Hilton has made criticism of California’s Democratic leadership a central part of his campaign.
At the rally, Hilton accused state and local officials of being unprepared for the fires and failing to help residents rebuild, attributing the problems to what he called “incompetence, ideology and corruption.”
He also faulted environmental and land-management policies, arguing that insufficient brush clearing contributed to the 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 said.
If elected, Hilton said he would appoint a recovery CEO to oversee rebuilding, saying residents had waited too long for their communities to recover.
“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,” he said.
Hilton ended by urging voters not to assume California must remain under Democratic control.
“This is not a blue state. It is not a red state. It’s the Golden State,” he said. “And we are going to fight with everything we’ve got.”
