Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton has been highly visible, making multiple press rounds and focusing on clear messaging for his campaign, despite public criticism, ahead of the November 3rd election. Hilton recently announced this on Tuesday, Sept. 8, at the West Hollywood DMV office. His multiple statements simplified that Californians are essentially being “ripped off” by the DMV through hidden taxes and fees.
“We’re gonna cut vehicle registration to the flat fee of $73 per vehicle per year, and we’re going to shut down this bloated, bureaucratic agency that treats Californians with complete contempt. We are done with it. Enough is enough with the DMV, enough is enough with sky-high registration rates,” he said.
His goal is to cap vehicle registration and eliminate all extra charges and fees to eliminate wasteful government charges against the people it serves.
“Why? So we can cut what we spend and cut your taxes. The quickest, simplest way to put more money in people’s pockets. This is the biggest issue for Californians: the cost of living, no question. The best thing that we can do in California: I can’t affect what happens in Washington, Canada, the Middle East, or anything like that, but as the governor of California, I can affect how much money we take out of Californians’ pockets,” said Hilton.
He further added, “The plan for buildings like this is to turn them into something that’s actually useful for California. We’re going to turn DMV offices into after-school clubs and skilled training centers.”
He emphasized a point in his speech that “most states don’t have DMV’s.”
He said all vehicle services should be done online and in county offices, like in other states. Other states that use a decentralized or county-only approach are Hawaii, Florida, Tennessee, Kentucky, and South Dakota.
When asked about his gubernatorial opponent, Voting Rights Attorney and Democratic nominee Xavier Becerra, he said he is looking forward to their upcoming debate as Xavier has not done a lot of public speaking engagements or press.
Becerra has been quite quiet with his interactions with the press; most notably, a report from KRCA News on Aug. 5 stated that he dodged reporters at his first public appearance at the California Capitol, post primary-election. Within 12 minutes of the event, he briefly spoke to the press about voting rights and then left. His spokesperson said that he planned to debate Hilton.
Multiple reporters attempted to ask questions about his campaign but did not receive answers.
Political critics and experts suggest that Becerra is using a “play it safe” strategy as he is relying on not saying much to avoid making himself a target for critics, due to California historically having a Democratic governor. Also, they suggest that Becerra hasn’t said much to the public, provided clear messaging about his campaign and stances on issues since the June primary because of past backlash due to his handling of a migrant child crisis as secretary for the federal Human and Health Services (HHS) department.
Beccerra has said that he plans to debate Hilton multiple times, ahead of the November 3rd election.
The gubernatorial candidates are scheduled to face off in their first live televised debate on CNN Sept. 30, 2026 at 6 pm PST. The moderators of this debate are Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
