Under the sunny skies of San Diego, the California Republican Party gathered at the Sheraton San Diego Resort for a spring convention that was anything but predictable. The mood was buoyant, not just because of the weather, but due to the seismic political shifts unfolding in real time. Yet, despite the convention’s unifying theme—“Turning the tide, together”—the state GOP emerged from the weekend with a split verdict on its own gubernatorial race, and a Democratic frontrunner’s downfall sent shockwaves through both parties.
On Sunday, April 12, 2026, the California Republican Party made headlines by declining to endorse either of its two leading candidates for governor, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco or former Fox News host Steve Hilton. The party’s endorsement required a daunting 60 percent threshold from delegates—an ambitious bar that neither candidate could clear. Bianco led with 49 percent of delegate votes, Hilton followed closely with 44 percent, and 7 percent of delegates opted for no endorsement at all. In raw numbers, Bianco secured 496 votes, Hilton 442, and 75 delegates chose to withhold their support entirely. The magic number for endorsement, 600 votes, remained out of reach for both contenders.
“It shouldn’t have been near that close. The noise from this room, it was obvious it was not going to be close and then, it was,” Bianco told KCRA after the vote, expressing surprise at the tight margin. Still, he remained upbeat. “We’re very confident we’ll be occupying the governor’s office in January,” he said, projecting optimism for the year ahead.
Hilton, for his part, brushed off the lack of endorsement, framing the contest as far from over. “I think the real message is what’s happening out across the state. I’m the leading candidate in this race,” Hilton asserted, pointing to recent polls and, crucially, his endorsement from former President Donald Trump. On social media, Hilton didn’t miss a beat, declaring, “Now it’s time to get behind the candidate with the endorsement that matters, President Trump’s!”
The split result upended expectations that Trump’s backing would clear a path for Hilton, and it set the stage for a fiercely competitive June 2 primary. California’s top-two primary system means the two candidates with the most votes, regardless of party, will advance to the general election. With a crowded Democratic field—eight candidates before the weekend, now down to seven after Rep. Eric Swalwell’s abrupt exit—there’s a real possibility that both Bianco and Hilton could seize the top spots, locking Democrats out of the November contest. That scenario, once a Democratic nightmare, now seems within the realm of possibility.
The Republican convention unfolded just as a political bombshell detonated on the Democratic side. On Friday, as GOP delegates checked in at the bayside resort, sexual assault allegations against Democratic frontrunner Eric Swalwell burst into public view, reported by the San Francisco Chronicle and CNN. The fallout was swift and brutal: within hours, top supporters and labor unions withdrew endorsements, and more than 50 of Swalwell’s former staffers called for his resignation from both the governor’s race and Congress. By Sunday afternoon, Swalwell had suspended his campaign, leaving the Democratic field in disarray and Republican strategists sensing opportunity.
“Quite frankly, Californians are, by and large, looking for viable alternatives. They’re looking towards the California Republican Party,” said GOP Chairwoman Corrin Rankin, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. Republicans haven’t won a statewide election since 2006, but many believe that voter frustration over the high cost of living and now Democratic turmoil could give them their best shot in two decades.
Amid all this, the rivalry between Bianco and Hilton simmered. Bianco, a lawman with decades of experience, leaned heavily on his public safety credentials. “I have spent every day serving California residents, making our lives better and safer. I have fought for you, and I have bled for you,” he told delegates, according to Los Angeles Times coverage. He bristled at Hilton’s attacks on his record, especially claims that he coddled undocumented immigrants or was soft on pandemic restrictions. Bianco insisted he was the first law enforcement official in the nation to defy a COVID-19 lockdown order and said that, while he prayed with protesters after George Floyd’s death, he “forcefully” expelled “rioters and domestic terrorists” from his county.
Hilton, meanwhile, didn’t shy away from contrasting his outsider status with Bianco’s. “For too long, politicians and insiders from Sacramento to Washington have tried to pick our leaders for us,” Bianco had said previously, denouncing Trump’s endorsement of Hilton as a “coronation.” Hilton countered by highlighting his polling lead—16 to 22 percent among all voters, compared to Bianco’s 10 to 14 percent—and Trump’s support, which he called a “tremendous asset for us, the energy, the resources, the precious gift of having the boost that makes the biggest difference in a midterm year turnout.”
The convention itself was a study in contrasts. Bianco hosted a western-saloon themed party where delegates line danced and posed with calves, while Hilton’s event was more of a policy forum, punctuated by speeches and shushing of chatty attendees. Both candidates were swarmed by enthusiastic supporters, their campaigns energized by the sense that, for the first time in years, the governor’s mansion might be within reach.
Delegates and activists were not shy about voicing their opinions. Some, like Shiva Bagheri of Beverly Hills, criticized Hilton’s tax proposals as unconstitutional, while others, like Celeste Greig of Northridge, switched allegiances after learning more about Bianco’s record on immigration and law enforcement. The debate over who best represents California Republicans—an outsider with media savvy or a sheriff with deep law enforcement roots—remains unresolved.
Meanwhile, party elders like State Sen. Tony Strickland reminisced about a less polarized era, hoping that a stronger GOP showing might encourage more cross-party cooperation in Sacramento. “We’re in a divided era right now,” Strickland noted. “If we actually pick up a few more seats, I think it will give more comfort to some of those moderate Democrats to come over and work with us.”
As the June 2 primary looms, the race remains wide open. With the Democratic field fractured and the Republican base energized by both internal competition and the collapse of a rival, California politics is heading for an unpredictable summer. Whether the GOP can finally break its two-decade drought—or whether Democrats can regroup and hold the line—will be decided in the weeks to come.
The convention’s close left delegates with more questions than answers, but one thing was clear: California’s political landscape is shifting, and the stakes have rarely felt higher.