This isn't much of a shift in the California governor's race, but it absolutely is one. Xavier Becerra has dropped some percentage points, and while the only up move was tiny, it's in Republican Steve Hilton's favor. All of that means there's been measurable shrinkage of the Democrat's lead.
Democratic gubernatorial hopeful Xavier Becerra has lost ground in a new California poll, giving Republican Steve Hilton a small boost as the race enters the final stretch toward November.
Becerra now has the support of 55% of likely voters, down from 61% in last month, according to a Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies/Los Angeles Times poll.
Hilton, meanwhile, has edged up one point, from 36% to 37%, shrinking Becerra’s once-commanding 25-point lead to 18 points.
The poll was conducted Aug. 3–9 among 2,310 California voters considered likely to cast ballots in November.
Becerra has been taking some incoming fire, and he is one of the most uninspiring, ill-equipped incompetents to handle it that I've ever had the misfortune to witness.
Take, for instance, his awe-inspiring Power Hour idea. Yes, it's yet another pandering, promissory giveaway that costs everyone else money.
Listen up: free electricity.
— Xavier Becerra (@XavierBecerra) August 12, 2026
It’s called Power Hour - providing up to two hours of free electricity for millions of California households.
Working families could save approximately $1,000 a year on their electricity bills.
I’m looking forward to getting this done for… pic.twitter.com/8lFAl4HjHO
...Working families could save approximately $1,000 a year on their electricity bills.
I’m looking forward to getting this done for California families when I’m in office.
'Weee!' right?
Dang if the devil isn't in the details.
For one thing, the customer doesn't choose the hours - the qualifying hours are only available between 1-3 PM. You also have to qualify for assistance, which in California's hyperinflated economy means an insane household income of $82,500 a year.
...Eligibility for the program will depend on household size and income. For instance, a family of four earning less than $82,500 annually would qualify. The initiative will allow these families to use high-demand appliances during midday hours, potentially saving them around $1,000 per year on their utility bills.
In addition to the financial benefits, the Power Hour program aims to shift some of the peak energy demand to earlier in the day, which could enhance the reliability of California's power grid. This shift may help mitigate the risk of brownouts or blackouts experienced during periods of high demand.
Seems so practical because every family has someone at home during the day to knock out those pesky chores like laundry and running the dishwasher, doesn't it?
What a buffoon.
Listen up Becerra: you're an idiot if you think people will fall for this insulting gimmick.
— Steve Hilton (@SteveHiltonx) August 13, 2026
'Free' electricity but only 1pm-3pm. Rest of day: highest bills in the country because of Becerra's climate posturing.
Enough! I will cut your bills in half by using our natural gas… https://t.co/W87qFMRdxa
...Enough! I will cut your bills in half by using our natural gas power stations at full capacity instead of back-up for the wind and solar farms they're obsessed with.
Why are electricity costs so high for a gold-plated grid that can't handle demand and is adept at producing brownouts?
Green fever dreams, which is what Becerra is promising more of.
Yeah. Vote for this guy.
Low income Californians are disproportionately affected by climate change and pollution.
— Xavier Becerra (@XavierBecerra) August 11, 2026
No Californian should have to choose between the air they breathe and the neighborhood they can afford.
As governor, I'll keep taking on polluters and protecting the Californians who have… pic.twitter.com/owHrGYRAu1
...As governor, I'll keep taking on polluters and protecting the Californians who have the most at stake.
Two things coming out of Becerra's time at Health and Human Services (HHS) are starting to gain traction and should cause some serious slippage with centrist Democrats fed up with Newsom's corruption and the large Latino working population who might just be over the Democrat Party in general.
RFK Jr. just exposed the massive incompetence that allowed fraud to explode at his agency when Becerra waltzed in the door.
Just the guy the corruptocrats in California would want as governor, huh?
🚨 OMG. Sec. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. exposes that the Biden admin REMOVED 90%+ PERCENT of the 80 people at HHS who oversaw anti-fraud efforts for $2.2 trillion in payments
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) August 12, 2026
$2.2 TRILLION DOLLARS TREATED LIKE IT'S NOTHING!! TENS of billions LOST
Xavier Becerra allowed mass fraud.… pic.twitter.com/SzhJJs69Gf
...Xavier Becerra allowed mass fraud.
"When I came in, there's only 6 people who are in charge of all program integrity for my department!"
"My predecessor, Xavier Becerra, when he came into my agency, there were only 80 people in program integrity, 80 people. This is for 50 states and five territories. These are the people who are monitoring $2.2 trillion dollars in payments annually from my agency!"
"We do 4 million transactions a day. There's only 80 people looking at those. Xavier Becerra came in and transferred 76 of them out!"
"And it was an invitation for the fraudsters to come in and steal everything!"
"And that's why we have this hospice program! We've closed thousands of hospices here in Los Angeles. Because they didn't have patients. They were just billing us $6,000 a month for phony accounts!"
"And the durable medical equipment fraud, tens of billions of dollars here in Los Angeles County. Autism services, tens of billions of dollars all stolen because nobody was minding the STORE!"
NOBODY MINDING THE STORE
The Democrats in CA are used to operating like that. Becerra's the perfect guy for business as usual.
He's clueless.
...Kennedy framed the fraud as money diverted from legitimate healthcare and recovery efforts for the homeless and addicted—precisely the populations the Los Angeles event with HUD Secretary Scott Turner addressed.
Kenney [sic] and Turner stressed that every dollar stopped from fraudsters is a dollar preserved for its intended purpose to assist the most vulnerable and needy or returned to taxpayers. California Globe has previously documented patterns of waste and weak accountability in state and federal programs flowing into the once-Golden State. Kennedy’s disclosures add federal oversight and accountability to those concerns, particularly as Californians weigh leadership choices amid persistent homelessness, high healthcare costs, and ongoing, yet unanswered questions about how public funds are managed.
Becerra’s campaign has not yet issued a detailed response to the specific staffing and fraud allegations as of this writing.
Becerra's also under pressure from a Hilton campaign that's revisiting one of the worst and as-yet unresolved abuses of the Biden era, and one that Becerra was directly responsible for.
WHERE ARE THE CHILDREN?
Reminder: Becerra turned HHS into the largest child trafficking operation in history...pic.twitter.com/fAIDUejWic
— Steve Hilton (@SteveHiltonx) August 13, 2026
No one has ever answered for this.
BREAKING: Becerra Migrant Child Abuse Camps
— Steve Hilton (@SteveHiltonx) July 27, 2026
Whistleblower confirms Xavier Becerra dismantled vetting to speed up release of migrant children.
Kids sent to sex traffickers, abusive workplaces, fake relatives. “We were constantly getting information that was false, and we were… pic.twitter.com/v0hfhphAz9
...Kids sent to sex traffickers, abusive workplaces, fake relatives. “We were constantly getting information that was false, and we were supposed to go with it.”
Becerra 'lost' 319,000 children. 140,000 are still missing.
“Sometimes [the sponsor] didn’t know the name of the child.” “Children were sent to sponsors who provided a fraudulent form of identification.” “We still have no proof that the child went to that address.”
The heat is on Becerra.
Xavier Becerra abruptly left in the middle of a press conference and ran to a parked car as he refused to answer questions about his handling of migrant children when he was Health and Human Services secretary. https://t.co/kOXJiGllOE pic.twitter.com/H5iqGzPruK
— California Post (@californiapost) August 5, 2026
And hopefully will start to get smoking hot.
Step by step. Orange County used to be solidly Republican, but has been purplish for a while.
BREAKING: We have moved ahead of Becerra in California's 3rd largest county. Millions of Californians are saying: Enough Is Enough! Let's Fix California! pic.twitter.com/C4Gzaj1tzX
— Steve Hilton (@SteveHiltonx) August 1, 2026
This has to be good news. But there's still one helluva mountain to climb for Hilton.
...“An 18-point lead still makes Becerra the clear favorite, and the narrowing from 25 points looks more like normal movement than a competitive race,” Matt Klink, a Republican strategist told the Post. “Hilton’s path requires a major shift among independents, a sustained focus on affordability and public safety, depressed Democratic turnout, and a serious Becerra mistake.”
Stranger things have happened, and if anyone could step in it big time, I'd for sure give Becerra the edge.
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