Steve Hilton, Trump-backed supporter of California voter ID, advances in governor’s race

Steve Hilton, a Trump-backed conservative author and former Fox News host, will compete in California’s general election for governor this November after taking second place in the state’s open primary system, AP projects.

Hilton, who regularly perpetuates unsubstantiated claims of widespread voter fraud in California, is an avid supporter of a Republican-backed ballot measure that would create new voter identification requirements, which will also be on the state’s Nov. 3 ballot.

He will face off against the first-place winner, Democrat and former Biden administration official Xavier Becerra, who has denounced the voter ID measure as an attempt “to keep people from voting” and has vowed to fight it.

Alongside mandating that Californians show a government-issued ID when voting in person, the measure would also require people to write the last four digits of an ID number, such as a driver’s license or Social Security number, on the outside of their ballot envelope when casting a mail-in ballot.

It would also mandate new statewide efforts to verify voters’ citizenship, adding extra layers of bureaucracy to a system that already includes identity verification at registration and signature matching for mail ballots.

Hilton has said that the measure is a state-level version of the SAVE America Act, the draconian federal anti-voting bill pushed by President Donald Trump and Republicans. While the bill has failed to pass the U.S. Senate, four Republican-controlled states have enacted their own versions of the legislation. Similar bills are moving through the legislatures in several other states.

“Whatever they do in Washington with the SAVE America Act or whatever, here in California we will have the chance to get voter ID,” Hilton said in April after the measure qualified for the ballot.

Voting rights advocates have warned that, should the measure pass, it could disrupt California’s popular vote-by-mail system and restrict voting access, despite little evidence of widespread fraud as claimed by state Republicans.

Trump endorsed Hilton earlier this year, saying he was “a truly fine man, one who has watched as this once great State has gone to Hell.”

In addition to supporting the voter ID ballot measure, Hilton attempted to halt California Democrats’ redistricting efforts through a lawsuit last year. However, his legal challenge was dismissed just before California voters overwhelmingly approved a plan to redraw California’s congressional map to favor Democrats and offset Trump’s aggressive GOP gerrymanders in other states.

Though relatively unknown in American politics, Hilton, a native of Britain, has faced ridicule in British politics for his work for the Conservative Party, specifically his central role in former Prime Minister David Cameron’s rise to power.