Comeback California with Steve Hilton and Michael Gates

0:00 Thomas Jefferson said, and now we can view it as a warning, almost prophetic. Jefferson said that when the populace or the electorate is knowledgeable, they're hard to control. Meaning if you know what's on the ballot and who's running, then you'll know how to vote. and Jefferson warned that if we don't get involved then there's a tyrannical movement toward the leadership of a few where God has given you and I as Americans a constitutional republic that's why our motto is we the people yes in God we trust beyond that or after that is we the people because we have a constitutional government you will never hear I'm sorry I'm going to be accurate. If you don't like it, go prove me wrong. But you'll never hear a Democrat ever mention a constitutional republic. They cannot say it. I don't think they're allowed to say it. They certainly don't believe it. We do not live in a democracy. The United States has never been a democracy. We live in a constitutional republic, which is far, far different, unique in all the world. So first verse, I'm going to give you guys a couple of verses to set the tone for this evening. Jeremiah 29 verse 7 says, and seek the peace of the city, state, nation, where I have caused you to be carried away captive and pray to the Lord for it, for in its peace you will have peace. Next verse, Proverbs 29 verse 2, when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice, but when a wicked man rules, the people groan. That's a definition of California. Next verse, Isaiah chapter 10 verse 1.

1:52 Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortune which they have prescribed, to rob the needy of justice and to take what is right from the poor of my people, that widows may be their prey and that they may rob the fatherless. That is very descriptive of this state's condition. Final verse. 2 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 6. Why should the Christian be involved in electing their leaders? 2 Corinthians 10 verse 6 says, And being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled. In other words, as believers, we are to take our voting rights and responsibilities as stewardship. Don't ever let some Christian or somebody tell you that Christians should not get involved in elections. That's exactly what the opposition wants you to believe.

2:51 Our nation, in its founding documents, I mentioned it the other day. You should take the time to read them, by the way. But one of my heroes is one of the founding fathers. His name was John Jay. And John Jay was a brilliant legal mind who became the first chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. Guess what he said? Because don't you hear about separation of church and state? Always meaning the Christian cannot have an opinion about politics. When our government says the opposite. The First Amendment makes it very clear. John Jay said, we as a nation, we prefer that Christians would run for office and be elected.

3:40 Wow. Well, friends, tonight we're going to get going. We have two very, very special guests, men of integrity, men who have a love for California, a love for this nation, and they have committed themselves to be those willing and available to make a change, to make a difference. And as the 2026 campaign year gets underway, for those of you who are new to this church, this is nothing new. It may be new for you, but it's nothing new for us. Every two years, we are involved in a season just like you are experiencing tonight. And so I'm going to ask you, as I mentioned both of them, you can greet them in unison. But we will be having Steve Hilton, who is running for governor here in California. Hang on, hold your applause. Who's running for governor here in California.

4:32 You're going to find out. You're going to learn about Steve. You're going to get to know Steve. And you're going to be able to find out about his qualifications. Why is he someone on this stage tonight? And I think it's going to be very enlightening for you. And then the other, and I can't wait for our podcast to drop soon. We just did this podcast. It's going to be awesome. And that is Michael Gates. And Michael Gates was formerly the city attorney for the great city of Huntington Beach. And then when Trump was elected, Trump scooped him up. and where he served just recently. He gave up this job to come back to California to run for Attorney General, but he was the Deputy Assistant Attorney General of the United States. His office was just down the hall, just a few doors down from Pam Bondi's office in Washington, D.C., but he gave that up to come and run as Attorney General for the state of California. So I'm going to ask you to welcome these two gentlemen as we'll discuss the night with them. Steve Hilton, running for governor, and Michael Gates, running for attorney general. Awesome. Love it. Love it.

5:51 Thank you. Excellent. Excellent. Great. So listen, let's get started. First of all, after following those verses and the introduction, Father God, we pray tonight that by the power of your Holy Spirit, you would be very present this evening in issues and discussions and topics. Someone is going to win the position in this upcoming election of Attorney General and Governor. They will make decisions that will affect our lives and the lives of our children's children. This is serious business. And when we look at your scripture, we know that Jesus said it himself, render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and to God the things that are God's. And we're happy to report tonight that the things that belong to God is the state of California. The globe belongs to you, Lord. And we ask you to be very present here tonight. We pray in Jesus' name and all God's people said, amen. Amen. Well, first of all, we're going to get going. You guys, nothing is scripted tonight, which is kind of fun, right? I have some questions that are a collective of questions that I've been asked of people, but we're going to get into this right now. And I think we should start with opening statements.

7:19 Would that be okay with you guys? You being a profound attorney. Very happy to do that. And are you happy to do that? Very happy. Looking forward to that. Go for it, Steve. All right. How are we doing, everybody? I am very happy to be here in this. It was going to be a very happy new year of 2026. This is the year we take back our state of California. Yes. Yes. This is the year we save this magnificent place. Yeah. This is the year we restore common sense and sanity and freedom. That's what's going to happen this year. It is going to be a happy new year. Thank you so much, Jack. Thank you to you for your leadership, for your love, for your friendship, for your support for me. It means the world to me. I think more than you know, we don't often get the chance to talk these days. Thank you for that. Thank you to Gina, to everyone here. Thank you for coming. And thank you, Michael Gates, our next Attorney General, please, for stepping up. I was with Michael today when we launched his campaign in Huntington Beach. And as I said this morning, it wasn't that long ago, another campaign was launched in Huntington Beach. You were there, Jack, I think. Many of you were there too. And that person who launched their campaign a few months ago for governor happens to be standing before you tonight, happens to be leading in the polls, leading in fundraising, ready to be the next governor of California.

8:41 Look, I just want to start with something that's really focused my mind at this new year, the first few days and weeks of this new year. A few things have come together, and they've really focused me, and they've given me a power and an energy and a determination to make sure that we succeed in this mission. And by the way, when I say we, we, Michael and I, we are running as a team to save California.

9:22 And that's not normally done. That is not normally done with these statewide races. People run on their own and do their thing and they get to Sacramento and don't work together. and of course that's why we're in the mess we're in. And it's not just Michael. There was someone else there today to get Michael off to a strong start. Someone whom you may have seen I announced on Monday as my running mate for Lieutenant Governor, Gloria Romero. She's going to be there with us. She walked away from the Democrat Party because she saw the insanity, the far left madness. She'd had enough. She's a Republican. she's with us too.

10:04 But here's the thing. These four things in these first few days of this year that have really given me that determination and that drive. Fraud, fire, lies, and loss. And I'm going to just quickly talk about those four things. We all saw last year the fraud scandal emerge in Minnesota. And I said at the time, however bad things are in Tim Walz's Minnesota, you can be sure they are a thousand times worse in Gavin Newsom's California. A thousand times worse. Now that's a rhetorical thing to say. So I set about putting some numbers on it. Actually with another member of our team, Herb Morgan, running for state controller. And we set up a hotline, an anonymous whistleblower tip line, to get the information that we need to find out about the fraud and to stop it.

11:05 We've had hundreds of tips showing us where to look. And we've crunched the numbers, and we've looked at the budgets, and we've looked at the data that's already been published on the fraud. The $24 billion on homelessness, the $55 billion from the employment department and the panic, on and on. and we have published just last week our estimate of the fraud here in California. It's not the 70 billion or whatever they talk about, 250 billion dollars. 250 billion dollars of our money stolen.

11:39 On Wednesday last week, I was up in the Palisades. It was the one year anniversary of that terrible fire and I stood there with the community and I listened to them and I spoke at that rally along with someone called Spencer Pratt who turns out is now running for mayor of Los Angeles he announced right there but as I heard the testimony the witness of those people in that community the fire within me rose you know what they put on the backdrop what they called that event last Wednesday they let us burn just think about the meaning of those words the intensity of those words that's how they feel that they let us burn and who is they?

12:35 Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass the so-called leaders in California they let us burn human beings saying that about their political leaders that's why we have to change the crazy ideological extremism that led to those fires burning out of control the total incompetence the empty reservoirs the fire hydrant with no water in them on and on and all of that came up for me last Wednesday as I stood there with that community fraud, fire and then the next day from Gavin Newsom. Did you see his State of the State address? Remarkable.

13:21 Lie after lie after lie to cover up failure after failure after failure. And it just reminded me that this is very serious because we are up against people who will stop at nothing to protect their power. The shameless, brazen, lying Our economy is doing great when we have the highest poverty level in the country.

13:48 Innovation and opportunity when we have the highest unemployment rate. It's a fair economy, fairness, equity, compassion. When we have over half our kids in school can't read properly in the state school system that they run. Over a third of our people can't afford their basic needs. and these people have the nerve to lecture us about compassion and justice. No more. Enough with the lies, enough with the failure. We cannot take this anymore.

14:22 And then, after the fraud and the fire and the lies, loss, look at the consequences of the political games these people pay. Have you heard about the billionaire tax? We already pay the highest taxes in the country. The top 1% of our community pays nearly half the income tax. So guess what they're doing? Driving out even more successful people with another insane tax. Why do they want to raise this billionaire's tax? They say they need the money for healthcare. They wouldn't need the money for healthcare if they weren't spending $13 billion of our money every year on free healthcare for people who shouldn't even be in the country. And I just want to explain very briefly what's going on with this billionaire's tax, because it really tells the story of this corrupt Democrat machine that we are up against.

15:28 It's being pushed by a union. The unions, who are the puppet masters of the Democrat politicians, and they're apparently trying to get this on the ballot to use as leverage in their budget negotiations with the governor. And they may even take it off the ballot because it's some stupid Sacramento game they're playing. Well, guess what's already happened? The recent estimate, because it's retrospective if this thing ever gets on the ballot, $1 trillion of wealth has left California just in the last few weeks driven out by the threat of this. They're stupid, corrupt political games. Billions of dollars of revenue to the state already been lost.

16:16 Fraud, fire, lies, loss. It's too much. It's too much what they're doing to our state. It's too much what they're doing to our families and our communities. And we are saying, no way, no more. That's enough. This is the year we kick them out. This is the year we fight back, take back our state.

16:38 And that's why I'm here. And that's why I'm so happy you're here. That's why Michael's here. Gloria, the team we're putting together, we will fight with everything we've got. We will fight for California. We will save California. We will make the California dream a reality again for everyone and make this beautiful state that we love so much truly golden again. Thank you very much, everybody. Awesome. Beautiful. All right. Thank you. Thank you, Steve. Made an excellent case for changing California. And I'm going to leave that alone. He did a great job. For all of those reasons, those are the reasons I am running as well. I just wanted to give a little introduction of myself. And then I know Pastor Jack's going to have a bunch of very difficult questions for us to answer. We're going to be in the hot seat.

17:33 but you know just so you know I'm very blessed and and I and I told Pastor Jack this earlier a lot of the reasons why I'm in this race and taking this on is because I'm very blessed my wife is here somewhere oh there's I found her I that was like where's Waldo I found my wife she's over there married for almost 30 years God bless her.

18:06 Five children. All right. Three grandchildren and a fourth is on the way. God really has blessed me, my wife, my children, and grandchildren in so many ways. And I will tell you that I was in private practice for a long time, and I think Pastor Jack's going to give us a chance to get into sort of our background and what we have to offer. But in a nutshell, I was once upon a time a successful, accomplished trial attorney. I was a partner at a law firm in Orange County. and the opportunity came up for me to run for city attorney in Huntington Beach, which is an elected position. Fun fact, there are only 10 cities out of the entire state of 482 cities that elect their city attorney. Now, about 65% of the voting population in California votes for their city attorney. Why? Because those 10 cities happen to be the highly populated. They're like LA, San Francisco, San Diego. So a lot of folks voting for their city attorney. But I decided in 2014 I was going to run for office. I got elected. And one of the reasons I did is because I had had so many great experiences in the private sector. And I thought to myself, gosh, if I had a position like, especially an elected position where you have a lot more independence and freedom, and I could probably do so much good for the folks, for the people, for my community.

19:44 And I had a lot of very happy clients when I was working in the private sector. A lot of repeat business, a lot of compliments, you know, it was lucrative. But I thought to myself, that opportunity to run for city attorney, I'm like, but Huntington Beach's population is 200,000 people. I could do a lot of good for 200,000 people in Huntington Beach. And I knew then, back in 2014, this is long before Huntington Beach started to make headlines in the newspaper, I knew then that actually the effect I could have as city attorney in Huntington Beach could go beyond our borders of Huntington Beach, and we could try to benefit other cities. We could try to benefit more folks in California if we were willing to stand up and fight, and fight Sacramento, take the fight to Sacramento. And that's what we did.

20:41 So going all the way back to the early days of my tenure as city attorney in Huntington Beach, we started fighting Sacramento for its legislative overreach, for its ridiculous public policies with regard to police departments. You may not know this, but Sacramento really tries to dictate and micromanage your local police departments, telling them what they can and cannot do, which is shocking because your city has your own police department. Well, the other thing might be interesting to know is the California Constitution basically tells cities that they're entitled to manage their own police departments, particularly with regard to charter cities, without interference from Sacramento. And what has Sacramento been doing? For decades, really, but more recently, they've gotten much more aggressive, much more brazen. Trample, they have been trampling the California Constitution.

21:37 Dismissing it, disregarding it, ignoring it, outright trampling it. So now they're micromanaging from Sacramento. And like, look, let's be honest, nothing good comes out of Sacramento. That's right, sadly true. But let me fast forward. So I served for 10 years as city attorney. I fought so many battles. I was the architect of the voter ID law in Huntington Beach. Thank you. I was the one in court defending it successfully before I got called to Washington, D.C. to work for the Trump administration. But I fought the state on sanctuary state laws, on the high-density housing mandates, on parental rights. When they... Yeah. So I've had a lot of experience fighting Sacramento and standing up for Huntington Beach and for the residents of Huntington Beach. Fast forward again, I go to D.C.

22:34 Pastor Jack got it right. The White House vetted me, approved me, installed me as the Deputy Assistant Attorney General for the United States Department of Justice. And just so you know, a lot of people, you know, they don't really know how the federal government's structured. that position deputy assistant attorney general is the highest position you can have without being senate confirmed so harmeet dylan was my boss she's senate confirmed right but i was i was right there as the top manager deputy assistant attorney general so it was an honor and a privilege and it was an opportunity i couldn't pass up so i went back and served and as Pastor Jack mentioned, I was right in the heart of it. I was at 950 Pennsylvania Avenue on the fifth floor. Pam Bondi's office was right down the hall. Thank you.

23:26 Leo Terrell's office was two doors down to my right. Armie Dillon's office was two doors down to my left. And so I was right there in the thick of it. I've met, you know, I worked with Stephen Miller. I worked with Kash Patel. I mean, the whole, everybody you see on TV, you know, we were dealing with on a regular basis. And one of the privileges that I had fought a lot of great lawsuits, went to enforce a lot of great laws, including elections laws. So if you've heard that, you know, California was sued by the DOJ over elections laws. California was sued by the DOJ enforcing elections laws on alleged violations which is dirty voter rolls things like that so to be more accurate that's what the lawsuit was about and that was a lawsuit that I brought I brought a dozen other lawsuits including one against Orange County California so my only point in saying all this is I want to give you a little bit of an introduction of where I come from, not a lot of candidates that come before you and ask for your vote, there's not a lot of substance to them. You know, if you've ever voted for a lawyer before, as a DA or as the AG, you know, for instance, I don't know if Attorney General Bonta has ever stepped foot in a courtroom. Yet, I made a career of being in the courtroom. I've argued in the Ninth Circuit, the Court of Appeals.

24:52 I've argued in trial courts up and down the state of California. I would go to court often defending our police department. On cases that cities would normally settle, like shooting cases, when officers are involved in shooting cases, they always get sued, right? Cities settle those all the time. If you live in Los Angeles, just look it up. Los Angeles must spend 30, 50, 60, 100 million dollars a year settling police cases. I don't know the exact number, but you can look it up. It's in the tens of millions. But I believe in the work of the police. I believe in the work of the Huntington Beach Police Department. And I would take those cases to trial personally. I would go to the city council and say, I believe in these officers. Please support me and allow me to take this case to trial. They would. And just as an example. A couple years ago, I got a complete defense verdict after a five-week jury trial defending two officers from an officer-involved shooting case where the plaintiff wanted $20 million from Huntington Beach. And we prevailed. We got a complete defense verdict.

26:04 and that and that's a case like i said any other city would have just settled that they would have paid 10 million 5 million just to get rid of it but we defended our police so one of the things that i am going to do as attorney general is i'm going to fight crime i am going to have a zero crimes agenda we are going to enforce prop 36 yes we are also going to come to the aid of cities whose police need a defense, and we are going to do everything we can to encourage and help resource those cities whose police officers should not be settling because they didn't do anything wrong. They should be defended in court because they did everything right. Amen. And we're going to make sure our elections laws are enforced, that elections irregularities get investigated.

27:04 We are going to do everything we can from the Attorney General's office to ensure the cleanliness and then the confidence in our election system. Yes, please. And then local control. folks whatever city you live in the best decisions for your community are made by you and your city councils at the local level period the best decisions do not come out of sacramento so whether it's issues of high density housing that's coming in and destroying a lot of cities whatever your issue is with regard to local control when i'm attorney general we are going to recognize and offer and provide deference to that local authority because you know what's best for your communities because you live in those communities and your city councils know what's best for those communities as well and the attorney general will not be suing you and your cities left and right to try to enforce and impose one size fits all mandates from sacramento i believe in local control. And one of my big slogans for my campaign is returning the state back to the people.

28:18 And I'm going to fight for the people. I'm not going to fight for Sacramento. I'm going to fight for people. I promise you that. So with that, I probably already took up too much time. With that, Pastor Jack. Thank you so much. So let's dive into this. Steve, you, Oxford graduate, business entrepreneur, incredibly successful television program. You walk away from all of that to pursue this. And I know that this has not been a quick decision. This is something where I know we talked quite a long time ago, but why would someone, and you don't have a California accent. You noticed? So I'm going to take it right back. In fact, it's actually right at the beginning of the video. Do you remember the launch that you were at for my campaign, and we prayed, and it was just a wonderful sunny day.

29:18 It was a great day. Like it was this morning in Huntington Beach. The sun came out. And we had a video that we made. And it starts, the very first line in the video to launch my campaign and introduced myself, was it all started with freedom. And the images in the video were tanks. Tanks rolling into the streets of Budapest, Hungary. Because my parents are Hungarian. All my family is Hungarian. And they fled freedom when the Soviets invaded Hungary to crush the revolution, the People's Revolution in 1956. And my parents fled from that, from that tyranny. I mean, you know, some of the stories are really horrendous. You know, running to the border.

30:08 In my family and with friends from a school. One of, I mean, the same age as my youngest son now, 14. Through barbed wire fences and minefields. Half of them were killed. In search of freedom. so I don't take that for granted and here we are I moved here with my wife and my two sons in 2012 to California which for me should be the ultimate in freedom if we all know as we do that this is the greatest nation on earth in the history of the world California is the greatest expression of that and that is all about freedom. And I didn't come here to California to see that flame of freedom crushed and snuffed out by these tyrants in this 16 years now of one-party rule. I feel very strongly about it.

31:13 And as you mentioned, most of my career has been in business. People know me from the television. Most of my career has been in business. I worked internationally in business, started companies in England, including restaurants. If there are any restaurant owners here, I feel your pain. It's a tough business at the best of times. Right now here in California, it's a nightmare to run a small business. And then I went into the government for a while. I joined the Conservative Party and worked for a while when I was much younger when Mrs. Thatcher was Prime Minister. She understood about freedom. Yes, she did. And then I went back and I helped elect another Prime Minister, David Cameron, and I worked with him in 10 Downing Street. I was senior advisor, and that was an incredible opportunity to really fight for freedom there, and that's really what drove me, was smashing the bureaucracy and the regulations, and we didn't particularly succeed in everything, but I saw the tricks of the bureaucracy. I saw what it's like to try and make change happen inside of a government. It's incredibly difficult, and I really understood how hard it is and what you need to do, and then we move here, and it's 2012, I'm teaching at Stanford University for a while, and then I started a business here, and that was all great.

32:29 Unexpectedly, a whole new career opened up in TV, hosting a show on Fox News, which I loved. The Next Revolution, anyone remember The Next Revolution? Like I always say, we're going to make sure the next revolution is the California Revolution, and it's happening this year. But the thing is that as the years went on, hosting that TV show, it was a great, great honor and a joy. I loved it. And what an incredible opportunity to speak to the nation and so on. But I really felt, if you think about it, most of my career has been in doing things, making change happen in business and in the government. And this was, you know, it's a wonderful platform, but you're just talking. And I really had that itch to get back into doing things, to making change happen. And of course, the place I wanted to do that was California, my home. I raised my family here, made my life here, started a business. This is my home in every way. I'm in love with California, the idea of California, what it represents, what it is, and what it can be again. And so a few years into that, it must have been about three or about four years ago now, I started a policy organization, Golden Together, to start really understanding what's gone wrong and how we put it right.

33:45 I've been traveling the state for years, right across the state, up and down, Central Valley, the north, right down many times here in Orange County. Listening, learning, developing the solutions. We published, in fact, our policy on crime, fighting crime, I published right here in Orange County with Michael by my side. We did that last year before either of us were candidates, just before they snatched him away from us to go to D.C. In other words, I've been moving in this direction for a while. and there was one particular moment I'll just tell you this last story that really kind of tipped me over the edge and said right I'm doing this for real and I've been working on housing policy and the fact that what a crime it is that our young people feel that they can't ever achieve that California dream of owning their own home and then I'm moving to other states and parents don't see their children and grandparents don't see their grandchildren because they've moved to Florida or Miami or Tennessee or wherever it may be got to do something about that I won't get into the weeds of the policy, but we tried to do it as a ballot initiative, and that didn't work.

34:50 We didn't raise enough money. And so I tried to make it happen in the legislature. And I went and I had meetings in Sacramento the first time I'd encountered it. I always say I love everywhere I go in California. It just brings joy to my heart everywhere I go in this beautiful state, except Sacramento, where there's something... Every time you go there, you just get this kind of sinking feeling. That's true. Anyway, I had these meetings, and there was one particular meeting and it was with a legislator who was supposed to be as good on housing policy and I laid out my plans and my policies and this person said oh that's fantastic that'd be a democrat that would be fantastic that would be transformational I said great let's work on it together bipartisan fantastic and this person said yeah I couldn't support you publicly I said why not and they said well, the unions would hate this.

35:44 I said, I know. It sort of undermined their leverage to negotiate things. I said, I know the unions would hate it, but you've just told me it'd be transformational. Why can't we just say that we agree on this? And this person, in their office right above, you could see the state capital outside the window, high up, and they wave their arm around like this. Well, the unions run this place. this is an elected legislator. That's right. I said, that is not right. No, the unions should run this place. We, the people, should run this place. Right? That's right. And so that was the moment I thought, right, I'm done with this. I'm done with talking. I'm going to get in there. I'm going to change it. I'm going to run for office. I'm going to run for governor. And here we are. That's the origin. And I love that you're doing it because for many people, although there are many here in this church who have come from other countries, seeking freedom here. I have found being born and raised here. Michael, maybe you would agree.

36:46 The people who have immigrated here for freedom have much more passion to defend this constitution than we who have been born and raised with it. So I really appreciate that. And one of the things I always say, and actually I really want to get into one particular aspect of that, which is I've spent a lot of time really understanding the issue of immigration. And I touched on it earlier, the scandal of billions and billions of dollars of our money going to people who shouldn't be here. I tell the story. We moved here in 2012, visa, then a green card, then a citizenship application. It took nine years. I became a citizen in 2021. So just in case anyone's worried, yes, I still have the accent. I am, just to reassure you, a proud American. And not just that. And not just that. I don't know if you know this, Jack. I first spoke about it, I thought people knew this on Megyn Kelly's show a long time ago, because we were just chatting about it. I'm not just someone who took that oath of allegiance. Any naturalized citizens here today? If you take that oath of allegiance, there we are, look, we all took that oath of allegiance, and we swore allegiance to the United States of America, and we renounced our loyalty to any other country.

38:00 but it turns out there's that's just you say that here but it doesn't count over there and you have to go through a process which I have now done officially I have renounced officially my UK citizenship wow so I'm all in I'm all in but I sometimes say especially to our legal immigrant friends you know and exactly as you describe who love America so much more perhaps than others because we appreciate it so much, the honor of becoming an American. And I say I am the candidate of the legal immigrant community for the legal immigrant community because that idea of the American dream, the California dream, and no offense, other states don't have that. Well, that's obvious.

38:52 We, you know, that idea, that's what we were, working class Hungarian immigrants fleeing communism working our way up, climbing that ladder of opportunity working class, my dad worked construction my first job project manager for a construction company when I did Don Junior's podcast the other week we were chatting about that, he knows something about construction in that family and he didn't know that about me and I said yeah I remember going on the construction sites with my I said this was many years ago, I don't know if you still use Gantt charts And we had this whole conversation about buildings and construction. You know, that dream of climbing the ladder of opportunity. California should do that better than anywhere else in the world. And we're not just not doing that better than anywhere else in the world. U.S. News and World Report, recent ranking.

39:47 California is 50th out of 50 states for opportunity. What a damning, damning indictment of what these people have done. So sad. Michael, it's a sad day when my wife and I, we want to maybe go to L.A., maybe to see a Laker game or something. And we have to consider, should we go or not? Because of the level of violence in our state. It's disgusting. How our lives, though many of us live in the suburbs, we can become clueless as to what's going on in the inner city. and now it's spread out into the broader city and into the suburbs. Talk to us about public safety in California. It's a disgrace what we have to put up with. What would you do as Attorney General regarding our public safety?

40:43 Yeah, thank you for that question. And, you know, crime and fighting crime with regard to, as it relates to Attorney General candidates, is like cliche, right? Like, oh, you're going to talk about crime. and you know we know crime is bad in california well bontas attorney general bont is going to come out during the campaign and say crime has gone down and he's got these statistics and first of all those are his those are his data points right so he's gathering he's consolidating these reports and putting them out himself we all know because we're regular everyday californians who live in the real world in california and not in some ivory tower detached from reality we all know that crime is a real thing it's still deterring us from going to certain places it's underreported because a lot of businesses and even individuals they'll experience crime and then they'll think you know i'm not going to bother to call the police because it's not going to matter the reality is crime is still high but any crime is unacceptable that's right any crime is unacceptable and one of the things to answer your question i am absolutely going to tackle any crime because any crime stifles our individual liberty it stifles our ability to enjoy life it stifles business and so what i'm going to do is enforce prop 36 as a start explain that explain so yeah so prop 47 and 57 and ab 109 was was passed back in 2014 it basically took a class of felonies and reclassified them as misdemeanors. So the penalties and the process for conviction were changed, right? So it made them more misdemeanors. And then AB 109 reduced the time that they would spend in jail and maybe no time at all. So it really was a soft on crime package that we all voted for because of the deceptive packaging from the attorney general's office back then, Kamala Harris, where it was all packaged as a making our communities safer

42:49 package, even though it did anything but make our communities safer. And that's why I started Huntington Beach's first ever community prosecutor program at the city level. So in my city attorney's office, I actually hired a criminal prosecutor and we got permission from the Orange County district attorney to start enforcing quality of life state level misdemeanors. And because we did that, and so this is in 2017, I started this program. That was in response to the effects of 47 and 57 passing. Because we started prosecuting at the city level, crime in Huntington Beach dropped by double digits. If you prosecute crime and you take it seriously, you will have an absolute measurable appreciable effect effect on your community we were tackling all kinds of quality of life crimes i told my prosecutor to take cases referrals from the police department crimes focused on those that impact quality of life so public intoxication vandalism you know whatever the issues were tackle those crimes crime dropped huntington beach frankly ladies and gentlemen if you don't live in huntington beach i hate to say this but it probably is one of the safest cities in the state of California because of this.

44:12 We also are one of the safest cities in the state of California because as city attorney, I absolutely stood by my police officers. That's right. Thank you. And, and because we had an enforcement approach, homelessness dropped from the years of COVID. Homelessness has dropped precipitously, but it's dropped measurably by over 60% in Huntington Beach. That's right. So to answer your question, enforce, enforce, enforce, and take the laws that are already on the books. Seriously, we don't need new laws. They already exist. And one of the problems that we have in California, look, this is the frustrating thing, and we've all seen this. Sacramento shrugs their shoulders and says, there's nothing we can do about the homeless population. Our hands are tied. The court's this and the court's that, or funding this and funding that. They also say that about crime.

45:09 There's not much we can do. You know, there's this, that, or whatever excuse. The reality is that the elites in Sacramento are so disconnected from reality. They're so divorced from us that I believe this is true. Their agenda is Californians should be forced to live with a certain amount of crime. I believe that. I believe that they think that it's like a cost of living, a cost of doing business. It's a cost of living in California, that they should have to live with a certain level of crime. And if you think I'm wrong, you all should have to live with a certain level of homelessness. That's true. There are laws already on the books that if they were enforced would combat homelessness overnight. And if you think I'm wrong, there's a certain amount of gas tax that Californians should have to pay.

46:08 And if you think I'm wrong, there's a certain amount of cost of living that you should be forced to pay or experience. There are all these boxes we can check that California is an anomaly compared to the rest of the state. You know, my wife and I, we talk all the time, you know, Trump and the administration's touting that gas prices are tanking, cost of living is tanking, prices of eggs are tanking, all of this stuff is going down. And I believe that they are, but I have to believe that they are because I don't know that they are. Right? Because in California, they're not. That's right. Right? Why? Because Sacramento literally believes that you should have to live with homelessness, that you should, as Californians, have to pay higher taxes. They believe it, and they believe that you owe it to them. And I completely categorically wholesale disagree with that. I want to go to Sacramento to change all of that, and obviously you have to work with the governor and state legislature to get some of the laws changed. But in terms of enforcement, I do not believe for a second that you have to live with a certain level of crime to be a Californian. I don't believe it. Yeah, thank you. I don't believe that you have to live with a certain amount of homelessness to be a Californian. I just don't believe it. So I am going to go to Sacramento, and I assure you, on day one, my level best to start enforcing criminal laws, to start cleaning up homeless, to start encouraging cities to implement their own community prosecutor program so that your cities, too, may have the benefits that Huntington Beach has experienced by having its prosecutor. And we will be supporting cities to have those prosecutors on the ground to do the work to support their police departments to support their local district attorneys i will also work with cities if they want to become charter cities i'll be happy to help them become charter cities so that they have more independence

48:13 from sacramento than general law cities and i will also work with local police departments in local cities and just provide the resources obviously the state is at a different position than the city is but to the extent possible provide the resources necessary to defend those police officers in court that when your local police are dragged into court because your local police were trying to do their jobs that they know that they have a friend in sacramento who's going to do what it takes to provide the resources to defend them in court so that your cities don't have to throw their police officers under the bus for doing their job. So I, thank you. So I know that was a long answer, but there's a lot to that. I had to unpack that a little bit. So big state, big problems. Do you mind? Sorry, I just want a quick thing on crime, if I may, because on top of all of that, which I agree with every word, and that's why we're going to be a great team, by the way. We are friends. We've worked together for years. This is going to be a whole different thing when you send a team, we call it the golden ticket to make California golden again.

49:22 Just a quick thing on crime, because on top of everything that we heard from Michael, there is a level of sickness, depravity, evil in what they've done on crime. Michael mentioned Prop 57. You know what happened in Prop 57? Kamala Harris. They downgraded a bunch of crimes, classifying them as non-violent so they don't qualify for automatic custodial sentences. Do you know what those crimes were that they said were non-violent? Rape of an unconscious woman. A whole string of crimes to do with child sex trafficking,

49:58 crimes involving children and sex. These people who lecture us about compassion. It's just unbelievable. It's deeper than just the wrong policies. there's something really sick about what's been going on and I'm telling you that was brought home to me in a way that I will never forget just before Christmas I think David Serpa is here with us tonight he was here earlier and David Serpa took me along to Figueroa Street in Los Angeles Figueroa Street is now thanks to these people and their attitude to all of this. The world capital of child sex trafficking. Just up the road from us here in Los Angeles. And I saw it for myself.

50:51 One of the most evil things I've ever seen. And if there's one thing that we're going to get when we have Michael as Attorney General, I'm your governor. That evil will not be tolerated anymore. Yeah, thank you for that. And I just want to add one more follow-up comment to this crime topic because it really is so fundamental to our entire experience in California. And it's not simply that our grandmothers in certain neighborhoods, and maybe to some extent all neighborhoods, don't feel safe to walk to the local store. It's not simply that. It's that what crime does is it really frustrates and discourages even business, right? If we are not safe in our state and in our communities, then we cannot prosper, right? Families, imagine this, if a family is unsafe, they don't even walk to the park or walk to the store without fear, right?

51:57 Businesses, likewise, are being driven out of the state. We've got businesses leaving the state of California in droves. And I heard this a couple weeks ago. Residents, one resident leaving the state of California every minute and 44 seconds. Now, there's probably a lot more reasons than just crime. But when you have a crime-free society or a very, very low crime society, society will prosper. Businesses will want to stay. Individuals will engage in more activities. people will thrive in in in what is truly then a free society right you don't have a free society if people feel locked up or pent up in their homes because they can't go out they don't feel safe so crime is very fundamental tackling crime is essential and for our sacramental elites to not take that seriously just demonstrates how absolutely disconnected and i i told pastor Jack this before. I like this phrase. It really truly is a wanton disregard for the well-being of Californians. They have a wanton disregard for our well-being. And that has got to change.

53:08 Okay, so time out. Listen to what he just said. Both of them saying the same thing. Honestly, think about this for a minute. If you have a family member, maybe a neighbor, that is committed to making your life miserable. Why? Why would they do that? Why would, if they know and have the power to do something about the sex trafficking in LA, and they don't do anything about it? Who are these people? Stop and think for a minute. Listen, this is where you come in intimately. These people are in power. They have the power to do something about it. They have your money to fund it, but they don't fund it. the efforts to shut it all down. They're turning a blind eye. So Bonta, it's Rob, right? Is it Rob, Robert?

54:01 It's Rob. Rob? Rob Bonta. Rob Bonta. I think you said earlier, or maybe you said it tonight, or in the podcast, that you're not sure if he's ever fought a case in court, but he's the Attorney General of California. How is it that Gavin Newsom is the governor of California when you take a look at his life and find out about him? How does this happen?

54:25 You have to come to the conclusion, if you were a person who have, you have neighbors who seek your destruction. What are they doing? I mean, are we being too nice in a way? I mean, somebody has said evil. You said evil, Steve, a few times. If someone in power is systematically united with others to destroy the constitution of California, and to take custody or jurisdiction over your children. They've got nothing else better to do instead of fixing freeways and stopping crime, but to deal with the transgender sex mutilation business. What's going on? Who are these people? I'm not saying a Democrat, independent, or Republican statement. If you support that kind of stuff, I want to know why.

55:20 you I want to make sure I don't live near you I am not laughing when I say that I don't want you near my grandkids I don't want you near my family I don't want you near my wife if you are a person who has voted these people into office I personally want to know who you are because I don't want to be anywhere near you because that kind of conduct is dangerous and you support it by voting for them? Well, my parents, my grandparents were Democrats, my parents, my grandparents, my great-great-grandparents, we've all voted Democrat. And so why are you voting Democrat? Listen, the Democrats of JFK's era, for example, would be called conservatives today in light of this Democrat party. So this is remarkable to me. So I'm getting, So I had to say that because I was just getting all excited.

56:17 But there's hope. There's hope. That's why we're here. There's hope. That's why we're here. You are an optimist, aren't you? A lot of Californians are saying and thinking what you're saying and thinking. Yeah, yeah. A lot of Californians, even Democrats. Even those in Brentwood and Hollywood and Bel Air. The elite of the elite are saying, hey, you know what? I'm tired of having my house broken into. Can you believe that? Yeah. So, Governor Steve Hilton, what would you do? Our kids can't afford buying a home in California. They've got to move to Tennessee, Arkansas, or other states. They can't afford the regulations. They can't afford what one 2x4x10 costs. They might as well give their right arm for it. What would you do to help change the construction or new home issue here in California? Can I answer another question first that may be in the minds of some of you watching?

57:19 I'll get to this. I'm very conscious and I just did that. And I've done that because we're fighters. And every time I do that, there's this pink bracelet. And some of you might be thinking, what is he doing wearing that pink bracelet? What's that all about? I want to make sure you all understand. It says, save girls sports. and And it was given to me by a wonderful activist who set up an organization to fight for girls' sports. And I went to the... I was in Clovis, right by Fresno, in the Central Valley, for the statewide track and field championships when we had another one of these outrageous examples of a biological boy competing in the girls' sports, stealing the trophies and the honor and the glory from girls who'd worked so hard for it. And I went there to lay out my position, to be very clear what I'm going to do as governor, and especially when I have an attorney general here in Michael Gates, we're going to overturn that legislation, AB 1266, passed in 2013, that legalized the obscenity of biological boys and girls sports.

58:29 Why? Because it's unconstitutional. It violates the principle of gender equality, because what is it if it's not discrimination against girls? and it violates another article, I believe it's article 28 of the Constitution, protecting safety in schools. So that's what we're going to do. We're going to end the obscenity of biological boys and girls sports. And I said to that young activist, I will wear this bracelet until we get it done. And we will get it done. Yeah, that's great. So, to housing. All right, so I just want to say, of course it's an economic issue. There's so many, it's such a foundational issue, this housing crisis. It's driving people out of the state. It's meaning that employers don't want to come here because they know there's nowhere for their workforce to live. It's undermining families and family life because if you can't afford to live near where you work and you've got to commute two, three hours every day or more, then that's time that you're not with your children.

59:28 You know, there's all these different ramifications. There's also this deep, deep, deep emotional thing. I remember the first time, you know, we didn't have money in my family, as I mentioned. We're working class immigrants. But I did okay. And I started a business in England, made a bit of money, and was able in my 20s to buy my own home. Small one, just a one-bedroom place in London. But I earned that. I earned that. And I didn't get money from anyone to do it. Actually, I'm just remembering that word, earn, our friend Charlie Kirk. It's his favorite word. wasn't it? Earn. You've got to earn it. And I remember walking across the threshold of that place that I bought with my hard work, my money, and that I'd earned. And that sense of achievement, I still remember, I still feel it. I can picture myself doing that.

1:00:30 that incredible sense of accomplishment, achievement, that's what we're stealing from our young people today in California who never have that feeling. It's outrageous. There's so many things have contributed to it. I'm just going to rattle off a few kind of technical policies, but I want to get to the big one. I'm going to finish with that. There are things like hidden stealth taxes on housing. They're called developer impact fees. Most people have never heard of them. Sometimes they can add up to 20% of the cost of a home. That is straight up taxes that they don't tell you about. And where's that going? Back into the same black hole that's going out in fraud. So that's just straight up. That's tax that is paid by the house builder, by the developer, that shows up in the price, but you don't see that as a buyer. You've got environmental regulations, insane, extreme environmental regulations that make the construction cost of a home in California Any kind of building, actually, apartments, single-family homes, retail, whatever.

1:01:33 Whatever it is, it costs three or four times as much to build it in California because of the ever more onerous building codes than it does in any other state, in neighboring states. So that adds to the cost. You've got the unions and what they call project labor agreements that they use some of these laws to negotiate with builders and developers. and they put in their innocent sounding things like skilled and trained workers. What does that really mean? The closed shop, you can only hire union workers. That increases the cost. They call it prevailing wage. That's another one. Sounds good, doesn't it? Prevailing wage. Well, it's three or four times the market rate. That increases the cost. So all these things go into it. And we're going to change all of that bit by bit because a lot of that is coming out of the bureaucracy. And there's a big question underlying all of this that I've thought about very hard and we're working very hard on, which is how do you make any of this change happen when the Democrats will most likely still control the legislature?

1:02:29 The answer to that question is through the executive branch, the agencies of the state of California, CARB, the A Resources Board, and the Coastal Commission, and the State Board of Education, all these endless bureaucracies where we're going to kick out the ideologues and the climate fanatics and the far-left social justice warriors, and we're going to put in there common-sense people who are going to do good things for every family and every small business in California. And so that's how we're going to make some of those changes happen. But here's the big thing on housing. It really goes to their climate crusade. Because as we've seen in Huntington Beach, what are they all about now? They say the only kind of development you can have, it's called infill development, it's got to be, because we believe it's density. You've got to have density. And you can't build outwards. you've got to build upwards.

1:03:20 That's why they want us all living in apartments. No parking. Take transit. Is that how they live? Does Gavin Newsom live in an apartment somewhere? Does Nancy Pelosi in her retirement, is she going to be trundling around San Francisco on transit? I don't think so. It's elitism. They want to treat us like serfs. Put everyone in these apartment buildings. And of course, if you constrict where you can build by not allowing the development boundary to be expanded, that increases the price of the land because you're restricting where you can build. And that's why we're in this mess that we've got these endless bureaucratic instructions bossing every community around, saying you've got to build this many units. They're called the RENA numbers, the Regional Housing Needs Assessment, bureaucratic nonsense from the State Department of Housing and Community Development, and all that's going to go, okay? We are going to stop telling.

1:04:14 communities to change the character of their community instead of forcing communities to build housing that they don't want we're gonna allow communities to build the housing that they do want we are gonna allow the expansion of the development boundary and here's what the lot on density they say oh we got to have density we already have the highest density in the country you know what proportion of our land in California is developed? 5%. If you add it all up, roads, retail, industrial, everything, 5% of our land. I drive around this state the whole time. I keep pointing out the window. You could build out there. You could have a beautiful estate of single-family homes. The California dream. That's what we're going to allow to happen. And here's a little back-of-the-envelope calculation that we did. If we went from 5% of our land developed to 6%, we would have room in California for 10 million single family homes on quarter acre lots. So the last thing I'm going to say about this, what is driving this? They say that this is, they call it sprawl. Sprawl. It's not sprawl. It's the California dream. And when I'm governor, we are going to end the war on single family homes and let young people have that California dream. And if you didn't exactly catch what he was saying. He said sprawl.

1:05:39 Just urban sprawl. Wait till we start talking about our great farmers and our ag industry and I start talking about how we've got to get water. Water? It's not water. It's water. We're going to get our farmers the water that they need. I love it. Thank you, Michael. I'm collecting I'm now collecting the words that actually people have been very sweet and put up with this accent but you're right there are certain words you gotta say it American we need a little bit more cowboy out of you exactly so he said it right 5% of the California territory is developed or occupied by 95% of the population so we all live in the five percent 95 of the population is packed into the five percent yep um when it comes to the housing as well just a couple quick thoughts um because of all of those regulations he talked about so this is the easy takeaway right because of all the regulations and burdens that that he talked about just in recent years the cost of developing one unit of housing That includes apartments or condos.

1:06:57 Just any unit, any small even insignificant unit, has gone up by $100,000. So if you imagine a 30-unit apartment building, which is relatively small, it now costs the developer $3 million more to develop it, which makes it not pencil out. Final point that you could add to your checklist of reasons why. Look, government creates problems and then it comes to us to raise our taxes to solve them, right? or something like that, right? Now part of the solution is we're going to mandate high-density housing in all your neighborhoods, right? But what... Oh, I was going to say something. I forgot what I was going to say. I'm going to jump in and you think about it and you can interrupt me. So I spent a lot of time in the former Soviet Union and Russia, and when you talked about building up, it's one of the most debased and degrading situations to go to, for example, St. Petersburg or Moscow.

1:08:00 In my mind, St. Petersburg. Yeah, yeah. Those miles and miles of those soulless apartments. I've been there. Heartless, 20 stories high, no paint, concrete, communist, socialistic construction of amassing people who live like rats because they're so compact together. This is what the Democrat Party is achieving, trying to achieve in California by mandating this condensed housing? Why do they want to do that? First of all, why do they want to make California? Why does Gavin Newsom want to take the Palisades and do that there?

1:08:37 It's control, but it's this. Notice that wherever there's a density of population and they're in that kind of a lifestyle where you're condensed, there's tension. In fact, God said in Isaiah chapter 5, Woe unto those who build house to house and make no room for the woods. Isaiah chapter 5. Here's the deal. You pack people in together and they start to become aggressive. And then you have to police them. And then you control them. And then you offer them the solutions to the problems. And you never provide for them. You wind up creating a zoo that you can get their votes so that you can set yourself up. Notice when you look at California, California votes red. Except the inner city, mousetrap type of centrality of population.

1:09:36 Where the populace is told, you need the government so bad just to breathe. You should thank the God that we don't believe in that you have us. So beware of this stuff because just drive around even here and you'll see density housing that our local cities have had to put up because of the state forcing it on us. And then what do you see a year after it's been approved and populated? Crime rising. Violence in the home. Child abuse. you cannot put three people or five people in a one or two bedroom setup it doesn't work and so wow as soon as you said that i i have traveled all over russia and i and i remember what i was going to say perfect that's just we're human i've been talking since i don't know eight o'clock this morning publicly so anyway no but government creates these problems right part of the problem, and you can add this to your checklist, is, look, and I'm not an economist, but talk to economists, a lot of things about the economy, prices going up or down, a lot of it is expectations and environment, right?

1:10:52 The price of silver is going up now for a lot of reasons, right? But one of the reasons is for those who are watching it or interested in investing are saying it's going to go up higher, so I'm going to buy now because it's going to go up. You don't buy it now if you think it's going to go down, right? It's expectations. When the government comes in and starts imposing these mandates that you have to build, guess what happens to property price? Because there is an expectation, even though nothing's done yet, just the fact that they started talking about more housing. And if you want to look this up, track this. When did Newsom start talking about it? I'll tell you the year, but think about it. Do you remember? 2008? started talking about it in 2008 this was obviously prior to him being governor and then it perked or peaked again around 2012 more conversation about it and then 2015 like that's when the property values started to jump up when the government started talking about essentially effectively mandates and so if you if the government creates this expectation that there's going to be building and development, then those who own that property are going to raise the property, right?

1:12:08 There's an artificial demand created for that property is what I'm trying to say. And so again, I'm not an economist. I'm not going to sit here and pretend to be one. But if you look at the conversations about needing more housing and more development, and then you look at the price of property, it matches. Just talking about it is creating an artificial inflation to property. If government would get out of the way, they would reduce regulations, they would stop talking about increased demand or increased building, increased demand in these cities, then the market would level out. It would become more affordable. But they get involved, they interfere, they create problems, and now they're trying to solve it the wrong way. The greatness about California is that it got to where it was in its greatness by individuals like you doing your business, expanding your company, buying homes. Your kids grew up.

1:13:04 They got homes. And everything was fine until one party rule. How long has it been? 16 years. Listen, everybody. You have been conditioned to accept homelessness. I was born and raised in this. state. I remember when there was no homelessness. Do you remember? What's changed? Listen, everybody, wake up. What's changed? Government, governance. That's what's changed. I remember vagrancy laws in California. They're still in the books, but be that as it may, it doesn't have to be this way. And we're moving the needle by seeing people like this run for office. By the way, one thing.

1:13:55 So Michael, he's not an economist. I am an economist. Yes, you are. I studied economics at Oxford. As an economist, I can say, he's right. Thank you for that. Going forward in this state, there is an entrenchment with one election cycle, 2026, because we're Americans. We drive through stuff. We want our meals in three minutes. We want our state back in one vote. That's not going to happen. But like I said a moment ago, we're moving the needle. We've got to start somewhere. after your elected governor after your attorney general what do we the voters need to be geared up for regarding positions like assembly very important it's important this year it's so important we all understand that this is not about one race or one person that's exactly why I've always believed that it's about a team and I'm so proud that Michael's running and we're part of a team and Gloria Romero and Herb Morgan for controller and there'll be more. That's statewide. But also for the legislature, that's the other branch of government that we elect. And there's a massive problem there. Because what you've seen is this super majority created. Nothing super about it. And there's nothing legitimate about it. Because it doesn't reflect, it's gerrymandered, right? They've just made it a lot worse with Prop 50. But even before Prop 50. It was gerrymandered the congressional districts and the legislative districts as well. They don't have a two-thirds majority in California in terms of our votes, nothing like, but they have more than two-thirds in the state assembly and in the state senate, and they're passing all these bills year after year after year, the accumulation. I did an event earlier this year, earlier last year in Sacramento, just in the last session. Do you know how many bills they passed out of that chamber.

1:16:01 They have no restraint, no check. The Republicans can't stop anything because they have a two-thirds majority. How many bills do you think they passed? New bills. 1,118. Just in one session. I said you guys the other day, almost 1,000. Okay, 1,118. I was short. We did an event outside the state cap. We piled them up. I mean, I'm not tall, but this thing was twice my height, the pile of bills that they pass. So we've got to do something about it. We've got to do something about it this year. This is how I see it. This is the path ahead. This year, we elect statewide. I'm the new governor. Michael's the new attorney general. Gloria Romero, lieutenant governor. And we start making a dent and try and break that supermajority this year. And we know we can do it. It's not going to be But what's going to really help us?

1:16:56 Voter ID. Absolutely. Voter ID. Please, make it legal. On the ballot this year, thanks to the work of so many great people here in Orange County, actually. Carl DeMaio and his team, Reform California, fantastic work. I was with Carl on many of those roadshow trips, getting signatures. Well, now we've got over a million. We have a few more to be absolutely certain. It's going to be on the ballot in November. and that is going to help get the Republican vote out because it's a midterm election. It's all about turnout. It's all about making sure we maximize the turnout. Can I just give you the numbers that I think we all need to understand on the vote this year? In six minutes. Well, we can do it quicker than that. So when people say to you, forget about it, it's a lost cause. Can't win. Republicans can't win statewide in California.

1:17:50 Focus on ballot initiatives. focus on Senate races for the U.S. Senate, whatever. Not true. This is a much more Republican state than people think. It's a much more Republican state than they want us to think. They want us to be demoralized. So here are the numbers. If you look at this here, midterm election, let's try and project what the vote will be. You take the average of the last two years, last two midterm elections, 2018, 2022, to get an estimate. If you do that calculation, very simple number, this is the projection of the number of votes that will be cast in california in november in the general election 11.7 million so to win statewide i'm going to need let's call it half of that 5.9 million and people say there aren't enough republican votes do you know how many votes president trump got here in california without even campaigning here in 2024 6.1 million 6.1 million. There's a simple way of putting it. If everybody who voted for President Trump in 2024 in California votes for me and for Michael in 2026, then we will be the governor and the attorney general with 200,000 votes to spare. So we've got to get the vote out. And voter ID is going to help us do it. And I see my role as the governor candidate, as leading the team across the board, the statewide offices and they're fighting for the assembly candidates the state senate candidates we got to elect republicans at every level of government board of supervisors city council school board that's how i see my job inspiring that vote and that turnout that's 2026 what do we do in 2028 we come back for more and we elect more republicans to the assembly and the senate And then we come back in 2030 when you re-elect me for a second term as governor and Michael for a second term as attorney general.

1:19:45 And we get more Republicans in the assembly and the Senate. And by the time I've done, by the end of my second term, you know what we're going to have in Sacramento? It won't be a Democrat supermajority. It'll be a Republican majority. That's what we need to work for. Every cycle, more Republicans elected. We've got to believe in ourselves, believe in our mission, and then I know we can get it done. That's awesome. Michael, closing words. Yeah, I was going to say that was a fantastic closing argument. I'm not sure there's much to add. But I was telling Pastor Jack earlier, there's every reason in this particular election cycle to have hope. And I'm naturally a pretty hopeful person, pretty optimistic, but I'm not delusional. I am very sober but hopeful. And I think there's probably no better evidence, frankly, in a way, in terms of where California voters are, than if you actually look at the governor's race. Steve Hilton, to his credit, has done an amazing job.

1:20:41 He's a frontrunner. He's actually a frontrunner over every other leading Democrat candidate. Yeah, that's true. We don't know all of the reasons why, and I don't pretend to know myself. I won't particularly speculate. But there's a reason Kamala Harris decided not to run. There's a reason. For governor. For governor. Yes. There's a reason that Senator Padilla decided not to run. there's a reason that bonta who's the current ag who considered a run for governor decided not to run for governor right so i look let me put it another way if it was a lock for a democrat i would think that there would have been a front runner consuming all the airwaves and sucking all the oxygen in the room for the past year and a half as the front runner good point and there isn't. The fact that this field is this way and Steve is leading even the Democrats is shocking on the one hand, but I think it speaks volumes on the other. The other thing I'm told is Rob Bonta, who really had a ton of support to run for governor, a ton of support, all the labor, all the unions he didn't because this is what i'm hearing he did a snap poll and his polling's not high enough to support his candidacy for governor well what does that say about me put me in coach i mean it looks it sounds like you know the population the voting population thinks he's not a very compelling candidate he's not very strong he's extremely vulnerable and as we hear more and more about the fraud and what folks are calling corruption in Sacramento, I mean, he's going to own that, just like Newsom's going to own that, right? So, and then you add the fact that voter ID is going to be on the ballot, which will, no matter how you cut it, it is going to change the voter turnout. The voter turnout is going to be different, not just in total numbers, but in terms of who goes out to vote, right? You're going to have independents and Republicans and even Democrats who normally don't vote because they think their vote doesn't matter say,

1:22:48 well, I think my vote's going to matter on that. And voter ID, or at least proof of citizenship to vote, has a 71% approval rating in California, and it's 60% support among Democrats. So if you add all of this stuff up going into November, there is every reason to be hopeful. So when the folks out in the audience are thinking, this is really nice, I appreciate that, it's very educational. Steve Hilton blew me away, he's really, really smart. But what is this going to mean in November? The reality is it can mean a lot. That's right. If you reach out to your friends and neighbors and you tell them, hey, take a look at these guys. They have the wind at their back. The circumstances are lining up. They have momentum. And they can win. What I used to tell people out on the campaign trail when I was out, I would say, hey, take a picture of my little campaign card, which we don't have tonight. But take a picture of my little campaign card.

1:23:42 and late at night when you're watching reruns of Spongebob, go through your phone and text the picture of that card to all of your friends and neighbors. Because if I can get 100 people, an audience of 100 people to reach out to 10 of their friends and neighbors while watching Seinfeld reruns or Spongebob reruns or whatever you're doing late at night on the couch, think of how many people we can reach. So in addition to all of the great that we've done here tonight, and thank you to Pastor Jack for all this is amazing if you will accept a little homework assignment and you can go out and start texting your friends and neighbors or email them hey take a look at these guys take a look at their campaigns that would be tremendous so thank you very much well you think about you think exactly there it is feel free to take a picture I love that isn't that beautiful the QR code goes directly to the website tell all your friends and neighbors about gates4ag.com please do if you can snap that QR code right now or at least take a picture and visit it later I would super appreciate that one of the things I'm doing right now because I just launched today is I am trying to raise as much money as possible right now as much money as humanly possible right now because if I can report next week fantastic numbers like Steve Hilton recently did and he can tell his number. It's amazing. If I can show strong donations, strong financial support, that will clear the field of any other wannabe Republican candidate and it'll send signals to other folks in the community about, you know, should I support this guy? Oh yeah, because he raised $100,000 overnight or whatever, right? So if you can go to the website and support and I was telling Pastor Jack earlier, I think he said it and I repeated it, look if we happen to reach a million people and everybody only donated $5 or $25 think of how much money we would have to get the

1:25:48 word out because it takes a lot of money to penetrate some communities you know, there's a lot there are dense communities in LA and San Diego and San Francisco and we have got to get the word out to every one of those folks and that's a lot of social media, it's a lot of paid ads so every dollar that we get is going to go to outreach so if there's anything that you can do to support going to the website going to my donations page and helping out tremendously grateful I couldn't tell you how much I appreciate it and just thank you, thank you for being a part of the campaign and likewise with Steve Hilton be a part of his campaign we really can do this together we are up against the machine right so we have we need our grassroots folks we need our people our friends and neighbors we need the grassroots effort so if there's any way that you can help by visiting by donating and please spread the word if you got that gates4hd.com link you can forward that through text messages as well and and send it to your friends and neighbors and then for steve it would be stevehiltonforgovernor.com Thank you.

1:26:58 Is tonight's event something you can share with our neighbors? I'm sorry? Is tonight's event recorded? Oh, yes. Yes, he's asking the question, is tonight's event something that they can replay, that you can show to your neighbors? 100%. Yes, at the Real Life Network, it will be archived there. It will be at my Facebook page. It will be at the church's page. It will be on YouTube. Absolutely, you can. And I just want to encourage all of you as well that I love that both of these guys, they're going to represent the grassroots of the people. And so they're not asking you to give $1,000 or $10,000. I'm sure they would say that would be nice. But imagine if a whole lot of people gave a little bit. A whole lot of people gave a little bit.

1:27:52 Well, Jack, we don't need to imagine it. Because it just happened. Tell us about this. I don't know about this. So we just announced our fundraising numbers for the first full period that I've been in the race, the six months at the end of last year. And I'm proud to say that we are not just leading the poll, we are by far leading on fundraising ahead of all the Democrats. And remember, I'm running against, I've never run for office before. I've never done this before. We're building it from scratch. It's like a startup. I've done a startup business. This is like that. From nothing. We've built a grassroots movement. Over 30,000 donors, small-dollar donors, supporting our campaign. That's the sort of number. These people have been running for Congress for years. And we're beating them.

1:28:44 We're beating Katie Porter. And we're beating Eric Swalwell. You know, and Villara Gosa, all these people. Javier Becerra, 2 million for Villara Gosa. 2.7 million for Javier Becerra, 3 million for Swalwell, 3 million for Katie Porter. Steve Hilton, 4.1 million. That's how much we beat them by over a million dollars, these machine politicians. That shows you the power of the grassroots movement we're building. People are tired of it. They're desperate for change, and we're going to give it to them this year. Everybody, let's stand. Let's stand. My closing remarks are these.

1:29:23 In California, there are things that we don't like about our laws that are in place, for example. We talked, or the question or the comment you made about pro-life or abortion in California. Did you know that that is something, this is so sad. Do you know that in a recent election that you and I participated in, did you know the results of that election that we voted, I say we, Californians, voted in an overwhelming majority to support abortion in the state of California? We the people decided that. I don't know if you're aware of that. Meaning, even if Newsom were a pro-life governor, the vote by the Californian voter was, no, no, we want abortion.

1:30:18 Did you know that? Are you aware of that, everybody? Now, granted that the description on the ballot was very deceiving. Right, Brad? Dacus? Very deceiving. You probably thought you were voting for pro-life. California overwhelmingly voted for pro-abortion. You and I probably possibly voted for abortion. not knowing because it was worded so confusingly. That's the law of the land. Even if these guys get elected, we can't change the abortion issue in California until we have a chance to vote on a new bill to stop it. Are you hearing me, everybody? This is critical. Father, I pray, Lord God, for my brother.

1:31:09 I ask you, Lord God, that you would grant him grace and favor before opposition and before the concerned citizens of California. I ask you to bless Michael Gates, Lord God, as he wants to do good. He wants to do the law. I counted how many times this man who's running for Attorney General mentioned tonight crime, safety, law, and Constitution. He's right in his lane. That's his passion. And we know, Lord God, that those things have come from you. You're the giver, the law giver. And we ask you to anoint and bless him. Father, I pray and I ask you, Lord, to bless my brother Steve. Father God, that you would give him the tenacity.

1:32:04 Lord, I do not know how he's keeping his schedule but by you. I thank you Father God for the testimony and witness that you're developing in his life I thank you for the relationship that you've given him and I and Lord I pray that you'd bless his wife and his sons God that you'd continue to provide for him and Lord that we might be able to look back as this year comes to an end not far from now believe it or not Though we're in January, it's going to be over quick. That we will all be humbly blessed to see that you have truly caused California to come back. To come back to faith. We didn't even touch on many of the topics. But the houses of faith in California, the role that faith has played in this state since its inception is epic. There's so much more.

1:33:06 Father, we pray that you'd provide the opportunities. And God, that you'd continue to give Steve an open door to media and to platforms and to places. And Father, we just ask you that you and you alone at the end would get all the glory for turning California around. Because the gospel of Jesus Christ has been preached in this land for over 400 years. that Jesus Christ came, born as a baby in Bethlehem as the prophets foretold, lived in Israel as the prophets foretold, died on the cross for our sins, and on the third day rose again from the grave because you are the Lord God, the Savior, and the creator of all that is good. We thank you for the salvation that comes through Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life.

1:33:58 and we pray in his name and all God's people said amen. God bless you all. Thank you for being here. Thank you.