California candidate for governor blasts Newsom while walking through LA riot aftermath
California GOP gubernatorial candidate, Steve Hilton, and former Democratic state senate leader Gloria Romero spoke to Fox News Digital outside a graffiti-covered Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) station as anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) riots ravage the streets of LA.
"I've been here for days, seeing what's going on with these riots. One of the most shocking things is the scale of the graffiti," Hilton told Fox News Digital. "Everywhere you go in downtown LA, every surface is covered in vile, disgusting graffiti. And to me it is a really vivid symbol of the total collapse of law and order of civilized values, that they just let this happen. All of this could have been prevented."
Hilton, who declared his candidacy for governor in April, has not shied away from critiquing Gavin Newsom's leadership in the Golden State.
But with the nation watching the battle between the sitting California governor and President Donald Trump over squelching the riots and ICE deportations, Hilton went as far as to say that "Newsom is a total joke."
"He's shown in the last few days he is not fit to be governor of this state," Hilton explained to Fox. "He is certainly not fit to be President of the United States, which is the only thing he seems to be focused on, which is why right at the beginning of all this, instead of acting immediately to make sure that things didn't get out of hand and to protect communities, to protect small businesses and to prevent law and order and uphold civilized values."
Hilton was joined in the interview with Fox News Digital by Gloria Romero, a former Democratic California senate leader turned Republican who previously represented East Los Angeles.
"For years and years, I tried to fight for reform within the party," Romero told Fox. "Finally, like my friend[s] Leo Terrell, Bobby Kennedy, Tulsi Gabbard, I said, the [Democrat] party left me. It is so woke. It is gone."
"Today we are looking at what happens then when those who are unvetted come in, and we're looking at not only just the Maryland man as they described him, the California man, but we're looking at rapists, convicted rapists, sex traffickers, murderers," Romero added.
Newsom has stood firm in refusing to back down from Trump as riots raged on, and some see his rhetoric and decision-making as a means to propel himself as the leader of the anti-Trump movement as well as possibly the Democrat party as a whole.
Speculation that Newsom could make a run for the Democratic ticket for president in 2028 heightened during his national address this week, where he said "California may be first, but it clearly will not end here. Other states are next. Democracy is next."
Newsom is termed out as California governor, giving Hilton and other GOP hopefuls a chance to flip the state red for the first time since Arnold Schwarzenegger over 14 years ago.
Preston Mizell is a writer with Fox News Digital covering breaking news. Story tips can be sent to Preston.Mizell@fox.com and on X @MizellPreston
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