How a Trump-Endorsed Republican Could Become California’s Next Governor

The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC and The New Yorker. Welcome to the New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. Now, if you've been following news about the midterm elections coming this November, you may have heard a very confusing story coming out of California. The polls are shifting all the time.

Time, and Eric Swalwell, the leading Democrat, recently dropped out, following accusations of rape and sexual assault, charges that he denies. But it seems that the leading candidate in the California governor's race right now is a Republican, endorsed by Donald Trump. His name is Steve Hilton, a British-born political consultant and a former Fox News host. Now, you may have been puzzled by that, since Democrats outnumber Republicans in California by no less than 20 percent, and Trump is deeply unpopular there. Partly Hilton's modest lead in the polls may result from California's unusual primary system and the chaos of the general race.

Now the way this works is that the two candidates who get the most votes in this primary, regardless of party, move on to the general election. It happens that there are more Democrats running in the primary, and so the Democratic vote is all split among the candidates, at least as of now. But it's also true that Big Blue California has elected prominent Republicans before, Ronald Reagan, of course, and more recently Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hilton is running on issues like

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