Steve Hilton gives brutal reality check to California gubernatorial rival

The slugfest in California’s crowded governor’s race is heating up, and Republican Steve Hilton may have just landed one of the sharpest blows yet as the June 2 primary nears.

Hilton decided he had enough of the “bragging” done by Democratic San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan when it came to improving the homeless situation, and visited a park in the city himself.

“Matt Mahan, the mayor of San Jose, endlessly goes on about what a fantastic job he’s done cleaning up the homelessness in his city,” Hilton said in a video, referring to Mahan’s talking points during past gubernatorial debates. “Well, I am in his city.”

He then turns the camera to show homeless people sleeping on the ground or on benches throughout the park, with their belongings strewn all over.

“It absolutely stinks like it’s some public restroom all around us,” Hilton noted as he walked through the park.

“This is where families are supposed to be enjoying themselves. This doesn’t look very cleaned up to me,” Hilton said, as he showed more footage of people lying around. He then accuses Mahan of insulting people’s intelligence.

In the next scene, Hilton is walking down a street in downtown San Jose and shows shuttered storefront after shuttered storefront.

“He keeps telling us things are going great in San Jose, but it doesn’t really feel like a shining example of the kind of leadership as he calls it that we want for the whole of California,” Hilton said as he walked by another boarded-up business.

He ended the video with: “No thank you, Matt Mahan.”

Mahan, a moderate Democrat, has tried to separate himself from his Democratic rivals by emphasizing his “back to basics” leadership focused on public safety, housing affordability and government accountability.

He often touts the success of San Jose with data calling it “the safest large city” in the US. He’s also a frequent critic of Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom when it comes to public safety.

Democrat governor candidate Matt Mahan keeps bragging what a great job he’s done as mayor of San Jose. I was there on Friday, here’s what we found:

Homeless everywhere, boarded up shops, public parks that smell like public toilets. Now he wants that for California? No thanks! pic.twitter.com/3WojSsiI9s

— Steve Hilton (@SteveHiltonx) May 17, 2026

Mahan responded to Hilton’s post with a debate clip where the mayor pointed out Hilton visited the city previously “to see what’s working in San Jose.” In the clip, Mahan claims the city reduced unsheltered homelessness faster than any other California city, and then showed pictures of Hilton and Mahan together.

“I’ve shown you what works, Steve Hilton. I’d be happy to do it again,” Mahan shot back on X.

Hilton is the leading GOP frontrunner in the governor’s race, where the issue of homelessness has dominated the policy issues.

Mahan, meanwhile, has been struggling to reach into the upper tier of candidates despite financial backing from Silicon Valley groups.

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