The party faithful, many of whom sported ‘Trump 2028’ ball caps and paid more than $1,000 in hotel and flights to gather in sunny San Diego, split their votes relatively evenly between Steve Hilton, a businessman and former Fox News host who received the president’s endorsement, and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. 

The final tally was 49% for Bianco and 44% for Hilton, both shy of the necessary 60% threshold to earn the party’s endorsement.

Hilton, a British-American who is leading all candidates in polling, entered the weekend as a relative party outsider. He called blocking Bianco’s endorsement “a major success” and said he remained “very confident” that he would secure one of the top two spots in California’s June 2 primary.

“Chad Bianco came into this convention assuming he’d got the whole thing in the bag,” Hilton said. “I think we made great progress this weekend to make it roughly even.”

The sheriff, who for months courted delegates and party insiders for the endorsement, was adamant that the final tally didn’t accurately reflect how much party support he has.

Hilton, one of the race’s top fundraisers, has raised more than $6.6 million so far, exceeding Bianco’s haul by more than $2 million.

“This changes nothing about our campaign,” Bianco said after the vote Sunday. Despite failing to garner even a majority of the votes, he also insisted, “I have the supermajority of the support from this room, way more than what that total indicated.”

“Endorsements are silly,” he added, before also acknowledging that an endorsement from the party “would have been nice.” 

Bianco made headlines last month for seizing hundreds of thousands of ballots cast in the special election for Proposition 50, the Democrats’ plan to redraw congressional districts, which voters approved. CalMatters was one of several news organizations that went to court to unseal the warrants that granted his seizure of ballots.

Uncertainty about GOP future

There was no denying that Republicans nationally could face brutal losses in the upcoming midterm elections, although the ocean breeze, harbor views and sunny mid-60s weather might have taken the edge off. Even some of the party’s conservative stalwarts acknowledged the uphill battle.

Speaking on a congressional panel moderated by former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer, Rep. Darrell Issa acknowledged that Republicans “may not hold the House in the midterms.” 

Issa, who chose to retire rather than seek reelection after Democrats significantly redrew his 48th District as part of their Proposition 50 redistricting plan, agreed Republicans need to focus on local issues — not just national talking points — as a way to combat what he called “Trump derangement syndrome.”

“Is our base fired up?” Spicer asked Rep. Tom McClintock, who also spoke on the panel. 

“I think maybe by summer,” McClintock said, “once we’re past all of the turbulence from Iran.”

Bashing Democrats provided some comedic relief and unity despite the bleak outlook — the president’s party almost always suffers losses in a midterm election. California Republicans reveled in the downfall of Democratic Rep. Eric Swalwell, who has been accused by multiple women of sexual assault and until this weekend was the Democratic frontrunner in the race for governor. His potential toppling added fuel to the Republican argument that Democrats, whose gubernatorial vote is split among eight candidates, are incapable of coherent leadership.

“It’s been a couple of hours, so I think we’re due for another Eric Swalwell ‘intern’-ruption,’” Hilton joked at the start of his remarks during a candidate forum on Saturday. “Good thing the Democrats have a great backup plan.”

Trump ‘should’ve stayed out of it.’

Political strategists theorized that Trump’s endorsement of Hilton would guarantee a Democrat’s victory in November, since it would consolidate the GOP vote and eliminate the possibility that Republicans could lock the Democrats out of the top-two primary in June.

But the party faithful in San Diego remain convinced that both Hilton and Bianco will continue to outperform a dysfunctional field of Democrats. Corrin Rankin, the California GOP chair, pointed to numerous polls that show Hilton and Bianco finishing in the top two. 

“I don’t see why that wouldn’t still be the case,” Rankin told reporters on Friday. “Californians see that these two Republicans are better than any of the candidates the Democrats are offering.”

Rankin also said she was surprised that Trump weighed in on anything California-related. “This is not something that he typically does,” she said.

Bianco said he was unbothered by Trump’s decision to endorse his opponent. Throughout the weekend he received the celebrity treatment, strutting around the resort complex with an entourage of supporters in tow. Fans stopped him for selfies and videos for their social media channels. Many of them waved flags and signs bearing his name and phrases like, “Only the sheriff can save us now!”

“This has never been about an endorsement for me,” Bianco said after Saturday’s forum, where candidates for statewide offices made their final pleas to delegates. “This momentum, that excitement, was amazing. It certainly fires me up. It proves to me that I’m doing the right thing, and we’re gonna save our state.”

The sheriff’s supporters were similarly undeterred by Trump’s endorsement of his opponent. 

“I’m not changing my vote. I don’t care who he supports. I’m voting for the best candidate for the state of California, and that’s not who he endorsed, in my opinion,” said April Huckabey, a delegate from Santa Barbara County. “He should’ve stayed out of it,” she added. “Let us run our state.”

Huckabey and her friend Leigh Collier, also from Santa Barbara, agreed the president’s endorsement would not sway Bianco supporters. But it might make some people who were on the fence consider Hilton more strongly. 

Some of Hilton’s supporters were cautiously optimistic about the president’s endorsement, but they were also clear-eyed about how his association with Trump could backfire with people who don’t like the president.

“There’s so many people that just hate our president that you wonder, ‘Could it have a negative effect?’” said Pat Frizzeli, a delegate and the treasurer of the Calaveras County Central Committee. “You just worry.”

Vicky Reinke, chair of the Calaveras County Central Committee, said she was impressed by Hilton’s background in business as a startup founder, as well as his experience working for British Prime Minister David Cameron. She also liked his can-do attitude and willingness to follow through. 

Their county’s annual Lincoln-Reagan dinner fundraiser, where Hilton was scheduled to be the keynote speaker, came on the same day as the funeral for right-wing activist Charlie Kirk. Reinke was impressed that Hilton came to their event after attending the funeral in Glendale, Arizona.

“He could have canceled,” she said. “But he made sure he was still at our event as well as going to Charlie Kirk’s. We were very impressed by that.”

“Promises made, promises kept,” echoed Frizzeli.

Hilton argued that the Trump endorsement could only help him by firing up the party base, since Democrats would try to tie a Republican candidate like him to the president regardless. And despite party leaders’ hopes, he was also confident that there wouldn’t be a top-two GOP sweep in June.

“It’s very clear that I’m going to be in the top two. I don’t know who the Democrat will be, but it’s certainly going to be a Democrat,” Hilton said.

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Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco received 49% of the vote, while Trump’s pick, former Fox News Host Steve Hilton, got 44%. The remaining delegates voted to not endorse either candidate. Sixty percent of the vote was needed to gain the California GOP Party’s endorsement.

“The California Republican Party has an amazing candidate problem,” Party Chairwoman Corrin Rankin said in a statement. She praised both Hilton and Bianco for being “outstanding candidates.”

The three-day event, which began Friday, was held at the Sheraton San Diego Resort, with this year’s theme of “Turning the tide, together.” More than 1,100 delegates from across the state attended dozens of professional training sessions on campaign strategy, election integrity, voter mobilization, artificial intelligence in politics and ballot-harvesting countermeasures.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was the keynote speaker Saturday night. He encouraged voter turnout in this year’s midterms, saying, “We can turn this around,” in an apparent reference to the state’s Democratic super-majority. Cruz also took aim at California Gov. Gavin Newsom and embattled Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rep. Eric Swalwell, R-Dublin.

Other speakers included U.S. Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Bonsall, Tom McClintock, R-Modesto, Jay Obernolte, R-Hesperia, several state senators and assembly members, Republican National Committee Co-Chair KC Crosbie, and former White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer.

In a video posted on social media, Hilton showed off his new campaign T-shirt with Trump’s endorsement.

“I would love every delegate here at the convention to focus on what we need to do, to leave this convention strong and united behind President Trump’s leadership, behind my leadership,” Hilton said.

Hilton said people are sick of Democrats and California’s highest cost of living in the country, highest unemployment rate, and highest property tax rate.

Bianco shrugged off the lack of an endorsement, saying Sunday that the result “didn’t mean anything. I’m not running to get endorsements. I’m running for Californians,” according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

Delegates endorsed candidates for statewide office on the June primary ballot in other races, including Gloria Romero for lieutenant governor, Don Wagner for secretary of state, Herb Morgan for controller, Jennifer Hawks for treasurer, Michael Gates for attorney general, Stacy Korsgaden for insurance commissioner, and Sonja Shaw for superintendent of public instruction.

“California Republicans are united around a simple goal: win in November and break the Democrats’ super-majority,” Rankin said. “Our endorsed candidates will talk to Californians about how we will create safer communities, lower costs, and a government that answers to the people. We know what Californians are up against because we live it too. That is why we are going to take this fight directly to the voters.”

The California Republican Party holds 10 of the state Senate’s 40 seats and 20 of the Assembly’s 80 seats. Of the state’s 52 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, seven are held by Republicans.

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — California’s Republican Party on Monday acknowledged owning unofficial ballot drop boxes that state election officials said are illegal.

After receiving reports about the drop boxes in three counties, California’s secretary of state issued a memo Sunday telling county registrars these boxes were illegal and that ballots must be mailed or brought to official voting locations.

“In short, providing unauthorized, non-official vote-by-mail ballot drop boxes is prohibited by state law,” the memo said.

On Monday, state GOP spokesman Hector Barajas said that the party owns the boxes and has no plans to remove them. He would not say how many exist or where they are located. Barajas said the state’s law governing so-called ballot harvesting allows an organization to collect and return groups of ballots and that collection boxes provided by a private organization to help people vote are no different.

“Democrats only seem to object to ballot harvesting when someone else does it,” Barajas said.

The controversy surfaced after state election officials received reports of the boxes in Fresno, Los Angeles and Orange counties, all regions with highly competitive U.S. House races. Democrats have blasted the use of the unofficial boxes and say they fear Republicans could use them to gather and dispose of ballots.

The practice of ballot harvesting involves people helping to turn in ballots for other voters. It is allowed in California under certain rules, and Democrats have been known to offer to deliver ballots for individuals who request it, said Shery Yang Wonnacott, a spokesperson for the state’s Democratic Party. The party is concerned about the GOP using boxes that seem to pose as official collection sites, she said.

In Orange County, which is home to 3 million people between Los Angeles and San Diego, a regional field director for the state’s GOP posed in a social media photo with one of the boxes and wearing a face covering supporting the congressional campaign of Michelle Steel, a county supervisor challenging Democratic Rep. Harley Rouda for his seat representing a coastal district. Rouda flipped the seat two years ago from a long-time conservative.

There were reports of similar drop boxes at a church in the Los Angeles County community of Castaic and at various locations in Fresno County in California’s farm-rich Central Valley, including party headquarters, a gas station and gun shops.

In Orange County, Registrar of Voters Neal Kelley said said official drop boxes are clearly recognizable and carry official county elections logo. He said it wasn’t clear how many voters had used unofficial boxes but after receiving reports about them, he notified the state and district attorney’s office, which is investigating.

Fresno County Republicans said they will remove the boxes and ballots will be turned in to county election officials, which was always the plan, the Sacramento Bee reported Party Chair Fred Vanderhoof saying.

Democrats criticized use of the boxes and said they want those using them held accountable. Rachel Potucek, a spokeswoman for the Democratic Party of Orange County, said she didn’t know what Republicans planned to do with the ballots they collected and worried they could target Democratic areas with boxes to suppress votes.

“Sadly, this is par for the course from the Republican Party — well versed in making it harder, not easier for Californians to vote,” Rusty Hicks, California Democratic Party Chair, said in a statement.

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