SAN DIEGO — President Donald Trump will face a test of his power Sunday in an unusual place: California, where the state’s Republican Party delegates will decide whether to follow his lead and endorse Fox News commentator Steve Hilton or buck him and back Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, an immigration hardliner who appeals to the party’s base. Republicans have a rare, if slim shot at winning the governor’s mansion in deep blue California — but risk blowing it if they’re divided and brawling when voters receive their ballots in early May. 

At a cigar party Friday night at the convention, top party official Shawn Steel introduced Bianco as a man who “can carry a gun, but he could do it legally, as part of the perks of being a sheriff.” Bianco took the microphone and promised the crowd that “with me as your governor, we’ll all be carrying guns. We will actually abide by the Second Amendment, the First Amendment, the third, the fourth, the fifth.”

Bianco is a little shakier on other aspects of the law. Documents unsealed by the Riverside County Superior Court last week showed that Bianco’s office credited a conservative election denial group’s disputed claims about the November 2025 statewide election as its justification for seizing 650,000 ballots. The state Supreme Court has halted its investigation, which many legal experts have said appears to be illegal.

Bianco said Friday that he voted for Trump three times, but “as much as I love our president, he proved that he makes bad decisions too.”

Earlier Friday, Bianco shrugged off the impact of a Trump endorsement. He told me that “my campaign is about Californians. It’s not about the president, it’s not specifically about Republicans, even though I am Republican. I’m very confident I’m going to get this endorsement, but this is about Californians and I want Californians’ endorsement.” (Bianco is supported by 1% of Democrats and 12% of independents in a March Berkeley IGS poll.)

Hilton, meanwhile, has been mentioning Trump’s endorsement — delivered via social media on Easter Sunday — like a mantra at the three-day convention. One Marin County delegate told me that at one meeting he attended, Hilton “must have mentioned it 35 times.”

With good reason. While only 29% of likely California voters approve of Trump’s performance, 81% of likely Republican voters give Trump a thumbs up, according to a January survey from the Public Policy Institute of California.  

“Are we on the brink of a historic victory in California?” Hilton asked the same cigar-puffing audience Friday moments after Bianco spoke. “Yes, we are. This is the year. Do you feel it? I feel it.” 

Knowing that this audience would lap up any details about Trump at a convention where red-sequined cropped jackets emblazoned with “MAGA” are on sale from $300 to $600, Hilton shared the details of how he found out he earned the nod.

He was headed to bed shortly before midnight on Easter Sunday when his flip phone (yes, he still has one) started blowing up with messages that Trump had endorsed him via social media. Hilton texted Trump to thank him (he said they text every once in a while), writing, “At some point I would love to thank you in person.” Hilton wanted to share the good news with someone, but his campaign team and family had gone to bed, so he called a friend in Australia, where it was earlier in the day.

Twenty minutes later, Trump called and they talked into the wee hours of the morning, Hilton said. “At some point I say, ‘It’s kind of late, don’t you think it’s bedtime? ’ He wanted to keep going, and he kept going.” Trump must have had a lot of energy that night, because hours later, he posted his infamous, profane social media post  threatening to bomb Iranian bridges and power plants and urging Iranian leaders to “Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell — JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah.” 

Hilton didn’t mention that to his audience. He was too enthralled by recounting the “proudest moment of this campaign so far  — for me to be endorsed by our leader, our president, Donald J Trump. He knows what a winner looks like. He knows what it takes to win.”

Part of Hilton’s pitch to delegates isn’t just that he’s been endorsed by Trump, it’s that they have a good relationship that will be beneficial for the state, a difference from years of hostile sparring between Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom. 

“He’s going to be there for us in this campaign. And that is the first time we’ve seen that for a very long time in this state, when they are helping us, not just coming here to raise money from us to help campaigns across the country. He’s going to be here for me in this campaign, and when I’m elected in November and take office next January.” 

Nor did Hilton acknowledge the duality of a Trump endorsement in California. It may help him edge Bianco, and become one of two candidates to advance out of the June 2 primary to the general election in November. But if a Democrat also advances, he or she will attempt to tie HIlton to Trump at every turn.

Now Hilton is in a bit of a bind. Accepting the endorsement means you can’t disavow Trump or risk his wrath.

When I asked Hilton last week to name a policy or action Trump has taken that he disagreed with, he demurred.

“I’m really not going to get into the business of just constantly commenting on somebody and an administration that it really is — when you look at the problems that Californians want us to fix, the cost of living, housing, homelessness — nothing to do with President Trump,” Hilton told the Chronicle’s editorial board.  

But Trump’s support doesn’t guarantee that Hilton will win the party’s endorsement when delegates vote Sunday by secret ballot. He will need to win 60% of the delegates to secure the party endorsement. It will be tough, as delegates are torn. Even though Orange County delegate Galina Connery was carrying a white beaded clutch purse with “Trump” emblazoned across it in red and blue lettering and a sparkly “47” pin on her lapel, she is voting for Bianco. 

“I’m for law and order,” Connery said. Trump’s endorsement isn’t foolproof, she’s found. She recalled when Trump endorsed Republican businessman John Cox in the 2018 governor’s race primary over her favorite, Republican Assembly Member Travis Allen, who had fashioned himself as a Trump mini-me promising to “make California great again.”  

“I am ultra-MAGA,” Connery said. “But (Trump) made (the Hilton) endorsement too fast. It’s puzzling.” 

Julie Hupp is a school board member from Rocklin who has endorsed both Bianco and Hilton. She was undecided on who she’d vote for. Trump’s endorsement was helpful but not determinative. 

“I love Trump. I’m MAGA. But I’m still not sure,” Hupp said. She was waiting to hear the candidates’ final speeches to the convention delegates Saturday afternoon. 

Hilton waited less than two minutes into his speech Saturday before name-checking Trump’s “precious gift,” telling delegates that the president’s imprimatur wouldn’t just help him, it would  help turn out base voters in this year’s midterm elections, when Democrats are expected to pick up seats after voters approved Proposition 50’s redrawn maps. 

“Thanks to the president’s endorsement, we are going to get a big vote this year,” Hilton said.

In his speech to delegates Saturday, Bianco went hard right. He promised to eliminate the California Environmental Quality Act, the California Coastal Commission, the California Air Resources Board and sanctuary cities. 

He received a loud ovation, with many delegates standing. On Sunday, he’ll learn if it translates into an endorsement.