California gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton posted on X in response to New York Times columnist Ezra Klein’s remarks on the return of a religious left, citing proposals from Texas Senate winner James Talarico. Hilton wrote that the policies have been implemented notably in California, where the poorest have suffered the most, and called the religious left framing a grift. Online users reacted after the post, with many agreeing that California’s results show the approach harms lower-income residents, while others criticized Hilton’s response.
In the clip, Texas Senate winner James Talarico appears seated in a studio setting with headphones, speaking into a microphone. The footage shows him linking faith to policy, stating, “This is a way that I can love my neighbor at scale through good public policy, reducing the cost of prescription drugs, reducing the cost of childcare, the cost of housing,” and adding that the work “was to love my neighbor, make their lives easier and better.”
He continues, “If we can infuse our politics with more of this spirituality, I think we could treat politics like a sacrament.” He also references reading “Common Sense” by Thomas Paine and questions of “How should we live?”
Hilton’s reply, according to the post, called the framing “utter, pompous *expletive*” and stated that “every single place the policies that Talarico proposes here have been implemented, notably California, the poorest people in our society have suffered the most,” adding, “Spare us the ‘religious left’ grift.” The post includes no additional video or independent verification of those policy outcomes.
How Viewers Are Responding to Hilton’s California Critique
Several commenters backed Hilton’s claim about the impact on the poorest, with one writing, “The ‘party of the poor’ has zero incentive to bring people up as it would mean the voters leave them. This is proven by CA policies. The more money they throw at a problem, the worse it gets. The political elite get rich while their constituents suffer.”
Another stated, “California is just *expletive*. They’ll keep doing stupid *expletive* until the entire state is just the ultra-wealthy and homeless.” A third wrote, “Hey man, blessed are the poor. And by that, he intends to make all of us poor.”
A separate reply stated, “I don’t believe for a second that he won Texas. I hope you don’t get cheated out of this race. California needs you.”
Others rejected Hilton’s response and focused on his own electoral outcome, writing, “*expletive* off, dork,” and “Sit down, loser.”
Some of those comments described him as a sore loser whose grift had not worked, with one stating, “Your grift didn’t work, sore loser,” while a smaller number noted that California’s long-running policies had driven people to move to Texas, writing, “That’s why people are leaving California for Texas.”
For now, Hilton’s reply has added another exchange to the conversation around Talarico’s campaign and the role of faith in progressive politics. Online users remain divided between those who see the California record as a warning and those who dismiss the criticism as coming from a losing candidate.
