Hilton - a British-born political commentator who previously advised the former U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron before moving to Silicon Valley - is centering his campaign on affordability and government reform.
"I think everyone knows it's time for change in California," Hilton told ABC7 Eyewitness News during a campaign stop in San Jose. "You just look at life, how hard it is for regular working people, for small business owners."
Hilton, who later became a Fox News host and founded the California policy group Golden Together, says voters across the political spectrum are frustrated by rising housing costs, high gas prices and what he describes as excessive government bureaucracy.
"The taxes, the fees, the cost, the charges, the hassle, the bureaucracy, everything," Hilton said. "We got the highest gas prices in the country, the highest housing costs. It just gets worse and worse."
WATCH: ABC7's full 1-on-1 interview with Steve Hilton
Republican candidate for California governor Steve Hilton sits for 1-on-1 interview with ABC7
His platform focuses heavily on lowering everyday costs for Californians. Hilton is proposing eliminating state income taxes on the first $100,000 people earn, expanding oil production and refinery capacity to reduce gas prices, and building more single-family homes to address the housing shortage.
"The first thing we have to do is cut taxes, because that's the most direct thing that you can do to make life more affordable for Californians," Hilton said.
Many of Hilton's proposals, however, would likely face steep political hurdles in Sacramento, where Democrats maintain a supermajority in both chambers of the Legislature.
When asked how he would navigate pushback from Democratic lawmakers, Hilton argued California voters are increasingly demanding a different approach to governing.
"Cut and reduce waste in the government," Hilton said, claiming the state has spent hundreds of billions of dollars inefficiently over the past several years.
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Hilton did not specify all of the spending he considers wasteful, though he has broadly criticized California spending on homelessness programs, regulations and bureaucracy throughout the campaign.
Still, the Republican acknowledged many of his biggest campaign promises - particularly tax cuts - could not happen through executive action alone.
"There are other things you can do as governor directly through the executive branch that don't require the Legislature," he said.
"For example, working to lower gas prices by opening up oil production, I can do that through an agency called CalGEM, the California Department of Geologic and Energy Management, issuing permits to, to the energy industry. Even things like vehicle registration, I think we're going to be able to get that done."
He argued a Republican victory itself would send a political message to Sacramento.
"In the event that I'm governor, they voted for pretty dramatic changes," Hilton said. "And so I would expect the Legislature to work with me to get at least some of them done."
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Hilton is also embracing his relationship with President Donald Trump, despite California Democrats historically using Trump as a liability against Republican candidates in statewide races.
When asked whether Trump's endorsement could hurt him politically, Hilton argued the opposite.
"I think it's really good for our state to have a governor who has a good relationship with the president," Hilton said. "I think that means we'll get better results."
The strategy reflects Hilton's broader belief that affordability concerns may outweigh partisan politics for some voters this cycle - even in a state where Democrats still hold a significant voter registration advantage.
"I think it's become just a bit too ideological, not practical enough," Hilton said of California politics. "When you see what's been going on, I mean, there's only one place to look for the blame and that is the people who've been in charge as one party for 16 years, only Democrats."
California has not elected a Republican to statewide office since 2006, when voters re-elected former Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. But Hilton argues voter frustration over cost-of-living issues is creating an opening for a candidate focused on what he calls "simple, positive, practical" policies.