San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan hosts governor candidate Republican Steve Hilton as he mulls his own bid for higher office

The road to the Governor’s Office continues to run through San Jose, as Mayor Matt Mahan — who is seriously considering his own bid — hosted yet another candidate while pressing Sacramento leaders to take a more aggressive approach to California’s homelessness crisis.

Steve Hilton, 56, a former Fox News host and one of the leading Republicans in the race to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom, joined the Democratic mayor Tuesday morning for a tour of the Guadalupe Interim Housing Community, where he examined what he called “practical” and “pragmatic” solutions.

The visit marked a shift in tone for Hilton, the British-born political commentator who moved to California in 2012. In August, he had blasted Democrats for what he described as “third world slum conditions” at Columbus Park.

Located about a mile from this week’s campaign stop, the park once housed San Jose’s largest encampment and has been the site of multiple fires and a fatal stabbing in recent years.

The city began clearing the more than 300 residents who lived there last year, moving about 70% of them into some form of shelter, including the 96 prefabricated units at Guadalupe — an approach Mahan has described as a “cost-effective alternative.”

For both Hilton and Mahan, the effort to move unsheltered residents off the streets has transcended party lines. The two have been sharply critical of decisions made in Sacramento.

“We couldn’t wait for someone else to save us,” Mahan told Hilton during the tour. “We had to lean in.”

Since taking office in 2023, Mahan has pushed away from the widely adopted Housing First model, which prioritizes permanent supportive housing, and toward interim solutions. The strategy has more than doubled the city’s shelter capacity and brought more than 1,000 unhoused people indoors in 2025.

Hilton said San Jose’s approach aligns closely with how he is framing his campaign.

“As governor, what could I do to help make more of this happen across the state?” he said in an interview. “Not to step in and do it for cities or counties, but to understand what they need from the government to enable them to solve the problem.”

That kind of support, Hilton said, is lacking under Newsom’s administration, which he accused of complacency.

Tara Gallegos, a spokesperson for the governor, dismissed the criticism.

“Who is Steve Hilton?” she said in a statement. “San Jose built its tiny home interim housing site with millions in state funding, using programs created by Governor Newsom and the Legislature. Before this administration, there was no statewide homelessness strategy or meaningful state support for local governments.”

Hilton’s appearance alongside Mahan could carry political value in a state that has not elected a Republican to statewide office since Arnold Schwarzenegger won reelection in 2006, said Dan Schnur, a former GOP strategist.

“There are just enough Republicans in California to get a candidate into the runoff, but there aren’t nearly enough to actually elect a Republican to statewide office,” Schnur said. “Hilton recognizes that he needs to find a way to appeal to voters beyond his ideological base, so being seen with a very well respected and popular leader like Mahan gives Hilton the chance to talk to voters who might not otherwise be willing to listen.”

Hilton is the sixth gubernatorial candidate to tour one of San Jose’s interim housing sites.

In December, Mahan hosted five Democratic candidates — billionaire investor Tom Steyer, former Rep. Katie Porter, former state Controller Betty Yee, state schools chief Tony Thurmond and former Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon — at a newly opened community on Cherry Avenue.

Mahan said the goal of the visits is to push candidates to make firm commitments on homelessness.

“The truth is that no single city, no matter how ambitious, how innovative we are, can end unsheltered homelessness,” he said. “We need a few key commitments from our next governor.”

Those include restoring Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention grants eliminated in this year’s budget, funding for sober-living environments and a “fair share” framework requiring every city and county to shoulder responsibility.

Mahan said he still is not hearing “clear plans” from any of the candidates on homelessness, crime or the high cost of living — a frustration that continues to fuel his own deliberations about entering a race that has yet to produce a clear frontrunner.

“We have a lot of insight at the local level about what it takes to create change and to deliver better outcomes,” he said. “And I’m not alone. I think I speak probably for most residents and feeling that we desperately need stronger, more pragmatic leadership on the issues that matter most to our community, and I’m just not hearing that from the candidates.”