President Donald Trump and Gov. Gavin Newsom‘s (D-CA) online feud has prompted candidates in California’s 2026 gubernatorial election to weigh in, some of whom condemned the riots in Los Angeles while others pushed back against the president’s response to them.
Newsom has demanded that the Trump administration rescind the president’s order to deploy 2,000 National Guard members into the city, and taunted border czar Tom Homan to “come after me.” Amid the riots, Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate seeking the governor’s mansion next year, expressed lengthy criticism of Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s “pandering” statements online over “doing their job” and keeping order.
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“The people in charge are obviously not in charge. They are more concerned with appeasing the political Left,” Hilton said in a video posted over the weekend. “That is totally unacceptable! We have to guarantee law and order and safety on our streets. That is the first responsibility of people in government. The people in government in California today, they are not doing their job.”
The people ‘in charge’ in L.A. are not in charge. Newsom, Bass & co are more concerned with appeasing the left than protecting our citizens from crime and disorder.
— steve hilton (@SteveHiltonx) June 7, 2025
It is totally unacceptable. When I’m governor we will uphold safety in our communities and order on our streets. pic.twitter.com/fInUAfbuIL
Hilton also reposted a statement from Newsom on X, accusing the governor of “lying” for claiming Trump “manufactured a crisis.” He added that the riots in Los Angeles could have been avoided if California Democrats offered to work with federal law enforcement “instead of against it.”
Instead of leading, Newsom is lying.
— steve hilton (@SteveHiltonx) June 9, 2025
The chaos and lawlessness was entirely caused by Democrat 'sanctuary' extremism.
All of this would have been avoided if Democrats had worked WITH federal law enforcement instead of against it. https://t.co/QC2ILPL2XQ
Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), who is also running for governor, accused Trump of wanting to “tear communities apart” with his response to the riots. She then claimed that people have “a right to peacefully protest,” and like Newsom, encouraged them not to “give Trump what he wants.”
Donald Trump has one goal: sow division, unrest and violence. He wants to tear communities apart.
— Katie Porter (@katieporteroc) June 9, 2025
Californians and all Americans no matter their politics have a right to peacefully protest.
Be peaceful. Don't give Trump what he wants.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, who is running as a Republican, has reposted multiple videos of the riots in Los Angeles, along with one photo of a rioter bearing a Mexican flag while standing atop a car. He said the photo summarizes “Governor Newsom’s lawless California,” and that the state deserves “better.”
Former Vice President Kamala Harris has not yet announced a bid for next year’s election, though speculation on the possibility has grown following her loss to Trump in the 2024 election. She has accused Trump of committing a “dangerous escalation” with his deployment of the National Guard, and that the administration’s actions are focused on “stoking fear.”
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Both Hilton and Bianco have rebuffed Harris’s view on the riots, with the former accusing her of siding with “violent criminals” with her “appalling” statement. Likewise, Bianco argued that Democrats “own” the riots, and that the former vice president’s comment “does nothing” to diffuse them.
On Sunday evening, the Democratic Governors Association released a letter revealing that Newsom has the backing of the party’s other 22 governors. In sharing the letter, Newsom claimed that Trump’s deployment of the National Guard marks an “alarming abuse of power.”