SAN DIEGO, California Republicans gathered here this weekend riding a wave of optimism over Eric Swalwell’s political troubles, but the good feeling only went so far. When it came time to talk about who should actually carry the party’s banner into the governor’s race, the unity fell apart fast.

GOP delegates at the state party convention split sharply between Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, the two leading candidates competing for the party’s endorsement ahead of the June primary. Both men worked the room hard, chasing delegate commitments in a race that could shape whether Republicans have any serious shot at the governor’s office.

Not great odds, historically speaking. California hasn’t elected a Republican governor since Arnold Schwarzenegger’s second term ended in 2011, and the state’s voter registration numbers haven’t gotten friendlier to the party since then. But Republicans here argued that 2026 feels different. The Swalwell situation, whatever ultimately comes of it, gave delegates something to cheer about at a moment when the party needed a lift.

Still, cheering together is easier than agreeing on a nominee.

Hilton, the former Fox News host who has positioned himself as a national-profile conservative with deep ties to the tech-skeptic right, and Bianco, the Riverside County Sheriff who built his following through vocal opposition to COVID-19 mandates and a confrontational style that plays well with the base, have been trading shots over which of them is the more electable candidate. The thing is, both are making arguments that resonate with different slices of the California GOP, which has always been an uneasy coalition of coastal conservatives, Central Valley traditionalists, and Southern California suburbanites who left the Democratic Party and aren’t fully comfortable anywhere yet.

Bianco’s pitch leans hard on law enforcement credibility and a rural-to-suburban coalition. He draws on his record as sheriff and frames himself as the kind of candidate who can speak to voters who care about public safety without sounding like a cable news personality. That’s a real concern inside the party. Some delegates privately said they worry Hilton’s television background makes him feel less like a candidate and more like a pundit who decided to run.

Hilton’s people push back on that. His supporters argue that name recognition matters in a state where the Republican nominee typically starts with a massive structural deficit, and that Hilton’s ability to raise money and drive media coverage is exactly what the party needs to compete.

The California Republican Party endorsement doesn’t appear on the ballot, but it matters for fundraising, grassroots organizing, and signaling to donors who’s the serious choice. Winning it requires support from delegates who tend to be more ideologically committed than the average Republican primary voter, which can cut both ways in a general election state.

The Swalwell factor is real, even if it’s hard to quantify. The congressman’s legal and political troubles have given California Republicans a talking point they haven’t had in years: a high-profile Democratic stumble that they can point to as evidence of broader dysfunction in the party that has dominated state government for over a decade. Whether that energy translates into votes in November is a different question entirely.

Reporting from the LA Times captured the split mood well: delegates happy to have a scandal to rally around but genuinely uncertain which of their candidates gives them the best path forward.

California’s June primary operates under a top-two system, where the two candidates with the most votes advance to November regardless of party. That structure means Republicans need a candidate who can consolidate the party’s base vote while pulling in enough decline-to-state voters to avoid getting squeezed out of the general entirely. It’s happened before. It could happen again.

Both Hilton and Bianco know this. So does everyone else in that convention hall. The joy over Swalwell’s troubles is genuine. The argument over who gets to capitalize on it is just getting started.