The New Yorker Radio Hour is a co-production of WNYC and The New Yorker.

Welcome to The New Yorker Radio Hour. I'm David Remnick. Now, if you've been following news about the midterm elections coming this November, you may have heard a very confusing story coming out of California. The polls are

shifting all the time, and Eric Swalwell, the leading Democrat, recently dropped out, following

accusations of rape and sexual assault, charges that he denies. But it seems that the leading

candidate in the California governor's race right now is a Republican, endorsed by Donald Trump. His name is Steve Hilton, a British-born political consultant, and a former Fox News host. Now, you may have been puzzled by that since Democrats outnumber Republicans in California by no less than 20

percent. And Trump is deeply unpopular there. Partly, Hilton's modest lead in the polls may result from

California's unusual primary system and the chaos of the general race. Now, the way this works is that the two candidates

who get the most votes in this primary,

regardless of party, move on to the general election.

It happens that there are more Democrats running in the primary,

and so the Democratic vote is all split among the candidates,

at least as of now. But it's also true that

Big Blue California has elected prominent Republicans before, Ronald Reagan, of course, and more

recently Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hilton is running on issues like affordability, cutting bureaucracy,

and increasing oil and natural gas production.

I spoke with Steve Hilton last week.

Mr. Hilton, you were born in the United Kingdom.

You have a British accent.

What are you doing running for governor of California?

How did you get here?

And why should the voters of California say yes?

I know. It's crazy. You can't have a governor with a foreign accent. That would be a disaster.

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