California Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton has turned the left’s constant refugee messaging into a sharp campaign gag aimed directly at Sacramento. His new AI ad urges voters to revitalize [1] California and bring home citizen “refugees” who fled to red states.
The pitch plays off the mass departure of Californians who could afford to move somewhere with lower taxes or less woke insanity. While some transplants carried California’s political nightmare elsewhere, others left because they had simply had enough of the state’s direction.
Those disillusioned former residents are the Californians Hilton wants to see return. His ad treats their departure as a refugee crisis, mixing real criticism of California’s leadership with an intentionally absurd appeal for compassion.
Hilton introduces himself before asking in mock sadness, “Did you know that there’s a California refugee crisis plaguing our country? Right now, there are Angelenos like Juan Carlos living in Idaho. He hasn’t had a good burrito in five years.”
As Hilton speaks, the ad displays AI images of people enduring settings portrayed as inhospitable. The supposed victims include Californians separated from burritos, ocean breezes, mild February weather, and familiar recreational partners.
Hilton continues, “And what about Brittney in landlocked Nashville? She hasn’t felt a cool ocean breeze since she can’t remember when. What about John, your old running partner in Sausalito? Now, he’s running from tornadoes in Dallas.”
The ad’s jokes target both California’s climate advantages and the consequences of its political leadership. Hilton portrays the departed residents as exiles scattered across places where the weather, food, and neighbors do not always meet their California expectations.
The campaign message then becomes more direct. Hilton says, “Millions of Californians were forced to leave their home state in recent years because of bad leadership in Sacramento. They’re now living in hostile territory, with neighbors who don’t want them there.”
He adds another comic complaint about what those former Californians have lost. “And they haven’t been able to wear shorts in February in ages. Won’t you think about their plight? Don’t you miss your pickleball partner?”
Hilton ultimately presents voting as the way to reverse Sacramento’s direction and bring departed friends and relatives back home. The joke may be exaggerated, but the campaign appeal is unmistakably serious.
“With your vote, you could help turn around Sacramento and bring these refugees home. Won’t you step up and help? Vote for Steve. Bring the California refugees home.”
The ad closes by showing Juan Carlos, Brittney, and John happily back in California. They are depicted enjoying life after returning under new Republican leadership, providing the cheerful ending to Hilton’s mock humanitarian appeal.
They need our help. Now more than ever.
Bring the California refugees home. https://t.co/FTLzHFHUJd
— Steve Hilton (@SteveHiltonx) October 28, 2026 [2]
The ad is half serious, half joking, and entirely brilliant. Its comedy works by borrowing the left’s familiar language about foreign refugees and applying it to Californians driven away by high costs and radical politics.
The author says she would live in California if the state were not so expensive and governed by radical socialists. Like many Americans, she had assumed the possibility of meaningful political change there was little more than a fantasy.
Still, the author argues that Californians could vote for change and make the election too big to rig. Under different management, she writes, California could again become a magnet for businesses and population growth.
Despite years of residents leaving, millions of people remain in California. Silicon Valley and Hollywood also retain influence, giving the state a major role in shaping the wider United States.
That reach is why better management in California would benefit more than just the people living there. Hilton’s ad packages that argument as a campaign comedy, complete with displaced pickleball partners and burrito-deprived Angelenos.