Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host who has also worked in conservative politics in Britain, announced on Monday that he was running to become California’s next governor.

Mr. Hilton is the second prominent Republican to enter the 2026 race, but he faces difficult odds considering that California voters have not elected a Republican to statewide office since they re-elected Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2006.

Gov. Gavin Newsom cannot run for re-election because of term limits, creating a wide-open contest that has already attracted several elected Democrats and Chad Bianco, the Republican sheriff of Riverside County.

The field, however, is waiting for former Vice President Kamala Harris to decide whether she will enter the race. If she does so, several Democrats could end their bids out of deference to Ms. Harris, their party’s presidential candidate last year. But her entrance could have the opposite effect with Republican hopefuls, who may be eager to take on the former vice president.

Mr. Hilton, 55, has been a supporter of President Donald J. Trump. But in recent media appearances, he has tried to avoid culture war issues and focused more on reducing costs and regulations for California businesses, lowering the cost of living in the state, curbing crime and reducing homelessness.

California remains a heavily Democratic state. But Mr. Hilton may be hoping that the electorate’s shift in last year’s presidential election will benefit his campaign. In 2024, Mr. Trump flipped 10 California counties that he had lost in 2020, and voters statewide overwhelmingly passed a measure that made it easier to prosecute theft and drug crimes.

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