Happy Cows Love Steve Hilton

• Hilmar, May 30, 2025: the campaign post reads “DAIRY FARM, HILMAR, CENTRAL VALLEY: Ever seen a cow shower? It’s part of this farmer’s ‘cow comfort’ regimen.” (campaign post). In the clip the farmer says the sprinklers (a “soaker line”) come on at the first really hot day of the year, and that a healthy cow lives longer and breeds better. Those are the farmer’s statements, not ours.
• Hilmar town hall, May 23, 2026: a “Califordable town hall” on a Saturday afternoon (campaign post, four photos). The campaign’s mailing address on its website is a P.O. box in Hilmar (campaign site).
• Why dairy matters: California is the nation’s top milk state. In 2024 it had 1.714 million milk cows and produced 40.9 billion pounds of milk, about 18% of the U.S. total of 226.3 billion pounds (Wisconsin was next at 32.1 billion) (USDA NASS, Milk Production, Disposition, and Income 2024 Summary; the 18% is our arithmetic from those figures).

• Madera, May 29–30, 2025: “Fantastic event with ranchers last night — including a sunset ride to see the cattle” (posted May 30; campaign post). The video shows riders and horses at sunset; no cattle are visible in the clip we used, and the speaker is not identified.
• Point Reyes, Marin County, posted May 3, 2025: Hilton’s post says “Ranchers thrown off their land by ignorant bureaucrats. I’m running for governor to stop this kind of nonsense” (campaign post); a companion post, “Our visit to Bill [Niman] & Nicolette Hahn Niman’s ranch,” has the 10-minute video from which the Niman Ranch clip is taken (campaign post; the post spells the name “Neiman”; we use Niman). An on-screen graphic in that video reads “Marin County” and “April 29” (year not shown). The black Angus cattle in the background are on the ranch.

• Chowchilla, Sept. 8, 2026: the post says everything on the table was “grown within 25 miles of Richie and Amanda’s Chowchilla farm—tomatoes, almonds, watermelon, dairy,” and asks “why do our schools serve processed JUNK trucked in from out of state? 100% CALIFORNIA-GROWN” (campaign post). Hilton’s description of school food as “ultra-processed rubbish” is his characterization; we did not check school menus.
• World Ag Expo, Tulare, Feb. 15, 2026: the post says “I went to World Ag Expo in Tulare to tell our farmers: When I’m governor you’ll get the water — and everything else — you need. I will be your greatest champion!” (campaign post, 5:36-minute video). The post also criticizes Gov. Newsom; the video uses only the tractor and “champion” moments, in Hilton’s own words.
• Almond blossom, Feb. 15, 2026: “Check out the beautiful almond blossom — it’s everywhere in the Central Valley right now!” (campaign post); the post’s political line is not used in the video. In the clip, Hilton is on Highway 99 in the Central Valley (the exact stretch is not stated in the post).
• Agriculture forum, Oct. 16, 2026 (Hilton’s claim): in a campaign video posted at 1:53 PM PT, Hilton says UCLA wanted to hold a policy forum on agriculture with both candidates, that he accepted immediately, and that Becerra declined, saying he was “booked up till the end of the year” (campaign post, 45-second video). The clip also contains Hilton’s jabs about Becerra’s “basement” and “bed.” The video also shows a screenshot of an email, dated Oct. 12 on screen, that Hilton presents as the reply; we could not verify it. We could not find an outlet report of the UCLA forum or any response from Becerra’s campaign, so treat this as unconfirmed.

• Madera Speedway, Sept. 26, 2026: Hilton was grand marshal of the ARCA Madera 150, part of the Speedway’s 53rd Annual Harvest Classic (campaign post). FOX26 Fresno’s story, “Steve Hilton serves as grand marshal at Madera speedway despite online controversy,” was published Sept. 27 (FOX26); we did not evaluate that online controversy.
• Primary night, June 2, 2026: Fox News interviewed him as the votes came in. Certified results: Becerra 28.06% (2,591,857 votes) and Hilton 24.65% (2,277,318) advanced (The Ballot Book; certification: California Secretary of State, July 10).
• Final primary debate, San Francisco, May 14, 2026: Hilton’s one-minute pitch, from CBS Sacramento (CBS Sacramento). Note: in the pitch he says “your first hundred grand tax-free.” The campaign’s current plan is no state income tax on the first $150,000 of income and a flat 8% above that; the campaign site also estimates the plan would cut revenue by about $40 billion a year (campaign policy page).

• Polls: Hilton trails. The FiftyPlusOne average on Oct. 17 shows Becerra 53.5%, Hilton 36.6% (FiftyPlusOne). A poll commissioned by Hilton’s campaign (pollster David Wolfson, Oct. 1–2, 1,020 voters) found Becerra 45.7%, Hilton 40.1%, 14.1% undecided, and 58.8% saying California is on the wrong track; the same poll had Hilton at 35.5% favorable and 50.7% unfavorable (New York Post, Oct. 4). A campaign-commissioned poll is not independent.
• Election day: Nov. 3, 2026 (Secretary of State).

• Sunday, Oct. 18, 11 AM–1 PM: free Steve Hilton rally, Grand Century Mall, Little Saigon, 1111 Story Road, San Jose, CA 95122, as listed by the Santa Clara County Republican Party (SVGOP). We did not find a campaign-site listing.
• Friday, Oct. 16: Hilton’s agriculture-forum claim, above (campaign post).
• Saturday, Oct. 10: “Califordable” town hall at La Cadena Events Hall, Colton, about 50 attendees; Hilton repeated his $3-gas, first-$150,000-tax-free and abolish-the-DMV pitch (Inland Empire Community News).

Fair use

Short excerpts of campaign videos and news reports (about 2–23 seconds each) are used for news reporting, commentary and criticism, each credited on screen and linked in the clip table. All footage © its respective owners. Campaign clips come from the campaign’s own verified X account; outlet clips come from the outlets’ own X posts or websites.

Photos & licenses

Campaign photos come from the campaign’s X posts (linked) and are used under fair use. The Madera speedway photo is by TaurusEmerald / Wikimedia Commons, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 (resized). The two cow photos are USDA public-domain stock. The “Horse power” photo’s location is not stated in the post.

Stock footage & sound effects

• Stock b-roll: the four short shots of dairy cows and calves labeled “STOCK B-ROLL” (two near the start, two at the end) are U.S. Department of Agriculture public-domain video of Guernsey cows in Maryland (Feb. 9, 2022; files RockHillDairy004 and 013, then 022 and 006). They are not from a Hilton event.
• Sound effects: there are two short moos (about 0:29 and 3:15), added for fun, each placed during a shot of cows and clear of the card transitions. Each is a real cow recording from BigSoundBank by Joseph Sardin, released as CC0 (public domain): “Cow Moos #1” (source) and a different one, “Cow moos #3” (source). They were recorded elsewhere, not at a Hilton event and not on the USDA footage, and they are placed only in non-speech moments. No synthesized sounds are used. The ambient background pad is generated by us.

Editorial

The Rio Dell Times supports Steve Hilton for governor, and this video reflects that view: the title, the tone and the “happy cows” slogan are ours. The facts, dates and numbers on this page are sourced, and the clips are real, with credits on screen. Where we use stock footage of cows to make our point, it is labeled on screen and on this page as stock and is not from a Hilton event. We also say plainly above where he trails.

About the slogan and the stops

• “Happy cows” is a famous slogan: “Great cheese comes from Happy Cows. Happy Cows come from California” was the California Milk Advisory Board’s long-running ad campaign for Real California Milk and Cheese (launched in 2000; Adweek; Dairy Foods). Our use is a play on it; this video is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Milk Advisory Board.
• No county-fair visit: we looked for a Hilton county-fair appearance and did not find a documented one, so none is shown. His documented rural stops in the video are a dairy, ranches, a farm table in Chowchilla, the World Ag Expo in Tulare and a speedway in Madera.

Not confirmed

the Oct. 16 UCLA agriculture-forum account (Hilton’s claim; no outlet confirmation or Becerra response found); the identity of the speaker in the Madera ranchers clip (the video does not name anyone); the farmer’s name in the Hilmar clip (not given); one phrase in the farmer’s answer is hard to hear (marked “unclear” in the transcript); where the “Horse power” photo was taken; the exact year-date of the Niman Ranch visit (the on-screen graphic gives only “April 29”; posted May 3, 2025); the Point Reyes land dispute, the Madera speedway “online controversy” and Hilton’s statements about school food and his tax plan are his or the outlets’ claims and were not independently checked. Social-media clips are from the campaign’s own verified X account; outlet clips come from the outlets’ own X posts or websites.

Caution: that Point Reyes ranchers are being “threatened by ridiculous bureaucracy” is Hilton’s description. We did not independently review the underlying land-lease dispute.

No narration: the voices are the people and reporters in the clips. Quotes are our transcription; one hard-to-hear phrase and the added moos are marked.