Steve Hilton tells California voters 'it's OK to vote Republican'; touts homelessness plan

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Central to Steve Hilton's closing argument in the race for California governor....letting voters know it's OK to vote republican.

"People come up to me and they say I'm a lifelong democrat, but this year I'm voting for you. But I'm not telling anyone because, you know, this is California and you're not supposed to vote for a republican, but we desperately need change and so I'm voting for you," said Hilton.

On homelessness, Hilton would build homeless recovery centers across the state, which would include mental health and addiction treatment along with job training. The first one would be constructed on a military base outside San Diego.

During the interview, ABC7 political reporter Josh Haskell asked Hilton how he would get this program up and running in one year, solve mass homelessness in his first year and whether the legislature would fund this proposal.

"The money's already there. I mean, we know that billions of dollars have been spent. the state auditor found $24 billion on homelessness. They couldn't track where it went. I'm going to use that money properly. I'm gonna ask the mayors of these cities and say, look, you tell me what you need for the first few months of my term. See if you can get it done. While that's happening, we'll put these homeless recovery centers in place up and down the state. We may need up to 30 of them. We've got to address this as the crisis that it is," said Hilton.

WATCH: One-on-one with CA gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton

Haskell followed up and asked: "These homeless recovery centers, they do feel temporary. Where will these folks go permanently?"

"Into housing, back into their life. Now, some of the people on our streets actually should be reunited with their families in other states," said Hilton.

Hilton has been campaigning all over the state with an aggressive media strategy. But, his opponent democrat Xavier Becerra -- who leads Hilton by 24 points in a PPIC poll released Tuesday night -- has run a much different campaign.

"Sad actually to treat people with such contempt and to take Californians for granted but this is what you get after 16 years of one party running everything they become very arrogant, they assume they're going to be in office forever," said Hilton.

When asked about whether he regrets not separating himself more from President Trump who endorsed Hilton, but is extremely unpopular in California, Hilton said: "I've made it clear that I'm not going to take orders from the White House, I'm not going take orders from Sacramento. I'm an independent and I've always been an independent minded person."

One of the campaign promises Hilton talks about constantly, guaranteeing $3 gas.

Hilton said he would pay for three dollar gas by removing hidden gas taxes which currently go to funding the state's high speed rail project and the carbon fuel standard.