Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco give the GOP two of its most prominent candidates in years, signaling a heightened sense of opportunity for the party. But the odds remain steep.

Hilton, who hosted a show on Fox News for six years and worked as an adviser to former British prime minister David Cameron, faulted state Democrats during a formal campaign launch in Huntington Beach, southeast of Los Angeles, for the state's notoriously high taxes, soaring home prices and “the destruction of the California dream.”