Goleta Gas Station Sells Drivers $3 Gas, Gubernatorial Candidate Steve Hilton Paid the Rest

As gas prices soar across the state, the sign at the Fuel Depot gas station on Storke Road in Goleta flashed $3.00 per gallon for 87 grade gas on Tuesday morning. Candidate Steve Hilton, running as a Republican to replace California Governor Gavin Newsom, was at the station pumping gas for constituents in an attempt to sway their vote. His campaign paid the difference in price — 87 grade fuel was priced at $5.86 per gallon at the station — for 150 cars, providing up to 12 gallons of gas leaving drivers paying a maximum price of $36.   

“If I am governor, this is every day,” said Hilton, wearing a “$3.00 Gas Is on Me” shirt. He promised constituents that prices would stay $3 per gallon in California if elected and blamed high prices on “Democrat policies.” 

The recent surge in nationwide gas prices has been a result of President Trump’s and Israel’s ongoing conflict with Iran and its spread to the greater Middle East, most notably the closure of the Strait of Hormuz and recent drone strikes of Saudi Arabian oil infrastructure, according to leading economists and policy experts, including former National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan.  

Back in June, Hilton was able to clinch a spot on the November ballot after he came in second place in California’s top-two primary in the state’s gubernatorial race. Hilton came in with 24.6 percent of the vote behind Democratic former state Attorney General and U.S. Health and Human Services director Xavier Becerra, who won the primary with 28.1 percent of the vote. 

As the son of Hungarian parents fleeing communism, London-born Hilton made a name for himself as a political strategist who helped rebrand the British Conservative Party. He was a top advisor to former Prime Minister and Brexit opposer David Cameron before moving to Silicon Valley permanently in 2012, launching a political tech start-up, and landing a gig as the host of Fox News show The Next Revolution. He launched his gubernatorial campaign founded on lowering the cost of living in the state in April 2025 with the campaign slogan “Make California Golden Again,” catching the attention of President Donald Trump and gaining his endorsement a year after his campaign launched. 

Currently, the Brit is down by more than 20 percent in his battle against Becerra, but Hilton has a strong hold on the state’s Republican voters, capturing 92 percent of the red vote and 38 percent of independents, according to a September statewide survey conducted by the Public Policy Institute of California. 

Fuel Depot station owner John Price said that Hilton’s campaign reached out to him about a month ago with the idea to bring his $3 gas policy to reality and reserved the station and gas for his event. Hilton officially announced the event on Saturday, and cars started lining up Tuesday morning. 

Goleta resident and former MTD employee Karl Bretz came to the station to take advantage of the deal and said that Hilton’s $3 promise is “wishful thinking.” As an undecided voter that heard about the deal from one of Hilton’s campaign emails, Bretz said that after today, he was left with a positive impression of the British candidate. 

The line of cars waiting to fill their tanks, which ranged from pickups to Priuses, extended down Storke Road and wrapped around the block of Phelps Road, with volunteers handing out numbered tickets and Hilton T-shirts.

Sitting in her red Toyota Tacoma, Christy Lozano, candidate for Superintendent of Santa Barbara County Schools, was number 13 in line. The onetime Santa Barbara Unified physical education teacher had heard about the bargain, like many others, from reporter John Palminteri’s video published on Saturday. 

Lozano came to national prominence in 2022 when she was featured on Laura Ingraham’s Fox News show criticizing Santa Barbara Unified School District for teaching “woke” lesson plans on topics including race, racism, and sexual orientation. Her previous campaign for superintendent was mired in a lawsuit, and is currently running as a write-in candidate in the 2026 race after failing to make it on the ballot.

She said that Hilton isn’t her first choice as a candidate but, “to show up in person and to talk to people, that goes a long way.”  

At the event, Hilton was sporting a Charlie Kirk tribute wristband and a wristband promoting the  conservative campaign XXonly, which seeks to exclude trans youth from competing in girls divisions in the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF). 

His lengthy list of campaign policies are focused on cutting taxes for residents with ideas including slashing wind and solar projects to cut electricity bill costs, a proposition for Californians to pay zero dollars in income tax on their first $150,000 of their income, as well as to “abolish the DMV” and set annual vehicle registration fees at $73. His $3 dollar gas policy, the focus of Tuesday’s event, proposes to “eliminate” environmental regulations, cut regulations on oil refineries, get rid of the state excise tax on gasoline, and to deregulate oil production in California. 

“Three is going to be tough, but I think he could get it in the fours,” said station owner Price. According to him, Hilton would have to slash the gas tax (which currently sits at about $1.40 per gallon), start buying California crude rather than importing oil, and open more refineries in the state.  

“In 1975 there were 42 refineries [in California]. Today there are six, and they’re disappearing rapidly,” he said. 

At the pump was Renee Peña, who lives in Goleta and is a student at SBCC while also working. With rising rent, electricity, and gas prices, “It’s hard times right now,” she said. 

Hilton pumped Peña’s gas for her, striking up a conversation for the gaggle of press and campaign cameras. “We don’t have to live like this; we can choose to live different,” Hilton said, referencing the fact that California has the highest gas prices in the nation. According to AAA, California tops the charts with an average gas price of $6.18 per gallon on Tuesday.  

“I wasn’t thinking of voting at all,” said Peña. But after today, she left the station feeling like Hilton’s platform would look out for people, like her, who are struggling to live in the state they grew up in. “He’s for us. He’s vouching for us, and he’s gonna do it, I feel it.” she said. “I’m gonna definitely vote for Steve Hilton.”

Tuesday’s Goleta gas price drop was the first time the campaign has offered this deal, with Hilton promising more locations across the state to follow. “If you want $3 gas in your community, let us know, and we’ll come there and deliver.”