California’s unfinished high-speed rail line became an unlikely flashpoint Friday night on HBO’s “Real Time with Bill Maher,” after Republican gubernatorial candidate Steve Hilton used it to puncture an argument Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear was making for Democratic governors to lead the party’s 2028 presidential ticket.
Beshear told Maher that Democratic governors have something President Trump doesn’t: results. “What Democratic governors have are receipts,” he said. “You can look at, have you built the housing?”
Hilton didn’t let him finish the thought. “Have you built the high-speed rail?” he interjected, a reference to California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s long-delayed project. Maher, a California resident, conceded the point immediately. “You’re going to have a field day with that. No, you’re right,” he said.
Newsom has not announced a 2028 campaign, but Maher raised him Friday as a possible contender — setting up the exchange over the rail line’s record.
Billions Spent, No Tickets Sold
Hilton’s campaign manager, Matt Ciepielowski, pressed the attack in a statement to Fox News Digital: “If Andy Beshear thinks California’s high-speed rail is something to brag about, he should try buying a ticket. Billions spent, years behind schedule, and Californians still can’t ride it. Gavin Newsom’s answer is to keep pouring money into it.” Ciepielowski added that Hilton “will end state funding on day one” if elected. “Californians are struggling to pay their own bills. They shouldn’t have to keep paying for Sacramento’s failures, too.”
State Sen. Tony Strickland, R-Huntington Beach, vice chair of the Senate Transportation Committee, went further, tying the project to a recent scandal over consultant spending. “The high-speed fail should have been defunded when Newsom took office in 2019,” Strickland said. “Instead, he doubled down on a project that will never be built as originally proposed to Californians.” He called the consultant spending “yet another slap in the face to California families struggling to pay for essentials like gas, food, and rent,” adding: “These are taxpayer dollars, yet project consultants treat them like their personal ATM. This project will go down as one of the most wasteful government projects in California history.”
The Numbers Behind the Fight
Voters approved nearly $10 billion in bonds for the project in 2008, when it was pitched at roughly $33 billion. An April estimate put the full cost at approximately $126 billion. As of that report, no high-speed track had been laid.
The California High-Speed Rail Authority’s 2026 business plan puts the cost of just the initial Merced-to-Bakersfield segment at $35.7 billion, with passenger service targeted for 2033. Authority records show roughly $15.7 billion had been spent through February.
A September investigation by California’s independent high-speed rail inspector general found about $81,000 in consultant travel expenses that appeared to violate state regulations, plus another $543,000 that appeared to breach contract terms, with some overlap between the two figures. Investigators flagged charges for premium transportation and trips to gyms, a nightclub and an escape room. The Authority says it has launched additional oversight, employee training, and efforts to recover improper payments.
The Authority maintains the project is progressing, reporting in October that 66 major structures and nearly 90 miles of guideway have been completed in the Central Valley, and pointing to anticipated transportation, economic and employment benefits down the line.
Fox News Digital said it reached out to Newsom and the California High-Speed Rail Authority for comment but had not received a response.
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