Eight candidates in California’s crowded gubernatorial race squared off Tuesday night, each hunting for a breakout moment just days before ballots begin landing in mailboxes.
The contenders on the stage at Pomona College took part in an energetic, at times chaotic, 90-minute debate, with multiple moderators tagging in every 30 minutes and repeatedly warning they would cut microphones to keep order. Candidates often spoke over one another, griped about limited airtime, and struggled to stay on topic. The exchanges were notably more combative than in the previous debate, as hopefuls pressed harder to distinguish themselves and win over undecided voters.
The candidates on stage included Xavier Becerra, former Health and Human Services Secretary; former Fox host Steve Hilton; San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan; former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter; billionaire hedge fund founder Tom Steyer; Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco; California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond; and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Becerra landed one of the first sharp exchanges of the night. In a back-and-forth over healthcare cuts under President Donald Trump — who has endorsed Hilton — Becerra referred to the president as “Hilton’s daddy.”
Hilton quickly seized on the remark.
“My dad was goalie on the Hungarian national ice hockey team,” he said. “I don’t think he weighed in on this issue at all.”
Becerra, who has seen a poll bump following former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s sudden exit from the race following allegations of sexual assault and misconduct, was much more animated during the debate than he had been during the first one.
He told one moderator, “I’d be willing to go to court with you” in response to a question about holding insurance companies responsible for their actions against Californians, and he mocked Mahan when he began to answer the question. Becerra was California’s attorney general and sued the first Trump administration 122 times.
Becerra and Hilton butted heads after Hilton pressed him about his proposal to require insurers to stand by customers and pay claims after major wildfires. Hilton challenged whether the governor even had the authority to impose such mandates, arguing that the state should focus on reducing the risk insurers face when writing policies, not on compelling coverage.
Becerra countered that emergency declarations grant the state significant authority, insisting California cannot “just let the insurance companies run over us.”
Hilton dismissed the response, scoffing that the state cannot have a governor “who doesn’t understand how the government works.”
Becerra responded that California didn’t need “a talking head” from Fox News to tell voters how the government works.
At one point in the debate, Porter slammed Steyer for his past business ties to the energy sector.
“You were investing in them,” she said, referencing his former hedge fund, which profited from fossil fuel holdings. She also accused him of paying the “lowest tax rate on this stage” and arguing, “You made the billions that you’re using to fund your campaign off fossil fuels.”
Steyer’s wealth has consistently come up throughout the race, with competitors accusing him of trying to buy his way into the governor’s office. Mahan asked whether the billionaire would commit to ending his own “self-funding” campaign with the “millions” he made from oil and coal.
When it came to healthcare, Mahan took aim at virtually every rival on the stage, arguing that all sides were missing the mark. He called cuts to Medicaid under the Trump administration “cruel,” directing the criticism at Hilton and Bianco. But he also pushed back on Steyer and Porter’s support for a government-run, single-payer system, saying, “We don’t know how to pay for single-payer, and we see countries with single-payer struggling with long lines and cuts to care.”
He then turned his fire back on Becerra, revisiting his record as health secretary and citing his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and the influx of migrant children and teenagers at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“The secretary has never met a crisis that he couldn’t ignore,” Mahan said.
California’s gubernatorial race is entering a critical stretch, and candidates spent the night looking to capitalize on sound bites and pithy quotes that could help break the contest wide open. They debated on affordability, health care, the gas tax, alternative fuel resources, oil production, housing, education, and homelessness.
“To the average viewer, I suspect this debate is mostly a bunch of fast-talking blah, blah, blah,” veteran California-based political expert Garry South told the Washington Examiner. “Too many candidates on the stage, too little time for substantive answers. Too much like Jeopardy for politics.”
South added that, unlike the first debate, where the candidates were on their best behavior, Tuesday’s debate showcased a fiery side.
“These debate formats need to allow some back-and-forth between the candidates themselves,” he said. “The exchanges between and among the candidates, although partially showboating, of course, allow viewers and voters to observe and judge how those who would be governor deal with hostile questions about which they may not have rehearsed talking points.”
The race to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) has turned into a wide-open contest. The crowded field will compete in the state’s June 2 nonpartisan primary. California uses a “jungle primary” that puts all candidates on the same ballot and ensures that the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the general election.
Although Republicans have historically struggled in statewide contests in heavily Democratic California, a fractured Democratic field has divided voters, allowing the two GOP candidates to rise to the top of the polls. Trump’s endorsement is expected to help unify Republican voters behind Hilton and make a same-party GOP runoff in November less likely, but Bianco isn’t going without a fight. He received the most votes at this month’s California Republican Party convention, but did not earn an endorsement because he fell short of the 60% threshold.
Similarly, the California Democratic Party failed to secure a gubernatorial endorsement at its convention in February.
CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATS WILL TRY TO SABOTAGE VOTER ID BALLOT PROPOSITION
The latest CBS News/YouGov poll, conducted April 23-27 (immediately after the last debate), showed little movement in the race and failed to show any true front-runner. Hilton led the field with 16%, followed closely by Steyer at 15%. Becerra is third at 13%, ahead of Bianco at 10%, Porter at 9%, Mahan at 4%, Villaraigosa at 4%, and Thurmond at 1%. Of the votes polled, 26% said they were undecided.
Villaraigosa and Thurmond, who didn’t make the cut at the previous debate because of their low numbers, have faced pressure to drop out so that Hilton and Bianco don’t both move on to the general election.
