California recall candidates gather Wednesday for debate before television audience

California voters will get to see several gubernatorial recall candidates take the stage Wednesday in a televised debate hosted by Sacramento’s KCRA 3 and the San Francisco Chronicle.

The debate, as reported by KCRA, will feature Republican candidates John Cox (a businessman who unsuccessfully ran against Gov. Gavin Newsom in the 2018 election), Kevin Faulconer (the former mayor of San Diego), and Kevin Kiley (a California state assemblyman). It will also be the first debate to feature Democrat and YouTube star Kevin Paffrath.

KCRA reports that Newsom was invited to the debate but declined to attend. Republican frontrunner Larry Elder and reality TV star Caitlyn Jenner also declined.

The debate comes as Californians across the state have received their ballots in the mail for an election that will decide whether Newsom will be recalled, and if so, who will take his place. There are 46 candidates on the ballot, though one candidate, Doug Ose, has since dropped out and endorsed Kiley.

The debate will be hosted by KCRA anchor Gulstan Dart, and moderated by Alexei Koseff of the San Francisco Chronicle and KCRA anchor Deirdre Fitzpatrick.

The debate will air live from 7 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Wednesday on the following stations: KCRA 3 in Sacramento, KSBW in Monterey/Salinas, KERO-TV in Bakersfield, KFMB-TV in San Diego, KHTK-FM in Sacramento, KNTV-TV in the Bay Area, and KSBY-TV on the Central Coast.

It also will be livestreamed on KCRA.com, KSBW.com and SFChronicle.com.

The debate will also air Thursday at 11 a.m. on Palm Springs’ KMIR-TV.

This story was originally published August 25, 2021 at 5:00 AM.