California candidates for governor clash over minimum wage, high speed rail

Several Democratic candidates for California governor agreed Wednesday that despite a cost-of-living crisis, the state should not continue to raise the minimum wage.

“We keep trying to give people more in wages rather than bringing down some of the core costs,” Katie Porter, a Democrat and former Congresswoman said at a California Chamber of Commerce dinner in Sacramento.

“You provide good wages for your employees,” she said to a room of roughly 800 guests at CalChamber’s Business Outlook Dinner. “But it’s not going to be enough unless we bring down the fundamental costs. Housing is a huge part of that.”

Porter was responding to an effort to raise the minimum wage in Los Angeles County to $25 an hour. For just over an hour, she and five other candidates to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom answered questions from John Myers, CalChamber’s senior vice president of communications.

Backed by unions, Democrats have led efforts to tie California’s $16.50 minimum wage to inflation and give larger wage floors to fast food and health care workers.

On Wednesday evening, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis was the only Democrat on stage to push back against this new pivot by members of her party. “You want to throw poor people under the bus? These are the people who make our economies run,” she said. Kounalakis endorsed “working toward” a statewide $20 minimum wage.

Other Democrats said cost-cutting should be the priority: Former Senate leader Toni Atkins said she supports “working toward a living wage, but now is not the moment.”

“We address affordability, and we don’t have to” keep raising wages, said former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.

A year out from the 2026 primary election, all major candidates for governor agree that affordability is California’s most pressing issue and are articulating their plans to address costs. Most of the candidates to replace Newsom have endorsed reforming or repealing environmental laws to build more housing and infrastructure.

Republican candidates Chad Bianco, Riverside County sheriff, and Steve Hilton, a former Fox News host, blamed the affordability crisis on Democrats who have controlled state government for 15 years and said they would slash regulations.

“Everything in California is higher and more expensive than other states, and it is 100% because of the policies of most of the people on this stage,” Bianco said.

“This is what I’ve called the Democrat doom loop: they make everything more expensive and then we have to raise wages so people can afford to live,” Hilton said. He also blamed “climate extremism” and “the stranglehold of labor unions on policymaking in California” for high housing and energy prices.

There were some areas of agreement during the program: most candidates said they would oppose a bid by some left-wing lawmakers to increase corporate taxes to fill a $12 billion deficit without cutting social services. Atkins said it would be “absolutely a last option.”

Most candidates described a need to reform the California Environmental Quality Act to speed housing production and other infrastructure projects, but Bianco said he would repeal it. “CEQA has to go,” he said. “I’m sick of everyone saying it has to be reformed.”

High speed rail and tariffs

Asked about high speed rail, Democrats on stage largely agreed that despite running over cost and behind schedule, the project should continue.

“I want to do this and I think it would benefit California, but I think Californians are honestly questioning whether we can deliver,” Porter said. “I think the governor needs to take a hard look at this and be honest with California.”

The project took a hit Wednesday when U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced he would cancel $4 billion in federal funding.

Bianco and Hilton said if elected, they would kill the project.

“It must be stopped in its tracks — if we had any tracks — but they don’t,” Hilton said, while Bianco called it a “government boondoggle, waste of money, (and) perfect example of why California is absolutely broken.”

While Hilton and Bianco repeatedly criticized Democrats for fostering a hostile business environment through regulations, the two were panned by the business-friendly audience when they offered a “wait and see” approach to President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

Each said they agreed with the Republican president’s goal to use the threat of tariffs to negotiate better trade deals for the U.S. “I believe everyone here would support that,” Hilton said. “We need to let it play out and then make a judgment.”

“I don’t think the businesses in this room could wait to see how it turns out,” Atkins said, adding that increased tariffs on imported lumber and steel would further drive up the cost to build housing in the state.

Several Democrats said they supported Newsom’s lawsuit against the tariffs, which this week was thrown out by a federal judge.

Who wasn’t there?

Four other Democratic candidates were not present: Former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, businessman Stephen Cloobeck, Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and former Controller Betty Yee.

Kamala Harris, who said she will decide by the end of summer whether or not to run for governor, also was not there.

A spokesperson for Becerra’s campaign said he received an invitation to the event but had another commitment. Yee’s and Cloobeck’s campaigns confirmed they did not receive an invitation.

“Of course I wasn’t invited,” Cloobeck said in a text message. “It’s all the same old swampy insiders, rigging the game like they always do. That’s why California’s a mess. They’re terrified of outsiders like us — disrupters, winners, people who actually get things done.”

CalChamber President and CEO Jennifer Barrera said candidate invitations were determined “from a polling perspective and a fundraising perspective.”

The business advocacy group has made affordability its top priority and earlier this year retired its longstanding “Job Killer” legislation label in favor of two new ones: “Cost Cutters” and “Cost Drivers.”

“Just like everyday consumers, we are also struggling with higher costs,” Barrera said after the event.

“Policy choices that we’ve made in the past (and) well-intentioned goals are butting up against this issue of affordability. We need to really reevaluate whether or not those goals need to be adjusted in order to address the affordability crisis.”

This story was originally published June 5, 2025 at 9:56 AM.