California governor hopefuls look to break through in first debate of a reset race
California’s head-spinning governor’s race remained as unsettled as ever after six candidates jousted for positioning at a televised debate Wednesday night.
Hosted by KRON TV station in San Francisco, it was the first formal debate since Democrat Eric Swalwell suspended his campaign and resigned from Congress after facing accusations of sexual assault. Swalwell, who has denied the allegations, had shown signs of momentum in polls before bowing out.
His exit has prompted a reset in the race less than a month before early voting begins for the June 2 top-two primary, with no candidate polling above the teens. Only two candidates will emerge from the primary, regardless of party.
Four Democrats and two Republicans hunted for a breakout Wednesday, though the Democrats saved some of their sharpest attacks for each other, and particularly the two candidates that polls suggest have benefited most from Swalwell’s exit: billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer and former U.S. Secretary of Human Health and Services Xavier Becerra.
San Jose Major Matt Mahan knocked Steyer, a former financier, for his past investments, saying “the only housing Tom Steyer’s built has been private prisons and ICE detention centers.” Former Rep. Katie Porter leveled a similar criticism of Steyer and accused Becerra of laying out vague plans.
“The how, the why, the how much — it’s all missing,” said Porter, who became well known for wonky whiteboard lectures in Congress.
Becerra may have been the buzziest candidate headed into the debate. The former state attorney general zipped up in polls conducted after Swalwell’s exit and was the top Democratic fundraiser on the national platform ActBlue this week.
On stage, he pitched a record of level-headed competence from years in leadership positions.
“We need someone who knows how to govern in crisis, not someone who’s going to need training wheels,” Becerra said.
In response to Porter’s barb, Becerra noted he’d balanced budgets larger than California’s as HHS secretary under former President Joe Biden. The Sacramento native also had an early gaff when he confused Iraq and Iran when responding to a question related to gas prices.
Steyer cast himself as the field’s renegade, embracing attack ads funded by groups like PG&E and the California Chamber of Commerce as proof he would battle business interests that he argues fuel the state’s affordability crisis.
“They’re scared of me,” Steyer said.
The two Republicans on stage largely agreed on the nature of the problem facing California: Sacramento Democrats. Former Fox News host Steve Hilton argued that “nothing will change if you have one of these Democrats in power.” And Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco vowed to root out “waste, fraud and abuse” and onerous regulations that he argued hold the state back.
At one point, Bianco seemed to take issue with Becerra’s contention that racial profiling may have played a role in a traffic stop involving an immigrant commercial truck driver; candidates were asked to react to footage of the body cam footage, in which a law enforcement officer could be seen asking the driver to explain the meaning of traffic signs.
While both Bianco and Becerra said they needed more context on the incident, Becerra, whose parents grew up in Mexico, questioned whether officers were “asking only people who look like me.”
“Let’s stop with this whole racism thing and racial profiling and all of this garbage,” Bianco responded. “You either violated the law or you didn’t.”
Porter said she was “stunned” by the comments. Racism “is not something that you get over, it’s something that you fight,” she said.
The candidates also faced questions about some of their biggest liabilities. Asked about the tech titans bankrolling his campaign, Mahan said he was “not afraid to regulate big tech.” Porter said she’d “taken responsibility” for shouting a staffer in 2021 in a video that emerged last year. Hilton argued his endorsement from Trump was an asset despite the president’s unpopularity in California, saying it would be helpful to have a good relationship with the White House. And Steyer said he was the “billionaire who wants to tax other billionaires.”
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond did not qualify for the debate. They have struggling to rise above the low single digits in most polls.
