The top candidates for California governor clashed over the high costs of gas, housing and homeowner’s insurance in a testy debate Tuesday evening, a fiery debate that could ultimately capture voters’ attention as the June 2 primary election approaches.
Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, whose campaign flourished after former Rep. Eric Swalwell’s ouster amid sexual harassment and misconduct allegations, came under constant attack but also went on the offensive during the 90-minute debate.
Former Fox News host Steve Hilton, a Republican who leads all candidates in recent opinion polls, criticized Becerra for promising to declare a state of emergency to address rising homeowner’s insurance rates, saying the governor lacks that constitutional authority.
“We can’t have a governor who doesn’t understand how government works,” Hilton said.
Becerra, who served as California attorney general before joining the Biden administration, quickly defended himself, saying he knows the law better than Hilton.
“We don’t need a Fox News talking head to tell us how the government works,” he said.
And that came after Becerra took an early dig at Hilton, whom President Trump has supported, referring to Trump as “Hilton’s father.”
The debate was broadcast and livestreamed by CBS stations across the state. Hundreds of people watched from Pomona College’s historic Bridges Auditorium as the Renaissance Revival-style landmark with Art Deco touches was once one of the premier performance venues in Southern California.
With the eight major candidates from both parties participating, the CBS moderator described it as “the largest and most inclusive debate of the election.” Becerra and Hilton were joined by Republican nominee Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and Democratic nominee San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter, billionaire Tom Steyer, state Supt. Public Instruction Tony Thurmond and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Some conclusions from the debate:
Candidates did not shy away from top issues
The moderator set the theme for the first half hour of the debate as “affordability”, a top concern among California voters, and almost immediately the candidates began sniping and talking over each other.
Nearly all of them vowed to accelerate home construction in California, which is key to reducing the high cost of housing in the state.
There was no shortage of ideas for other ways to ease the financial burden facing Californians, but little specifics about how they would deliver on those promises given the state’s complex and difficult legislative process.
Hilton promised to limit the price of gas to $3 a gallon, and Mahan vowed to suspend the state gas tax. Bianco said Democrats have over-regulated and over-taxed Californians for too long, and if he is elected the state’s super-majority Democratic legislature will have to join with them and end those things.
Becerra said he would lower prescription drug prices. Thurmond said he would provide down-payment assistance grants to those trying to buy their first home.
Barbs traded on climate-induced emergencies
Anchors and reporters from local CBS stations moderated the debate, including Los Angeles anchor Pat Harvey, Sacramento anchor Tony Lopez, Bay Area anchor Ryan Yamamoto and national investigative correspondent Julie Watts. He was joined by Sara Sadhwani, assistant professor of politics at Pomona College and member of California’s Independent Redistricting Commission.
The moderator pointed to the increase in destructive wildfires across the state in recent years due to climate change, as well as the threat of earthquakes, and asked the candidates how they would respond to future emergencies.
As he did during most of the debate, Bianco responded by criticizing California’s Democratic leadership, which he said created most of the problems facing the state.
Bianco said the root cause of the fire disasters in the state is “not because of climate change” but because of “failed environmental activist policies” that have prevented fire departments from clearing highly flammable bushfires around communities for years.
After discussing his actions as mayor of Silicon Valley during the state of emergency, Mahan quickly took aim at Becerra and his role as U.S. Health and Human Services secretary during the pandemic.
He said Becerra “has never faced a crisis he couldn’t ignore” and accused Becerra of failing to deal with COVID-19, monkeypox and the surge of unaccompanied minors at the US-Mexico border during the Biden administration.
Becerra responded, saying his agency dealt with the crisis by working with all 50 states and the federal government to quickly deploy vaccines and other resources.
“You’re not wearing a mask, are you, Matt? You’re not worried about getting monkeypox, right?” Becerra said.
Steyer was also attacked when he began discussing his plan to make “polluters pay” for the impacts of climate change. Porter criticized the former San Francisco hedge-fund founder for making millions from the oil and gas industry and using those profits to fund his campaign for governor. Steyer has spent more than $143 million on his campaign, according to fundraising disclosures filed with the California Secretary of State’s office.
Porter told Steyer, “How about paying the profiteers? You pay the lowest tax rate at this level, and yet you’ve made billions of dollars that you’re using to fund your campaign from fossil fuels.”
Steyer responded that he is a “change agent” candidate opposed by special interests and pointed to campaign committees funded by utility and other industry groups opposing his bid. PG&E, California Chamber of Commerce and California Assn. Realtors have invested more than $29 million in two committees to fund attack ads against the billionaire.
Republicans focus on blaming Democrats
Just weeks before the June 2 primary, the race to replace the term-limited Newsom is wide open, with many voters still undecided.
Republicans Hilton and Bianco have led in many opinion polls, while the larger field of Democrats has split the vote, leading to fears among Democrats that the party could fall out in the general election, despite outnumbering Republicans by nearly two-to-one among the state’s registered voters. In California’s open primaries, the top two finishers advance to the general election, regardless of party affiliation.
Both Republicans avoided openly attacking each other in the debate but regularly took aim at the other candidates on the stage.
Becerra noted the president’s support of Hilton, speaking about federal health care funding cuts approved by President Trump and congressional Republicans last year. “The first thing we have to do is stop Steve Hilton’s father,” Becerra said.
Hilton jokingly responded that his father, a goaltender for the Hungary national ice hockey team, had not participated in the race. And he said Becerra’s comments reveal what’s wrong with California politics — a fixation on Trump despite Democrats controlling the state for more than a decade.
“We’ve had the same people in charge for 16 years now, and it’s such a disaster and the cost of living is so high for everybody, and we have the highest poverty rate in the country and the highest unemployment rate, and the worst business plan,” Hilton said. “All these things are going wrong, they can’t help but blame Trump. Let’s see how many times you hear that tonight.”
Bianco appeared frustrated at times with the format of the debate and his opponents’ responses. At different points, he compared the program to “The Twilight Zone” and called it “that hour and a half that (viewers) are never going to get back.”
Pressed on what he would do different if elected, the Riverside sheriff also focused on criticizing Democrats and accusing them of lying.
He said, “We have a bunch of 20-year-old kids and we’re sitting here and lying to them about broken Democrat policies for the last 20 years in California, and we’re going to sit here and blame a president who’s been president for a year. It’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Hilton has seen a surge in her poll numbers since she voted Endorsed by President Trump earlier this month. A CBS News/YouGov poll of more than 1,400 registered voters released Monday showed Hilton leading with 16%, followed by Steyer with 15%, Becerra with 13%, Bianco with 10%, Porter with 9%, Mahan and Villaraigosa with 4% and Thurmond with 1%. The largest group of voters – 26% – were undecided.
Nixon reported from Sacramento and Mehta from Clairemont.
