California’s gubernatorial candidates don’t have a breakthrough in the debate

from Jeanne KuangCalMatters

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Six leading Democratic candidates for governor were looking for a breakout moment Tuesday night in a race that has been dominated by uncertainty, with two Republican candidates often in the lead.

None of them seemed to find one in a chaotic, combative and often hard-to-follow CBS debate at Pomona College, prompting former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter to declare at one point that “this is worse than my teenagers at dinner.”

With less than a week to go before ballots were mailed to voters, however, the targets were clear: billionaire Tom Steyer, who is leading his fellow Democrats in the polls and already spent at least $132 million from your own money for the competition; and Xavier Becerra, the former US Secretary of Health and Human Services, who had a sudden surge in momentum after former Congressman Eric Swwell dropped out amid sexual assault allegations.

Porter, once a rising national progressive star, took aim at Steyer, who has consolidated support among many of the party’s far-left activists, criticizing the wealth he amassed in part through investing in fossil fuels when he tried to tout his climate-friendly credentials and “make polluters pay” policies. Steyer said he subsequently divested himself of those investments and devoted himself to tackling climate change.

“How about paying the profiteers?” Porter asked pointedly.

Meanwhile, Becerra has been criticized by San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a moderate Democrat, for his mixed record as former President Joe Biden’s health secretary and for bristling when pressed on specific policies. At one point, Becerra argued with one of the debate’s five moderators about the legality of his proposal to declare a state of emergency to freeze home insurance rates.

Becerra entered the debate after a recent polling and fundraising push backed by an army of online influencers whose posts, according to Councilman Michael Bustamante, are “entirely organic.” The candidate was eager to compete with his rivals, but his newfound spotlight also came with a check on his immigration and health record.

Progressives and Steyer’s campaign also highlighted Becerra’s support of companies like Chevron and his handling of the influx of unaccompanied migrant children as Biden’s health secretary. A A 2023 New York Times investigation found that these children—whom Becerra pressured officials to process and place as if they were running an “assembly line”—ended up in hazardous child labor.

Becerra later dismissed the criticism as a “MAGA talking point” and said the Department of Homeland Security was responsible for child labor.

“We did everything we could,” he said.

Republican Chad Bianco, the sinister, conspiracy-minded sheriff of Riverside County, was also on the offensive Tuesday night. He jumped to attack Democrat policies as “lies” whenever he could. He drew groans from the audience when he interrupted Becerra to falsely claim that the COVID-19 vaccines being distributed under Biden had “poisoned” millions of Americans.

His frequent attacks on state regulations prompted Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond to attack Bianco’s recent decision unprecedented seizure of 650,000 ballots in Riverside County.

Little difference between Democrats

But Democrats have largely failed to differentiate themselves as they tackle issues of cost of living, health care, education, housing and energy, struggling to promote new policies to address the crushing cost of living. They were careful not to attack the liberal policies of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who refused to support any of them.

Even getting a moment in the spotlight was difficult in a debate format that seemed to jump from topic to topic and in which the candidates often interrupted each other.

“They’re all wrong,” Mahan said as he tried to walk the line between Republicans who support Trump’s tax policies, which will lay off up to 2 million people from public health and calling Democrats publicly funded single-payer health care estimated at $392 billion in California.

But Mahan didn’t offer much of an alternative, saying the answer was “stimulating actual health.”

All eight said they support forcing homeless residents who refuse repeated offers of shelter into mandatory mental health treatment facilities. Mahan and Thurmond agreed with Republicans Bianco and Steve Hilton that the state gas tax should be stopped; Becerra, Porter, Steyer and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa disagree.

On energy, Porter agreed with Mahan and Villaraigosa that the state should seek to keep oil refineries open amid soaring gas prices while working toward more electrification, while Steyer called for more taxes on oil industry profits. Hilton, who has promised to scrap many climate targets to lower the price of gas, did not say what he would do to support clean energy. He dominates most polls in the governor’s race.

“I think I’m more confused now than ever about who to vote for,” Pomona College politics student Chloe Ogans said after the debate. “So I have a lot more research to do.”

As part of the debate, Ogans was invited to ask the candidates about California’s housing recovery. She said after the debate that young voters worry about affordability and are concerned about Trump’s immigration crackdown. She particularly wanted to hear from Becerra and Porter, but the bickering between the candidates made her uninterested.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and is republished under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives license.