California’s gubernatorial candidates fail to stand out in the debate

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Six of the leading Democratic gubernatorial candidates sought a decisive moment Tuesday night in a race marked by uncertainty, with two Republican candidates often in the lead.

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

However, with less than a week to go until ballots were sent to voters, the targets of the attack were clear: billionaire Tom Steyer, who polls fellow Democrats and already spent at least $132 million of your own money in the competition; and Xavier Becerra, the former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, who experienced a sudden surge in popularity after former Congressman Eric Swwell retired amid sexual assault allegations.

Porter, once a rising star of national progressivism, attacked Steyer, who has consolidated the support of many of the party’s far-left activists, criticizing the wealth he amassed in part through investing in fossil fuels while trying to boast about his commitment to the climate and his policy of “making polluters pay.” Steyer said he subsequently divested himself of those investments and devoted himself to tackling climate change.

“How about we talk about paying the speculators?” Porter asked sharply.

Meanwhile, Becerra has come under fire from moderate San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a Democrat, for his checkered history as former President Joe Biden’s health secretary and for his testy attitude when pressured to follow through on his policy proposals. At one point, Becerra argued with one of the debate’s five moderators about the legality of his proposal to declare an emergency to freeze home insurance rates.

Becerra came to the debate after a recent surge in polls and fundraising, fueled by an army of online influencers whose posts, according to his adviser Michael Bustamante, are “completely organic.” The candidate was eager to debate his rivals, but his sudden attention also prompted scrutiny of his immigration and health records.

Progressives and Steyer’s campaign also highlighted the support Becerra received from companies like Chevron and how he handled the mass arrival of unaccompanied minor migrants when he was Biden’s health secretary. A A 2023 New York Times investigation revealed that these children, whom Becerra pressured officials to process and move as if they were on an assembly line, ended up being used in dangerous jobs.

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

“We did everything we could,” he said.

Republican Chad Bianco, the grumpy sheriff of Riverside County with a penchant for conspiracy theories, also went on the offensive Tuesday night. He took every opportunity to relentlessly attack Democratic policies, calling them “lies.” He drew murmurs of disapproval 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 led Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond to criticize the recent and the unprecedented seizure of 650,000 ballot papers of Bianco in Riverside County.

There are few differences among the Democrats

But Democrats have largely failed to differentiate themselves by tackling issues like the cost of living, health care, education, housing and energy, and have struggled to promote new policies to address the high cost of living. They were careful not to attack the liberal policies of Gov. Gavin Newsom, who refused to endorse either candidate.

Even getting into 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.

“Everybody’s wrong,” Mahan said as he tried to strike a balance between Republicans who support Trump’s tax policies, which up to 2 million people will leave without public health coverage and Democrats are calling for a single-payer public health system, whose cost is estimated at $392 billion in California.

But Mahan didn’t offer many alternatives, saying the answer is “stimulating real health.”

All eight candidates expressed support for the measure to force homeless people who reject repeated offers of shelter into mandatory mental health 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 issues, Porter agreed with Mahan and Villaraigosa that the state should keep oil refineries open in the face of soaring gasoline prices while encouraging more electrification. For his part, Steyer advocated higher taxes on profits from the oil industry. Hilton, who has promised to scrap many climate targets to lower the price of gasoline, did not specify what steps he would take to support clean energy. He led most of the polls in the governor’s race.

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

As part of the debate, Ogans was invited to ask the candidates about California’s housing reconstruction. After the debate, he commented that young voters are concerned about Trump’s housing affordability and immigration actions. She was particularly interested in listening to Becerra and Porter, but the exchange of accusations between the candidates caused her to lose interest.