California’s governor candidates took their pitches and their disputes into a televised debate that devolved into interruptions and verbal detours on April 28, with mail ballots headed to voters in less than a week. In a crowded top-two primary where the top two vote-getters advance regardless of party, the format underscored how no single contender has emerged clearly ahead as candidates fought for the attention of an electorate juggling rising everyday costs, from groceries to gas.
The debate, hosted by CBS LA and aired on the network’s state TV stations and websites, brought together eight candidates seeking to replace outgoing Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is barred by law from seeking a third term. The lineup included Republicans Steve Hilton, a conservative commentator, and Chad Bianco, a county sheriff, alongside Democrats Katie Porter, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, billionaire Tom Steyer, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state schools superintendent Tony Thurmond. The event followed a mostly mannerly debate last week that was also largely inconclusive, with no candidate delivering a breakaway moment.
With time running out, several candidates appeared eager for conflict, and many of the questions prompted interruptions as they tried to speak over one another. Answers were sometimes cut short by moderators, as the debate moved through a range of pressing issues including homelessness, wildfire insurance shortages, projected budget shortfalls and housing costs—while candidates also sought to connect their records to voters’ affordability struggles.
Becerra emerged as a focal point after other candidates and moderators repeatedly pressed him on a pledge to declare a state of emergency on his first day in office to freeze home insurance rates. Hilton accused him of misunderstanding state law, but Becerra, a former state attorney general, said his proposal was legal and cited his experience leading states of emergency during the COVID-19 pandemic. “The governor’s office is not a place with training wheels,” Becerra said during the exchange, according to the debate coverage.
The debate also folded in national politics, with President Donald Trump coming up in exchanges even though he was not the main focus. Hilton and Bianco support Trump, while the Democrats on stage framed themselves around promises to stand in the way of federal immigration raids and Trump’s conservative agenda. Becerra referenced Trump’s endorsement of Hilton by referring to Trump as “Steve Hilton’s daddy,” prompting Hilton to respond: “All these big things that affect us on a daily basis, these are decisions made here in California by our politicians. And we’ve had the same people in charge for 16 years now.”
Candidates aligned broadly along partisan lines on how to explain California’s challenges, with Hilton and Bianco arguing that regulations and taxes supported by Democrats contributed to the state’s problems. The Democrats countered by emphasizing their own experience and, in some cases, their ability to make the case that they understand household pressures most directly. Porter, for example, stressed that she is the only candidate who refuses corporate campaign donations, saying, “I am not for sale,” and she used that line of contrast to attack Steyer for his former hedge fund investments in fossil fuels.
Steyer said he left the firm in 2012 and responded that utilities and other business interests are spending money to attack him because he is unafraid to take them on. The debate also arrived amid recent shakeups to the race, including the departure of U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell after sexual assault allegations, which left him out of the campaign but still part of the field’s earlier momentum as it has tightened toward the mail ballot period.
MSI previously reported that Democrats in the crowded primary have voiced fears that their field could result in two Republicans advancing to the November general election. The top-two system has amplified that worry in a race where Democrats have dominated state government for years and registered Democrats outnumber Republicans about 2-to-1, according to the debate coverage.
The candidates last week and again Tuesday had been asked to address homelessness and wildfire insurance, but the chaotic format made it hard for any one candidate to secure a sustained advantage. The clash over Becerra’s insurance proposal, the partisan explanations for California’s affordability problems, and the Trump-linked exchanges suggested the race’s core fault lines—while mail ballots close in—are still unsettled, and voters remain left to choose among sharply different pitches as the top-two primary approaches.