California governor candidates talk over one another in rapid-fire debate

Katie Porter took aim at Tom Steyer when he began talking about fossil fuels and the havoc caused by climate change.

“You were investing in them,” she said, referring to his former hedge fund that made money off fossil fuels.

She also attacked the billionaire for paying the “lowest tax rate on this stage. You made the billions that you’re using to fund your campaign off fossil fuels.”

The issue of Steyer’s money, oil and campaign donations is getting new attention.

Steyer took to X on Monday to call on Xavier Becerra to return a $39,200 contribution from Chevron, prompting candidate Matt Mahan to respond on the social media site and ask Steyer if he would agree to stop “self-funding” his campaign with the “millions” he made off oil and coal.

The debate over homelessness shows a fascinating and important shift in public opinion.

Every candidate (with a qualifier from Chad Bianco) said they support mandated (read forced) mental health treatment. This is basically what Gov. Gavin Newsom pushed last year with both Care Courts and Proposition 1, which brings huge sums of money into building treatment beds.

The big problem in California for years has been its dirty secret as well — it lacked places to put people who needed mental health care. That is slowly starting to change, but many counties remain resistant to providing these services because they are difficult and expensive.

Although the candidates agreed on mandated treatment, there was lots of daylight into how homelessness in general should be handled.

Katie Porter stressed an alternative response system where outreach workers instead of police respond to some situations. This is already being done is some cities with good results. Matt Mahan promoted the approach he has used in San José, where he is mayor: temporary housing, backed by citations or even arrest for those who refuse after multiple attempts, requiring people “to come inside” if shelter is available.

Xavier Becerra also focused on building up more mental health housing but also, as he did in the first debate, said he would keep people from becoming homeless in the first place through things like emergency rent payments.

This idea is growing in popularity and has been shown to be a cost-effective way to help those at risk of losing their home due to an illness, a job loss, or another crisis.

But Tony Thurmond, citing his social work background, spoke with the most compassion. He pointed out that there are 10,000 teenagers homeless on California streets, and every one of those children deserves help, no matter what left them on our sidewalks.

Moderators moved to homelessness, asking how people with mental health and addiction issues can be convinced to accept help.

Katie Porter said she pushed legislation for dedicated mental health responders rather than police. She said the state should be able to get people the help they need, but must balance that with concerns around the “ugly” history of over-incarcerating homeless people, many of whom are simply down on their luck.

Chad Bianco said as a law enforcement officer that he was the only person on the stage to directly deal with homeless people, and that most are suffering from drug addiction or mental illness. He said Proposition 36 must be funded, and people with addiction and mental health issues must be taken off the street and put into facilities.

Tony Thurmond accused Bianco of blaming the victims of homelessness rather than offering solutions. Bianco said he was not blaming the victims, he was blaming Democrats such as Thurmond.

Thurmond won applause during the exchange by going directly at Bianco, accusing him of using taxpayer money to steal ballots as part of an investigation he launched into unsupported allegations of voter fraud in Riverside County, where he is the sheriff. Courts have halted that investigation amid a lawsuit from California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta.

Xavier Becerra was called out for demanding accountability on homelessness, but also giving Gov. Gavin Newsom an “A” grade after spending billions on the persistent issue.

“Are those billions of dollars well spent or not?” Becerra was asked.

Becerra said he had given Newsom an “A for effort,” but “not on this particular issue.”

If elected, he said he would focus on helping people stay in their homes if they fall behind on their rent or mortgage, which would be cheaper than getting people off the streets. He said under his leadership, “we will not cycle people through the streets and into jails,” but build up facilities that are needed to get people the help they need.

Matt Mahan has touted his record on reducing homelessness in San José during his campaign, but he faced questions from a moderator about an encampment called “The Jungle.”

She said that advocates contend that there isn’t enough shelter for the more than 100 people in the camp.

Mahan replied that it is the “last large encampment in San José” and that the city did 50 days of outreach to offer each person interim housing. He claimed that the city has moved “half of the people there indoors.”

Reporter Julie Watts pressed the candidates over their plans to help Californians get homeowners insurance in the face of wildfires that are leaving many residents unable to obtain insurance, or causing them to lose coverage.

Xavier Becerra said he would move to declare a state of emergency and would freeze rates, and was prepared to go to court to challenge any rules that would stop him from enacting such a plan.

For his part, Matt Mahan blamed the insurance problem on leadership in Sacramento.

Politicians “created so many restrictions, including taking over a year to approve any rate changes, prohibiting insurance companies from using climate data to project future costs, that they stopped writing [plans],” Mahan said.

Republican Steve Hilton, who usually doesn’t side with Democrats, agreed with the San José mayor, saying that the industry needs “to take account of future risks, including climate and also the cost of reinsurance.”

At one point Watts, surprisingly, let Hilton start asking Becerra questions directly about Becerra’s stated plan to demand insurance companies step up in the state, stand by customers and pay them when major fires occur. Hilton questioned the governor’s power to make such demands, arguing the state needs to make it less risky for insurance companies to write policies, not simply force them to cover people.

Becerra said when you declare a state of emergency, you have extraordinary powers, and that California can’t “just let the insurance companies run over us.”

Hilton scoffed, saying California can’t have a governor “who doesn’t understand how the government works.”

Becerra said California doesn’t need “a talking head” from Fox News to tell us how government works.

Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco has based his campaign on rage — against liberal California, against people who want to blame everything on racism and President Trump, against everything blue and anything not red.

It has served him well so far — he has consistently polled in the top five, and some polls for a bit had him in the top two, leading to doomsday predictions about two Republicans moving into the general election in Dem-dominated California.

Tonight, Bianco has doubled down on the anger as Xavier Becerra rises in the polls and fellow Republican Steve Hilton remains ahead of him.

He started by stating he felt sorry for the Pomona College students that would have to listen to all the “lies” that were to be allegedly uttered that night. Bianco responded to a question about reforming Proposition 13 by saying he felt like he was in the “Twilight Zone.”

“If you want socialism, go somewhere else,” Bianco said.

The candidate kept bringing up “kids” as if he had a milk carton in front of him. He also shared that a CBS reporter asked him before the debate if he was afraid of the coming debate.

“I’m not, but I’m terrified one of these people will be governor and these kids will have to move,” he snarled.

The Hulk Mad strategy frustrated even the usually unflappable Tony Thurmond.

“All you’ve said is this group has failed,” Thurmond said. “What will you do?”

Bianco kept raging again in his nasal tones like a Dylan Thomas poem, except angrier and far less eloquent.

Reporter Julie Watts asked about schools cutting teachers and programs in the state and asked who has a plan to raise academic achievement with quantifiable goals in the middle of a financial crisis.

Matt Mahan, a former teacher, said we need to “cut administrative overhead” and get more money into classrooms, and to teach phonics in the early years. Watts asked what overhead can be cut. Mahan pointed to all of the administrative staff not in classrooms.

Tom Steyer noted he is endorsed by teachers, and said the state needs more money to recruit good teachers, which he would pay for by closing corporate tax loopholes.

Tony Thurmond, who has been in charge of the state’s public schools, said “education is the greatest equalizer there is,” and said the biggest challenge is declining enrollment, and California needs to improve its enrollment process.

The second theme of the debate was declared to be, “Pushing beyond the talking points,” with questions about gas prices, the production of oil in California, and the shift to alternative fuel sources.

Again, moderators — this time reporter Julie Watts — asked different candidates different questions.

The questions were purportedly based on previous interviews CBS had conducted with the candidates, with Watts baking a lot of information into each question, then repeatedly challenging the candidates when they didn’t answer as directly as she wanted.

Tom Steyer said the war in Iran has driven up gas prices, that oil companies are reaping billions in profit, and that California must be able to rely on producers elsewhere in the world to ensure that buyers aren’t ripped off. Katie Porter said we have to keep all energy sources “online,” including refineries in California, even as the state produces more clean energy.

Steve Hilton said “we just need a bit of common sense in this whole area,” and that California should use “the abundant resources” it has instead of importing oil from abroad.

Antonio Villaraigosa also blamed “Trump’s war” with driving costs up, including because California has gotten rid of refineries at home.

Not a good look for Chad Bianco, who’s repeatedly whined about being neglected and not having enough talking time.

“I wasn’t sure I was even up here any more,” the Riverside County sheriff said at one point when Katie Porter called him out for interrupting her.

Actually, Bianco’s best moments have come when he’s been a mere bystander.

All he’s done, when given a chance to speak up, is mouth a lot of pro-Trump, MAGA bromides.

Clearly, he’s running to appeal to the GOP base, hoping to emerge as one of the top-two finishers in the June 2 primary, which would allow him to move on to the November runoff — and be crushed in a landslide by any Democrat he faces.

Xavier Becerra must’ve read my columna from last week urging him to shoot off some sparks, because he came out swinging.

He chided moderator Pat Harvey for misrepresenting his stance on suspending the gas tax, and then snapped, “If I can finish the thought” when the bell signifying his 30 seconds were up. He finished his thought. Becerra called Trump “Steve Hilton’s daddy” and cut into his response by asking if he would oppose President Trump’s Medicare cuts — and then he pressed him for not answering the question.

He then told moderator Julie Watts “I’d be willing to go to court with you” to a question about holding insurance companies responsible for their atrocious actions against Californians, telling a story about his mother’s problems on the issue and mocked Matt Mahan when he began to answer the question.

It’s a stark difference from the last debate, where Becerra was as solemn as a Benedictine monk. His choirboy reputation has been a selling point for his campaign — but seeing him riled up even a little bit didn’t tarnish that image at all.

Big Xavier rifa!

Chabria: In a strange format, the moderators are switching every half hour and now we are here with investigative reporter Julie Watts, who famously rousted Katie Porter in a video that went viral. She just threatened to cut mics.

She asks Tom Steyer about gas prices and oil refineries, and goes back and forth with him several times then cuts him off to go to Porter.

Katie Porter disagrees with Steyer that we should be OK with relying on imported (from other states or abroad) refining.

And now she’s grilling Hilton on electric cars. Honestly, we’re into the weeds here for most voters and I’m missing the chaos.

Watts has taken an interesting strategy of interviewing candidates rather than sticking to a single question-answer format and moving to the next person. The result is a single candidate at a time being asked repeated follow-ups that I fear is losing the audience.

And now candidates — Mahan — are just jumping in again. Honestly, hot mess.

Barabak: Is it possible to write-in Julie Watts for governor?

The CBS News investigative reporter, who’s serving as moderator during the second half hour of the debate, has commanded the stage like no one else.

“I am not afraid to cut mics,” she said opening the segment, a line that drew applause from the studio audience.

When Tom Steyer sought to go over his allotted time, she cut him off with an unsparing, “Sir, we’re going to have to cut the mic if you’re not respectful.”

She called out Steve Hilton when he danced around an issue about transitioning California from reliance on oil to renewable fuels and cut off Antonio Villaraigosa when he began straying too far from her line of inquiry.

She’s managed to bring order and discipline to what was shaping up to be a clamorous. unruly, eight-car pile-up.

Both Tom Steyer and Katie Porter made their pitches for a single-payer healthcare system during the debate, with the former Congress member saying she was a “champion” for the system at the federal level.

“Single-payer delivers the most healthcare at the lowest administrative costs,” Porter said. She said that Medicare spends about “2% of everything that we put into it on administrative costs, and private health insurance spends 17% or 18% on pushing paper” and denying claims.

Steyer said that he would call a special election to reform the commercial side of Proposition 13 to raise money.

“It’s absolutely critical if we believe that healthcare is a right, that in fact we have the revenue [to pay for it],” Steyer said.

Chad Bianco responded by saying he felt like he was in “The Twilight Zone.”

“If you want socialism, go somewhere else,” Bianco said.

Matt Mahan called right at the outset of the debate for eliminating the gas tax, which has become a central pillar of his campaign.

California’s 61 cent-per-gallon gas tax is used to pay for road repairs, bridges and public transportation. But revenues from the levy are projected to decline over the next 10 years due to increasing fuel economy and electric vehicles, leaving the state with a $216.4-billion budget shortfall.

Mahan has proposed a flat tax on all cars in lieu of the gas tax, which he called “the most regressive tax in California.”

Xavier Becerra said he supported keeping the tax “because I want everyone who’s sitting here to be able to drive on our roads, cross our bridges, make sure transit is working, and you have to fund it somehow.”

In a brief onstage poll, Chad Bianco and Steve Hilton supported suspending the tax, while Katie Porter and Antonio Villaraigosa supported keeping it in place. Tom Steyer called for “a windfall profits tax on oil companies” instead of answering the poll question.

As an alternative income source, California lawmakers are looking into proposals to charge drivers by mileage traveled, which would include taxing EV drivers, instead of by fuel consumed.

Some suggested Becerra was a little too laid-back in last week’s debate. He seems to be swinging a bit harder this time.

In a discussion of healthcare spending cuts under President Trump, he referred to the president — who has endorsed Republican Steve Hilton — as “Hilton’s daddy.”

No small reach, which an amused Hilton pointed out.

“My dad was goalie on the Hungarian national ice hockey team,” he said. “I don’t think he weighed in on this issue at all.”

But Becerra made his point.

Meanwhile, a lot of cross-talk, a lot of candidates whining about not getting their fair share of time.

The eight-candidate, five-moderator format is often sounding a lot more like a multi-car pile-up than any kind of coherent discussion

“Wow that was a bit of a mess,” says Ryan Kossarian, a Pomona College student asking a question, noting how the debate began. How, he wants to know, will you help young people with the cost of education and bringing jobs back to the state?

Tony Thurmond wins the youth vote with a promise to make college free — no small thing standing on a private campus where students are paying close to six figures a year between tuition and housing.

Moderators set the “theme” of the first half-hour of the debate as “affordability,” a major issue in expensive California. They then asked the candidates various different questions on the topic.

Steve Hilton, up first, talked about his campaign promise of $3-per-gallon gas. Chad Bianco said Democrats have long over-regulated and over-taxed Californians, and California’s supermajority Democratic legislature will have to get in line with him and end those things if he’s elected.

Matt Mahan said the state’s gas tax is regressive and needs to be changed, and that he will remove barriers to housing. Xavier Becerra said he would reduce prescription drug prices and build shovel-ready housing projects. Tony Thurmond said he would provide down-payment assistance grants to those trying to own their first home.

Tom Steyer said he would shorten and reduce the cost of permitting for new homes, and drop the cost of construction by using industrial off-site building processes. Antonio Villaraigosa said he would provide better first-time homebuyer assistance, and fast track and streamline housing construction.

Katie Porter said California builds housing much more slowly than other states, and needs to build faster by innovating and cutting red tape, which she said would bring down housing costs.

Asked about healthcare, the candidates agreed costs were up, but not on the reason. Becerra and Hilton sparred over the issue directly.

Becerra blamed the Trump administration for costs going up and for stripping healthcare funding from California. He said California has to fight back to bring those costs down. He then called President Trump, “Steve Hilton’s daddy,” and said Hilton would not be the fighter California needs.

Hilton said costs are up because of “decisions made here in California by our politicians,” that federal funding coming to the state for healthcare is increasing, and that state rules prevent insurance companies from competing, which drives up costs.

Becerra tried to get Hilton to say he would fight Trump’s cuts to healthcare funding. Hilton didn’t bite.

Where is Becerra’s tie?

Why?

Why?

Why can we not dress like adults? At least he’s got his shirt more buttoned than Hilton’s disturbingly open neck. But, despite this lack of sartorial discretion, Becerra gets in a zinger, alluding to President Trump by calling him “Hilton’s daddy.”

Becerra then goes straight at Hilton over cuts to Medicare and other health programs. It’s a strong attack on an important issue.

Sensible response from Xavier Becerra after Matt Mahan calls for a cut to the state gas tax — which pays for roads, bridges and highway repairs.

He doesn’t call Mahan out by name, but he subtly makes a point about such naked pandering by suggesting he and others need to explain how they would back-fill that lost revenue without allowing the state’s roadways to turn into pothole hell.

If it wasn’t clear before: Polling matters. Position matters.

A month ago, Becerra was an afterthought in the race, with a lot of calls from party establishment types for him to end what seemed like a losing campaign.

Tonight, after surging in voter surveys, he’s literally front-and-center on the debate stage.

Affordability kicks off the questioning, with a poll showing most Californians don’t believe the California Dream is a possibility.

“Califordable” is a terrible tagline, but it’s Steve Hilton’s attempt at clever, and he starts off promising to make the Golden State just that.

Bianco is up next, nattering about no more regulation or taxes. Mahan sticks with his shtick that he grew up working class, and promises to cut the gas tax.

Becerra is up next, and is asked why he supports the gas tax. “We have to fund what it takes to have quality infrastructure,” he points out. Then ups Mahan’s working-class background with his immigrants-with-$12-in-their-pocket story of his parents coming to America.

And that’s our start, housing up next.

CBS moderators pitched today’s event as the “largest and most inclusive debate of the election.”

Moderators noted the large crowd of candidates, and asked them to keep their answers to questions “succinct.”

This debate follows one other, which featured just six of the eight candidates appearing Tuesday night.

Another previously scheduled debate was canceled following an uproar over the use of selection criteria that resulted in the exclusion of every candidate of color. Several of those excluded candidates complained.

This debate is a big one. While the election isn’t until June 2, many Californians will cast their ballots well before then.

Counties will begin sending mail ballots to voters no later than Monday, according to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber. Ballot drop-off locations will open Tuesday.

In recent elections, a vast majority of Californians have voted by mail. For instance, in the 2025 special election on Proposition 50, the state’s mid-decade redistricting measure, nearly 89% of votes were cast by mail, according to Weber’s office.

That means nearly 10.3 million out of about 11.6 million votes cast were cast by mail.

Going into tonight’s debate, a new poll (taken after the last debate) shows that there’s been a slight reshuffling of the leaders — but not by much.

Steve Hilton, the Trump-endorsed Republican, leads all candidates, but with a meager 16%, revealing the deep sense of apathy that currently defines this race. Hilton is followed by self-funded progressive billionaire Tom Steyer, who leads the pack of Democrats with 15%.

The poll, conducted by CBS News/YouGov between April 23 and April 27, also highlights what the media has covered all week: former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra has been the big winner of the Eric Swalwell debacle, and now holds third place with 13% after previously languishing in the single digits.

Chad Bianco, the bombastic, far-right sheriff of Riverside County, has dropped from his near-tie with Hilton, now holding only 10% of potential voters. Buh-bye.

But he’s still ahead of former Democratic Rep. Katie Porter, who came in with 9% of voter support; and tech-backed San José Mayor Matt Mahan and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who are tied at 4%. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond is at 1%.

Tonight’s debate is a Hail Mary all around — with any one of these contenders hoping a breakout moment will be, well, their big break.

One of the interesting things to watch out for is how hard Antonio Villaraigosa and Tony Thurmond will come out swinging. The two weren’t even invited to last week’s debate because of their low numbers, and they’ve faced increasing pressure to drop out so two Republicans don’t move onto the general election.

I’ve never known Thurmond, but I covered Villaraigosa for years — and if there’s one thing I know about him, it’s that he doesn’t go out without a brawl. But who will he direct his haymakers at? The two Republicans? His Eastside frenemy Xavier Becerra? His fellow cellar dweller Thurmond? Or his eternal target: himself?

After winning his first race for Congress in 1992, 34-year-old Xavier Becerra credited a wave of community supporters in Los Angeles, many Latino, for backing his upstart campaign, saying he hoped his win was proof that grassroots politics was more valuable than “heavy dollars.”

More than 30 years later, Becerra, 68, is again an upstart candidate — this time for California governor. Again he is facing monied competition — including from chief Democratic rival Tom Steyer, a self-funded billionaire — and relying on Latino and other grassroots support.

Eight candidates for California governor are set to participate Tuesday evening in the latest debate of the campaign.

Among those scheduled to appear are Republican frontrunners Steve Hilton, a Silicon Valley entrepreneur, former Fox News host and British political aide; and MAGA-backing Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, as well as Democratic frontrunners Tom Steyer, a billionaire hedge fund founder turned clean energy crusader; Xavier Becerra, a former congressman, California attorney general and U.S. Health and Human Services secretary; and former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter. All those candidates participated in the first debate as well.

Also appearing will be three other Democrats currently polling with single-digit support: San José Mayor Matt Mahan, former L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond.

How to watch

The debate, scheduled to last 90 minutes, begins at 5:30 p.m. PT and will be broadcast by CBS stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento, Fresno and Santa Barbara — including CBS LA and CBS Bay Area, according to organizers. It will be streamed on their websites and on CBS News 24/7.

Qualifications

According to CBS, the stations “invited all candidates with active campaigns who are listed on the ballot and had at least 1% support in both Emerson College and L.A. Times/UC Berkeley polls.”

California’s “jungle” primary is set for June 2. Only the top two performing candidates, regardless of party, will advance to the November election.

SACRAMENTO — Eric Swalwell is out — of the California gubernatorial race and Congress, spending time with family, as they say, after allegations of rape and sexual misconduct. That could be considered good news for the slew of Democrats who remain in the running, and even the two Republicans currently polling near the top.

But this muddled campaign season has clearly failed to capture voters’ imagination. This despite a sex scandal, a billionaire spending his millions, a dark horse spending tech-bro millions, a debate where the invitations were so controversial the event was canceled and a sheriff seizing ballots in a failed MAGA-pandering stunt. (President Trump ended up backing his opponent.)

Contenders in the race to be California’s next governor will meet on stage Tuesday night for the second of three planned debates before the June 2 primary.

Last week’s meet-up in San Francisco didn’t provide the fireworks or memorable moments the candidates, and many voters, were hoping for — but it did manage to remind us all that ballots will hit mailboxes in coming days and decisions must be made.

Ahead of the forum at Pomona College in Claremont, a trio of our Times columnists — Gustavo Arellano, Mark Z. Barabak and Anita Chabria — weigh in with a cheat sheet on what to look for, what to expect and why it matters.