Top candidates for California governor face off just weeks before June 2 election

The candidates were asked which of their rivals they would vote for if they don’t advance to the general election themselves.

Here’s how they responded.

Chad Bianco: Steve Hilton

Antonio Villaraigosa: I would consider all the Democrats standing on the stage.

Xavier Becerra: Ditto.

Matt Mahan: I would consider Villaraigosa because mayors “get things done.”

Steve Hilton: Chad Bianco

Tom Steyer: Another Democrat on the stage

Katie Porter: Any one of the “Democratic dudes”

Asked if, as governor, they would allow a California abortion doctor to be extradited to Louisiana, Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco both said they would (all the other candidates said no).

Here’s what’s at issue: Louisiana has a near-total abortion ban for any reason. Since the Dobbs decision a few years ago, which allows states to make their own rules on abortion, more and more women across the country are relying on providers in states such as California who will ship abortion medications to states where they cannot be prescribed by providers.

California legislators have passed laws protecting these providers, and Gov. Gavin Newsom has refused to allow other states to extradite doctors to face criminal charges in places such as Louisiana.

On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court allowed one of those abortion drugs to continue to be sent by mail. That means California remains a pivotal, critical safeguard for women across the country to seek abortion care.

If Steve Hilton becomes governor, he’s made it clear that women across the country could suffer.

There was a time where Antonio Villaraigosa was the “It” Candidate.

The man who was able to unite the squabbling Eastside political machines. Speaker of the Assembly. A Los Angeles city councilmember. The first Latino mayor of L.A. in modern times, who was predicted to attain heights that Latino politicians had never before reached.

He left office in 2013 — a lifetime ago in politics. It was a good lifetime, one he has brought up again and again during his run for governor and during all the debates he’s participated in, including tonight. It’s an obvious, even smart, move meant to reassure voters that he has succeeded in the past and has the experience to govern California effectively.

But he’s no longer “It.”

When he ran for governor in 2018, he didn’t even make it to the general election. He has lagged in the polls this time around. He’s always has a gregarious way with voters, but he’s coming off tonight as someone who knows his political time is up. Gone is the man who inspired millions every time he spoke or campaigned for office. Now before us is the guy who former supporters are comparing to a crab and who is dragging down his frenemy Becerra’s quest to become the first Latino governor of California since the 19th century.

When you have a candidate promising to serve only one term, as Villaraigosa did a few weeks ago, you are no longer “It.”

CBS moved to a prerecorded segment about education and teachers — including a social science high school teacher who said stagnant salaries amid rising costs was a major concern, and another teacher who worried about budget cuts impacting students’ performance and health.

Moderators pointed out high spending on education in California, but low outcomes.

Antonio Villaraigosa said he led an initiative to reduce class sizes as a state legislator, and turned around failing schools in L.A. as mayor.

“We got to focus on literacy,” he said. “I’ve got a record of turning around schools.”

Katie Porter said the impacts on education from the COVID pandemic fell most heavily on low-income families, and the state should focus on key benchmarks that indicate student performance — including reading fluently by age 7 or 8, and the jump from Algebra 1 to Algebra 2. She also said she would focus on student mental health, another barrier to performance.

Chad Bianco said California’s school system needs to be “completely revamped from the top down,” with cuts to administration and more money for classroom teachers.

Xavier Becerra was asked about how he would balance the “the influence of the teachers unions” with demands for more accountability at a time when declining enrollment has led to school district financial instability, layoffs and school shutdowns.

“We should not let anyone, whether it’s a union or whether it’s administrator, get in the way of accountability,” he said.

The state, he said, will make sure that people are held accountable for getting kids ready for success.

“We have to start much earlier,” he said, including by ensuring people have access to early childhood education.

Tom Steyer said “great teachers” are who get kids to learn, but it’s hard to recruit teachers because California doesn’t pay enough. He said he will close tax loopholes for corporations and pay teachers more.

Steve Hilton said California needs to make it easier for working-class residents to get into state universities. He said Democrats are responsible for students’ poor reading and math performance across the state, and a new path must be charted.

“We need to hold teachers accountable, but also make sure that we reform the pensions,” he said, saying too much of teachers’ salaries are going into the pension system.

Matt Mahan, a former teacher, was asked about AI in the education sphere, said he has regulated the technology to “ethically and responsibly” move forward. But he said AI and computers shouldn’t be overused in classrooms, and that teachers are who educate children.

“We need the governor to be accountable for education outcomes,” he said — including by moving the state education department under the governor.

Chad Bianco, continuing his campaign for mayor of MAGAville — not California governor — went full-on climate-change denier.

His whole life, Bianco said, he’s heard catastrophizing talk of a coming Ice Age, melting polar caps and all sorts of life-threatening horrors.

“Am I naive enough to believe humans can affect it?” said Bianco, in the face of overwhelming scientific evidence that human behavior is, indeed, overheating the planet. “No.”

Fellow Republican Steve Hilton sought to straddle the issues, first acknowledging that climate change is happening.

“I’m an environmentalist,” he declared, then pivoted to all the ways he claimed that efforts to fight climate change have hurt small businesses and contributed to natural disasters.

In fact, there is irrefutable evidence that climate change is worsening predations like floods, droughts and wildfires.

But saying as much contradicts the gaseous emissions of President Trump, the climate-change-denier-in-chief, and holds no percentage for a Republican vying for GOP support in the June 2 primary.

Good luck defending that stance in a general election, where a significant majority of California voters are strongly pro-environment.

Katie Porter was asked if California should introduce climate standards specifically in relation to AI and data centers.

She said we should have climate standards for everything being built in the state, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t build those things. That said, companies should be prepared to pay for the resources that they need to build.

“Those costs should come out of your profits, not out of California families’ pocketbooks,” she said.

Xavier Becerra said he would also make sure that “everyone pays their fair share.” He said the state must work with companies to establish a “clear set of rules” on how they will operate.

“We have to make sure that, as we harness AI, we do it before AI harnesses us,” he said.

Candidates also argued about the balance of power and energy between old fossil fuels and new, renewable sources.

Tom Steyer said climate is one of the biggest issues facing California, and “no one is talking about it smartly” on the stage.

He said clean energy is cheaper than fossil fuels, and California will fall behind unless it moves as quickly as possible to renewable energy. “This war in Iran only points out how much more expensive” fossil fuel energy is.

He then pivoted to Becerra’s acceptance of a donation from Chevron. Becerra took a $39,500 contribution from the oil company and said “we need Chevron” at a recent forum.

Beccera’s refusal to reject the fossil fuel industry is a wedge issue in the race between him and Steyer and has prompted some outbursts from activists at Becerra’s town halls, including one last week in Oxnard.

Antonio Villaraigosa said “we need an ‘all of the above’ energy policy” — not climate deniers or those who think California will be fully energized only through renewables.

All of the Democrats said they would not increase oil drilling off the coast of California. Both Republicans said they would.

Moderators discussed robust efforts in California to protect the environment, then asked the two Republican candidates on the stage whether they even believe in climate change.

Chad Bianco said California is destroying itself with all its environmental policies.

“Of course we can say that temperatures are increasing,” he said, but he’s not “naive” enough to think that humans can affect or control the climate, which has been changing since he was a child.

The state, he said, has to “stop destroying California with unbelievable excessive regulations that are truly environmental-activist-related.”

Steve Hilton said he believes in climate change but that California needs to have “common sense” on the issue rather than ideological responses.

He said it is “of course” right to want clean water and air, but policies in California are not working — as has been made clear by the recent “mega-fires” in the state.

“We love our beautiful natural landscapes, our climate here in California. We’ve got to protect that,” he said.

Ho-hum. Forty-five minutes in, and it’s a night when all the candidates seem tired, maybe even bored, of their own spiels. Maybe there should have been coffee on their podiums instead of water, because even their attacks feel half-hearted and low-energy.

Maybe that’s good after the chaos of past debates, but there’s a flatness so far, even in the jabs. For a hot second, the candidates piled on the front-runner, Xavier Becerra, for issues ranging from the financial scandal around his dormant campaign account to hospice fraud during his tenure as U.S. secretary of Health and Human Services. But even that faded quickly.

So far, nothing has happened that is likely to help any of these candidates leap forward with voters, but also, no one has blown it yet.

The low energy may not matter for those at the bottom of the polls who have no chance. But Becerra and Steyer are neck-and-neck for the Democrats, and a break-out moment from either one could shift the race.

I’m watching the first part of this debate on YouTube without sound or closed captions because I’m at a location where no noise is allowed.

That means I’m judging this free-for-all solely by the candidates’ facial reactions and body language.

So what am I seeing?

Katie Porter, who has made a career out of spitting fire at the powers that be, seems both somber and hectoring. Chad Bianco looks like he’s never smiled before — I get that life in California is hard, but even Jerry Brown cracked a chuckle every once in a while. Antonio Villaraigosa, who has done a great job in the last couple of debates going after his frenemy Xavier Becerra, suddenly seems beleaguered and defeated — not what you should be projecting so close to primary day.

Matt Mahan? Gesticulating wildly, smiling randomly and without his whisper of facial hair, he’s coming off as seriously out of his league. Tom Steyer? During his opening remarks, he looked down a lot at what seemed like notes and did a lot of fist-shaking and finger-pointing to continue his populist approach — but those white Nikes with the red swooshes made the billionaire look like he was trying too hard. And he vainly kept raising his hand limply to get the attention of moderators, who were letting Steve Hilton and Becerra go at it.

That leaves the Republican and Democratic front-runners. Hilton, who has promised my father and me a taco date, was either looking directly at the camera or specifically at someone. His smirks, combined with eyes that alternately went soft and sharp, told me he’s trying to channel his inner Nigel Farage: funny, furious and fearless.

Becerra, meanwhile, looked all across the auditorium with serious eyes during his opening remarks. And as one candidate after another lobbed attacks at him, he was doing things I haven’t seen much from him. Smiling. Smirking. Even laughing.

This is a man who’s confident about where he thinks the voters are taking him.

Another prerecorded segment showed folks struggling to afford housing, including a Bay Area couple, both working professionals, who said they can’t afford to buy a home in the area.

Candidates were then asked how they would ensure more housing is built in the state.

Antonio Villaraigosa said he has a record of building housing from when he was mayor of L.A., and that there needs to be a “one-stop permitting” process not just at the state level, but in localities.

Steve Hilton was asked if he would punish cities that don’t comply with housing requirements.

“No, instead of trying to force housing into places that don’t want it, we need to build housing in the places that do want it,” he said.

He said too many young people have given up on the idea of owning a home, and California needs to develop more undeveloped land into housing rather than trying to jam apartment buildings into cities.

Xavier Becerra said if the state could “double, triple” its current production, that would be a good start, but there also have to be steps taken to “unstick the process” and “streamline” regulations to speed up production.

He said California must reduce costs for developers to build. “It’s not rocket science.”

Becerra was asked how he would pay for his plans — and slammed by several other candidates who said he doesn’t have a plan to do so.

Chad Bianco said there is “waste, fraud and abuse” happening among thousands of nonprofit organizations taking money from the state to address homelessness and not doing anything to solve it. He said he could do a better job of clearing the streets by forcing people into real care.

Katie Porter said there do need to be more options for getting help for people with mental illness or substance-use disorders, but there are also many other drivers of homelessness that need to be addressed.

Tom Steyer said “nobody gets well on the street,” and his job as governor would be to keep people off the street by giving them rental assistance, getting them into emergency interim housing, and, after repeated failures to get people off the street and into more stable circumstances, forcing people into care.

Matt Mahan said as governor he will hold every city and county accountable for “doing its part” in building new housing. He said housing, treatment and shelters are all needed.

Several of the gubernatorial candidates, but not the two top Republicans, including Hilton, recently appeared on a housing forum hosted by The New York Times.

As Xavier Becerra rightly noted, “This is what happens when you take the lead in polls.”

He also said — rather disingenuously — that ganging up on the leader was a Trump-like tactic and not something he expected to face from fellow Democrats.

Please.

That said, Becerra was feistier in his own defense tonight, repeatedly batting down guilt-by-association attacks linking him to the misdeeds of former aides charged with swindling money from one of his dormant campaign accounts.

Republican Steve Hilton told Becerra that, rather than running for governor, he “should be preparing [his] criminal defense.”

Fellow Democrat Katie Porter, who has been among those most fiercely trying to fan blame-the-victim flames, also raised the prospect of a Becerra indictment in the case. (As Becerra noted, he has been exonerated by the prosecutors who brought the criminal charges.)

Which just goes to show that slinging unsubstantiated innuendo is a bipartisan sport.

After the candidates’ opening remarks, the debate paused as CBS played a prerecorded feature of a California mother named Grace who is struggling to pay for groceries amid inflation.

The candidates then sparred over how to bring down costs — a major issue for Californians — including by taking shots at one another.

Chad Bianco said “the policy decisions” that the Democratic candidates on the stage had made for years were what drove up costs in California, and the way to reverse course is to get rid of regulations and the “old, tired” policies. “You’ve got to vote for something different.”

Katie Porter said she has four concrete policies: Build faster to lower housing costs; provide free childcare to “help our economy boom”; provide free tuition at state universities to put money “right back into the pocket” of families; and eliminate California state income taxes for those earning less than $100,000 — an idea she said she took from Steve Hilton.

Matt Mahan said the answer was to “put more money in people’s pockets by bringing down costs,” and that that would not occur under either Tom Steyer or Hilton.

He said Steyer’s plans sound “more like socialism” and “literally would double the size of state government.” And he slammed Hilton for backing President Trump when tariffs and the war in Iran are key factors in driving up costs.

Hilton shot back by saying Mahan had failed to bring down the cost of living in San José, where he is mayor.

That prompted Mahan to tell Hilton that he was “talking out of both sides” of his mouth. “Steve, you came to San José to see our success on interim housing, now you’re against it.”

Steyer said he would reduce costs by taking on special interests and bringing about structural change and breaking up monopolies.

“I am the person who will tax the billionaires like me, and the big corporations so we can afford to make the changes” to pay for healthcare and education, he said.

Sacramento — A veteran California political consultant pleaded guilty Thursday to charges related to a scheme to steal campaign funds from Xavier Becerra, now a leading candidate for governor.

In exchange for Dana Williamson’s admission that she committed bank and wire fraud, lied to FBI agents and filed a false tax form, federal prosecutors will dismiss 20 other counts against her, including those related to a federal COVID-19 business loan she received.

The gubernatorial hopefuls are making no end of pleasing-sounding pledges.

Tom Steyer says he’ll cut your utility bill by 25% and bring universal health care to California. Katie Porter promises free child care and free college tuition. Steve Hilton said he’ll see to it that the first $100,000 that Californians earn will be tax-free — a promise Porter echoed.

But as my fellow Times columnist George Skelton recently pointed out, there’s a canyon-sized gap between what candidates promise and what they can plausibly deliver.

As Skelton noted, universal health care has been a long-standing pipe dream, er, goal, promised by, among others, Gavin Newsom when he first ran for governor.

Spoiler alert: There is still no universal health care in California.

And there’s no magic wand to deliver cheaper utility bills, free tuition and free child care, either.

SACRAMENTO  — As Xavier Becerra rose to the top echelons of power in Washington and Sacramento over the last two decades, his trusted advisor Sean McCluskie joined him at every step.

The son of a Scottish immigrant, McCluskie had a reputation as a political street fighter and his gruff style complemented Becerra’s more measured, cerebral approach.

The seven candidates on the stage were asked to give opening remarks to kick off Thursday’s debate.

Katie Porter asked voters to think of one word, “trust,” and to ask themselves who can they trust to fight for their families and give them a “more affordable life.” She said that is her.

Chad Bianco outlined his various responsibilities as Riverside County sheriff, said he runs his department’s budget responsibly and in the black, and that the state does not need more “pie-in-the-sky ideas” from Democrats, but real solutions.

“This is a state with big challenges,” Antonio Villaraigosa said, including affordability, healthcare, homelessness and dirty and “crime-filled” streets. He said he is the only candidate who has the courage to “take on Donald Trump, but also take on our friends when they are wrong,” including those in Sacramento.

Xavier Becerra said “too many families today don’t believe” that the state that delivered his family the California dream “exists today for them.” He said he has been fighting all his life to restore that dream, including by fighting President Trump.

“We need change, everything is too expensive and our state isn’t working for working families,” Matt Mahan said. That change will only come, he added, with more accountability and by challenging the establishment from a newcomer — not someone like Becerra, who he called the “status quo.”

Steve Hilton said “the change we need is away from the policies that have brought us to the situation that all the people on this stage describe.” The only two people on the stage, he said — presumably himself and fellow Republican, Bianco — can bring the change that is needed. “I see you, I believe in you, I won’t accept that the California dream is something we talk about in the past tense.”

Tom Steyer said he is running for governor because “Californians can’t afford to live in California anymore.” He said he will take on special interests and lower costs for working Californians, including by building “a million homes that Californians can afford.” He said the “corporate powers that be” are spending against him because they know he is coming for their profits.

I spent my morning at the federal courthouse in Sacramento, where Dana Williamson, one of the political heavyweights at the center of the scandal involving Xavier Becerra’s campaign funds, pleaded guilty to three felonies.

As my colleague Mark Barabak pointed out, Becerra has never been charged in the case, and prosecutors consider him a victim. Williamson allegedly conspired with Becerra confidant Sean McCluskie and another aide to funnel $225,000 from a dormant state campaign account to McCluskie.

Thursday, Becerra posted on social media: “My opponents have spent millions spreading lies to purposefully mislead voters. Today confirms what I have said from day one: I did nothing wrong. Case closed.”

Case closed is a bit of wishful thinking, because you can be certain that tonight’s debate will be full of jabs over this. Whatever other issues come up, Becerra is the front runner, and the one every other candidate will be trying to knock down.

One of his opponents, Katie Porter, launched a no-holds-barred attack on CNN earlier this week that suggested — with no evidence — that Becerra could be charged in the case at some point. Another opponent, Tom Steyer, put out a press release Thursday afternoon asserting that Becerra is either “incompetent or corrupt.”

That’s just the warm up. The gloves are off, and tonight will be a bare knuckles brawl.

Former L.A. mayor and current candidate for governor Antonio Villaraigosa wants voters to know that he navigated billion-dollar budgets, cracked down on violent crime and championed the expansion of bus and rail lines.

The onetime state Assembly speaker argues he’s the only Democratic candidate with the experience to do the complicated job of running California.

In Congress, Katie Porter’s blunt, combative style helped rocket her to progressive stardom. It has also become her biggest vulnerability as she campaigns to be California’s next governor.

Her brusque approach, prosecutorial instincts and suburban mom appeal fueled Porter’s rise during her three terms in the U.S. House of Representatives, where she rattled chief executives and Trump administration leaders and batted away GOP challengers in a competitive Orange County district.

Tom Steyer is trying to sell himself to voters as an agent of change.

He has vowed to take on entrenched political and economic forces to create affordable housing, make the wealthy pay more in taxes, lower energy bills and protect the environment.

Chad Bianco’s campaign for California governor leans heavily on his years as Riverside County sheriff, a record that has drawn praise from voters yearning to return to a tough-on-crime era and harsh criticism from others who consider him a far-right affront to the rule of law.

The stout, mustached Republican is running an unapologetic campaign against the “Democrat policies that have destroyed this state,” launching into angry diatribes about, as he sees it, the left’s failed record in California in debate after debate, on social media and in news interviews, during which he often accuses the media of being complicit.

Xavier Becerra, a former Cabinet secretary in President Biden’s administration, appears to be surging in the wildly unsettled California governor’s race.

Until recently, the former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary had been mired in the single digits in polling to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom and lead the nation’s most populous state.

Steve Hilton is a former Fox News host who has unexpectedly emerged as a leading candidate in the race for governor with a message that California is a failed state in need of radical reform.

But his sudden rise in California politics comes a decade and a half after he pitched the U.K. Conservative Party with a very different idea: Britain could learn a lot from the Golden State.

SACRAMENTO — State election officials warned voters Tuesday to send their mail-in ballots in early after changes at the U.S. Postal Service that have led to slower mail service throughout California.

Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley Weber said vote-by-mail ballots should be put in the mail at least a week before the June 2 election.

Voters in California may get a chance to remake the state’s open primary system in two years.

Political consultant Steve Maviglio filed an application Friday with state officials that seeks to alter California’s voting system by reverting to a traditional primary. Under the proposal, the top candidates from each party would advance to the general election in November.

A briefing memo obtained by The Times appears to support former Rep. Katie Porter’s accusation that a Tom Steyer staffer leaked a video of her yelling at an employee, an outburst that tainted her gubernatorial prospects when the video became public.

The video, which was obtained in October by Politico, showed Porter erupting at a staff member who appeared in the background of a prerecorded Zoom call between the former congresswoman and then-Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

Moderating a gubernatorial debate ain’t no stroll in the sand, as I found out earlier this year when I co-moderated at the California Science Center.

You have to ask questions that will make sense to as many voters as possible, so they must be blander than soft tofu. The candidates will most likely blow past whatever you end up asking, like a horse rushing past the starting gate at the Kentucky Derby. Everyone will blame you for their subsequent bloviations — yet you’ll sound like a spoilsport when you remind them that time’s up.

The moderators at this year’s governor’s debates haven’t done a bad job. But now comes news that at tonight’s forum, hosted by CBS News California and the San Francisco Examiner, the candidates — Xavier Becerra, Chad Bianco, Steve Hilton, Matt Mahan, Katie Porter, Tom Steyer and Antonio Villaraigosa — will be allowed to query each other.

Heaven help us all.

Expect grandstanding, nitpicking and the type of elevated discourse found in an episode of Ms. Rachel. But in case anyone needs suggestions, here are some questions, tailored for each candidate.

To Becerra: Your transformation from also-ran to top-tier candidate has been remarkable. Your message never really changed, so where was all this buzz earlier?

To Bianco: You’ve spent this entire year auditioning to be cast as a live-action version of Yosemite Sam. Who on this stage is your Bugs Bunny?

To Mahan: Who are you, again?

To Porter: When was the last time you screamed at a staffer?

To Steyer: You’ve spent nearly $180 million of your own money so far, yet your campaign seems to have hit a ceiling. You also spent more than $345 million on your failed 2020 presidential run. How much would you drop if you ran for San Francisco dog catcher?

To Villaraigosa: How much does it bother you that Becerra — your longtime frenemy, whom you creamed in the 2001 Los Angeles mayoral primary — now stands at the cusp of becoming the first elected Latino governor of California, while you’ll have failed twice to attain that prize?

Will the sixth time be the charm?

When the top candidates for California governor take the stage in San Francisco for their sixth — and possibly final — televised debate, will one contender appear so brilliant, so mesmerizing, so commanding and so utterly awe-inspiring that they burst from the pack and stamp themselves as the overwhelming, far-and-away front-runner?

Not likely.

And yet this has been a governor’s race full of surprises — none greater than the rise of Xavier Becerra from the politically dead to his status as, marginally, the candidate to beat.

Becerra’s newfound status was underscored by the bulls-eye attached to him in the last three debates. It’s reasonably certain that he will again be the focus of attacks this evening, from both Republicans and fellow Democrats.

You can expect to hear more about the former Becerra aides who swindled money from a dormant campaign account. Increasingly desperate, his rivals have tried to implicate Becerra in the fraud, though so far their efforts have amounted to smoke and no fire.

You’ll probably also hear more about the 85,000 migrant children “lost” during Becerra’s tenure as Health and Human Services secretary in the Biden administration. Becerra has defended himself by calling the assertion a Trump-driven attack, though the allegations arise from New York Times reporting. Becerra has also said he was not responsible for what happened to children once they were released from government shelters.

Will the candidates plow new ground?

Will the two Republicans, Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, turn on one another, now that polls suggest the GOP might be frozen out in the June 2 primary, resulting in an all-Democratic runoff in November? (This after months of speculation of a Democratic freeze out.)

Will bottom-dwellers Matt Mahan and Antonio Villaraigosa manage something, anything, to pull themselves them into serious contention?

To find out, tune in.