SAN FRANCISCO —With the California governor’s race quickly approaching, six candidates fiercely sparred over wealth, experience and race Wednesday evening in the first televised debate since former Rep. Eric Swalwell dropped out of the running amid sexual assault and misconduct allegations.
Democrat Tom Steyer, a billionaire hedge fund founder turned climate change activist, was frequently attacked over how he made his wealth, which he is using to fund his gubernatorial bid. Republican Steve Hilton, a former conservative commentator, was painted as a dilettante backed by President Trump. Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, a Democrat, was labeled a D.C. insider whose actions don’t match his words.
“We don’t need a billionaire who made his money in private prisons and oil and gas that he’s now supposedly against, or Trump’s handpicked candidate, or a D.C. insider who the Sacramento establishment is now [embracing],” said San José Mayor Matt Mahan.
Steyer, who has contributed $133 million to his own campaign, later said that although he may be the only billionaire on the stage, he was not the sole wealthy person or corporation trying to tilt the race, a clear reference to the backers of an independent expenditure committee supporting Mahan that is largely funded by Silicon Valley tech leaders.
“The billionaires and corporations are spending big in this race to oppose me and to support the other people on this stage,” Steyer said, noting that oil companies dropped $5 million against him on Wednesday, which is Earth Day. “I’m the billionaire who wants to tax other billionaires. I’m the billionaire who’s taking on the electric monopolies and trying to break up their power. I’m the billionaire who wants to tax the oil companies and make polluters pay.”
Becerra, in his first major appearance since surging in the race, misspoke while discussing the United States’ war against Iran, instead saying Iraq. The longtime elected official has gained ground in the race since Swalwell dropped out and was the target of multiple attacks. He and former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter, fellow Democrats, sparred over their resumes during a discussion about housing affordability.
“Mr. Becerra, you have all these lovely plans, but there are never any numbers, any revenue plan, any details, anything that pushes on the status quo,” Porter said. “But the how, the why and how much, it’s all missing.”
Becerra, a politician known for his mild-mannered demeanor, instantly shot back, questioning Porter’s experience.
“That’s very rich to hear from someone who’s never had to actually run a government,” he said, adding that he balanced four federal Health and Human Services budgets that were “larger than the budget of the state of California.”
Candidates Tom Steyer, left, and Katie Porter, at Wednesday’s debate.
(Jason Henry / Associated Press)
The debate took place at a critical moment in the turbulent contest to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom. Ballots will start landing in Californians’ mailboxes in less than two weeks, and voters are split by a crowded field of eight prominent candidates. The 90-minute debate, hosted by Nexstar and moderated by KTXL FOX40 anchor Nikki Laurenzo and KTLA anchor Frank Buckley, also took place after former state Controller Betty Yee ended her campaign due to a lack of resources and support in the polls.
Becerra, who was chair of the Democratic Caucus when Swalwell was elected to Congress, was asked about his recent comments that many in the nation’s capital had heard rumors about the Dublin Democrat’s behavior and whether Becerra should have sought additional information about the allegations.
“You hear rumors all the time about all sorts of things. Rumors are not facts. And the caucus, the Democratic Caucus, is not a place that adjudicates those things. It’s law enforcement that does,” Becerra said, pointing to his track record prosecuting sex traffickers when he was California’s attorney general. “If someone had come forward, we could then have investigations.”
He added that he applauded the “courageous” women who had come forward, resulting in Swalwell facing accountability.
The gathering was the first televised debate in the gubernatorial contest since early February. Last month, USC canceled a debate hours before it was set to begin over mounting criticism that its criteria excluded all major candidates of color.
Two Republicans — Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and Hilton — and four Democrats — Steyer, Becerra, Porter and Mahan — appeared on stage at Nexstar’s KRON4 studios in San Francisco. Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and state Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, both Democrats, were not invited to participate because of their low polling numbers.
Bianco and Hilton lead the polls despite California being an overwhelmingly blue state, with registered Democratic voters outnumbering Republicans nearly 2 to 1. This has prompted anxiety among Democratic leaders that their party may be shut out because of California’s unique primary system, where the top two vote-getters in the June 2 primary move on to the November general election regardless of party affiliation. Democratic voters are splintered among their party’s six main candidates, and the two candidates who dropped out will still appear on the ballot.
Although the two Republicans have gotten increasingly testy on the campaign trail, they avoided attacking each other during Wednesday’s debate.
Two white candidates got into a spat over racism and diversity when candidates were asked about CHP officers reportedly administering English proficiency tests for truck drivers.
Officers who do so must have good reason, Bianco said.
“Let’s stop with this whole racism thing and racial profiling and all of this is garbage. We have to get over this. You either violated the law or you didn’t,” he said.
Porter pounced on the comment, saying she was “stunned that Mr. Bianco would say to Black and brown Californians and immigrants who are being terrorized and racially profiled that you have to get over racism. It’s not something that you get over, it’s something that you fight. And if he doesn’t understand the importance of that, he has no business representing a state with the diversity of California.”
“That’s not even close to what I said,” Bianco retorted, adding that he works with people of all races in his job as a law enforcement official. “Californians are absolutely sick and tired of our politicians making race the basis of everything. It is not, and this racial divide that they are pushing between law enforcement and the public or Democrat and Republican absolutely has to stop.”
Many of the sharpest barbs focused on Steyer about the hedge fund he founded profiting from investments in private prisons and fossil fuel companies.
In a discussion about affordable housing, Mahan said, “The only housing Tom Steyer built has been private prisons and ICE detention centers.”
Steyer, who has previously said such investments were why he walked away from the hedge fund in 2012, responded by highlighting a nonprofit bank that he and his wife founded to help people who can’t get loans from traditional banks and that has financed more than 17,000 low-income housing units.
“We have made sure that every loan is measured only for its impact on the community, either in terms of economic growth or environmental sustainability,” Steyer said. “And we don’t make a dime out of it, and we absolutely never will.”
Dan Schnur, a longtime politics professor at USC, UC Berkeley and Pepperdine University, said the debate finally provided some clarity in the gubernatorial race.
“Steyer or Porter would move the state to the left, Mahan to the center and Hilton or Bianco to the right. Becerra would keep things right where they are,” Schnur said. “Becerra was the least impressive presence on the stage, but he may have won the debate by reassuring Sacramento that he is the candidate who won’t change anything. Money and endorsements to follow.”
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