What started as a heated, hour-long debate Wednesday between California’s gubernatorial candidates turned in the second half into a flurry of barbs in the final televised session before the June 2 primary.
The debate, held at the Skirball Cultural Center in Los Angeles, was the second in two days in the race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom to run a populous country. Two Republicans and five Democrats took the stage at the event, hosted by NBC Los Angeles and local channel Telemundo, seeking enough support to be among the top two voters next month.
Two Republicans, Steve Hilton, who was the host of Fox News, and Chad Bianco, the manager of Riverside County, joined in attacking the Democrats but did not differ much from each other on policy.
They were joined by a host of Democrats: Xavier Becerra, former California attorney general and cabinet secretary under President Joseph R. Biden Jr.; Tom Steyer, former hedge fund manager; Katie Porter, former congresswoman; Matt Mahan, mayor of San Jose, Calif.; and Antonio Villaraigosa, former mayor of Los Angeles.
Under California election rules, the top two candidates in the primary will advance to the November general election, regardless of party.
Here are five takeaways from the conversation.
Only a billionaire can vote for a billionaire tax plan.
At the start of the debate, the moderators asked each candidate whether they would support the multibillion-dollar tax plan that is expected to qualify for the November ballot.
This issue seemed to unite Democrats and Republicans. The Republicans said that they will remove new things from the government, while the Democrats said that it does not make sense as a one-time tax, it did not distribute the money received in education and it will work for a small number of people. Some Democrats have said they would support a different method of charging billions.
But everyone on stage said they would oppose the current rate on the table – except for Tom Steyer, who is also a billionaire. Mr. Steyer ran as a progressive Democrat who believes in raising taxes on corporations and the wealthy, and taking more aggressive measures against climate change.
Two words mean so much.
Mr. Bianco did not hesitate to lean on MAGA’s aggressive man, who continued during the debate, when he said that immigrants have committed many violent crimes.
When Ms. Porter tried to back away, he interrupted her and told her to tell the victims’ mothers.
“Sir, I don’t need your lessons on motherhood,” she replied.
Mr. Bianco replied: “It is possible.”
It was a great exchange of debate, and Ms. Porter just threw the glittering ice at him. With those two words, it seemed that Mr. Bianco doubted her ability as a mother, Mrs. Porter has achieved throughout his political career.
After the debate, Mr. Bianco said of the witness exchange, “Katie is trying to raise herself in the election.” Asked what he meant by his two-word answer, he did not elaborate.
Ms Porter said after the event that Mr Bianco was disrespectful to her – and to all women.
“No man has the right to tell a woman what it’s like to be them,” she said. “
In Los Angeles, housing concerns are very important.
Nothing has dominated the debate like the housing and homelessness debate. In 60 minutes, the candidates said more than 120 words including the words “houses,” “home” or “homelessness.
It felt fitting given that the debate was being held in Los Angeles, where massive wildfires last year wiped out wetlands in the Pacific Palisades and Altadena and have since raised many questions about construction costs, fire insurance and housing affordability.
Many of those who ran for the election put this issue as personal. Mr. Villaraigosa said his private fire insurance has been dropped and he has had to pay into the state’s bare-bones plan. Ms Porter said she was raising three children and worried about how they would ever pay the rent.
Speaking to one of his children, he said, “I think there’s a good chance he’ll end up living on my couch if we don’t figure out how to build affordable housing.”
The candidates floated wildly different ideas on how to make housing more affordable for Californians.
Mr. Hilton said he wants to build more subdivisions connected by freeways and reduce regulations to make construction cheaper. Mr. Steyer said he supports zoning of densely populated areas near public transit and off-site construction to save costs.
Mr Bianco said he wants to end bedrock environmental policies in California – the California Environmental Quality Act and the Coastal Commission – to allow housing to be built quickly. Many candidates say they support down payment assistance, especially for first-time home buyers.
Villaraigosa may play spoiler.
Mr. Villaraigosa was the youngest candidate on the debate stage. But that did not stop the veteran politician from attacking his opponents.
Even if the election does not change, Mr. Villaraigosa seemed to relish his chance to play spoiler in the race. He was the one who made sure viewers knew that Mr. Bianco was once a member of the Oath Keepers, a militant group. He is the one who portrayed Steve Hilton, the leading Republican candidate, as denying the election by asking Mr. Hilton at a CNN conference on Tuesday whether he believes that President Joseph R. Biden Jr. won the 2020 election.
But it was his repeated attacks on Mr. Becerra, who has moved up to the Democratic Alliance and has been heavily involved in the polls since Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race, has been in the spotlight.
Mr. Villaraigosa spoke repeatedly about the New York Times investigation where he accused Mr. Becerra for allowing 85,000 migrant children to be exploited at work where Mr. Becerra is the secretary of Mr. Mr. Becerra responded that the allegations were “Trump’s lies” and that the Biden administration had protected migrant children.
The tension seemed personal. Mr. Villaraigosa and Mr. Becerra both have political roots in Los Angeles and were mentored in politics by the same political godfather and former legislator, Art Torres. But they also have some history: When both were running for Los Angeles mayor in 2001, a dirty phone trick that discredited Mr. Villaraigosa was followed by Mr. Cerra.
Mr. Becerra did not attack. But after Mr. Villaraigosa attacked on Wednesday night, Mr.
No one scored a goal.
There were no disturbances on Wednesday night but no bright stars, either. The candidates did what they had to do to maintain their positions in the race, and there were few signs that this final televised debate would fundamentally change the dynamic.
For Democrats, Ms. Porter probably found some dangerous clips in his exchange with Mr. Steyer and Mr. Bianco. Mr. Steyer addressed his platform more assertively than he had in previous debates. Mr. Becerra was forced to take a defensive position about his record in the Biden administration, but he used it as an opportunity to attack President Trump. Mr. Villaraigosa and Mr. Mahan presented themselves as a limited alternative but they seem likely to remain under.
The two Republicans were more focused on attacking the Democrats than trying to outdo each other. At one time, Mr. Bianco even said, “I’ll stick with Steve,” referring to Mr. Hilton, adding that the only solution to California’s problems was to choose one of them.
“The goals proposed by all the other people on this stage to all of you are a repetition of all the problems that put us here in the first place,” said Mr. Bianco.
If anything, the evening underscored the truth: California is used to larger-than-life politicians, but they are not in this group. It is one of the reasons why many voters have ignored this race so far.
Shawn Hubler, Jennifer Medina again Jill Cowan reporting contributed.
