Top takeaways from fiery, at times ugly, California governor debate

Democrat Xavier Becerra’s meteoric rise in California’s gubernatorial race made him a ripe and persistent target during a combative, nationally televised debate Tuesday evening; This was his first real test in a high-stakes election that remains highly volatile.

Becerra was battered throughout the two-hour CNN debate, particularly by his Democratic rivals, who accused him of dodging questions about his stance on single-payer healthcare, falling short as a Biden Cabinet secretary and pocketing a campaign donation from Chevron.

“I think everyone is mentioning my name. It’s pretty nice to hear my name,” said Becerra, who served as US Secretary of Health and Human Services during the Biden administration. “I’ll tell you this: It’s never good to distort the facts in your quest for governor, but using Trump’s lies to hurt your opponents is worse, and that’s what we’re seeing happening.”

As ballots land in California voters’ mailboxes, the state’s seven top gubernatorial candidates clash over immigration, President Trump, tax policy, political temperament and a litany of scandals, mud-slinging and other unsavory actions that come to the fore in this hotly contested race.

These sharp and sometimes testy debates reflect how volatile the race to replace outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom is and California’s outsized economic and political weight on the national and international stage.

Shortly after the debate began, former Orange County Rep. Katie Porter scolded her fellow candidates for their incessant attacks.

“I can’t believe it [the] Interrupting, bickering, name-calling, yelling and disrespecting everyone who steps into public service here, everyone wanting to talk about my temperament,” said the former Democratic Congresswoman from Irvine.

Here are the biggest takeaways from the two-hour debate, which somehow seemed even longer:

Becerra gets his lumps

Beccera, who was on the rise in the weeks before the June 2 primary, has come under attack from Republican and Democratic rivals over his oversight of unaccompanied immigrant minors during his tenure at the Department of Health and Human Services and his relationship with a longtime adviser who, along with other advisers, siphoned about $225,000 from one of Becerra’s dormant campaign accounts.

Becerra is not accused of malfeasance and is listed as the victim in prosecutors’ court records. Still, Republican conservative commentator Steve Hilton suggested that Becerra knew about the scheme, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a Democrat, questioned why Becerra paid an unusually high fee to one of the consultants named in the indictment.

“It doesn’t pass the smell test,” Villaraigosa said.

Becerra has also been accused of shifting his stance on single-payer health care, a top priority for liberal voters who aim to create a health care system managed and funded by the federal government.

Although Becerra has long supported single-payer health care, he recently assured members of the California Medical Assn. One of the most influential medical lobby groups in California, which supports it, said he would not support it as governor, according to the KQED report.

When asked directly about this issue, Becerra said, “Those reports were inaccurate. I remain in favor of Medicare for All.”

Becerra sidestepped Porter’s repeated questions about whether he supports a government-sponsored, single-payer healthcare system in California, saying he wants to cover “everyone with something like Medicare for All.”

“It’s not single-payer to cover everyone with something. It’s not even federal Medicare for all. But you can’t say whether you support California having its own state-run single-payer system,” Porter said.

Single-payer healthcare is an important issue

Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer also faced harsh criticism for changing his stance on the issue. The hedge fund founder turned eco-warrior opposed single-payer healthcare during the 2020 presidential election and now supports a statewide single-payer system called CalCare. One of CalCare’s biggest supporters, the California Nurses Assn. powered by.

A recent analysis by UC researchers estimates that CalCare would cost $731 billion to implement in 2027; That price tag is $14 billion more than all health care spending expected in California next year.

Villaraigosa said creating a government-sponsored, single-payer healthcare system (with a price tag higher than the entire state budget) is a “pie in the sky” proposition. He said he sees health care as a human right, but that a system like CalCare would need approval from the Trump administration and that won’t happen.

Hilton, a former British citizen, said he was the only candidate with experience of government-run healthcare.

“As a patient, it almost killed me,” he said. “That’s another story we don’t have time for. As a policymaker, you’re faced with the worst patient satisfaction, costs you can’t afford, taxes and copays that are too high. It’s an absolute disaster.”

The race is still tight

The 2026 gubernatorial contest has been a volatile, unpredictable whirlwind. Unlike every gubernatorial race in more than a quarter-century, there is no clear leader; This leads to a wide field of candidates who are little known among California’s 23.1 million registered voters but have notable resumes.

On Monday, the state Democratic Party released its latest voter poll, which found Hilton and Becerra tied at 18% and Bianco at 14%. Steyer received 12% support, while other top Democrats in the race backed Porter, San José Mayor Matt Mahan, Villaraigosa and State Supt. Public Education Tony Thurmond – was in single digits. Thurmond did not meet the voting threshold required to qualify for Tuesday’s debate or Wednesday’s NBC/Telemundo matchup.

Tuesday’s debate with the leading candidates took place at East Los Angeles College and was hosted by CNN; It’s the first time national media has paid this much attention to a California statewide contest since 2010.

Partisan divide on immigration

On the debate stage in Los Angeles, a target of the Trump administration’s immigration raids, Bianco criticized California’s sanctuary state laws that prevent local law enforcement from assisting with federal immigration enforcement.

Villaraigosa defended undocumented immigrants residing in California, saying they are vital to the state’s economic success. He also accused Bianco of not understanding how California’s sanctuary state policy works; The former Los Angeles mayor told him that California had handed over thousands of undocumented immigrants convicted of crimes to federal immigration authorities.

Bianco immediately dismissed Villaraigosa’s comment.

“I want Mr. Villaraigosa to tell the mother of the 14-year-old boy who died in my county because of an illegal immigrant who was deported three times for DUI that the asylum seeker state policy keeps us safe. I don’t think he would agree with you,” Bianco said.

Democrats Porter, Steyer, Mahan and Becerra accused the Trump administration of “terrorizing” Latino communities and targeting people for deportation based on the color of their skin.

Steyer said he would prosecute ICE agents and the people who sent them, including former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Trump adviser Stephen Miller, for illegal racial profiling.

Agreement on housing needs

On housing, candidates agreed that California is falling short of providing enough housing to make the state affordable. Mahan, the mayor of San José, said the city is reducing its homeless population by making it easier for people to build ADUs in their backyards and reducing red tape for additional types of housing.

Villaraigosa said he built more market-rate, affordable and workforce housing during his time as mayor of Los Angeles than anyone else on the scene.

Hilton has pushed for single-family homes to be built in large swaths of the state rather than forcing more housing in places where residents don’t want it.

“Californians can’t afford to live here,” Steyer said, and there needs to be more discussion about building more and faster housing. He also said cities and counties “don’t want new housing” because they can’t afford healthcare and education costs for more residents, and that he would solve that problem by closing tax loopholes for big businesses.

Still, housing, homelessness and affordability — issues top of mind for California voters — received little overall attention, even as CNN debate moderators Kaitlan Collins and Los Angeles native Elex Michaelson pressed the candidates on the state’s persistent problems with affordability.

Steyer used the issue of affordability to criticize Becerra, now his biggest political threat, for taking campaign contributions from Chevron.

“Being in bed with the oil companies is a mistake,” Steyer said. “Xavier Becerra took the maximum amount of money from Chevron and said they were the good guys we needed. The truth is, the oil companies are ripping us off at the pump. They’re polluting our air and burning the climate.”

Becerra said it was “a rich response from a man who made his billions of dollars investing in fossil fuels, oil companies, coal companies.”

“He now makes billions and spent more on this campaign than all the other candidates combined; he used those profits to buy the governor’s seat,” Becerra said.

Where do they stand on the proposed billionaire tax?

One notable area of ​​policy disagreement among Democrats is a proposed one-time 5% tax on the wealth and assets of billionaires. Supporters of the measure say they have collected enough signatures to get it on the ballot in November.

If approved, the funds would mostly cover health care cuts approved by the Trump administration last year.

Although he wants to increase taxes on the state’s wealthiest residents, Porter said he does not support the proposal because it is a “one-time tax” that will not solve the state’s core budget problems.

“Yes to the progressive tax bill, yes to the rich paying more, but this tax is about cheap political interests,” Porter said.

Steyer said he would vote for the tax but agreed that state leaders should go further, including taxing corporate interests more.

Bianco agreed with Porter that the billionaire tax was a bad idea.

Villaraigosa said California relies too heavily on its wealthiest residents to fill state coffers, leading to a “feast and famine” of its budgets. He said businesses and high-income individuals were leaving the state and that a plan to tax the wealthiest Americans should be enacted at the federal level.

Republican and Republican

The two Republicans on stage seemed content to spend their time attacking Democrats and not each other.

Bianco was asked if he thought Republican voters could trust Hilton.

“You called Hilton unethical and dishonest and said she was committing fraud on the side of Republicans,” Collins said, referring to an article in the Atlantic.

“I never use the word scammed, but the context — yes, I said that,” Bianco said after back-and-forth about the details of his criticisms. “Do Steve and I agree? Absolutely.”

He refrained from criticizing Hilton directly, but said she was the only person on stage who said “their entire existence in their business revolves around honesty and integrity.”

“Hilton backed down, saying voters can’t keep voting for the same thing, which is Democratic leadership, if they want to see change in the state.”

Times writers Dakota Smith and Doug Smith contributed to this report.