\n Eight candidates seeking to become California\u2019s next governor met for an unwieldy debate Tuesday, where the candidates discussed their plans to make the state more affordable and sought to gain ground in an unsettled field.\n <\/p>\n
\n The debate, hosted by CBS News affiliates in California, comes as the race\u2019s remaining candidates seek to carve out a lane for themselves after former Rep. Eric Swalwell\u2019s exit from the contest<\/a> earlier this month.\n <\/p>\n \n Xavier Becerra<\/a>, a former Health and Human Services secretary under former President Joe Biden, has risen in recent polls, seen a boost in fundraising, and earned more endorsements. But as Tuesday\u2019s debate made clear, that rise has also come with new attacks from his opponents in both parties, including a pair of attack ads released by billionaire investor Tom Steyer.\n <\/p>\n \n The two Republicans and six Democrats sparred with each other \u2013 and, at times, the moderators \u2013 during the 90-minute event in Claremont, California.\n <\/p>\n \n In addition to Becerra and Steyer, the other candidates on stage were Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, former Fox News host Steve Hilton, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, former US Rep. Katie Porter, state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.\n <\/p>\n \n Tuesday\u2019s event was one week before CNN hosts its debate<\/a> in the governor\u2019s race on May 5.\n <\/p>\n \n Becerra entered as the candidate with the most momentum and the largest target on his back. Throughout the debate, he emphasized his past jobs as HHS secretary and California attorney general. But he also put aside a nice guy reputation with a few shots at his opponents.\n <\/p>\n \n As the debate turned to healthcare, the moderators asked Becerra how he would respond to the expiration of the Affordable Care Act\u2019s enhanced premium subsidies. The former HHS secretary used the moment to criticize President Donald Trump and his endorsed candidate, Hilton.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe first thing we have to do is stop Steve Hilton\u2019s daddy,\u201d Becerra said. \u201cWe need someone who\u2019s going to fight Donald Trump, not agree with him.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Hilton responded by saying Democrats \u201ccan\u2019t do anything but blame Trump,\u201d leading to a back-and-forth between the two candidates.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cSteve, would you oppose Donald Trump\u2019s cuts?\u201d Becerra said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe actual amount of money going into healthcare from the federal government is going up this year,\u201d Hilton said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI think that\u2019s a no,\u201d Becerra said.\n <\/p>\n \n The former secretary also responded to Mahan, after the mayor said Becerra was \u201cdefending the status quo and just blaming Trump.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe only person who\u2019s actually run a healthcare system, the largest system in the world, is me,\u201d Becerra said. \u201cI expanded healthcare beyond what we had ever seen in the country\u2019s history, so if you want to talk about what works, ask somebody who actually did it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The San Jose mayor entered the race in January, later than much of the rest of the field, and has sought to define himself as a common-sense moderate.\n <\/p>\n \n He pushed back on California\u2019s gas tax, calling it regressive and arguing that rural and working-class Californians pay more to protect the roads than \u201cwealthier EV owners.\u201d After Becerra said he would call for a freeze on home insurance rates, Mahan dismissed the idea, saying \u201cXavier\u2019s plan won\u2019t work.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n And when it came to funding healthcare, Mahan said everyone on the stage had it wrong. He told Hilton and Bianco that the Trump administration\u2019s cuts to Medicaid are \u201ccruel.\u201d To Steyer and Porter, who support a single-payer, government funded healthcare system, he said, \u201cWe don\u2019t know how to pay for single-payer, and we see countries with single-payer struggling with long lines and cuts to care.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n He also renewed his attacks on Becerra\u2019s record handling the Covid-19 pandemic; the breakout of mpox, also known as monkeypox; and the surge of immigrant children and teenagers crossing the US-Mexico border.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cThe secretary has never met a crisis that he couldn\u2019t ignore,\u201d Mahan said.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYou\u2019re not wearing a mask, are you, Matt? You are not worrying about catching monkeypox, right?\u201d Becerra fired back. \u201cWe were able to deal with these crises.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Porter has spent the last several months seeking to rehabilitate her campaign after a pair of viral videos showed her in an unflattering light. In one of those videos, Porter threatened to end an interview<\/a> with CBS News correspondent Julie Watts, one of Tuesday\u2019s debate moderators.\n <\/p>\n \n This time around, Porter\u2019s tense moments were with those on stage. She pushed back on Bianco after he interrupted her while she was speaking. And as Steyer explained how he would advance an effort to allow the state to sue fossil fuel companies over climate disasters, Porter interjected to note Steyer\u2019s past investments in fossil fuels<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cLet\u2019s be clear, the oil companies have been polluting \u2013 and knowingly polluting \u2013 for 45 years,\u201d Steyer said. \u201cIt is a reason we\u2019re getting warm, and it is a reason we\u2019ve had these fires that have dramatically hurt people in Altadena and Pacific Palisades<\/a>.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cSo fossil fuel companies who were causing great damage while you were investing in them?\u201d Porter said.\n <\/p>\n \n When it was her turn to speak, Porter doubled down, saying \u201cprofiteers\u201d should also have to pay for the cost of climate change-related disasters.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cYou pay the lowest tax rate on this stage, and yet you made the billions that you\u2019re using to fund your campaign off fossil fuels,\u201d Porter said, addressing Steyer.\n <\/p>\n \n Steyer defended himself by pointing to Pacific Gas & Electric spending at least $8 million<\/a> on efforts against his campaign. The billionaire said oil and gas companies oppose him because \u201cI\u2019m the person on this stage who\u2019s the change agent.\u201d\n <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Eight candidates seeking to become California\u2019s next governor met for an unwieldy debate Tuesday, where the candidates discussed their plans to make the state more affordable and sought to gain ground in an unsettled field. The debate, hosted by CBS News affiliates in California, comes as the race\u2019s remaining candidates seek to carve out a … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Takeaways-from-the-latest-California-governors-debate.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=29054"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29056,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29054\/revisions\/29056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/29055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=29054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=29054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=29054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Democratic](\"https:\/\/www.jubi24.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/gettyimages-2273083489.jpg\")
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