California’s Problems Take Center Stage in Tense Debate |
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Eight candidates vying to become California’s next governor gathered Tuesday at Pomona College in Claremont for a debate that was as much a test of scrappy stamina as it was of policy, with contenders in the crowded field fighting for airtime while attempting to address the state’s deepening affordability crisis.
The debate’s distracting format, featuring rotating, often chatty moderators from CBS News and CBS Los Angeles with markedly different styles and tight limits on responses, produced more chaos than clarity. Candidates repeatedly spoke over one another, squabbled with moderators over time and fairness, and struggled to develop substantive answers amid the crosstalk.
The structure favored quick soundbites over in-depth exchanges, leaving viewers with flashes of competing rhetoric rather than a detailed policy debate.
“Wow, that was a bit of a mess,” remarked Pomona College student Ryan Kossarian as he stood to ask a question.
The field – including six Democrats and two Republicans – has been reshuffled in recent weeks following the exit of former Rep. Eric Swalwell amid sexual misconduct allegations, leaving voters and party leaders still searching for a clear frontrunner. The debate did little to provide one.
Affordability dominated the debate’s opening, with Democratic and Republican candidates offering sharply contrasting visions for how to ease the burden on California families.
Steve Hilton, who carries an endorsement from former President Donald Trump, laid out the most sweeping set of promises: He pledged to bring gas prices down to $3 per gallon, cut electric bills in half, and make every Californian’s first $100,000 of income tax-free. He also argued that his policies would make housing affordable for younger Californians.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, another Republican on the stage, offered a simpler diagnosis: “The regulations and the taxes have to go.” Bianco argued that California’s government overreach is the core driver of unaffordability and called for sweeping rollbacks as the solution.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan staked out a middle ground among the Democratic-aligned candidates, calling for a suspension of the state’s gas tax, which he described as “the most regressive tax in the state,” hitting lower-income drivers hardest. He also called for removing all barriers to new housing construction.
Attorney and former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra took a different path, explicitly ruling out ending the gas tax. Instead, he called for reducing prescription drug prices and accelerating housing production.
“We’ll reduce prescription drug prices and start building the homes that we........