LOS ANGELES (AP) — Republican Steve Hilton and Democrat Xavier Becerra clashed nonstop for an hour Wednesday in the sole televised debate in their contest for California governor, presenting sharply contrasting visions for how they would deal with homelessness, soaring household costs and high taxes in the nation's most populous state.
Hilton presented himself as a change agent, saying that years of Democratic dominance in Sacramento had diminished
the state in business, education and quality of life. “We've got to try something different,” he said in the matchup on CNN.
Becerra depicted Hilton as President Donald Trump's handpicked choice for the job, and repeatedly invoked the president's name throughout the debate. The president is widely unpopular in the state outside his conservative base.
“You can hear Donald Trump” in Hilton's responses, he said at one point.
The debate played out just days before mail ballots are expected to begin arriving at homes in advance of the Nov. 3 general election. Looking to replace outgoing Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, Hilton is appealing to voters who he says are frustrated by the state's punishing cost of living, high taxes and long-running homeless crisis. Becerra is promising to bring down household costs, too, while continuing to push back against Trump’s agenda.
While both highlighted the state's challenges, they also cast it as a land of opportunity, with Hilton praising the state's “rebel spirit” and Becerra saying it has allowed countless people to achieve the American dream.
A September poll conducted by the University of California, Berkeley, Institute of Governmental Studies found that Becerra had a sizable lead over Hilton. A Republican has not won a statewide election in heavily Democratic California since 2006.
Hilton has been holding a steady string of public events to try to attract voters' attention, while Becerra has run a lower-key campaign.
Hilton thanked CNN “for bringing Xavier out of hiding,” a dig at his rival as the debate got underway.
Becerra mocked Hilton's experience as a “talking head” for Fox News, where he was a commentator.
“You can’t expect a guy who has never been in office like this to go in there and do the right job,” Becerra said at one point.
Hilton cast Becerra as a guardian of the status quo, saying he has “no arguments and no solutions and nothing to say about how he would change anything about how California is run.”
But after an hour on stage, it appeared neither candidate landed the kind of stinging blow that would dramatically reshape the race. Many of the criticisms they traded echoed attack lines often heard on campaign stops in recent months.
Hilton has Trump's endorsement, but that could be a liability at a time when the president's popularity has been sliding while gas and grocery prices climb. Trump has had a long-strained relationship with California, where he was trounced in his three runs for the White House.
The two rivals emerged from a chaotic primary that saw former Democratic U.S. Rep. Eric Swalwell exit the race — then announce he would leave Congress — following allegations that he sexually assaulted a woman twice, including when she worked for him, while billionaire Tom Steyer ran the most expensive political advertising campaign in the country in a losing effort for the Democratic nomination.
Hilton has vowed to bring down the price of gasoline to $3 a gallon, about half the current cost; cut in half residents’ utility bills, now among the nation’s highest; and eliminate state income taxes on the first $150,000 in earnings.
Becerra has been leaning into his long resume in government as he maneuvers to take charge of the state. He spent more than 35 years in state and federal office, including leadership roles in the U.S. House, as California’s attorney general, and as former President Joe Biden’s health secretary. “The governor’s office is not a place with training wheels,” he likes to say.
Hilton at times sought distance with Trump. Asked about Trump's unfounded attacks on election integrity in California, Hilton said, “I’ve got confidence in what we saw in the primary and in this process." He went on to criticize the tone Democrats use to assume the outcome in the governor's race is a foregone conclusion.
Hilton revisited criticism of Becerra’s tenure as the federal health secretary, including his handling of migrant children who arrived at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2021.
The children were processed in tents before being taken to emergency shelters run by the Department of Health and Human Services. Some of the shelters were criticized by child welfare advocates as having inadequate conditions. They would then be placed with a family member, relative or sponsor.
A New York Times investigation found that the health department failed to thoroughly vet sponsors, and many of the children went on to work exploitative jobs. It also found Becerra pushed to move children through the system faster and that the agency could not reach tens of thousands of minors after they left federal care.
Becerra responded that he was recycling “Trump talking points.”
“Trump left a system for care of these immigrant kids that had been dismantled because he doesn’t want them here,” Becerra said. “We changed all that. I am proud of the record.”
Asked whether he would assist in helping the Trump administration carry out mass deportations despite state laws that limit cooperation with federal law enforcement, Hilton noted his own background as a child of European immigrants and said his goal is “to lower the temperature on this whole question.” He pledged to protect “legal immigrant communities" and prioritizing removing “dangerous criminals.”
“You seem to welcome immigrants who look like you, but deport immigrants who look like me," Becerra responded. Hilton called that accusation “disgraceful.”
The state has spent billions on homelessness, with little in the way of results. Becerra said as governor, “We will make sure the encampments are cleared.” Hilton responded, “This absolute scandal shames our state.”
