As ballots arrive, here’s how the top 7 governor candidates stack up in the polls
As we kick off tonight’s debate, there are a number of candidates not on stage but on your ballot. Mine arrived in the mail today, giving me the first chance to actually see all the names laid out in their fleeting glory.
Yes, for those of you who haven’t seen it, the ballot contains 61 candidates for governor. Tonight, you’ll hear from seven of them vying for our attention before pens hit bubbles on that complicated ballot.
The most notable absence tonight will be Tony Thurmond, the state superintendent of public instruction, who didn’t make the cut. He’s polling at less than 1% of voters, about the same as disgraced former candidate Eric Swalwell. Ouch.
Though he has yet to drop out of the race, Thurmond has pretty much joined candidates such as Livingforgod andcountry Demott and Barack D. Obama Shaw who are clogging the ballot with no chance of winning. And in case you’re wondering, yes, those are the legal names of two actual candidates.
The California Democratic Party, which has been pleading and screaming for weeks for someone, anyone to drop out and clear the field, released another new poll this week that shows maybe voters are starting to choose from the better-known names, but not by much.
Republican Steven Hilton and former Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra tie in the EVITARUS Research survey at 18% each. MAGA Sheriff Chad Bianco comes in at 14%, and billionaire progressive Tom Steyer is holding on at 12%, possibly splitting voters with the other progressive, Katie Porter, who has 8% of voters in her corner.
Tech-backed San José Mayor Matt Mahan is still breathing, though on life support, at 7%, about where he’s been stuck since Silicon Valley started pouring millions into his campaign.
Antonio Villaraigosa, the former L.A. mayor, is at 2% but somehow made the stage.
Tonight may be the last-best chance for one of these folks to break out. While it’s not the last debate, it’s the highest-profile, likely with the largest audience. But even if someone doesn’t light up voters’ excitement, tonight just may push at least one candidate into the company of Thurmond, Demott and Shaw.