The moderators of Wednesday’s gubernatorial debate between Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton spoke about their focus on the California contest and offered a few hints about what they planned to ask the candidates.
CNN anchors Dana Bash and Jake Tapper will moderate the nationally televised debate — which, at this point, is the only scheduled face-off between Becerra and Hilton before the Nov. 3 election. The debate will take place at CNN’s studio in Burbank.
Bash said that one of the reasons the cable network decided to host the debate is because of the impact that California policies have on the nation.
“California is one of the most important states in the country for many, many reasons — the fourth-largest economy [in the world] and because you have tech companies at the forefront of our world right now that are largely based here,” she said.
Tapper pointed to the influence the state’s leaders have historically had on the nation’s politics.
“I always pay attention to what’s going on in California, and not just because you’re 12% of the US population,” he said. “The leader of California has typically been a pretty dominant political force, and national trends often begin here. Beyond that, we’re interested to see how these very different candidates are going to frame the issues, especially against the backdrop of new polling that shows a majority of likely voters say the state is headed in the wrong direction.”
While California produced two Republican presidents — Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan — the state has grown more liberal over the past few decades.
The state’s current governor, Democrat Gavin Newsom, is one of the nation’s most outspoken critics of President Trump and he, along with the Democratic-led state legislature, have taken aggressive measures to combat Trump’s policies, including a crackdown on immigrants and false claims of voter fraud.
Registered Democratic voters now outnumber Republicans nearly two-to-one. GOP politicians last won statewide elections in 2006, one of whom was Hollywood star Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The moderators were coy about the questions they would ask candidates during the one-hour debate, though affordability will clearly be a primary focus. The clash, which begins at 6 p.m., will air on CNN, CNN International, CNN en Español, CNN.com and related TV and mobile apps for subscribers. It takes place days before county election officials mail ballots to California’s 23.2 million registered voters.
“We want to make sure it has an element of surprise for the candidates and viewers and voters, most importantly,” Bash said.
Tapper added, “We’re going to focus on issues we believe California voters care a great deal about — though with national relevance as well.”