CNN Debate – CNN Debate Xavier Becerra and Steve Hilton (Screen shot 9-30-26)
Lackluster. Boring. Unfortunate. The night before California started distributing mail-in ballots in the critical Nov. 3 midterm elections, CNN hosted a debate between gubernatorial candidates Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton that looked like two typecast actors in beat up bumper cars trying to gin up publicity for a lackluster B-movie.
At a time when voters are angry and hungry for authenticity, the debate felt too staged, too stale and overly rehearsed. The moderators asked expected questions about cost of living, housing, homelessness, immigration and AI against the backdrop of the real question: who can best stand up to Donald Trump?
And the candidates dodged specifics. For instance, Hilton proudly touted his “10 New Cities” approach to affordable housing. He wants individual counties to bid on hosting construction of new master-planned communities and essentially find ways around resistance to new development from local residents and local governments.
Becerra would take a more predictable course, cutting red tape, reducing administrative and bureaucratic obstacles to getting construction permits, and filing lawsuits against cities that refused to approve new housing.
“No locality should have the right to try to stop all of our people in California from having the housing they need,” Becerra said.
That begs so many questions: how is housing being defined here and for whom – for sale or rent or shelters as group homes? Must gated communities be open to those they previously restricted based on race or ethnicity or gender.
CNN debate Steve Hilton (Screen shot 9-30-26)
Hilton said he would cut funding for high-speed rail and homelessness nonprofits and reduce state government departments’ budgets by 5% to get his needed funding, per cbs8.com.
Becerra noted that Trump has already blocked federal funding for local homelessness agencies. Would Hilton go after that money? Would he be willing to comply with Trump/Project 2025’s anti-DEI policy to get funding and fast track other federal assistance?
Becerra has a double-digit lead over Hilton and was given kudos by post-debate commentators for just showing up. But Becerra is also aware of the need to not disrespect the voters by shrugging off the event, as if he has the race locked up. As the old Yankee baseball legend Yogi Berra used to say, “It ain’t over until it’s over.”
A new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that only 17% of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s handling of the cost of living and 26% approve of Trump’s handling of the economy overall. A sizable majority, 65%, blame high costs on Trump’s tariffs and his war with Iran.
But there was no sense of urgency from either candidate about the importance of this election or in getting out the vote.
With Trump again threatening to impose the Insurgency Act, Democrats are working to stretch the margins of victory to stop cold any discussion about rigged elections.
But neither candidate was asked about that nor how they would handle a local version of the Jan. 6 storming of the capitol to prevent certification of the vote results.
Nor were they asked how they would react if Trump federalized the National Guard and ordered the military to join ICE in “protecting” polling places and ferreting out anyone without multiple pieces of identification that matches their birth certificate.
What can Becerra and Hilton do now to demonstrate the kind of leadership they would bring to the governor’s office in Sacramento?
Xavier Becerra CNN Debate (Screen shot 9-30-2026)
This is not an idle question.
The usually mild mannered Xavier Becerra – who expressed his displeasure with Hilton’s inaccurate stories by smirking or rolling his eyes – turned to his opponent in what felt like both a real and rehearsed moment of candor and, after noting that Hilton, too, is an immigrant, called out Hilton’s acceptance of Trump’s endorsement, immigration raids and mass deportation campaign.
“You seem to welcome immigrants who look like you, but deport immigrants who look like me,” Becerra said in a breath-stopping moment. Hilton, a former adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron, apparently had praised the deportation campaign as “perfect” last January on Fox News. He seemed taken aback by Becerra’s comment, which he called “disgraceful.” He then dodged questions about California’s sanctuary state law which requires law enforcement to limit cooperation with immigration officials. Would he direct California officers to assist in Trump’s ICE campaign?
Hilton wanted to “turn down the temperature” on that debate.
Hilton kept pitching for voters to choose something “different” to change California and fix the mess created by Democrats. Does he fancy himself a more petit Arnold Schwarzenegger whose triumphant victory in the recall of Gov. Gray Davis made the actor a Republican hero?
Steve Hilton is no Arnold Schwarzenegger.
“You’re going to end up with Trump results if you follow Steve Hilton’s plans,” Becerra said, talking about the Republican’s idea to eliminate income taxes for middle-class Californians that also includes a tax cut for rich Californians.
Hilton countered by blaming long Democratic one-party rule for causing and not fixing the state’s economic troubles.
“All you ever say is ‘Trump, Trump, Trump. And that’s nothing but an insult to every Californian who is desperate for something to change in this state,” Hilton said.
“Trump, Trump, Trump,” the former state attorney general mumbled back.
To gays fond of “The Brady Bunch,” the exchanged sounded a little like the infamous whine, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!”
But Hilton had a point when noting that Democrats have been “in charge” as film and TV industry has crumbled with production and jobs moving to other states and countries.
Becerra said he would “fight for Hollywood,” which he awkwardly followed up with dressed up words for “Hollywood.” It wasn’t enough, it wasn’t cute and it didn’t work. Losing Hollywood is a big fucking deal.
Becerra might also want to talk to Attorney General Rob Bonta, Superintendent Tony Thurmond and watch the documentary “Mom’s Club” to understand what’s happening with California schools. It’s taken many, many years, but the religious right culture wars are winning in the county school board system.
In fact, Sonja Shaw, a Moms for Liberty-endorsed candidate on the conservative Chino Valley Unified School Board, is using the fake “parental rights” messaging to top the polls for California State Superintendent of Public Instruction against San Diego Unified School Board President Richard Barrera.
But there is also good news on the culture war front. According to journalist Erin Reed of the popular Erin in the Morning Substack, a new poll from The 19th and YouGov “finds that more Americans oppose bans on transgender youth care than support them, with the gap narrowing even among Republicans, and that the public now says Republicans talk about transgender issues too much just as often as it says Democrats do, a notable finding given that previous polling had the public faulting Democrats more.”
“Gender-affirming care for transgender minors includes any kind of care designed to support and affirm their gender identity, including therapy, consultations with doctors, hormones or puberty blockers, other medication, and, rarely, surgery. Do you favor or oppose lawmakers banning or restricting gender-affirming care for transgender minors?” the question asks.
“In response, 45% say they oppose lawmakers banning gender-affirming care for trans youth, while only 38% say they support such bans; 17% are not sure. The finding is notable as election-year advertising ramps up around healthcare for transgender youth, and it comes in the wake of severe attacks on that care by the Trump administration,” the poll reports.
Reed adds: “The people running the ads seem to know” about the turn in support. “In a memo to Republican candidates on messaging for the 2026 elections, the American Principles Project, one of the chief architects of anti-trans advertising, states that pressing such attacks ‘may not be sufficient’ for Republicans to win the midterms. That read is consistent with the generic ballot, where Democrats continue to surge ahead, with multiple polls released in recent weeks showing them leading by double digits.”
TransLatin@ Coalition bill signed into law 9-30-26 (Photo courtesy TransLatin@ Coalition)
LGBTQ+ Californians continue to press forward. On Wed. Sept. 30, outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom signed AB 1876, authored by Assemblymember Dawn Addis and sponsored by The TransLatin@ Coalition. The Fair Care for All Act, “strengthens California law against discrimination in health care coverage. For transgender, gender-expansive, and intersex communities, these protections matter at a time when federal safeguards remain vulnerable to change,” the press release reads.
“AB 1876 mandates that if an insurance provider covers a prescribed service for one patient population, then they would cover that same service for all patient populations who need that same care. As law, this prohibits discriminatory categorical exclusions for gender-affirming care or denial of services based on gender identity.”
If elected governor, it is likely Becerra would proudly uphold and defend this new law. He has long supported LGBTQ+ people.
Rep. Xavier Becerra with Conrado Terrazas and Cecilia Estolano 1992 ((Photo by Karen Ocamb)
“I’ve always looked at things from the perspective of someone who remembers my dad’s stories where, simply because he was from Mexican heritage, he couldn’t walk into restaurants because of the signs that said ‘no dogs or Mexicans allowed.’ When I ran [for the California Assembly] in 1990,” then-California Attorney General Becerra told me in a 2018 interview, “I ran for office to be able to fight against discrimination.”
Xavier Becerra in Pride Parade (Photo courtesy Becerra)
He’s also been on the frontline when fighting Trump in the legal milieu.
“It’s chilling to watch Congress abandon its role to put a check on Donald Trump’s excesses,” Becerra told me for a Los Angeles Blade phone interview. “I have no hope for Donald Trump. And I think he’s proven himself repeatedly who he is and what he’ll do. When you have someone who’s that much of a rogue and that dangerous a player, you expect the other branches of government to stand up.”
In every respect, Trump is endangering the health, the security, the economic well-being of the people of the country,” Becerra said. “It’s been a long time since we thought we were this close to having someone press the button that could end up starting some nuclear conflict. But given how erratic Donald Trump is—you just never know what he’s going to come up with next.
“I think that’s probably as bad as it gets when you get to the point of a nuclear conflict. But the fact that we would even talk about that or believe that could be possible for irrational reasons—it makes you just wonder where are the checks and balances that would make sure that one irrational person could not topple the longest living democracy in history.”
Checkout the CalMatters 2026 Midterms Voter Guide. And VOTE!
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