![\"Antonio](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/1770204067_655_.jpeg\")
<\/p>\nSAN FRANCISCO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Gov. Gavin Newsom, barred from running for reelection, still took heat Tuesday during the first debate in California\u2019s 2026 race for governor.<\/p>\n
Six Democrats and one Republican on the stage in Newsom\u2019s hometown of San Francisco took direct aim at the governor\u2019s record on homelessness, efforts to ban the sale of new gas-powered cars and opposition to an anti-crime ballot measure that Californians overwhelmingly passed two years ago.<\/p>\n
Former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who unsuccessfully ran against Newsom for governor in 2018, pointed to state spending on homelessness as an example of ineptitude.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe spent $24 billion at the state, along with billions more from the counties and the cities throughout the state, and homelessness went on,\u201d he said. \u201cWe cannot be afraid to look in the mirror.\u201d<\/p>\n
The televised debate revealed the schism between the moderate and progressive Democrats hoping to replace Newsom, as well as efforts by Steve Hilton, the sole Republican who took part, to coalesce the conservative vote.<\/p>\n
Hilton, a former Fox New commentator and British political strategist, called on his top GOP rival, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, to drop out of the race.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy Republican colleague Chad Bianco is not here tonight to face these Democrats or his record in 2020, during the Black Lives Matter riots,\u201d Hilton said at the event, which was co-sponsored by the nonprofit Black Action Alliance, which was founded to give Black voters a greater voice in the Bay Area. <\/p>\n
Bianco \u201ctook a knee when told to by BLM, now he says he was praying,\u201d Hilton said. \u201cChad Bianco has got more baggage than LAX.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bianco was invited to the debate but said he was unable to attend because of a scheduling conflict. His campaign did not respond to requests for comment about Hilton\u2019s attacks. <\/p>\n
The, at times, feisty debate came amid a gubernatorial race that thus far has lacked sizzle or a candidate on either side of the aisle who has excited Californians. Public opinion polls show that most voters remain undecided. <\/p>\n
Seven of the dozen prominent candidates running to replace Newsom participated in the gathering at the Ruth Williams Opera House in front of a live audience of about 200 people. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Dublin) was scheduled to participate but canceled, citing the need to go back to Washington, D.C., for congressional votes. Former Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine) also did not attend the debate.<\/p>\n
The two-hour clash, at times plagued by audio issues, was hosted by two local Fox News affiliates and moderated by KTVU political reporter Greg Lee and anchor Andr\u00e9 Senior, as well as KTTV\u2019s Marla Tellez.<\/p>\n
Five takeaways from the debate:<\/p>\n
Making California affordable again<\/p>\n
When grilled about how they planned to tackle the high cost of living in the state \u2014 gas prices, rent, utility bills and other day-to-day financial challenges \u2014 most of the candidates prefaced their answers by talking about growing up in struggling households, often with immigrant parents who worked blue-collar jobs. <\/p>\n
Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said he would stabilize rents and freeze utility and home insurance costs \u201cuntil we find out why they\u2019re increasing.\u201d California Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond said he would raise taxes on billionaires and create tax credits to help families afford the high cost of living. <\/p>\n
Villaraigosa and Hilton said they would lower gas prices by cutting regulations on California\u2019s oil refineries.<\/p>\n
Hilton blamed the state\u2019s high cost of living squarely on Democratic policies. \u201cThey\u2019ve been in power for 16 years,\u201d he said. \u201cWho else is there to blame?\u201d<\/p>\n
Billionaire hedge fund founder turned climate activist Tom Steyer said he favors rent control. Steyer and former state Controller Betty Yee said they would prioritize zoning and permitting reform to build more housing, particularly near public transit. Both Steyer, a progressive, and San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a moderate, spoke about using new technology such as pre-fabricated homes to build more affordable housing.<\/p>\n
Protecting immigrants<\/p>\n
In the wake of the Trump administration\u2019s chaotic immigration raids that started in Los Angeles in June and have spread across the nation \u2014 recently resulting in the shooting deaths of two people by federal agents in Minneapolis \u2014 the Democrats on stage unanimously voiced support for immigrants who live in California. Some pledged that, if elected, they would use the governor\u2019s office to aggressively push back on President Trump\u2019s immigration policies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to say no to ICE, and we\u2019ve got to take on Trump wherever he raises his ugly head,\u201d Villaraigosa said.<\/p>\n
Steyer, whose hedge fund invested in a company that runs migrant detention centers on the U.S.-Mexico border, and Thurmond both said they support abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and Thurmond and Mahan said they support a pathway to citizenship for undocumented immigrants.<\/p>\n
Politicians politicking <\/p>\n
Antonio Villaraigosa, left, talks to Betty Yee during the California gubernatorial candidate debate Tuesday in San Francisco. <\/p>\n
(Laure Andrillon \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
Amid the debate\u2019s dodging, weaving, yammering and spicy back-and-forth, there were a few moments when the candidates rose above the din.<\/p>\n
Villaraigosa, the former two-term mayor of Los Angeles and a former speaker of the California Assembly, insisted that the moderators call him \u201cAntonio\u201d instead of Mayor Villaraigosa. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s my name, everybody. I\u2019m just a regular guy,\u201d he said, prompting a laugh.<\/p>\n
Mahan, on the other hand, tried mightily to portray himself as being above the dirty business of politics. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe truth is that our politics has been oversimplified,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s become this blood sport between populists on both sides, and you deserve real answers, not the easy answers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yee, who has been running on her background as controller and a member of the California Board of Equalization, cast herself as the financial savior the state needs in trying economic times of budget deficits and federal cuts.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have not been accountable or transparent with our dollars for a long time,\u201d she said. \u201cWhy are we right now and [in successive] years spending more than we\u2019re bringing in? This is where we are. So accountability has to be a tone set from the top.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rich guy and the new guy<\/p>\n
Steyer, who paints himself as a repentant billionaire devoted to giving away his riches to make California a better place for all, did not directly answer a question about his position on a controversial proposed ballot measure for a new tax on billionaires to fund healthcare. But he said he supported increasing taxes on the wealthy and boasted of having the political backing of bus drivers, nurses and cafeteria workers because he was the rich guy willing to \u201ctake on the billionaires for working families.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mahan, the latest major candidate to enter the race, wasn\u2019t impressed.<\/p>\n
\u201cTom, I\u2019ve got about 3 billion reasons not to trust your answer on that,\u201d he said, an apparent reference to Steyer\u2019s net worth.<\/p>\n
Although he supports closing tax loopholes for the wealthy, Mahan said he opposes the billionaire tax because \u201cit will send good, high-paying jobs out of our state, and hard-working families, in the long run, will all pay more taxes for it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Money also spoke Tuesday<\/p>\n
Although the battle over campaign fundraising didn\u2019t overtly arise during Tuesday\u2019s debate aside from Mahan\u2019s comment about Steyer, it still was getting a lot of attention. Campaign fundraising disclosures became public Monday and Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Unsurprisingly, Steyer led the pack with $28.9 million in contributions in 2025, nearly all of it donations that the billionaire spent on his campaign. Other top fundraisers were Porter, who raised $6.1 million; Hilton, who collected $5.7 million; Becerra, who banked $5.2 million; Bianco, who received $3.7 million in contributions; Swalwell\u2019s $3.1 million since entering the race late last year; and Villaraigosa\u2019s $3.2 million, according to documents filed with the California secretary of state\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
Mahan, who recently entered the race, wasn\u2019t required to file a campaign fundraising disclosure, though he is expected to have notable support from wealthy Silicon Valley tech honchos. Former state Controller Betty Yee and state schools chief Tony Thurmond were among the candidates who raised the least, which spurs questions about their viability in a state of more than 23 million registered voters with some of the most expensive media markets in the nation.<\/p>\n
Yee defended her candidacy by pointing to her experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll the polls show that this race is wide open. You know, I think voters have had enough. I\u2019ve been around the state. I\u2019ve spoken to thousands of them,\u201d she said. \u201cEnough of the lies, the broken campaign promises, billionaires trying to run the world. You know, look, I\u2019m the adult in the room. No gimmicks, no nonsense, straight shooter, the woman who gets things done. And we certainly can\u2019t afford a leader who thinks grandstanding is actually governing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mehta reported from Los Angeles and Nixon reported from San Francisco. Data and graphics journalists Gabrielle LaMarr LeMee and Hailey Wang contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN FRANCISCO\u00a0\u2014\u00a0Gov. Gavin Newsom, barred from running for reelection, still took heat Tuesday during the first debate in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":163450,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[13573,7,9,8,26532,1751,79125,943,63,11538,3290,2211,1010,61186,17382,38107,29234],"class_list":["post-163449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-billionaire","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-debate","tag-democrats","tag-first-gubernatorial-debate","tag-governor","tag-los-angeles-times","tag-mahan","tag-newsom","tag-race","tag-rent","tag-state-spending","tag-steve-hilton","tag-steyer","tag-villaraigosa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=163449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/163449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/163450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=163449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=163449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=163449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}