Four California gubernatorial candidates Friday criticized a decision by USC\/ABC 7 not to change the format of an upcoming debate and for \u201cexcluding candidates of color.\u201d<\/p>\n
In a news conference via Zoom, California gubernatorial candidates Xavier Becerra, Tony Thurmond, Antonio Villaraigosa and Betty Yee urged their fellow colleagues and candidates not to participate in the debate.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are asking for a fair process, not a predetermined process,\u201d Villaraigosa said.<\/p>\n
The four candidates are challenging the parameters used by organizers for their selection.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen the sponsors say the methodology was based on `well-established metrics consistent with formula widely used to set debate and participation\u2019 \u2014 their words \u2013 we don\u2019t want them to say it. We want them to show it,\u201d Villaraigosa said.<\/p>\n
Villaraigosa said he asked USC, one of the organizers, to provide the formula and it has yet to produce it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis smells,\u201d Villaraigosa added. \u201cThis smells like someone\u2019s cooking the books.\u201d<\/p>\n
Yee emphasized that voters are now paying attention to the race and it\u2019s imperative to give them the perspectives of all the candidates.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen it\u2019s a subjective criteria that\u2019s been applied to this, and the candidates that are not going to be participating based on that subjective criteria represent, frankly, the communities that make up the majority,\u201d Yee said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are a minority-majority state and the idea that the four candidates of color are not going to be on that stage to bring those perspectives to really speak to those communities \u2014 is really not doing right by the voters,\u201d Yee added.<\/p>\n
ABC7, ABC30, Univision and USC Dornsife Center for the Political Future are co-hosting the debate, called \u201cYour Voice, Your Vote: Race for Governor 2026.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued by USC, the organizers denied any allegations that the debate criteria was in any way biased in favor or against any candidate.<\/p>\n
Organizers noted the general parameters for the debate were established last year when candidates were notified that a debate would take place with the top performing candidates.<\/p>\n
At the request of USC, professor of political science and public policy Christian Grose \u201cindependently developed the data-driven methodology to rank candidates\u2019 viability for the debate,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n
This methodology includes a combination of polling and fundraising data.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt simply would not be fair or feasible to invite every candidate in such a crowded field. This is consistent with a debate held in February with seven candidates and a debate next month with five candidates announced, all of which are participating in our debate,\u201d USC said in its statement.<\/p>\n
The Center for the Political Future is inviting all candidates to sit down with them for interviews, which the organization will post on their website for voters to view.<\/p>\n
ABC7\/KABC-TV Los Angeles and Univision have committed to continuing their coverage of the candidates on their platforms, as well.<\/p>\n
Thurmond challenged the organizer\u2019s statement, adding \u201cThe reality is that no candidate is polling in a majority in this race. This race is wide open.\u201d<\/p>\n
The debate is scheduled for Tuesday at 5 p.m., moderated by ABC7 anchor Marc Brown. He will be joined by ABC7 Eyewitness News political reporter Monica Madden, ABC30 Central California anchor Warren Armstrong and Noticiero N+ Univision 34 Los Angeles anchor Gabriela Teissier, who will ask questions as panelists.<\/p>\n
Participants in the debate include the following:<\/p>\n
\u2014 Chad Bianco, a republican and Riverside County sheriff;<\/p>\n
\u2014 Steve Hilton, a republican, a Fox News contributor and former adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron;<\/p>\n
\u2014 Matt Mahan, a democrat and San Jose mayor;<\/p>\n
\u2014 Katie Porter, a democrat, the former U.S. representative for California\u2019s 47th Congressional District;<\/p>\n
\u2014 Tom Steyer, a democrat, an entrepreneur and former presidential candidate; and<\/p>\n
\u2014 Eric Swalwell, a democrat, and representative for California\u2019s 14th Congressional District.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Four California gubernatorial candidates Friday criticized a decision by USC\/ABC 7 not to change the format of an…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28494,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[104175,22714,20865,104176,26532,44933,65343,48,52,51,47,50,49],"class_list":["post-229328","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-los-angeles","tag-abc7-usc","tag-alleged","tag-candidates","tag-criticize","tag-debate","tag-exclusion","tag-gubernatorial","tag-la","tag-la-headlines","tag-la-news","tag-los-angeles","tag-los-angeles-headlines","tag-los-angeles-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229328","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=229328"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/229328\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28494"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=229328"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=229328"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=229328"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}