{"id":234512,"date":"2026-03-24T19:03:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/234512\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T19:03:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T19:03:08","slug":"university-cancels-california-governor-debate-after-accusations-of-bias-from-candidates-of-color","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/234512\/","title":{"rendered":"University cancels California governor debate after accusations of bias from candidates of color"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"article-body__text article-body--padding color_dgray m-none\">The University of Southern California canceled a gubernatorial debate planned for Tuesday after candidates of color, who would have been excluded, accused the school of discrimination.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/BVVYFMGJLJEMLGSZXR75ZQCXSQ.jpg\" alt=\"FILE - California gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa speaks at the 2026 California Democratic Party State Convention in San Francisco, Feb. 21, 2026.\" class=\"width_full\" style=\"aspect-ratio:4940 \/ 3293;width:100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p>FILE &#8211; California gubernatorial candidate Antonio Villaraigosa speaks at the 2026 California Democratic Party State Convention in San Francisco, Feb. 21, 2026.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-body__image-by color_dgray f_s_xxs m-none\">Jeff Chiu \/ AP<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-body__text article-body--padding color_dgray m-none\">Republicans Steve Hilton and Chad Bianco, and Democrats Tom Steyer, Katie Porter, Eric Swalwell and Matt Mahan, who are all white, were slated to participate in the debate hosted by the University of Southern California and KABC-TV. But four established Democratic candidates of color, Antonio Villaraigosa, Xavier Becerra, Betty Yee and Tony Thurmond, didn\u2019t meet the criteria to participate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-body__text article-body--padding color_dgray m-none\">No clear front-runner has emerged in the crowded race ahead of the June 2 primary. <\/p>\n<p class=\"article-body__text article-body--padding color_dgray m-none\">The university has defended a formula used to select the participants and denied allegations of bias. A public policy professor independently developed the criteria based on candidates\u2019 polling and fundraising, the university said in a statement Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-body__text article-body--padding color_dgray m-none\">But the university reversed course Monday night, saying that the debate co-hosts couldn\u2019t agree on a solution.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-body__text article-body--padding color_dgray m-none\">The \u201cdata-driven candidate viability formula is based on extensive research and enjoys broad academic support,\u201d it said in a statement. \u201cAt the same time, we recognize that concerns about the selection criteria for tomorrow\u2019s gubernatorial debate have created a significant distraction from the issues that matter to voters.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-body__text article-body--padding color_dgray m-none\">The controversy escalated Monday when legislative leaders, including chairs of the Black and Latino caucuses, called on organizers to open the debate to the other established candidates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-body__text article-body--padding color_dgray m-none\">\u201cIf USC does not do the right thing, we call on California voters to boycott this debate,\u201d they wrote. \u201dIf the university will not give voters a fair shot at evaluating everyone running for governor, voters should find other ways to learn about the candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-body__text article-body--padding color_dgray m-none\">Villaraigosa, a former Los Angeles mayor who is Latino, celebrated the university\u2019s decision to cancel the debate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"article-body__text article-body--padding color_dgray m-none\">\u201cUSC made the right call, even if it came late and under pressure,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The University of Southern California canceled a gubernatorial debate planned for Tuesday after candidates of color, who would&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":234513,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,9,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-234512","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-california","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-california-headlines","10":"tag-california-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234512","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=234512"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/234512\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/234513"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=234512"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=234512"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=234512"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}