{"id":268538,"date":"2026-04-15T04:38:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T04:38:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/268538\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T04:38:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T04:38:08","slug":"california-gubernatorial-candidates-address-swalwell-fallout-in-sacramento-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/268538\/","title":{"rendered":"California gubernatorial candidates address Swalwell fallout in Sacramento forum"},"content":{"rendered":"

The California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce hosted the first gubernatorial candidate forum since the fallout from the Eric Swalwell sexual assault allegations<\/a>\u00a0over the weekend, bringing six candidates together in a packed Sacramento Sheraton Hotel ballroom.<\/p>\n

The event took place as another accuser came forward publicly<\/a>, keeping the controversy at the center of the race and prompting repeated references to Swalwell from candidates on stage.<\/p>\n

Republican candidate Steve Hilton said the Swalwell scandal underscores broader concerns about accountability at the highest levels of government.<\/p>\n

“We’ve got to ask ourselves: ‘How did we get here?’ ” he said.<\/p>\n

Democratic former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said voters misjudged the race early on.<\/p>\n

“We went with the shiny object, and we made a mistake,” Villaraigosa said.<\/p>\n

Former California Controller Betty Yee, also a Democrat, said the controversy has shifted voter focus.<\/p>\n

“I think voters are finally focusing,” Yee said. “They’re focusing because of the scandals.”<\/p>\n

Former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra said the contest is effectively resetting.<\/p>\n

“It’s really day one, really, for this campaign for everyone,” Becerra said.<\/p>\n

The forum focused heavily on affordability, health care, childcare, and California’s budget deficit, with candidates outlining competing policy approaches.<\/p>\n

“I’m for single-payer healthcare,” Democratic candidate Tom Steyer said.<\/p>\n

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan highlighted efforts to expand childcare capacity through community workforce programs.<\/p>\n

“We’re drafting people from the community to open their own daycare centers,” Mahan said.<\/p>\n

Yee argued California is ready for a change in leadership.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s high time,” she said. “And I’ll tell you, if I were governor, none of this would be tolerated.”<\/p>\n

Undecided voter Victoria Rivera, who attended the Sacramento forum, said the controversy has made character a central issue in how she evaluates candidates.<\/p>\n

“I wasn’t really paying attention to the race until after the fact,” Rivera said. “If character is being shown, then accountability is also part of that.”<\/p>\n

County elections officials will begin mailing primary ballots on May 4, less than three weeks away.<\/p>\n

In:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce hosted the first gubernatorial candidate forum since the fallout from the Eric…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[50415,24115,121,123,122],"class_list":["post-268538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sacramento","tag-california-governor039s-race","tag-eric-swalwell","tag-sacramento","tag-sacramento-headlines","tag-sacramento-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268538","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=268538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/268538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/268539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=268538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=268538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=268538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}