{"id":285436,"date":"2026-04-25T11:14:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T11:14:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/285436\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T11:14:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T11:14:27","slug":"5-takeaways-from-first-major-california-governors-debate-after-swalwell-exit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/285436\/","title":{"rendered":"5 takeaways from first major California governor\u2019s debate after Swalwell exit"},"content":{"rendered":"

Six candidates\u00a0running for\u00a0California governor\u00a0squared off on the debate stage<\/a> Wednesday,\u00a0yet the forum may have created more questions than answers for political observers, as Democrats struggle to coalesce<\/a> around a candidate ahead of the June primary.<\/p>\n

The debate\u00a0came\u00a0just weeks after former Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.), who was seen as a Democratic front-runner\u00a0in the race,\u00a0dropped out<\/a> and resigned from Congress<\/a> after sexual assault allegations surfaced.\u00a0The former congressman has denied these allegations.<\/p>\n

Swalwell\u2019s exit scrambled the\u00a0field, though\u00a0it offered a chance for two other Democratic candidates to compete at\u00a0Wednesday\u2019s debate<\/a>, hosted by Nexstar, the parent company of The Hill and its partner network, NewsNation.<\/p>\n

Democrat Betty Yee also dropped out<\/a> of the race this week, narrowing the competitive field amid enduring concerns that the number of Democratic candidates could splinter the party\u2019s vote.\u00a0The top two vote-getters on the June 2 primary ballot will advance to the general, regardless of party affiliation \u2014 opening the door for two candidates from the same party to move forward.<\/p>\n

With a little more than a month to go until the\u00a0primary, the\u00a0candidates are on the hunt for standout moments on the debate\u00a0stage\u00a0and beyond\u00a0that could propel them to the front of the primary pack.<\/p>\n

Here are key takeaways from Wednesday\u2019s debate:<\/p>\n

No candidate commands the stage<\/p>\n

Though the stakes were high for candidates to snag a viral moment or standout response on the San Francisco stage, the 90-minute debate was largely\u00a0free of\u00a0fireworks.<\/p>\n

The rivals were\u00a0largely civil,\u00a0despite some sharp exchanges as\u00a0the candidates\u00a0worked to define\u00a0themselves\u00a0against their\u00a0competition.\u00a0They\u00a0generally avoided\u00a0delving into much controversial territory with their answers, and all Democrats agreed\u00a0to endorse whichever member of their party advances to the general election.<\/p>\n

The onus was on Democrats to differentiate themselves\u00a0in the crowded race and capitalize on Swalwell\u2019s departure, and it remains to be seen whether any of the candidates was able to move the needle.<\/p>\n

The campaigns, however, took quickly to social media to seize on debate moments.<\/p>\n

Democratic billionaire Tom Steyer\u2019s team, for\u00a0example,\u00a0knocked former<\/a>\u00a0Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, a fellow Democrat, for mistakenly referring to President Trump\u2019s war in Iran\u00a0as \u201cwar in Iraq.\u201d\u00a0If a video takes off in the hours or days after the debate, it could end up being pivotal in reaching voters on the fence, even\u00a0if it\u00a0didn\u2019t\u00a0make much of\u00a0a splash during the live showing.<\/p>\n

Democrats avoid explicit Newsom criticism as he stays out of race<\/p>\n

Most of the Democratic candidates in the debate avoided criticizing California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D)\u00a0too harshly,\u00a0as he has so far avoided picking a favorite.<\/p>\n

Asked to give\u00a0the term-limited governor\u00a0a letter grade\u00a0on\u00a0his handling of homelessness, Becerra\u00a0gave Newsom an A grade\u00a0\u201con effort,\u201d\u00a0the highest of the\u00a0bunch.<\/p>\n

Former Rep. Katie Porter (D) decided on a B,\u00a0giving him \u201ca lot of credit for calling attention to the problem.\u201d\u00a0Steyer, who\u00a0refused to grade Newsom<\/a>\u00a0last month,\u00a0offered a\u00a0B-minus\u00a0on this issue.<\/p>\n

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan\u00a0(D) initially tried to skirt\u00a0the\u00a0question but\u00a0ultimately landed\u00a0on a B for Newsom on policy and a D for all Democrats on implementation.\u00a0Both Republicans, former Fox News Host Steve Hilton and Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, gave Newsom a failing grade.<\/p>\n

The answers from Democrats stopped short of any sharp criticism against the governor, who has so far avoided backing a potential successor.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m supporting a Democrat in the runoff and look forward to the voters making that decision very shortly,\u201d Newsom\u00a0told reporters<\/a>\u00a0this week. \u201cThere are a lot of outstanding candidates with extraordinary records. I can name seven of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swalwell\u2019s exit largely on the back burner<\/p>\n

The controversy around Swalwell\u00a0amid allegations of sexual assault and other sexual misconduct \u2014 accusations the former lawmaker has denied\u00a0\u2014\u00a0was briefly brought up during the debate.<\/p>\n

Becerra, who served in the House from 1993 to 2017,\u00a0was asked during the debate what rumors he had heard about Swalwell when he served in the House. The former California attorney general, who said in a recent interview he was aware of rumors about the former lawmaker, served as the House Democratic Caucus chair when Swalwell was first elected to Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou hear rumors all the time about all sorts of things. Rumors are not\u00a0facts,\u00a0and the caucus \u2014 the Democratic caucus \u2014 is not a place that\u00a0adjudicates\u00a0those things,\u201d Becerra said when asked whether he should have investigated the hearsay when he served in party leadership. \u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0law enforcement that does. If someone\u00a0had\u00a0come forward, we could then have investigations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Becerra praised the survivors for coming forward with their allegations, noting that he pursued sex trafficking cases when he served as California attorney general.<\/p>\n

Swalwell suspended his gubernatorial campaign after it rapidly devolved earlier this month when the allegations surfaced,\u00a0including accusations that he had sexually assaulted a former aide twice when she was too intoxicated to consent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He has denied any wrongdoing, but it did little to stop\u00a0prominent lawmakers and organizations\u00a0from rescinding\u00a0their endorsements\u00a0while\u00a0staffers\u00a0exited\u00a0his campaign and office.<\/p>\n

Swalwell later announced he would<\/a>\u00a0<\/a>resign\u00a0from Congress,\u00a0maintaining\u00a0he would \u201cfight the serious, false allegation made against me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Although\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0out of the race, his name will still appear on next month\u2019s June 2 nonpartisan primary ballot \u2014 as will Yee\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Democrats underscore Trump resistance<\/p>\n

Democrats on the debate stage\u00a0positioned themselves in opposition to Trump as they vie to succeed Newsom, one of the party\u2019s most prominent critics\u00a0of\u00a0the president.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI would absolutely fight the Trump administration, because the job of the California governor is to protect Californians, and right now, that includes protecting them from Donald Trump,\u201d Porter said\u00a0in response to a question about language\u00a0proficiency\u00a0requirements for truck drivers.<\/p>\n

Steyer emphasized that Trump and the head of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have\u00a0\u201cposted against\u201d him, \u201cbut\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0not going to step back.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked how\u00a0he\u2019d\u00a0respond to\u00a0a possible attack\u00a0from Trump, Mahan said\u00a0he\u2019d\u00a0\u201cfight back\u201d but work to \u201cfind common ground with this administration on certain issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crowded field of Democratic candidates running for governor in the Golden State\u00a0has opened a path for\u00a0two Republicans advancing\u00a0to the November general election in the deep blue stronghold.<\/p>\n

The California Democratic Party\u00a0said that polling conducted<\/a>\u00a0for the party after Swalwell exited the race showed a still-real scenario of\u00a0the two Republican candidates, Hilton\u00a0and Bianco,\u00a0advancing out of the primary.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo Republicans still lead, with Democrats trailing closely behind\u2013a reminder that the risk of Democrats being locked out of the General Election, while low, is real,\u201d the party\u00a0said in a statement<\/a> earlier this week on the social platform X, sharing the polling results.<\/p>\n

\u201cChair Rusty Hicks continues to call on every candidate to honestly assess their path to win,\u201d the party added.<\/p>\n

But Trump may have scrambled those odds earlier this month by endorsing\u00a0Hilton.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a deep honor for me to be endorsed by the president of the United States,\u201d Hilton said Wednesday, adding that he \u201cwill have a constructive relationship and partnership with the federal government\u201d if elected.<\/p>\n

In a state that Trump lost handily in each of his presidential elections, some observers think Trump\u2019s endorsement all but assures a classic, Democrat-on-Republican contest.<\/p>\n

For his part, Hilton has\u00a0shrugged off<\/a>\u00a0the suggestion that Trump\u2019s low approval rating in California could factor into the governor\u2019s race \u2014 but he also dismissed the idea that both he and\u00a0rival Bianco\u00a0will advance to the general.<\/p>\n

Still, it remains to be seen whether California Republicans coalesce around one candidate.\u00a0At the state party\u2019s recent\u00a0convention, neither Hilton nor Bianco reached the 60 percent threshold of support needed to earn the official GOP nod<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Steyer\u2019s billionaire background comes under scrutiny<\/p>\n

Steyer\u2019s billionaire status came under scrutiny on the debate stage, and he may have made a gaffe in addressing his wealth as he pledged to make the\u00a0Golden State more affordable for Californians.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m\u00a0the only billionaire on the ballot\u00a0\u2026\u00a0but\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0not the only billionaire in this race. The billionaires and corporations are spending big in this race to oppose me,\u201d said\u00a0Steyer, who ran for president back in 2020.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe paying more taxes is not the answer,\u201d Steyer later said, prompting an audible reaction from Hilton. \u201cIf one person puts more money into the government, that\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0solve it. We need structural change.\u201d<\/p>\n

In her closing statement, Porter jabbed that \u201cone candidate is a billionaire who got rich off polluters\u00a0and\u00a0ICE\u00a0prisons and is now using that money to fund this election.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steyer, who followed her in closings, again stressed the big-spending groups that\u00a0oppose\u00a0him.<\/p>\n

Updated at 10:40 a.m. EDT<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Six candidates\u00a0running for\u00a0California governor\u00a0squared off on the debate stage Wednesday,\u00a0yet the forum may have created more questions than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":285437,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7,2926,9,8,28687,38967,1751,24115,146,3290,3020,17382,25299,3707],"class_list":["post-285436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-california","tag-california-governor","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-chad-bianco","tag-democratic-candidates","tag-democrats","tag-eric-swalwell","tag-katie-porter","tag-newsom","tag-president-trump","tag-steve-hilton","tag-tom-steyer","tag-xavier-becerra"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285436","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=285436"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/285436\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/285437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=285436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=285436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=285436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}