{"id":337455,"date":"2026-05-29T12:49:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T12:49:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/337455\/"},"modified":"2026-05-29T12:49:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T12:49:09","slug":"did-you-hate-the-california-governors-race-look-inward","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/337455\/","title":{"rendered":"Did you hate the California governor\u2019s race? Look inward"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Left Left to right, California gubernatorial candidates former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, former U.S. Rep. Katie Porter (D-CA), Businessman Tom Steyer, businessman Steve Hilton, Riverside Sheriff Chad Bianco, former U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan look on during a CNN California Governor Primary Debate at East Los Angeles College on May 5, 2026, in Monterey Park, California. CNN hosted a debate with seven of the top contenders in the race for California Governor. The debate was moderated by CNN anchors Kaitlan Collins and Elex Michaelson. (Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images\/TNS) Justin Sullivan TNS <\/p>\n

California\u2019s wide-open primary race<\/a> for governor appears destined to end how it began, a muddled mess providing no clear direction to a downbeat public on where the state is going.<\/p>\n

Most of the ideas the major candidates have been promoting will likely never happen. California is not about to waive the state gas tax<\/a>, or provide health insurance for everybody<\/a> with money we don\u2019t have, or lower rates for electricity<\/a> or insurance.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Democrats who were the most serious,<\/a> or who spoke the toughest love, either got out of the race or are polling badly. Voters seem to prefer one variety of political candy or another, yet feel malnourished by their own diet choices.<\/p>\n

A new poll<\/a> by the Public Policy Institute of California is the latest barometer of our collective pulse. More than three out of four of us expect bad economic times for the state in the future. No politician is particularly popular, with outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom<\/a> garnering only a 50% approval rating.<\/p>\n

Newsom is more popular than President Donald Trump, whose 24% approval rating in California dooms Republican Steve Hilton if he qualifies for the November runoff. Hilton\u2019s allegiance to the president, given Trump\u2019s unblemished record of getting his way in down-ballot party races, makes the real race for California governor a Democratic Party affair.<\/p>\n

The PPIC survey shows that we are worried about affordability, political extremism and the state budget. And as in any election, we look to the candidates for the state\u2019s highest office to solve our collective problems.<\/p>\n

Yet the critical mass of Democrats, if the polls are right, shows a convergence on two of the candidates, 35-year political careerist Xavier Becerra<\/a> and billionaire Tom Steyer<\/a>, who has never held public office. The contrast in backgrounds couldn\u2019t be greater. Yet too often, the candidates have told us what we have wanted to hear, and not what we need to hear.<\/p>\n

Becerra, for one, thinks he can freeze insurance rates by declaring an emergency and negotiating from there. It sounds great. But that\u2019s not how the world or the law work.<\/p>\n

Emergencies have to be real and not politically contrived to pass court muster. Someone who was once the California attorney general should know that. The property tax challenge is so wicked because our risks are going through the roof due to weather extremes that are getting worse. That\u2019s the true emergency.<\/p>\n

Steyer, meanwhile, has run a quarter-billion-dollar campaign driven by focus group messaging, seizing on the public\u2019s disgust with utilities like Pacific Gas & Electric. He promises universal health care, lower electricity bills, lower gas prices and free community college. And while he supports a proposed one-time tax on billionaires, as for his own contributions, \u201cMe paying more taxes is not the answer.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Universal health care in California sounds terrific until it comes to paying for it. Nobody promoting this has a clue. Gavin Newsom promised this as a candidate back in 2018<\/a>, and then avoided the topic once he got the job.<\/p>\n

The progressive candidates\u2019 pitch for single payer health care is like a page out of the 1993 movie \u201cGroundhog Day<\/a>,\u201d a policy dream without real-world math. It was a great movie.<\/p>\n

When candidates like Antonio Villaraigosa spoke a little bit of truth, calling this go-it-alone state approach to paying for everybody\u2019s health care \u201cpie in the sky,\u201d voters didn\u2019t reward his honesty with support. San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan was equally candid on the expanded treatment programs it will take to conquer homelessness. Few seemed to want to listen.<\/p>\n

Villaraigosa and Mahan, along with other straight-talking Democrats like Toni Atkins and Betty Yee, became the race\u2019s also-rans. They never gained traction with a public gravitating toward happy talk and political magic tricks.<\/p>\n

As for former Rep. Katie Porter, it\u2019s beyond ironic that progressive-minded Democrats seem to have turned to someone (Steyer) who made his billions thanks in part to private prisons and oil companies, and not the candidate (Porter) who wouldn\u2019t take a penny from corporations large and small. As a political evolution of progressive values in California, this feels downright regressive.<\/p>\n

If a Democrat and a Republican get the most votes on Tuesday, the November election is a foregone conclusion. If Steyer and Becerra happen to surface on top, heaven help us.<\/p>\n

This election cycle wasn\u2019t California\u2019s finest snapshot. We must do better, for our own sake.<\/p>\n

Related Stories from Sacramento Bee<\/p>\n


\n \"Profile
\n <\/a><\/p>\n

Tom Philp is a Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial writer and columnist who returned to The Sacramento Bee in 2023 after working in government for 16 years. Philp had previously written for The Bee from 1991 to 2007. He is a native Californian and a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.\n <\/p>\n