{"id":457457,"date":"2026-09-08T19:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-08T19:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/457457\/"},"modified":"2026-09-08T19:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-08T19:38:10","slug":"cnn-to-host-california-gubernatorial-debate-ahead-of-november-election-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/457457\/","title":{"rendered":"CNN to host California gubernatorial debate ahead of November election"},"content":{"rendered":"

CNN to host California gubernatorial debate ahead of November election<\/p>\n

\"Default, Calif. \u2014<\/p>\n

CNN will host a California gubernatorial debate later this month, just weeks before Election Day as voters in the nation\u2019s most populous state decide who will succeed Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom.<\/p>\n

The one-hour debate between Democrat Xavier Becerra<\/a>, who served as health and human services secretary during the Biden administration, and Republican Steve Hilton, <\/a>a former Fox News host, will be held on September 30 at 9 p.m. ET (6 p.m. PT).<\/p>\n

CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash will moderate the event, which will take place in the Los Angeles area.<\/p>\n

To qualify for the debate, candidates had to meet the requirements outlined by the California secretary of state; raised, contributed or loaned at least $1 million for their gubernatorial campaign; and received at least 15% support among registered or likely voters in two polls conducted by polling organizations whose methodology meets CNN\u2019s standards for reporting.<\/p>\n

Hilton and Becerra emerged among a crowded field of contenders <\/a>in the primary election in June.<\/p>\n

The race is likely to be a challenge for Hilton, as he seeks to become a governor aligned with President Donald Trump in a state that voted against Trump by more than 20 percentage points in 2024. California hasn\u2019t elected a Republican governor in 20 years. It was 2006 when voters gave Arnold Schwarzenegger a second term.<\/p>\n

In an effort to sway voters, Hilton has seized on affordability issues and blamed Democratic leadership for high costs in the state. He\u2019s also vowed to reduce bureaucracy.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Becerra, who also previously served as California attorney general and a US congressman for the LA area, has emphasized his years of experience in governmental roles and argued that only someone who has managed crises could fix California\u2019s problems.<\/p>\n

Early voting and ballot drop-off locations for the general election on November 3 will be coming October 5, according to California Secretary of State Shirley Weber.<\/p>\n

CNN\u2019s Kaanita Iyer and David Wright contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CNN to host California gubernatorial debate ahead of November election , Calif. \u2014 CNN will host a California…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":457458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[29238,7,116328,9,8,16613,5177,26177,943,8642,104334,4482,180514,45070,18346,10585,225,1522,72],"class_list":["post-457457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-becerra","tag-california","tag-california-gubernatorial-debate","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-california-secretary","tag-cnn","tag-fields","tag-governor","tag-hilton","tag-methodology","tag-november-election","tag-one-hour-debate","tag-primary-election","tag-reporting","tag-standard","tag-state","tag-voter","tag-year"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457457","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=457457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}