Democrat Xavier Becerra and Republican Steve Hilton debated for 60 minutes Wednesday night on a soundstage in Burbank. Times columnists Gustavo Arellano, Anita Chabria and Mark Z. Barabak watched the gubernatorial match-up and weigh in.<\/p>\n
Arellano: Steve Hilton came in with next to no chance of becoming the next California governor, but maybe if he focused on touting the feel-good messages he\u2019s been spouting since launching his campaign in front of the Huntington Beach Pier earlier this year \u2014 Make California Gold Again! Califordable! I\u2019m a Legal Immigrant with a British Accent! \u2014 he might\u2019ve convinced at least a few voters to go with him.<\/p>\n
Instead, Hilton debated like someone already preparing to launch a podcast or beg for his old Fox News job back after he gets walloped. When your solution for solving California\u2019s housing crisis is building 10 new cities, you\u2019re not running for California governor \u2014 you\u2019re angling for an influencer job with the Irvine Co.<\/p>\n
He whined and grumbled and grinned and quoted someone calling Becerra a \u201cbitch ass,\u201d which would\u2019ve been a funny dig if he wasn\u2019t running to run the greatest state on Earth. Hilton is charming in person, in the way all British people inevitably, initially come off as to Americans, and he has traveled to every California county \u2014 and especially to Latino-majority cities. He should\u2019ve shared some of the many stories of hardship that I\u2019m assuming he\u2019s heard over the last year.<\/p>\n
Nope! Instead, Hilton attacked Becerra again and again \u2014 why? California is a super-blue state, Latino Trump supporters notwithstanding, so Hilton should\u2019ve tried to at least offer a reason for voters to choose him instead of saying \u2014 not completely inaccurately \u2014 that the problems Californians deal with are the fault of Democrats.<\/p>\n
But blaming the other side only gets you so far \u2014 just ask Democrats how it worked out with them in 2024. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got to try something different,\u201d Hilton said in his concluding remarks. Californians agree \u2014 and his name is Xavier Becerra, who last I heard isn\u2019t Gavin Newsom, no matter how much the California GOP is trying to convince people otherwise.<\/p>\n
Becerra, meanwhile, didn\u2019t offer much in terms of vision, mostly because he played defense most of the evening. But he didn\u2019t have a major flub, except maybe raising a CNN coffee cup a few too many times. Why, Becerra sometimes even smiled \u2014 proof that he\u2019s not some Chicano automaton. He hasn\u2019t agreed to any more debates with Hilton \u2014 but after this blowout, Becerra should take the both of them on the road to make Hilton the next John Cox.<\/p>\n
Chabria: Becerra came out as more of a fighter than we\u2019ve seen before, even in the earlier Democratic debates. He held his own against Hilton, who is a skilled orator and attacker with a pointed wit and slick accent. But please, for the love of God, Hilton, button that shirt. This is not a casino. <\/p>\n
Becerra was the clear winner, and to be honest, Hilton \u2014 usually a nimble pugilist \u2014 came across flat too much of the time. Maybe he\u2019s already signed his Fox contract, as Gustavo suggests.<\/p>\n
But Becerra also failed to lay out any kind of vision for the future of California. He did a good job of fending off Hilton\u2019s attacks, but never told us what a vote for him will bring to the average Californian. There was some talk about housing, about protecting health insurance, but no big picture of what the California Dream of the future is and how we deliver it for the next generation.<\/p>\n
I walked away from this debate certain that Hilton hadn\u2019t gained a single voter, and equally certain Becerra hadn\u2019t lost one. But also certain that Californians are rightfully disenchanted with this political moment because it offers little for the people who are voting. Becerra is going to ghost-coast into leading the most powerful state in the nation, and none of us will know what that will mean or why we should care one way or another.<\/p>\n
Yes, there is a strong Legislature that will certainly keep the next governor focused on Democratic priorities. But what Becerra stands for remains a mystery that only the next four years will reveal. Let\u2019s hope it has to do with our collective well-being.<\/p>\n
Barabak: Xavier Becerra walked onto Wednesday\u2019s debate stage as the overwhelming favorite<\/a> to become California\u2019s next governor<\/a>.<\/p>\n Becerra exited the stage a little over an hour later, still the overwhelming favorite to become California\u2019s next governor.<\/p>\n As the Democratic nominee<\/a> in a state where Democrats enjoy big numerical, structural and political advantages \u2014 and have for decades<\/a> \u2014 Becerra needed only to show up at CNN\u2019s Burbank studio, field some questions alongside Hilton and avoid a Bidenesque disaster<\/a>. (Even that might not have mattered.)<\/p>\n It was an exceedingly low bar, and one Becerra<\/a> easily surmounted.<\/p>\n He was authoritative, crisp and kept on the offense most of the night, which raises the question of why his campaign handlers have been sheltering him up to now. Yes, it did get a bit repetitive when the Democrat\u2019s response to so many questions amounted to: Trump, Trump, Trump! But that\u2019s hardly surprising in a state where the president is about as popular as $6-a-gallon gas and $10-a-pound hamburger.<\/p>\n What was surprising was Hilton\u2019s failure to do more to unshackle himself from the ball-and-chain sitting in the White House.<\/p>\n He allowed a smidgen of daylight here and there, but not enough to doff the MAGA mantle Becerra has draped around him. If anything, Hilton yoked himself even closer to Trump, sounding at times like his wacky Health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr,. as he talked about vaccines \u2014 Hilton said he was for them, but also favored more parental discretion \u2014 and re-litigated masking and other pandemic policies from the Biden administration.<\/p>\n Hilton\u2019s most effective moments came when he asked why unhappy California voters should expect anything different if they keep electing Democrats. Not an unreasonable question. Trump Lite, however, doesn\u2019t seem like the remedy most are looking for.<\/p>\n Little to nothing seems likely to change as a result of Wednesday night\u2019s encounter. Still, it was important to give California voters an opportunity<\/a> to take the measure of the two gubernatorial hopefuls side by side and hear \u2014 in something more than a 30-second commercial \u2014 how they would lead the state.<\/p>\n