{"id":601529,"date":"2026-04-23T12:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T12:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/601529\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T12:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T12:14:14","slug":"rivals-target-steyer-becerra-in-debate-as-california-governor-race-tightens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/601529\/","title":{"rendered":"Rivals Target Steyer, Becerra in Debate As California Governor Race Tightens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cThe people raising the costs for California don\u2019t want me to be governor,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m the change agent here and they don\u2019t want change.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steyer has put more than $120 million of his own money into his campaign and has blanketed the state in digital and television ads.<\/p>\n

The gubernatorial candidates will appear on the ballot together in the June 2 primary. Under California\u2019s top-two primary system, the top two finishers advance to November, regardless of party. That left Democrats concerned that two Republicans could make it into a runoff, in a state where no GOP candidate has won statewide in two decades.<\/p>\n

For months, the Democratic field has remained crowded, without a clear frontrunner, and Swalwell\u2019s dramatic exit less than two weeks ago scrambled the race again.<\/p>\n

\"\"At a televised gubernatorial debate at KRON Studios in San Francisco on Wednesday, April 22, 2026, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican candidate for California governor, argued homelessness is driven by substance abuse. (Jason Henry\/Nexstar\/Bloomberg)<\/p>\n

On Wednesday evening, the partisan divide between the frontrunners on stage was particularly evident when the conversation turned to homelessness. The four Democrats largely praised Gov. Gavin Newsom\u2019s efforts on the issue and agreed on the need to spend more money on preventing homelessness, through programs such as rental assistance.<\/p>\n

Bianco and Hilton said homelessness was instead an issue best addressed through substance use treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is drug and alcohol induced psychosis,\u201d Bianco said. \u201cThis has nothing to do with a home.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Steve Hilton, a Republican candidate for California governor, leaned into President Donald Trump\u2019s endorsement \u2014 calling it \u201ca deep honor\u201d \u2014 during a televised debate at KRON Studios in San Francisco on April 22, 2026. (Jason Henry\/Nexstar\/Bloomberg)<\/p>\n

Mahan, who entered the race late and is polling below the other candidates onstage, sought to draw a contrast with the other Democrats onstage by vowing to suspend the state gas tax \u2014 referencing his working class childhood in the farming town of Watsonville.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know what it means when gas prices go up a dollar or two unnecessarily,\u201d Mahan said. \u201cI\u2019ll reform the gas tax so it\u2019s no longer the poorest, hardest working people in our state who are paying an unfair share to maintain our infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n

None of the other Democratic candidates would commit to suspending the gas tax, something both Hilton and Bianco have been campaigning on.<\/p>\n

Hilton did not shy away from President Donald Trump, who\u2019s deeply unpopular in this heavily Democratic state. Trump recently endorsed Hilton, a former Fox News host who emigrated from the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the proudest days of my life is the day I became an American citizen \u2026 so it is a deep honor for me to be endorsed by the President of the United States,\u201d Hilton said, adding that Democratic attacks on Trump are only hurting the state. \u201cHere\u2019s what will help every Californian: when I am governor we will have a deep, constructive relationship.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cThe people raising the costs for California don\u2019t want me to be governor,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m the change…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":601530,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[23,3,21,19,22,20,25,24],"class_list":["post-601529","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-states","tag-america","tag-news","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601529","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601529"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601529\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601530"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601529"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601529"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601529"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}