Takeaways from the first California governor’s debate since Eric Swalwell’s exit

By Eric Bradner, Patrick Svitek, CNN

(CNN) — Four Democrats and two Republicans vying to become California’s next governor exchanged occasional barbs in a debate Wednesday night. But mostly, the Democrats took aim at President Donald Trump, and the Republicans criticized the state’s Democratic leadership.

The debate, hosted by Nexstar, came two weeks after the race was upended when a top Democratic contender, former Rep. Eric Swalwell, exited after being accused of sexual misconduct. Swalwell has denied what he has described as “flat false” allegations. In resigning his House seat, Swalwell apologized for “mistakes in judgment I’ve made in my past.”

All candidates will be listed on the same ballot on June 2, and the top two finishers regardless of party will advance to a head-to-head matchup this fall. President Donald Trump has endorsed Republican Steve Hilton, but another viable GOP contender, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, is in the race.

With Democratic support scattered among several candidates, the party is confronting a potential nightmare scenario of being shut out of the general election to replace outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom, who has not endorsed in the race.

California elections are conducted largely by mail, and county elections officials begin sending ballots to voters on May 4. CNN will hold a gubernatorial debate on May 5.

The Republicans tear into Newsom and Democrats

Two of the six candidates on stage Wednesday were courting entirely different voters.

Republicans are a much smaller share of the California electorate, but only Hilton and Bianco are competing for them. The two of them teed off on Newsom while the Democratic candidates mounted at least a tepid defense of the outgoing governor’s record on issues like homelessness.

After listening to Democrats’ largely noncommittal answers on whether they’d support additional taxes to fund infrastructure, Hilton said: “We cannot keep going in this direction with Democrats constantly going for their insatiable appetite for more and more taxes for their bottomless money pit.”

Bianco also lambasted the Democrats who control all levers of California’s state government. “They’re raising your taxes, they’re spending more and more of your money, because they refuse to stop the spending,” he said.

The debate came about two weeks after Trump endorsed Hilton, who said at the time that he was “deeply honored” to earn the president’s support.

Trump lost California in all three of his bids for president, including by 20 points in 2024. But Hilton stood by the endorsement at the debate, saying any candidate for governor should aspire to having a “constructive relationship and partnership with the federal government.”

“It will benefit every Californian to have a governor who is a partner” with the president, Hilton said.

Becerra talks about Swalwell

Xavier Becerra, the former Biden administration health and human services secretary, California attorney general and California congressman, told CNN last week that “many of us had heard the rumors” about Swalwell, adding that he had “never seen any corroboration.”

Moderators put him on the spot Wednesday night, asking Becerra why he had never pursued an investigation into those rumors.

“Yeah, you hear rumors all the time about all sorts of things. Rumors are not facts, and the Democratic caucus is not a place that adjudicates those things. Law enforcement does,” said Becerra, who was a member of House Democratic leadership before he left to become California attorney general in 2017.

Becerra also credited the women who have made sexual misconduct allegations against Swalwell, including allegations of rape that Swalwell has strongly denied.

“Rumors are one thing, but getting the facts really gets you to move,” Becerra said.

Mahan tries to distinguish himself

Matt Mahan, a moderate Democrat who has split with Newsom on several issues, moved to distinguish himself. He argued Democrats need to do more than just oppose Trump, and he offered the earliest — and most direct — criticism of some of his rivals.

“We don’t need a billionaire who made his money in private prisons or oil and gas that he’s now supposedly against, or Trump’s hand-picked candidate, or a DC insider who the Sacramento establishment is now rallying around,” Mahan said, alluding in order to Steyer, Hilton and Becerra.

Mahan later went after Steyer, a former hedge fund manager, more sharply. While answering a question about homelessness and housing, Mahan said that the “only housing Tom Steyer has built has been private prisons and ICE detention centers.”

(Steyer recently said it was “a mistake” for a hedge fund he managed to invest in the operator of California’s biggest immigration center, according to the Fresno Bee.)

Yet Mahan also had to answer for some of his own political vulnerabilities as a well-connected politician from the heart of Silicon Valley. Asked about his backing from “billionaire tech executives,” Mahan said that his closeness to the industry has helped him understand both the benefits and risks of emerging technologies.

“I am not afraid to regulate Big Tech or any other industry, and as governor, I’ll make sure we protect the people of California,” Mahan said.

Porter tries to regain her footing

Porter was an early leader in the race, polling ahead of most rivals for months. But then a video surfaced showing her berating a staffer in 2021 — and then Swalwell launched his campaign — and her candidacy appeared less viable.

On Wednesday night, she looked to regain her footing, reiterating her regret over the incident and going on the offensive against Steyer and Becerra.

“I apologized that day to that staffer four years ago and I took responsibility then and I’ve taken responsibility since, acknowledging that it is not the right way to treat someone,” she said. “And that is a big contrast to what we’ve seen other candidates do when they’ve been called out for misconduct.”

As for Becerra, she accused him of having “lovely plans” but being light on details and failing to propose anything that challenges the “status quo.”

“The how, the why, the how much — it’s all missing,” she said.

Becerra shot back, saying it was “very rich to hear from someone who’s never had to actually run a government.”

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