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 governors’ game and offered their thoughts.
Arellano: Steve Hilton came in with almost no chance of becoming California’s next governor, but maybe if he focused on the feel-good messages he’s been spreading since launching his campaign in front of the Huntington Beach Pier earlier this year – Make California Gold Again! Califordable! I’m a legal immigrant with a British accent! – he might have convinced at least a few voters to follow him.
Instead, Hilton debated like someone who’s already gearing up to start a podcast or beg to get her old job back at Fox News after getting beat up. When your solution to solving California’s housing crisis is to build 10 new cities, you don’t run for governor of California, you seek an influencer position with the Irvine Co.
He groaned and grunted and grinned and quoted someone calling Becerra a “bitch,” which would have been a weird dig if he hadn’t been running to lead the greatest state on Earth. Hilton is charming in person, to the extent that all Brits inevitably introduce themselves as Americans at first, and he has traveled to every county in California – and especially to predominantly Latino towns. He should have shared some of the many stories of hardship he has heard, I suppose, over the past year.
No! Instead, Hilton attacked Becerra again and again – why? California is a super-blue state, despite Trump’s Latino supporters, so Hilton should have at least tried to give voters a reason to choose him instead of saying — which isn’t completely inaccurate — that the problems Californians face are Democrats’ fault.
But blaming the other side only gets you so far — just ask Democrats how it fared with them in 2024.
“We need to try something different,” Hilton said in his closing remarks. Californians agree — and his name is Xavier Becerra, who for the last time is not Gavin Newsom, no matter how hard the California GOP tries to convince people otherwise.
Becerra, meanwhile, didn’t offer much in the way of vision, mainly because he played defense most of the night. But he didn’t have any major problems, other than maybe lifting a CNN coffee cup a few too many times. Well, Becerra even smiled sometimes – proof that he’s not a Chicano automaton. He hasn’t agreed to any more debates with Hilton – but after this outburst, Becerra should take them both on the road to make Hilton the next John Cox.
Chabria: Becerra proved more of a fighter than we’ve seen before, even in previous Democratic debates. He held his own against Hilton, who is a talented speaker and striker with a sharp wit and deft accent. But please, for the love of God, Hilton, button that shirt. It’s not a casino.
Becerra was the clear winner, and to be fair, Hilton – usually an agile pugilist – fell flat too often. Maybe he’s already signed his contract with Fox, as Gustavo suggests.
But Becerra also failed to present any vision for California’s future. He did a good job fending off Hilton’s attacks, but never told us what a vote for him would do for the average Californian. There have been some discussions about housing, about protecting health insurance, but no overall vision of what the California dream of the future is and how we will achieve it for the next generation.
I came away from that debate certain that Hilton had not won a single voter, and just as certain that Becerra had not lost one. But it is also certain that Californians are rightly disenchanted with this political moment because it does little for voters. Becerra is going to ride the ghost hill to run the most powerful state in the country, and none of us will know what that will mean or why we should care one way or another.
Yes, there is a strong legislature that will certainly allow the next governor to focus on Democratic priorities. But what Becerra represents remains a mystery that only the next four years can reveal. Hopefully it has to do with our collective well-being.
Barabak: Xavier Becerra entered Wednesday’s debate stage as the heavy favorite to become California’s next governor.
Becerra left the stage a little more than an hour later, still a heavy favorite to become California’s next governor.
As the Democratic candidate in a state where Democrats enjoy great numerical, structural and political advantages — and have done so for decades — Becerra just had to show up at the CNN studio in Burbank, answer a few questions alongside Hilton and avoid a Bidenian disaster. (Even that might not matter.)
It was an extremely low bar and one that Becerra easily overcame.
He was bossy, sharp and remained offensive most of the night, raising the question of why his campaign managers have accommodated him until now. Yes, it got a little repetitive when the Democrat’s answer to so many questions boiled down to: Trump, Trump, Trump! But that’s hardly surprising in a state where the president is about as popular as $6-a-gallon gasoline and $10-a-pound hamburger.
What was surprising was Hilton’s inability to do more to break free of the White House’s burden.
He allowed a little daylight here and there, but not enough to take away the MAGA mantle Becerra draped around him. If anything, Hilton moved even closer to Trump, sometimes sounding like his wacky Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as he talked about vaccines — Hilton said he was for them, but also favored greater parental discretion — and revived masking and other pandemic policies of the Biden administration.
Hilton’s most effective moments came when he asked why disaffected California voters should expect anything different if they continue to elect Democrats. This is not an unreasonable question. Trump Lite, however, does not appear to be the cure most are looking for.
Little or nothing appears likely to change following Wednesday night’s meeting. Still, it was important to give California voters a chance to see the two gubernatorial candidates side by side and hear — in more than a 30-second ad — how they would run the state.
It’s far more likely than not that Becerra will be the candidate voters choose on November 3. But for those who don’t like Becerra’s vision, his record, his Democratic affiliation or, heck, his glasses or his salt-and-pepper hair, Hilton offered an alternative — albeit a grumpier one than the happy warrior who appeared on the campaign trail.
Hilton did his best. Becerra skillfully deflected it.
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