Candidates for California governor face off about affordability, high cost of living in first bipartisan clash

Miami Herald

2 days ago

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - In a largely courteous gathering of a half dozen of California's top gubernatorial candidates, four Democrats and two Republicans agreed that despite the state boasting one of the world's largest economies, too many of its residents are suffering because of the affordability crisis in the state.
Their strategies on how to improve the state's economy, however, largely embraced the divergent views of their respective political parties as they discussed housing costs, high-speed rail, tariffs, climate change and homelessness on Wednesday evening at the first bipartisan event in the 2026 governor race to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom.
"Californians are innovators. They are builders, they are designers, they are creators, and that is the reason that we have the fourth largest economy in the world," said former Rep. Katie Porter., a Democrat from Irvine "But businesses and workers are being held back by the same thing. It is too expensive to do things here. It is too expensive to raise a family. It is too expensive to run a business."
Conservative commentator Steve Hilton, a Republican, argued that state leaders need to end the "stranglehold" of unions, lawyers and climate change activists on California policy.
"I've been traveling this state. Everywhere I go, it's the same story, this heartbreaking word that I get from every business I meet, every family is in such a struggle in California," he said, with a raspy voice he explained immediately upon taking the stage was caused by a sore throat.
The candidates spoke to about 800 people at a California Chamber of Commerce dinner at an 80-minute panel at the convention center in Sacramento. The chamber's decision on who to invite to the forum was based on which ones were leaders in public opinion surveys and fundraising. Making the cut were former Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, Hilton, Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, Porter and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
The sharpest exchange of the evening was between Kounalakis, a Democrat, and Bianco, a Republican.
After the candidates were asked about President Trump's erratic tariff policies, Kounalakis cited her experience working for her father's reat estate company as she criticized Bianco for arguing for a wait-and-see approach about the president's undulating plans.
"You're not a businessman, you're a government employee," she said to Bianco. "You've got a pension, you're going to do just fine. Small businesses are suffering from this, and it's only going to get worse, and it's driven, by the way, it is driven by Donald Trump's vindictiveness toward countries he doesn't like, countries he wants to annex, or states he doesn't like, people he doesn't like. This is hurting California, hurting our people, and it's only going to make things worse, until we can get him out of the White House."
Bianco countered that Kounalakis and the other Democrat gubernatorial candidates are directly responsible for the economic woes facing Californians because they have an "unquenchable thirst" for money to fund their liberal agenda.
"I just feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone. I have a billionaire telling me that my 32 years of public service is okay for my retirement," he said. "It's taxes and regulations that are driving every single thing in California up. We pay the highest taxes, we pay the highest gas, we pay the highest housing, we pay the highest energy."
The Democrats on stage, though largely agreeing about policy, sought to differentiate themselves. The sharpest divide was about whether to raise the minimum wage. On Monday, labor advocates in Los Angeles proposed raising it in Los Angeles County
Atkins reflected most of her fellow Democrats' views, saying that while she wanted to see higher wages for workers, "now is not the time." Villaraigosa said that while he believes in a higher minimum wage, "we can't just keep raising the minimum wage."
Kounalakis, though, said not increasing the minimum wage would be inhumane.
"I think we should be working for that number, yes I do," she said. "You want to throw poor people under the bus."
California's high cost of living is a pressing concern among the state's voters, and the issue is expected to play a major role in the 2026 governor's face.
Nearly half feel worse off now compared with last year, and more than half felt less hopeful about their economic well-being, according to a poll released in May by the UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies that was co-sponsored by The Times.
Nearly exactly a year before the gubernatorial primary next year, the event was the first time Democratic and Republican candidates have shared a stage. It was also the first time GOP candidates Bianco and Hilton have appeared together.
Although the state's leftward electoral tilt makes it challenging for a Republican to win the race – Californians last elected GOP politicians to statewide office in 2006 - Bianco and Hilton are battling to win one of the top two spots in next year's primary election.
The pair expressed similar views about broadly ending liberal policies in the state, such as stopping the state's high-speed rail project and reducing environmental restrictions such as the state's climate-change efforts that they argue have increased costs while making no meaningful impact on the consumption of fossil fuels.
A crucial question is whether President Trump, who both Bianco and Hilton fully support, will eventually endorse one of the Republican candidates.
The gubernatorial candidates, some of whom have been running more than a year, have largely focused on fundraising since entering the race. But the contest to replace termed-out Gov. Gavin Newsom is growing more public and heated, as seen at last weekend's California Democratic Party convention. Several of the party's candidates scurried around the Anaheim convention center, trying to curry favor with the state's most liberal activists while also drawing contrasts with their rivals.
But the Democratic field is partially frozen as former Vice President Kamala Harris weighs entering the race, a decision she is expected to make by the end of the summer. Harris' name did not come up during the forum.
There were a handful of light moments.
Porter expressed a common concern among the state's residents when they talk about the cost of living in the state.
"What really keeps me up at night, why I'm running for governor, is whether my children are going to be able to afford to live here, whether they're going to ever get off my couch and have their own home," she said.
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