California Governor Candidates Held Their First Televised Debate. Here Are Our Takeaways

Republican Steve Hilton and Democrats Tom Steyer and Matt Mahan clashed over homelessness, climate policy and campaign finance on Tuesday in California‘s first televised gubernatorial debate, an early test in a wide-open race for the state’s top job.

Two leading Democratic candidates — Rep. Eric Swalwell and former Rep. Katie Porter — were unable to attend the debate at San Francisco’s Ruth Williams Opera House, as was Republican Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco. That left room for Hilton, Steyer and Mahan to jostle for positioning ahead of the June primary.

The trio appeared alongside four other Democrats: former Attorney General Xavier Becerra, State Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and former Controller Betty Yee. The debate was sponsored by the Black Action Alliance and broadcast on KTVU FOX 2 in the Bay Area and FOX 11 in Los Angeles.

Steyer, a former hedge fund manager, is self-funding his campaign and holds an enormous financial advantage over the field, new campaign filings show. Pro-Steyer advertisements played throughout commercial breaks during the debate’s broadcast. Inside the opera house, Steyer clashed with Hilton and traded barbs with Mahan, the mayor of San José, who joined the race last week.

But it was Hilton, a former adviser to British Prime Minister David Cameron, who delivered the night’s sharpest attacks. The frequent Fox News commentator criticized Bianco for kneeling alongside protesters during a 2020 demonstration following the murder of George Floyd.

“In 2020, during the Black Lives Matter riots, he took a knee when told to by BLM,” Hilton said.

Hilton and Bianco were neck-and-neck near the top of a December poll conducted by Emerson College. If the field of Democratic candidates shrinks, the path for the Republicans to advance out of the top-two primary is likely to narrow.

“We cannot risk splitting the Republican vote and letting the Democrats in,” Hilton said. “Chad Bianco has got more baggage than LAX.”

The Bianco campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Hilton also took multiple shots at Mahan, a moderate Democrat who could potentially pull centrist voters away from Hilton.

Mahan has been a rare Democratic critic of Gov. Gavin Newsom, but in an interview with CNN last week, Mahan praised Newsom for having “done more on homelessness than any past governor.”

Hilton chided Mahan for the comment: “You’ve got to be kidding me, Matt.”

Mahan responded that Hilton had visited San José last week to tour a tiny home community for people experiencing homelessness — part of a network of interim housing that Mahan has championed during his time as mayor.

“Last week, Steve came to see what’s working in our interim housing communities and our outreach model, and I don’t know what’s changed in the last week — it seems that it’s the fact that I jumped into this race,” Mahan said. “Frankly, that’s exactly [what’s] wrong with our politics … we denigrate ideas because of who had them.”

Swalwell and Porter have used the national platforms they built in Congress to leap above the crowded field, but neither has eclipsed 20% of the vote in public polling.

Porter missed Tuesday’s debate due to a scheduling issue, according to a campaign spokesperson. Swalwell was initially scheduled to participate but had to return to Washington, D.C., as the House voted on a government funding bill.

A Republican has not been elected statewide in California since 2006, and the party is coming off a resounding defeat in last year’s special election over Proposition 50. But as the only Republican on stage on Tuesday, Hilton seemed to delight in blaming Democrats in Sacramento for homelessness, unaffordable housing and high gas prices.

When Steyer advocated for importing gasoline as a way around California’s oil supply constraints, Hilton jumped in.

“Why don’t we use California gas?” he interjected, over jeers from the crowd.

As the only leading Democrats who have not served in state government or Congress, Steyer and Mahan have both sought to position their candidacies against “insiders” and “special interests.”

Steyer used his closing statement to nod to his support of a wealth tax on California’s billionaires — an idea opposed by most of the other Democrats in the race, including Mahan.

“Right now, the big tech CEOs are terrified about the idea of paying their fair share,” Steyer said. “And right now they’re supporting Matt.”

“Tom, I’ve got about three billion reasons not to trust your answer on that,” Mahan said.

Steyer’s campaign has raised $28.9 million, according to campaign reports filed on Monday, nearly all from Steyer himself. That war chest has allowed him to spend $26 million since entering the race in November, blanketing the state’s airwaves with advertisements.

Minutes after Steyer walked off the stage on Tuesday, the former hedge fund manager reported another $9.3 million donation to his campaign.

Mahan launched his run after the fundraising reporting deadline. But the former tech entrepreneur has already drawn support from Silicon Valley executives, and a super PAC backing his campaign has purchased ads on California NBC stations to run on Super Bowl Sunday, according to ad tracker Medium Buying.

The fundraising reports, which captured money raised and spent in the second half of 2025, showed a close race for resources between many of the top candidates.

Hilton reported raising $4.1 million, Swalwell brought in $3.1 million, Porter raised $3 million, Becerra raised $2.6 million, and Bianco and Villaraigosa each raised $2 million.

Yee reported raising $344,851, while Thurmond brought in $181,437.