California candidates are colliding on housing, immigration, and tech money — and nobody's getting through it clean. Welcome to California Governor's Race. Today we’ve got debate fallout, Ezra Klein putting contenders through the housing wringer, Silicon Valley writing checks, and Newsom still sitting on his hands. The tech-money angle is the one I’m watching. When a former executive starts pulling in those donor networks, the polling can lag the reality by weeks. Thurmond wants to end ICE and build two million homes. Bold platform. Let’s see if the math on either one actually holds up. HSJ Chronicle writes:
The leading candidates for California governor clashed in a lively debate Tuesday on everything from a proposed tax on billionaires to state-funded healthcare for immigrants in the country illegally. The debate, broadcast on CNN, was one of their last chances to pitch themselves to voters and stand out from the pack in their primary election bids to succeed Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom, who terms out in January.
Tuesday’s CNN debate was one of the last ones before June 2 primary voting closes. Seven candidates were on stage: Becerra, Porter, Steyer, Mahan, and Villaraigosa for the Democrats, plus Republicans Hilton and Bianco. And with the top-two system, a Republican could technically make it through, which is the number everybody in that room was quietly doing in their heads. Crowded Democratic field, ballots already out — this is a name-recognition and money race right now. Villaraigosa and Porter have the biggest donor networks, Steyer can self-fund his way into the conversation, but burning cash in a top-two primary where you still have to finish second is a pretty dangerous game. The flashpoints were billionaire taxes, Trump, and state healthcare funding for undocumented immigrants. None of that is sleepy, especially with Republican voters nationally watching California as a foil. Every Democrat on that stage is trying to keep one foot in the base and one eye on November. Max Harrison-Caldwell, Kevin V. Nguyen, Kevin Truong, writing in SF Standard:
Housing affordability is the defining issue of the next Governor’s race and on a beautiful spring evening less than a month before the primary, just across the street from Oakland’s Lake Merritt, hundreds of people packed into the Henry J. Kaiser Center to watch the five top Democratic candidates duke it out over who had the best solutions to the state’s most unsolvable problem.
SF Standard covered a housing policy debate in Oakland last week — five top Democratic governor candidates, Ezra Klein moderating, packed house at the Henry J. Kaiser Center. Credit to Harrison-Caldwell, Nguyen, and Truong for the ground-level reporting. Ezra Klein moderating a wonk debate on ADUs and prevailing wage in front of a sold-out crowd of think-tank people — that is California primary politics in a nutshell. And that crowd is not the median voter. Fair. But housing is still the number-one issue in polling across income brackets here. The question is whether any of those five separated themselves on substance — or whether it was just five versions of, yes, and. With the primary four weeks out and no clear frontrunner in the money race, whoever landed the crispest answer on supply probably moved a few donor conversations this week. From Broadband Breakfast:
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan is tech’s favorite candidate to be the next leader of California. The 43-year-old former tech executive jumped into the crowded race in January, touting himself as a pragmatic problem-solver. A moderate Democrat, Mahan has built his statewide profile mainly by criticizing Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature's response to homelessness and crime.
Matt Mahan, the San Jose mayor and former tech exec — he’s the candidate Silicon Valley decided it wanted before most Californians had even heard his name. Super Bowl ad, millions in outside money, and he’s only been in the race since January. The fundraising number is the real story. He’s out-raising rivals who’ve been running for over a year, and he did it in three months. That’s a money primary, and he’s winning it clean. The ‘only sane Democrat’ line from that investor is exactly the kind of quote that plays great in Palo Alto and turns into an attack ad everywhere else in the state. Sure, but opposing a billionaires' tax while billionaires fund your campaign — that’s a coherent coalition. The question is whether it actually translates to a primary electorate that skews left. Here's AOL:
Despite his recent surge in polling and a shared coterie of campaign consultants, former California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has not received outgoing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s endorsement in the race to succeed him, nor has any other candidate. “I‘m focused on diapers,” Newsom told reporters on Friday when asked about Becerra’s recent emergence as a frontrunner.
Gavin Newsom, when asked about the frontrunner in his own party’s governor’s race, told reporters he’s focused on diapers. That’s the quote. He was announcing a free diaper program, but still — the Sacramento Bee flagged it, and it’s the second time he’s publicly ducked the endorsement question. Becerra went from afterthought to frontrunner basically the day Swalwell quit, and Newsom still won’t touch him. That tells you something. Either Newsom doesn’t think Becerra closes the deal, or he’s keeping powder dry for a primary that gets messier. Worth noting: Becerra and Newsom share consultants. If you’re tied at 20 percent with Steve Hilton in your own pollster’s numbers — and that poll was commissioned by a rival candidate — that’s not exactly a coronation. Tied with Hilton at 20 in a field of eight is not a frontrunner story. That’s a wide-open race story. And Chad Bianco at 14, with room to consolidate Republican voters? Don’t sleep on that math. Here's Danielle Parenteau-Decker at The CC Pulse:
If elected governor, Tony Thurmond says he would work to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, build 2 million homes, and increase taxes on the wealthy. The current state superintendent laid out an ambitious agenda April 30 in the first installment of American Community Media’s California Gubernatorial Race Series during a brief but wide-ranging interview.
Credit where it’s due — The CC Pulse and Danielle Parenteau-Decker got Thurmond on the record through American Community Media’s gubernatorial series before the big outlets even scheduled him. That’s the kind of ethnic media access that fills real gaps in coverage. The platform is bold, I’ll give him that — abolish ICE, two million homes, soak the wealthy. But he’s reportedly polling in the basement in a field with no clear frontrunner, and the drop-out conversation is already live. That’s a rough place to launch an ambitious agenda. He pushed back on the polling with, ‘voters elect people, not polls’ — which is a fine line, but it still doesn’t answer the vote-split math question. Right, and in a jungle primary, every point of that split is a real number. His personal story — son and grandson of immigrants — gives the ICE abolition plank real authenticity, but authenticity doesn’t move delegates. Money and turnout infrastructure do, and I haven’t seen his donor numbers. If you’re finding California Governor’s Race useful, please subscribe and leave a quick review wherever you’re listening. It really helps other people find the show and stay up to speed.
You’ll find links to every story we covered today in the show notes, so if something caught your attention, take a minute to read a little deeper.
That’s California Governor’s Race for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.