Housing, immigration, tech cash — California’s governor field got hit from every side this week, and not everybody came out looking good. Welcome to California Governor's Race — I'm Cassidy, Adam's here too, and today we're sorting out a week where the policy fights finally ran straight into the money trail. Newsom still won't endorse, Silicon Valley's writing checks to a boardroom candidate, and Tony Thurmond just said end ICE and build two million homes — this race is nowhere near settled. We’re going to look at who handled the Ezra Klein housing event best, what the tech money is really signaling, and whether Thurmond’s numbers actually hold. Stay with us. 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 big stages before June 2 — mail ballots are already out, and with top two, every percentage point counts. Seven candidates, two of them Republicans, all trying to break through a very crowded field. Seven candidates on one stage with less than a month to go and Villaraigosa still leading the money race — that's a demolition derby, not a debate. Somebody has to consolidate the progressive lane or Becerra and Porter just keep slicing it down the middle. The big fights were billionaire taxes, state-funded immigrant healthcare, Trump — classic California primary bingo. The real question is whether any of it actually changes the top two, or just confirms where voters already are. Porter needs one moment that actually travels online. Steyer has to explain why he’s still here. Mahan is taking a very long shot. And Hilton and Bianco? They’re basically auditioning for November against whoever ends up on top of the Democratic side. 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 this one — Ezra Klein moderating five Democratic candidates on housing at the Kaiser Center in Oakland, less than a month out from the primary. Credit to Max Harrison-Caldwell and the team for the room read: think-tank crowd, academics, lobbyists, people who apparently find prevailing wage policy romantic. Housing is the issue that actually moves votes in this primary, so whoever owns the policy lane owns the race. I want the person who got specific on bonding capacity, not the one who just said 'affordability' a bunch of times. Fair point — and Klein’s format was built for wonk depth, not vibes. That’s a different stress test from a normal debate stage. The candidates who can survive that room probably have the donor infrastructure to match. 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, San Jose mayor and former tech exec, is the name to watch in the California governor's race — and the money behind him is not subtle. Super Bowl ad, millions from tech investors, outraising a field that's been running for over a year. Credit to Broadband Breakfast and AP for tracking the donor architecture here. Three months in and he's already the fundraising leader — that's not vibes, that's structure. When Silicon Valley decides someone is their guy, the cash doesn't trickle, it floods. The question is whether that becomes a ceiling in a Democratic primary, not just a floor. That’s the tension. A tech investor calling him 'the only sane Democrat' is exactly the kind of thing a primary opponent clips and runs on in a state where the progressive base still turns out. Mahan’s moderate lane is real, but it comes with a lot of risk. 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, asked about the frontrunner to succeed him, said he's 'focused on diapers.' That's not a dodge — that's a whole press strategy. Becerra's at 20% in a poll commissioned by a rival candidate, tied with Steve Hilton — that's a muddy parking lot, not a frontrunner. Newsom staying out makes complete sense when the race is this unsettled. Worth noting: Becerra and Newsom share campaign consultants. So the non-endorsement is either disciplined neutrality or a very loud message, depending on how you read Sacramento relationships. He went from an afterthought to tied for first only because Swalwell dropped out. That's musical chairs, not momentum. I wouldn't endorse him either — not yet. 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.
Hat tip to The CC Pulse and Danielle Parenteau-Decker — they got Thurmond on record through American Community Media's gubernatorial series, which is doing the work the big outlets aren't bothering with yet. His platform: abolish ICE, two million homes, tax the wealthy. Big swings from a candidate who's reportedly sitting low in the polls. Polling low in a field with no clear frontrunner is not the same as being dead — and Thurmond's 'polls don't elect people, voters do' line is the right answer, even if it sounds like spin. The real question is money: who's funding him, what's his burn rate, and can he move numbers before the field consolidates? The pressure to drop out and consolidate the vote is interesting — that’s establishment math, and it’s early for that play. Abolishing ICE is going to define him if he gets to the general, and the two-million-homes number is either serious policy or a headline grab. I want to see the mechanism. You’ll find links to every story we covered today in the show notes, so if one caught your ear, you can go deeper there.
That’s California Governor’s Race for today. This is a Lantern Podcast.