Xavier Becerra spent the only scheduled debate of the California governor’s race on Wednesday night tying his Republican opponent, Steve Hilton, to President Trump at every opening, while Mr. Hilton blamed 16 years of one-party Democratic rule for the state’s costs.
The hourlong debate, moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash at CNN’s studio in Burbank, came days before ballots start landing in voters’ mailboxes. Mr. Becerra, a former state attorney general and Biden administration health secretary, and Mr. Hilton, a former Fox News host and adviser to the British prime minister David Cameron, are competing to succeed Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is termed out, as the state’s 41st governor and the leader of about 39 million people.
Mr. Becerra’s strategy was visible in the transcript. He said Mr. Trump’s name at least 40 times, according to CNN’s count, while Mr. Hilton said it three times — all in one retort. “All you ever say is ‘Trump, Trump, Trump,’” Mr. Hilton said. “And that’s nothing but an insult to every Californian who is desperate for something to change in this state, and all you’re offering is more of the same.”
The sharpest fight came over Mr. Hilton’s tax plan, which would eliminate state income taxes on the first $150,000 Californians earn and set a flat 8 percent rate above that. Mr. Becerra called it a rerun of Mr. Trump’s federal cuts that would mostly benefit the wealthy, saying the Republican’s “math doesn’t add up.” El País reported that Mr. Becerra described it as a 40 percent cut for millionaires, the largest in state history. Mr. Hilton answered that the “quickest way to get more money in people’s pockets is for the government to take less out.”
On housing, Mr. Hilton proposed capping government fees on a new home at $50,000, which he said would save $150,000 off the average construction cost, and floated building 10 new cities on undeveloped land. Mr. Becerra pointed to his 2019 lawsuit as attorney general against Huntington Beach for flouting state affordable-housing requirements. “The definition of insanity is believing that the people who put the red tape in place are somehow going to cut it,” Mr. Hilton said.
Mr. Hilton broke with the White House line on artificial intelligence, days after Mr. Trump embraced self-policing by the industry at a luncheon with executives. The companies “may require regulation and legislation,” Mr. Hilton said, and he repeated his call for an “immediate pause” on AI in classrooms. “We lead this industry and I believe we should also lead its regulation,” he said, according to El País. Mr. Becerra said data centers should be approved community by community: “If all you’re going to do is rob their energy and electricity and their water, that’s not a good deal.” Mr. Hilton noted that Mr. Becerra’s campaign has taken donations from Anthropic and OpenAI, CalMatters reported.
Immigration produced the night’s tensest exchange. Mr. Hilton, whose parents emigrated from Hungary to England, said he would protect legal immigrant communities while removing people in the country illegally who have committed dangerous crimes, and he sidestepped questions about whether he would direct state officers to assist Mr. Trump’s deportation campaign — an effort he called “perfect” on Fox News in January. Mr. Becerra, the son of Mexican immigrants, told him: “You seem to welcome immigrants who look like you, but deport immigrants who look like me.” Mr. Hilton called the remark “disgraceful.”
Mr. Hilton swung hard at Mr. Becerra’s record as secretary of Health and Human Services, citing the handling of a record surge of unaccompanied migrant children at the border and the department’s mask and vaccine guidance. He also raised criticism reported by Axios from Mr. Becerra’s fellow Biden administration officials — CalMatters reported that colleagues had described Mr. Becerra as “an idiot,” language drawn from accounts of Susan Rice’s views at the time.
The two found one patch of agreement: expanding California’s film and television tax credit, which the state recently doubled to $750 million a year, as Los Angeles County has lost roughly 50,000 industry jobs since 2022. Even there, they traded blame. “Who’s been in charge when all those jobs have gone?” Mr. Hilton asked. “Donald Trump,” Mr. Becerra said. “The Democrats,” Mr. Hilton answered.
The pressure is all on Mr. Hilton. A Public Policy Institute of California survey conducted Sept. 4 to 10 put Mr. Becerra ahead 60 percent to 38 percent among likely voters, and a Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies poll from mid-September showed a 58-to-33 margin, up from 18 points in August. Registered Democrats outnumber Republicans nearly 2 to 1 in California, and voters have not elected a Republican governor in two decades. Still, El País noted the burdens the winner inherits: a median home price near $750,000, gasoline at $6.39 a gallon on Wednesday — 44 percent above the national average, according to AAA — and a SmartAsset analysis finding a family needs more than $300,000 a year to live comfortably in the state.
Los Angeles County begins mailing ballots on Thursday, and every county must start sending them by Monday. Voters have through Nov. 3 to return them.