Dorothy

And Mahan – whose work on housing and homelessness in San José has been cited by several of his rivals as a model – took the opportunity to turn the tables on Becerra, noting pointedly that the frontrunner still cannot explain how he would actually pay for his housing plan.

Steyer has heavily leaned on his personal fortune throughout the race, pouring more than $130 million into his gubernatorial campaign — vastly outspending competitors in both parties.

“There’s another point I think we have to acknowledge: We learned today that Xavier was implicated in this corruption scandal today. We learned that he knew about illegal and improper payments from his campaign account to his former chief of staff,” Hilton said.

"Honestly, it pains me to say because I like you personally, Xavier, but you shouldn’t be on this stage. You shouldn’t be in this race. You should be preparing your criminal defense," Hilton added.

“As I’ve said from day one, I was not involved in the wrongdoing. I had nothing to do with that. I did nothing wrong, and don’t take my words for it. Take the words of the U.S. attorney, who said no candidate running for governor has been implicated in this particular matter. So, Steve, you may not want to accept it, but the truth is what it is. You don’t get to make up the facts,” Becerra said, beginning a further exchange.

Becerra faced a number of challenges as health and human services secretary, most notably managing the Covid pandemic. HHS was also the lead agency in charge of dealing with the surge of unaccompanied migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border, a pandemic-created shortage of baby formula and a 2022 outbreak of the mpox virus.

The issue has become an even greater point of division following allegations involving Eric Swalwell and rising oil prices driven by instability in the Middle East. California’s average gas price is now well above $6 per gallon, while the national average sits around $4.50, according to AAA.

The Frontrunner Newsom and Others Won’t Endorse Perhaps more telling than anything said during the debate is what prominent Democrats are refusing to say outside of it. Gov. Gavin Newsom, former DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and Rep. Pete Aguilar all awkwardly declined to endorse Becerra this week despite his frontrunner status – and, given that Williamson served as Newsom’s chief of staff, the governor’s silence carries particular weight.

Becerra took issue with Hilton’s assertion that the talk show host lacks a law degree – at which point Rep. Katie Porter interjected that she is a lawyer and backs her GOP rival’s legal analysis. Just because Becerra isn’t implicated in the charging document doesn’t mean he won’t be in the future, she argued.

Steyer also pressed Becerra over a recent local news appearance, saying his opponent was unwilling to answer tough questions. The former representative had gone viral for asking a KTLA reporter: “This is not a gotcha piece, right?”

Candidates face off on affordability in final California gubernatorial debate Seven candidates running for California’s top office engaged in a fifth and final debate on Thursday evening that largely centered around the issue of affordability. The candidates were asked to provide their closing pitch to voters to address a growing number of cost of living concerns, including rising gas, grocery and housing prices in the…

The Trump fixation produced some of the night’s more eyebrow-raising moments. While defending his tenure as HHS secretary, Becerra turned to Hilton and boasted that he had worked to expand healthcare coverage to 300 million Americans – “far beyond what Donald Trump, your daddy, gave us.” Hilton, however, declined to take the bait, coolly noting he had no interest in “silly name-calling.”