With a number of voters still undecided about who to vote for as California’s next governor, the leading candidates in the crowded race will square off once again on Thursday, May 14, in what likely will be the final televised debate ahead of the June 2 primary election.
They’ll go toe-to-toe, with the event to be broadcast on CBS stations across the state, including KCBS Channel 2 and KCAL Channel 9 in the Los Angeles area, and streamed on the stations’ digital platforms. The program will kick off at 5 p.m. with a pre-debate segment, followed by the live debate from 5:30 to 7 p.m.
The matchup will include Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and political commentator Steve Hilton, both Republicans.
On the Democratic side, former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, former Rep. Katie Porter, billionaire environmental advocate Tom Steyer, and former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa have also confirmed their attendance.
California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, who’s been trailing in the polls, was invited but had not confirmed his participation as of Wednesday afternoon, according to CBS.
Over 90 minutes, the candidates will be asked to weigh in on hot-button issues, including affordability, housing, public safety, climate, education, and healthcare. The candidates will be allowed to question each other directly.
The event – to be moderated by CBS reporters Ryan Yamamoto and Tom Wait, along with Schuyler Hudak Prionas, editor-in-chief of the San Francisco Examiner – will offer undecided voters “one final opportunity to hear directly from” the candidates ahead of Election Day, according to CBS.
“When voters are still making up their minds, debates like this matter,” Scott Warren, regional president and general manager of CBS Bay Area, and CBS Sacramento, said in a statement. “Elections are one example in which local media matters most, and our responsibility is to put candidates onstage one more time and let voters decide.”
In the California Democratic Party’s most recent poll, 14% of likely voters were still undecided about their pick for governor, though it has been more than 10 days since the poll was conducted.
Most of the candidates squaring off on Thursday evening from the Merchants Exchange Building in San Francisco also appeared in each of the last four televised debates in recent weeks. But between rapid-fire questions and candidates hurling insults or talking over one another, the chaotic nature of some debate moments did little to help undecided voters make up their minds about their preferred candidate, some political observers said.
Veteran political consultant Garry South, who worked on Gov. Gray Davis’ campaign, said it’s difficult when there are so many people on the debate stage at once for candidates to have time to dive deep into policy areas, often leaving viewers with little more than short sound bites.
As a consultant who’s helped a number of candidates, including presidential ones, prepare for debates, South said at this late stage in the campaign season – Election Day is less than three weeks away and early voting has already begun – there are two things campaign consultants are telling their candidates to focus on for the latest debate: identifying their top talking points and knowing who their chief opponent is.
“You always say, ‘OK, here are your three top talking points that you want to get across, and if you have to repeat them 17 times, you repeat them 17 times,'” South said.
He also said viewers should expect candidates to head into the debate prepared to go after their prime target.
“Who’s the candidate that most stands in your way of electoral success? Different candidates will have different views of that,” South said. “But that’s what you have to watch for – who do these candidates think their chief opponent is?”
The latest Emerson College polling, conducted May 9 and 10 of 1,000 likely primary voters, found Becerra with a narrow lead of 19%. Hilton, who has enjoyed relative polling success in the race so far, followed at 17.1%. Steyer came in third with 16.6%.
Bianco had 10.7% support, followed by Porter at 10.3%. Rounding out the bottom of the poll were Mahan at 7.9%, Villaraigosa at 4%, and Thurmond at 1.1%. Another 12.1% were undecided.
