Panel: The standouts & stumbles from CA governor debate

[0:00] As a Californian yourself, what did you make of how they differentiated themselves tonight in this [0:04] crowded field? Well, look, I mean, I thought that Tom Steyer, his experience showed. He's run for [0:12] president. They tried to jump on him a couple of times. He's a conviction politician. And if you [0:17] like, you know, strong left-wing politics, he was your guy. The problem we have in California [0:21] is we produce more billionaires in any nation or state and we resent the hell out of them. [0:26] And so I'm not sure how many people are going to stick with him because he's a billionaire. [0:30] I thought Matt Mahan showed a breath of fresh air. He's a young guy. He's new to politics. He was [0:36] pragmatic. And I think Becerra didn't do himself much good. I think he looked pretty squirrely [0:42] on the Medicare for all issue. He was a little bit squirrely on some other stuff. He's been the [0:48] rising star because of Swalwell getting out. I don't think he helped himself tonight. [0:53] You know, there were a couple of dynamics. I mean, there's the Trump of it all, which we'll [0:57] definitely get to. But for the Democrats, the five of them on the stage, I do think that in a state [1:03] like California, you've got a lot of progressives. They're very liberal. But there's definitely a sense [1:08] that they know people want some change. They know that Californians think things are not going so [1:14] swimmingly in the state. Something's got to get. Yeah, absolutely. Prices are high there. You know, [1:19] they each had to say something about the previous governor. You also have a situation where I think [1:25] a lot of Democrats don't feel like this is the ideal ticket. You don't have people on the stage [1:31] that people are in love with. Eric Swalwell dropped out of the race because he had sexual assault [1:37] allegations against him. There are some major changes that need to happen within the Democratic [1:42] Party. It's a moment of reckoning for the Democratic Party in California. But I do think that overall [1:47] issues like the cost of living, affordability, health care, all of these things are still [1:51] things that people care about in California. And there needs to be major change. And it's not just [1:56] policies because of the president and the war. It is policies because the governor and the governor [2:02] will be on likely be on the presidential ballot in 2028. And so this is also referendum on him, Rob. [2:08] I think you're right, Zodji, about that's a California good Democrats do have to stare it in the face [2:14] what has been happening inside the California Democratic Party that's led to the affordability [2:18] challenges. Democrats all across the country this year have decided to try to make the election [2:22] about affordability. But the most Democratic state in the country is the most unaffordable state. [2:27] That's why 1.23 million people have moved out of the state and moved into places like Nashville and [2:31] Texas. And so I only heard Matt Mahan tonight talk about affordability in a real pragmatic way of [2:37] what he could do about it. He talked about eliminating the CEQA process, which is an environmental [2:41] review process that makes infrastructure construction impossible. He talked a little bit about the tax [2:46] problem, about how California is one of the highest tax states. I thought Katie Porter might have had [2:52] a lane to do that tonight, but I didn't see it from her. Well, let me play what she said about the [2:56] billionaire tax. It's been so controversial in California. Listen. This tax isn't going to [3:05] fundamentally change California's economy in the way that young people and the working people of [3:11] California need. It's a one-time tax, but we don't have one-time revenue needs. It taxes billionaires [3:19] as if half billionaires don't have two nickels to rub together and couldn't chip in a little bit more. [3:25] So yes, to a progressive tax code. Yes, to the wealthy paying more. But this tax is about cheap [3:32] political points. It is not about really fundamentally changing California's economy for the better. [3:38] That's going to take real political courage. Billionaires like me should pay more taxes [3:42] and the big corporations should pay more taxes. Excuse me, you literally said- And that's why [3:46] if this proposition is on the ballot in November, I'll vote for it. But going forward, we do need [3:52] to go further. This is a one-time tax. And it also doesn't spread the money across the government [3:58] the way everything else goes. That was one of those times where you're kind of trying to jump on [4:06] on Tom Steyer. But he actually did pretty well for himself. So- Well, if you support the billionaire [4:11] tax, which actually maybe many Californians do. I think Katie Porter is betting that some Californians, [4:18] you know, they want a progressive tax system, but they think that this is like a two-by-four [4:21] dollar, hitting their, you know, sort of taxpaying population over the head of it. [4:27] I live in Miami and I can tell you almost every week right now, there is some California billionaire [4:32] who comes out as having broken a real estate record for buying a house in Miami that costs [4:38] $200 million because they are all fleeing the state before a certain deadline, a year deadline [4:44] and establishing homesteads in Florida. So that's not helping the California economy. [4:49] There are so many industries that have left California, the movie industry, which is so [4:53] symbolic of California. Most of the productions are right now happening overseas or in other [4:59] states like New Mexico. It's happening in Canada. It's cheaper to fly people and film a movie [5:05] in Scotland than it is to do so in California. So they are having very big issues. I think out [5:12] of all of those people on the stage, somebody needed to stand out. That did not happen. [5:16] I cannot believe I sat through two hours of them bickering instead of drinking margaritas [5:21] at La Palapa tonight on Cinco de Mayo. I do think, you know, sorry, we couldn't provide [5:27] the margaritas. These things are not mutually exclusive. [5:31] We definitely should have had some margaritas. [5:34] Listen, Tom Steyer is a progressive and even though he's taken all the money from the coal [5:40] companies, as Katie Porter keeps saying, he's now an environmentalist and all of that. So I guess [5:46] you like him. I have a hard time thinking that a state that is 40 percent Latino, that is pissed [5:53] off at billionaires, that thinks they're not paying their fair share, is going to vote for Tom Steyer. [5:59] It's obvious to me that Javier Becerra has inherited the Swalwell vote, that he's on the [6:04] ascent. And that's why he was being hit on like a piñata, to go back to my Cinco de Mayo [6:10] theme tonight by everybody. [6:13] Let's talk about the two Republicans who are on the stage, Steve Hilton, a recent California [6:21] transplant from the UK, and Chad Bianco, who's a sheriff. Let me just show you the polls, because I [6:28] think that to understand where we are here, Steve Hilton is sort of nominally at the top of this [6:33] pack, to put it mildly. But this is all within the margin of error. We don't really know where [6:40] where this is going right now. But Hilton has the Trump endorsement. Yeah. He was asked about whether [6:48] or not he would support mass deportations, didn't want to say. So how do you leverage a Trump [6:56] endorsement to a victory in a state like California, where Trump is so unpopular? [7:01] Yeah, it's it's a difficult puzzle to solve. Although I had to say for Hilton, I didn't know [7:07] much about him before I started following this campaign. I interviewed him yesterday on my radio [7:11] show. He's quite articulate about asking the right questions, which is this. If the state is failed, [7:17] if the education system has failed, if it's an affordability crisis, if we're only one of five [7:22] states where people are actually leaving instead of going into. If you have all these problems, [7:28] is it a good idea to have one party rule for so long? And Hilton, I think, has articulated that. [7:34] I asked him yesterday, you know, is it possible for a Republican to get elected governor of California? [7:38] He you know, he has a way to lay out the math that shows, yes, you could attract independents and [7:43] even some disaffected Democrats who are sort of fed up with the fact that they live in a state [7:47] that's beautiful and has all these things going for it, but has been so mismanaged that people hate [7:52] living here so much that they're fleeing to Miami and other places. And, you know, watching this [7:56] debate tonight, watching Democrats argue with each other about how to raise more taxes, how to further [8:01] ruin health care, how to let in more illegal immigrants. It makes you believe that someone [8:05] like Steve Hilton, if you just articulate the right questions, sometimes that can get you [8:10] pretty far. The only way a Republican wins in California is if it's somehow out of this crazy [8:15] jungle primary, two Republicans make it. But if there is one Democrat against Steve Hilton, [8:21] whether it's Tom Steyer, whether it's Javier Becerra, that Democrat is going to win. [8:25] And my response to that is you're probably right. But my question is, is that a good thing? [8:31] Is it a good thing for California to continue to just vote for the same party that has created [8:35] all these problems that everyone seems to agree to exist? [8:38] Look, you're at a boiling point right now in California where if an outsider with the right [8:46] message came along, Arnold Schwarzenegger did that, you could get there. Unfortunately, [8:51] it is a non-starter to have somebody who will not acknowledge that Donald Trump lost to Joe [8:56] Biden in 2020. He just basically took himself out of the running. If he would just moderate on [9:01] anything at all, he would have the opportunity or anybody would have the opportunity to point out [9:06] a lot of stuff is not working. But that's not going to happen. You are correct. Snoopy, [9:12] a Twinkie running against a Republican in California will win in California if the Republican [9:20] is saying that Donald Trump is winning. Katie Porter may put that to the test, though. I mean, [9:24] she's one of the worst political athletes we've seen in a large state. Oh, come on. Give that woman [9:28] some credit. She spent the whole night trying to be nice. [9:31] She's one of the least likable, most uninteresting politicians we see rise to the top in a large [9:39] state. You know, all the New England states eventually elect a Republican governor. Massachusetts [9:43] did it for like 20 years in a row. The voters know that the legislature has got things under [9:47] control from their ideological perspective, and they send some adult supervision. You see it [9:51] sometimes in the South. Steve Beshear in Scotts home states, a Democrat governor in a Republican [9:55] state. Eventually it will happen in California because the legislature will manage the state to the [9:59] point where the voters have no other choice. I don't know if it's this year or not.