Candidates for governor face off on healthcare and economic issues

Four of the leading Democratic candidates for California governor sparred off on healthcare, housing, and economic issues Friday, Nov. 7, at a debate at UC Riverside. UCR co-hosted the event organized by 11 nonpartisan California health-focused advocacy organizations.

The debate, dubbed --"Health Matters: A Conversation with California's Next Governor" - gave the candidates an opportunity to present their views on healthcare issues, housing and food affordability, homelessness, and how to deal with the Trump administration, among other issues.

The participants were Xavier Becerra, former U.S. Health and Human Services secretary; California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond; Antonio Villaraigosa, former Los Angeles mayor and former speaker of the state Assembly; and Betty Yee, former state controller.

All seasoned California politicians, each claimed they had the right experience to follow Gov. Gavin Newsom as the leader of the country's most populous state. While they all called for the expansion of healthcare access and increasing housing stock, different strategies emerged on how to accomplish such goals.

Villaraigosa, for example, didn't raise his hand when the candidates were asked if they support a universal, one-payer system of healthcare.

The former Los Angeles mayor said later in the debate that California needs to move beyond a choice between "the people that believe we got a flat earth and the other ones who got their heads stuck in the clouds with the pie in the sky. We need a leader who's practical."

Thurmond and Yee made direct appeals to Inland Empire residents.

"As you all know," Thurmond said, "this is the region that has the worst air quality in the entire United States, and we have to provide more resources to address respiratory care and other illnesses that are associated with it, and we have to make sure that there are jobs that we can have that aren't going to contribute to negative health conditions for those in our community and in our state."

Yee vowed to improve healthcare in the Inland Empire by investing to "uplift a healthcare workforce right here in the IE, that can be responsive to being able to provide culturally competent care, that can be responsive to the chronic health conditions that so many are suffering with."

Becerra reached out to people who provide homecare for family members, such as elderly parents. He said homecare is most often the best option for the elderly because they stay among family.

"If I'm governor, homecare will be compensated if you are a family member," he said.

Home caregivers, he said, give up their "ability to actually go out and work and earn more money. It would cost us more to have your loved one leave your home and go into a facility and get care. But we're just not smart."

All the candidates still face a long road to the governor's office. There is a primary election in June 2026. The top two primary finishers will then face off in the November general election.

About 300 community leaders, nonprofit partners, local residents, and elected officials attended the debate at UCR, which required invitations. A video feed allowed for live viewing at the School of Medicine.

UCR Chancellor S. Jack Hu provided an introduction, and the debate was moderated by Paulette Brown-Hinds, founder and CEO of Voice Media Ventures and publisher of Black Voice News, and Colleen Williams, anchor at NBC4 news.

Click here for a video of the entire debate provided by NBC4.

Header photo: Governor candidates face off at UCR (Photo Stan Lim/UCR)