The top four Democrats running for governor of California met Sunday morning for the first major candidate forum in the 2026 election, a lively discussion with few fireworks and almost no jabs at the politician they hope to succeed, Gov. Gavin Newsom.
The forum in downtown San Francisco, sponsored by the National Union of Healthcare Workers, features gubernatorial candidates Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis, State Supt. of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond, state Sen. Toni Atkins of San Diego and former state Controller Betty Yee.
The event, which was broadcast live on the Los Angeles Times website, was held early in the 2026 gubernatorial campaign, just over a month before the high-stakes 2024 presidential election. Even more candidates for California’s top office are expected to enter the race next month.
The forum also did not include one of the most prominent Democrats in the race, former Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The union said Villaraigosa was invited but declined.
Do you agree with Newsom?
The four candidates were repeatedly pressed about Newsom’s track record and how they might manage differently. Most of Newsom’s common – and only – concerns include the death penalty (all oppose) and California’s policy to phase out the sale of new gas-powered cars by 2035 (all support).
The four also said they would sign legislation providing access to state unemployment benefits, a top priority for California’s organized labor movement. Newsom vetoed a similar bill last year, saying that increasing benefits would make the unemployment trust fund “vulnerable to insolvency.”
The candidates are divided over whether California should allow school districts to decide when to reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic, which has caused public schools in some parts of the city to remain closed for months longer than schools and private schools in other areas.
Kounalakis, Thurmond and Yee said they would handle the situation differently than Newsom. Atkins said he wasn’t sure, saying: “It’s easy to be a Monday morning quarterback. … We know now more than ever.
Single payer health care
Moderators pressed the candidates on their positions on health policy, specifically for an audience of unions that represent about 19,000 California health care workers, including nurses and pharmacists.
All four candidates said, to varying degrees, they would work toward a single-payer health care system that would cover all Californians and dramatically remake the state’s medical coverage.
All said they await the January 2025 report required by Senate Bill 770, a measure Newsom signed into law last fall that would require the state’s health secretary to begin talking to the federal government about a waiver to provide federal Medicaid and Medicare funds to state-run systems. health.
Legislative analysts estimated earlier this year that the single-payer system could cost $392 billion annually.
Thurmond said California doesn’t have a single-payer system because “people don’t have the political will to move forward.” Atkins, who authored the 2017 bill that would have created a single-payer system, said he was waiting for the waiver option provided through SB 770, and “you can’t create that system overnight.”
After the panel, Yee said in an interview that support for a single-payer system would depend on the findings of SB 770.
“I think the funding system is appropriate,” Yee said. “Is it single-payer – that’s the question.”
The last time California had a competitive gubernatorial race, the same question made sparks fly: At NUHW’s 2017 candidate forum, Villaraigosa and Newsom clashed over state-sponsored, single-payer health care.
Villaraigosa said he supports the concept of single-payer health care, but warned that politicians pushing the concept are “selling snake oil.” He says politicians like Newsom underestimate the complexity of creating a new system and don’t know how to pay for it.
Newsom dismissed Villaraigosa’s concerns, saying that fighting for single-payer health care is a “leadership question” and that he won’t wait for Congress to act. Newsom won the union endorsement, and the governor’s race in 2018, but has yet to implement a single-payer health care system.
Housing, homelessness and the California exodus
All four candidates said their top priority to address the rising cost of living in California will be building more housing.
Kounalakis shared his two decades of experience in real estate development before he entered politics, saying he helped build a planned community for 200,000 people. With the local government, he said, “the pushback against us is to build too big a house.”
“It’s time to have someone in the governor’s office who is actually building things,” Kounalakis said.
Yee called for local zoning expansion to increase housing capacity, and said he would push for “sustainable and permanent funding sources for affordable housing.”
Forum panelist Laurel Rosenhall, political editor of the California Times, asked the candidates what homeless policies they would support that Newsom hasn’t tried. He said Newsom has spent more than $20 billion on the crisis but has seen the number of Californians who are homeless.
Yee said he would like to see more spending to prevent homelessness. He cited a poll from UC San Francisco that found that 83% of homeless parents believe that a one-time payment of $5,000 to $10,000 would prevent homelessness, which is “definitely less than what’s been done. budget.”
Thurmond said California has 240,000 homeless students, 10,000 of whom are not minors. He said he would like to see subsidized housing with wraparound support to help students attend classes and find jobs.
Crime in California
Three of the four candidates avoided trying to take a position on Proposition 36, an initiative on the November ballot that would impose strict sentences for repeated thefts and offenses involving the deadly drug fentanyl.
The measure has been the focus of intense debate this year as Republicans and law enforcement advocates have called for it to eliminate parts of Proposition 47. The criminal justice reform measure, approved by voters a decade ago, downgraded some crimes to misdemeanors and has been criticized . increase in organized retail theft and “smash and grab” loot.
Thurmond said his vote is “still being determined.” Kounalakis said he has made up his mind, but wants to keep his personal choices.
Atkins said he would “likely” vote no. He said he’s worried the vote measures craft legislation that is “set in stone, and the only way you can repeal it is to go back to the people,” and said he supports a package of shoplifting bills that passed the Legislature in August.
Yee said Proposition 36 is “wrong,” and he plans to vote no, adding: “It makes false promises about how we’re going to address public safety issues in general.”
Will it be the same or not?
In a state where Democratic voters outnumber Republicans by nearly 2-to-1, Democrats are expected to dominate the 2026 statewide contest to replace Newsom, who has completed his second term and cannot run again. No Republican has won an election in California since 2006.
Other Democrats could potentially enter the race, including California Atty. General Rob Bonta; Rep. Katie Porter (D-Irvine), who lost her bid for the U.S. Senate in March; and developer Rick Caruso, who is running for mayor of Los Angeles in 2022, lost to Karen Bass.
Several Republicans have also said they are considering a campaign, including Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco and conservative commentator Steve Hilton.
